Rituals in the context of "Zjarri i Qiellit"

Entheogens are psychoactive substances used in spiritual, religious, recreational, therapeutic, and experimental contexts to induce altered states of consciousness. While the term itself emphasizes ritual and sacred applications, the same substances are also frequently employed recreationally—sometimes in ways that diverge from or disregard traditional protocols. Hallucinogens such as the psilocybin found in so-called "magic" mushrooms have been used in sacred contexts since ancient times. Derived from a term meaning "generating the divine from within", entheogens are, in religious and shamanic contexts, intentionally employed in the attempt to facilitate experiences of transcendence, healing, divination, and mystical insight.

Entheogens have been used in religious rituals in the belief they aid personal spiritual development. Anthropological study has established that entheogens are used for religious, magical, shamanic, or spiritual purposes in many parts of the world. Civilizations such as the Maya and Aztecs used psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, and morning glory seeds in ceremonies meant to connect with deities and perform healing. They have traditionally been used to supplement diverse practices, such as transcendence, including healing, divination, meditation, yoga, sensory deprivation, asceticism, prayer, trance, rituals, chanting, imitation of sounds, hymns like peyote songs, drumming, and ecstatic dance.

Albanian paganism comprises the pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths and legends of the Albanian people. The elements of Albanian mythology are of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan. Ancient paganism persisted among Albanians, and especially within the inaccessible and deep interior – where Albanian folklore evolved over the centuries in a relatively isolated tribal culture and society – it has continued to persist, or at most it was partially transformed by the Christian, Muslim and Marxist beliefs that were either to be introduced by choice or imposed by force. The Albanian traditional customary law (Kanun) has held a sacred – although secular – longstanding, unwavering and unchallenged authority with a cross-religious effectiveness over the Albanians, which is attributed to an earlier pagan code common to all the Albanian tribes. Indeed, the Kanun contains several customary concepts that clearly have their origins in pagan beliefs, including in particular the ancestor worship, animism and totemism, which have been preserved since pre-Christian times. Albanian traditions have been orally transmitted – through memory systems that have survived intact into modern times – down the generations and are still very much alive in the mountainous regions of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and western North Macedonia, as well as among the Arbëreshë in Italy, the Arvanites in Greece and the Arbanasi in Croatia.

The old beliefs in sun and moon, light and darkness, sky and earth, fire and hearth, water and springs, death and rebirth, birds and serpents, mountains, stones and caves, sacrifice, and fate are some of the pagan beliefs among Albanians. The Fire (Zjarri) rituals and the Sun (Dielli) and Moon (Hëna) worship are the earliest attested cults of the Albanians. The Sun holds the primary role in Albanian pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths, and legends; Albanian major traditional festivities and calendar rites are based on the Sun, worshiped as the god of light, sky and weather, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye; the sunrise is honored as it is believed to give energy and health to the body. The Moon is worshiped as a goddess, with her cyclical phases regulating many aspects of Albanian life, defining agricultural and livestock activities, various crafts, and human body. The morning and evening star Venus is personified with Prende, associated with dawn, beauty, love, fertility, health, and the protection of women. The cult of the Earth (Dheu) and that of the Sky (Qielli) have a special place. The Fire – Zjarri, evidently also called with the theonym Enji – is deified in Albanian tradition as releaser of light and heat with the power to ward off darkness and evil, affect cosmic phenomena and give strength to the Sun, and as sustainer of the continuity between life and afterlife and between the generations, ensuring the survival of the lineage (fis or farë). To spit into Fire is taboo. The divine power of Fire is used for the hearth and the rituals, including calendar fires, sacrificial offerings, divination, purification, and protection from big storms and other potentially harmful events. Fire worship and rituals are associated with the cult of the Sun, the cult of the hearth (vatër) and the ancestor, and the cult of fertility in agriculture and animal husbandry. Ritual calendar fires are associated with the cosmic cycle and the rhythms of agricultural and pastoral life. Besa is a common practice in Albanian culture, consisting of an oath (be) solemnly taken by sun, by moon, by sky, by earth, by fire, by stone and thunderstone, by mountain, by water, and by snake, which are all considered sacred objects. Associated with human life, bees are highly revered by Albanians. The eagle is the animal totem of all Albanians, associated with the Sky, freedom and heroism. A widespread folk symbol is the serpent (Gjarpër, Vitore, etc.), a totem of the Albanians associated with earth, water, sun, hearth and ancestor cults, as well as destiny, good fortune and fertility. The sun, the moon, the star, the eagle (bird), the serpent, and the bee, often appear in Albanian legends and folk art.

Pastoral rock art is the most common form of Central Saharan rock art, created in painted and engraved styles depicting pastoralists and bow-wielding hunters in scenes of animal husbandry, along with various animals (e.g., cattle, sheep, goats, dogs), spanning from 6300 BCE to 700 BCE. The Pastoral Period is preceded by the Round Head Period and followed by the Caballine Period. The Early Pastoral Period spanned from 6300 BCE to 5400 BCE. Domesticated cattle were brought to the Central Sahara (e.g., Tadrart Acacus), and given the opportunity for becoming socially distinguished, to develop food surplus, as well as to acquire and aggregate wealth, led to the adoption of a cattle pastoral economy by some Central Saharan hunter-gatherers of the Late Acacus. In exchange, cultural information regarding utilization of vegetation (e.g., Cenchrus, Digitaria) in the Central Sahara (e.g., Uan Tabu, Uan Muhuggiag) was shared by Late Acacus hunter-gatherers with incoming Early Pastoral peoples.

The Middle Pastoral Period (5200 cal BCE – 3800 cal BCE) is when most of the Pastoral rock art was developed. In the Messak region of southwestern Libya, there were cattle remains set in areas in proximity to engraved Pastoral rock art depicting cattle (e.g., rituals of cattle sacrifice). Stone monuments are also often found in proximity to these engraved Pastoral rock art. A complete cattle pastoral economy (e.g., dairying) developed in the Acacus and Messak regions of southwestern Libya. Semi-sedentary settlements were used seasonally by Middle Pastoral peoples depending on the weather patterns (e.g., monsoon).

Kuksu was a religion in Northern California practiced by members within several Indigenous peoples of California before and during contact with the arriving European settlers. The religious belief system was held by several tribes in Central California and Northern California, from the Sacramento Valley west to the Pacific Ocean.

The practice of Kuksu religion included elaborate narrative ceremonial dances and specific regalia. The men of the tribe practiced rituals to ensure good health, bountiful harvests, hunts, fertility, and good weather. Ceremonies included an annual mourning ceremony, rites of passage, and intervention with the spirit world. A male secret society met in underground dance rooms and danced in disguises at the public dances.