*2.2. Cult Practices and Rituals*

The act of slaughter and the sacrifice of live animals lay at the emotional core of many early religions. Ancient sacrifice originated from the need to sanctify the consumption of animal flesh, because the spilling of animal blood was an act of violence that required divine sanction (e.g., Alpert-Nakhai 2001, p. 40). Indeed, examination of the ritual texts from Ugarit demonstrates that overall, sacrifice was the primary ritual in ancient Near East religion and was an essential part of Canaanite worship (see also below). In fact, the principal category of cultic vocabulary was that of sacrifice (Alpert-Nakhai 2001, p. 39), which the Canaanites considered as food for the gods. Royal success required the complicity of the divine, which was asked for and acknowledged through the gesture of offerings. Sacrificial liturgies most often included a list of offerings specifying the divine recipients. Alpert-Nakhai (2001, pp. 42–44) wrote that along with livestock, agricultural products (especially oils, vegetables, and grains) were offered. From the perspective of the royal center, sacrifice was not an act of individual piety, but rather a function of the social group. Kings undertook the expense and the responsibility of sacrifice in order to promote their relationship with their patron gods, and to ensure that their city and its inhabitants were favored. The loss incurred by offering sacrifices was compensated for by the overall gain in societal well-being. Animals were also slaughtered and placed (complete or parts only) within tombs of the period (Lev-Tov and Maher 2001).

Some have argued that the evidence from Ugaritic texts demonstrates that Canaanite culture preserved ideas about personal, moral, and religious guilt for sin. Expiation could be obtained from the divine world through animal sacrifices (Hess 2007, pp. 104–6). Burnt offerings were used to attract the deity to the temple, while the "peace of fellowship" offerings functioned as a gift of greeting that the worshiper presented in the courtyard of the temple. Although not found in Ugarit, evidence of human sacrifice from the later Phoenician world may teach us about such rituals in the Canaanite world as well, especially in connection with the Canaanite god Molech.

Besides sacrifices, prayer was a means to communicate with the gods (e.g., Day 1992). The Canaanites believed in an afterlife and funerary liturgies are known in the mythological texts, with lamentations, rites, and curse formulas for disturbing the dead. The term *Rephaim* refers to the shades of the dead. Ugaritic kings were thought of as divine after their death and possibly even while they ruled. The *Marzeah.* festival was an assembly comprising members from a higher economic class who celebrated a festival with a banquet (Hess 2007, p. 110–11). These ceremonies had legal sanction; met in cities and villages for drinking; could involve substantial money, including the leasing of houses and vineyards; possessed a defined membership; continued for generations; and often had a patron deity. Other rituals which were practiced by the Canaanites included sacred prostitution and the reading of animal livers—hepatoscopy (e.g., Van der Toorn et al. 1999).

At Ugarit, cultic personnel (including a variety of titled figures such as high priests, priests, and servants) were royal dependents and the needs of the temples were mostly supplied by the royal treasury (Alpert-Nakhai 2001, p. 123). However, it is certainly possible that worship was

also a localized affair, with open-air sanctuaries or even simple household shrines serving most ordinary people in everyday practice. Anyone could build an altar, plant a sacred tree, erect a stela, or offer sacrifices. The most prominent rituals were simply the frequent presentation of food and drink offerings.
