Many cultures regard these acts as ‘unclean’ – yet at the same time, as profoundly holy. But in a much deeper sense, the word ‘taboo’ denotes the very points where the sacred and profane converge: sexual intercourse, the taking of life, childbirth.
We often think of taboo in terms of proscribed action: it’s taboo to marry your brother or, in certain cultures, to eat pork. But most of all, cannibalism deals in taboo. For others, cannibalism has served as a tool of empowerment, intimidation, and a way to honour the beloved dead. For Druids, it might have been connected with agriculture and fertility. For ancient Egyptian pharaohs, it guaranteed an eternal afterlife. Rather, it is adapted to suit the spiritual framework of each culture in which it’s practised. And in child armies, cannibalism is an initiation ritual, an ordeal that transforms a boy into a man, and makes him feel sanctified, empowered and safe under the hails of bullets.Ĭannibalism has no single, ubiquitous meaning. The practice serves an obvious propagandistic value as well, striking fear into the hearts of enemies. They draw spiritual and physical power from the consumption of human flesh. In such war-torn areas, participants in ritual cannibalism are often happy to make their motivations clear. Cannibalism has also been documented in the Congo, in Sierra Leone and in Uganda, where it was infamously practised among the child soldiers of Joseph Kony’s army. By the early 2000s, sacred cannibalism was a common practice in this near-anarchic country, where violence, rape and drug-abuse are widespread.
Since then, the ritual has become more common. In the 1980s, Médecins Sans Frontières, the international medical charity, documented ‘ritualised cannibal feasts’ among soldiers in Liberia. Nor is cannibalism a distant historical fact. Evidence for cannibalistic practices has been found in South America, on many Pacific Islands, among some ancient Native American tribes, and in many other regions of the world. Humans have long enshrined the consumption of human flesh in sacred ritual – not just a few times, but again and again, in almost every corner of the globe. Biblioteque Nationale, ParisĬannibalism is not uncommon. From ‘Le Livre des merveilles de Marco Polo’.
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