KULTI I FLIJIMIT TE SHQIPTARËT
THE CULT OF SACRIFICE AMONG ALBANIANS

Summary/Abstract: In the frame of numerous cults of significance among Albanians, certainly the cult of sacrifice also occupies an important place. When we say this, we have in mind the fact that the tradition of sacrifice, of making sacrifices for the saints, in the popular religion of the Albanians has its origin in the era of paganism. Sources related to the offering of sacrifices among Illyrians include almost all areas inhabited by them. The type of sacrifice has been dependent on the deity to whom it was dedicated and submitted, but also on the existing possibilities and circumstances. Even in present times in some places, mostly villages, in the occasion of construction of residential houses, at their foundations, livestock are sacrificed. Usually when the foundation is opened, there is spilled blood and the head of a ram or other livestock, or bird is walled up. This is done, according to the belief of the people, to make the house prosperous, but also so that the master of the house does not die.

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