Down the Rabbit Hole: Bangladeshi Buffalo ‘Donald Trump’ Pardoned – A Brief History of Animal Sacrifice | World News

‘Donald Trump” became a viral sensation overnight. People came from far and wide to marvel at his looks. They could barely comprehend that someone like him walked the earth. They were in awe of his blond bangs and fair skin. They were surprised by his weight. They were shocked to learn that he might soon be sacrificed. But fate had other plans, and when he survived, the world breathed a sigh of relief.Now, while this poem reads like it is describing the leader of the free world, here it is just doing Yudhishthira: Donald Trumpo jīvati iti, netā vā mahisho vā.For those who have forgotten the Mahabharata or Sanskrit, the Donald in question is not the President of the United States, he did not eat only food from the McDonald’s menu, and he never bombed Iran or destroyed the global economy. It is a water buffalo from Bangladesh that became an overnight sensation due to its resemblance to Trump, and is seven times heavier than Trump.What started as a routine purchase during Eid al-Fitr quickly became a global hit. Farmer Ziauddin Mridha said the majestic beast cost him 1.5 million taka (approximately $12,300) and now he has been compensated after the Bangladesh government decided to send Donald to the Dhaka National Zoo rather than have him end up on someone else’s plate.We live in an age of animal viruses, from 10 Downing Street’s resident cat, Larry the Cat, to Thailand’s adorable pygmy hippo Moo Deng, to Punch, the lonely monkey who can’t make friends and wows the world. The Donald Trump buffalo may be the newest member of this pantheon. But long before algorithms turned animals into celebrities, humans were turning them into gods, omens, and prisoners of pardon.This is where the rabbit hole begins.

man, beast, god

To understand why a virus-infected buffalo suddenly became too significant to kill, we have to go back to the beginning, when animals were not content with cosmology. Long before Twitter, animals helped us interpret the world. We’re the original monkeys see, monkeys do, though, to be fair to our ape cousins, they’ve never done anything as horrific as inventing LinkedIn. The earliest cave paintings were not narcissistic selfies or pictures of breakfast, but sketches of animals: horses, aurochs, aurochs, deer, lions and wild boars.

Animals were our first guides and textbooks, teaching us how to hunt, the seasons, and why communism didn’t work.Animals inspire us and in turn embody our original gods. The lion represents courage, the snake represents danger, the bull represents strength, and the ox represents abundance. Once animals become symbols, gods are never left behind.One of the most iconic images of the Indus Valley Civilization is the Pashupadi seal, which many historians interpret as representing Shiva, the king of beasts. This seated, horned figure is surrounded by elephants, tigers, rhinos, buffaloes and other creatures, suggesting that one of our earliest ideas of divinity is the ability to command wildebeests like Komaram Bheem in RRR.Throughout the ancient world, gods rarely traveled alone. Sometimes the animal is their vehicle, sometimes it’s their symbol, sometimes it’s their body, sometimes it’s the entire warning label on their power. In Hinduism, the entire sacred vocabulary revolves around animals: gods ride them as vahanas, use their bodies as avatars, and often turn them into sacred symbols.This is not unique to ancient India. The Egyptian gods often looked like they were gathered together in one divine costume department: Horus had the head of a falcon, Anubis had the head of a jackal, Bastet had a cat, Sobek had a crocodile, Hathor had horns, Khnum had the head of a ram, Taveret had the body of a hippopotamus, and Apis had a whole bull.The Greeks, as they are wont to do, made things even more scandalous, with Zeus treating the animal kingdom like a divine instrument of disguise, transforming into a bull, swan, or eagle whenever the plot required a moral breakdown. Rome, being Rome, turned animals into statecraft. The eagle became the soul of the Legion, while the she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus gave the Empire an origin story filled with milk, murder, and great brands.China also uses animals to depict cosmic order: the dragon represents imperial power and rain, the phoenix represents revival, the tiger represents martial prowess, and the turtle represents endurance. The four symbols make animals the guardians of direction itself, as even space apparently requires wildlife management. Later, a fifth noodle-loving panda was added to polish China’s global image.In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr, Midgard or the World Serpent, circles the Earth. Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor, who killed a snake but ultimately succumbed to its venom in Ragnarok, Thor is destined to continue to appear in sequels until Chris Hemsworth breaks free from his mortal bonds. Given that animals and gods are closely linked, it was only a matter of time before humans began sacrificing animals to their gods.

sacrifice and forgive

The English word sacrifice comes from the Latin sacer and facere, meaning “to make holy,” which sounds much better than killing something and hoping the universe listens. The animals are the envelopes and God is the recipient.Sacrifice is a different kind of transaction: food for the gods, blood for sin, life for favor, smoking for prayer. In Mesopotamia, sacrifices were made to gods such as Enlil, Enki, Inanna-Ishtar, Shamash, and Marduk because these gods were not distant abstractions in the people’s imagination, but forces that had to be revered, fed, appeased, and widely supported.In Egypt, offerings to the gods Amun-Ra, Osiris, Isis, Hathor, and Ptah were part of maintaining Ma’at, the cosmic order that prevented the world from falling back into chaos.In Greece, Zeus was sacrificed for strength and protection, Athena for wisdom and victory, Artemis for hunting and fertility, Apollo for prophecy and healing, Demeter for harvest, and Dionysus for fertility, ecstasy, and whatever one might call the more revered long weekend of ancient civilizations.

Ancient India also had its own rituals, such as Ashvamedha, which allowed a horse to roam under the protection of the king for a year. If the horse returned unchallenged, the king could claim universal sovereignty, which sounds much simpler than repeated meetings of the United Nations Security Council.As paganism evolved into the Abrahamic faiths, sacrificial rituals changed, but also remained unchanged.In Judaism, animals are offered to the Lord as sacrifices such as burnt offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, sin offerings, and, it is believed, sacrifices for the rebirth of Seinfeld. The most enduring image is that of the Yom Kippur scapegoat described in the Book of Leviticus: one goat is sacrificed, while another ritually carries the sins of the community and is sent into the wilderness. Long before modern politics discovered the usefulness of blaming immigrants, minorities, interns, previous administrations, or algorithms, humans were heaping collective blame on a goat and asking it to leave town.One would imagine that the gods are happy that Seinfeld is constantly being updated and that Jews are responsible for everything worthwhile in Western Civilization. In fact, it was also a Jewish gentleman who promoted the development of Christianity, although Christianity did make a theological shift towards sacrifice.Jesus became the “Lamb of God,” the innocent victim, and his death replaced the repeated blood sacrifices on the old altar, and he died for all sin, leading to the terrible joke that if one did not sin, Jesus died in vain.Instead, the animals become metaphors, with the lamb’s survival representing innocence, the shepherd representing divine care, and the sacrificial victim representing redemption. Christianity moved sacrifice from ritual slaughter into theology, which is why the language of blood, redemption, and sacrifice persisted long after most Christians stopped bringing livestock to priests.At the same time, in the third Abrahamic faith, sacrifice remains essential, which brings us to Eid al-Adha. The festival commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to obey God’s commands, but instead have animals instead. Traditionally, meat is shared among friends and family, making it an act of remembrance and obedience.In all three Abrahamic traditions, then, animals either die, carry guilt, or become the memory of a sacrifice that was avoided.But while sacrifice is understandable, how did pardon become the norm?While there are many versions around the world, the modern version can be associated with the pardoning of turkeys on Thanksgiving, although when one understands the entire history, one wonders if Thanksgiving is the right word to describe this event.

The story goes like this: In 1621, the English settlers in Plymouth, like the members of the Derry Gymkhana forced to attend the Press Club, were scraping by when the Wampanoag tribe led by Usamekin decided to help them out. The tribe was also weakened by disease and competition, and the first “Thanksgiving” was not a gravy boat as painted by Norman Rockwell, but an awkward political arrangement like the one we saw in the Union over Breakfast.While history suggests it could have been poultry, including turkeys, ducks or geese, or even deer, the turkey became an edible mascot because it was native, large, practical and could feed many people at once.What began as a harvest meal has become a national myth, especially in the 19th century, when Thanksgiving was promoted as a unifying ritual for the United States. When Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving in 1863 during the Civil War, a familiar menu that included turkey became part of the emotional machinery of the holiday.Legend has it that Abe’s son Ted begged to spare a Christmas turkey named Jack. In 1963, President Kennedy saw a sign hanging on a man’s body that read, “Well Eat, Mr. President,” and decided to give it another birthday.

Later, when reporters asked about people involved in the Iran-Contra scandal, Reagan joked about pardoning a turkey.In 1989, George HW Bush officially pardoned a turkey, and soon turkeys became part of the nation. Like most things American, like ozone and diabetes, Thanksgiving, turkey and pardons have become part of the world’s celebrations.Thanks largely to algorithms and the spectacle that followed, like the chaotic series of events that led his namesake to become the leader of the free world, he would live another day. But his survival shows us that humans have never escaped the troubles of our past: Sometimes we sacrifice animals to appease the gods, and other times we sacrifice animals to feel more human.