Holy Blood: Scarification and Blood Ritual in the Christian and Catholic Churches

I recently was having a discussion with a peer about play piercings, a format of body piercing you can learn about here. That discussion segued into one of blood rituals and rites. Now- when you hear the words “blood ritual”- what is it that springs to mind? If you google it, many of the first results are about South American and African cultures. Many people automatically go to depictions of mayan temples and human scarifies. Few people think of Jesus, the Church, and Catholicism. Personally I find catholic and christian rituals fascinating. I also find it interesting how many of us who grew up in and around the church never learn about these elements of the church’s history. There are many reasons for that, the majority rooted in years of corruption, colonization, and racism on behalf of the church. My hope is to shed light on these practices, and on the innate human desire to modify our bodies, to use our bodies as tools in religious, spiritual, and emotional processes. To encourage folks reconnecting with these elements and experiences and examining what drives us to use our bodies in this way.

“Body Play is the deliberate, ritualized modification of the human body. It is a deep rooted, universal urge that seemingly transcends time and cultural boundaries.“ Fakir Musafar

“Stripped of blood and torn flesh, most religions become no different then fairy tales. The True Cross is not sparkling clean or silver plated.” Armando Favassa- Bodies Under Seige

I can not start this blog without mentioning the Eucharist, or taking communion. For me, raised in my very early years in the Catholic Church, this was always the part that stood out to me. Now, when I say I was raised in the Catholic Church, I mean my grandfather attended many hour long masses, in latin. And when I say very very early years, I mean like four or five. So, for a young child, the part of the morning that included eating a cracker and drinking grape juice was what stood out to me. For those unfamiliar, many christians partake in eating bread and drinking wine (or a cracker and grape juice for a small child) to be representative of the last supper, and a memorial for Christ. For some sects, this is all it is. But for most, the wine and bread representing the blood and body of Christ. Often it is quite literally felt that by the consecration the substances of the bread and wine become the substances of the blood and body of christ. There is debate between different churches about specifics, but the gist is the genuine belief that you are consuming the blood and body of christ and allowing him into you. It is the genuine belief that you are drinking the blood of Christ. The Eucharist is a blood ritual.

I strongly remember this standing out to me as a child and having questions about it for my grandfather. (Some part of me definitely went ‘eww, blood?’) But when I think back, my earliest exposure and understanding of blood rituals happened at an incredibly young age, and in direct relation to my experiences in the Church. You may be thinking that simply eating a communion wafer and drinking some wine is a far stretch from a blood ritual but, that is just the starting point, and a good example of a modern take on ritual that survives today. It’s in the deeper history of this religion that we find the more unique rituals.

Things get really interesting when we examine the mortification of the flesh. This is the concept of mortifying or killing your sinful nature in the process of sanctification (becoming holy). The idea is that this allows you to repent for sins you have committed. If a person commits a sin, they can be assigned a task to repent for these sins. Many are familiar with the idea of going to confession and being told a certain number of prayers to say to repent. This is a modern take. If we look back through the centuries it often looks more like confessing for sins and being told how long to fast, how long to kneel for, and even how many times to be whipped. Yes- traditional mortification of the flesh often entailed acts that were quite uncomfortable, and included breaking the skin, bleeding, and leaving scars. This was in part because mortification of the flesh was also thought to bring folks closer to the passion of christ(1)- the last days of Jesus’ life often including his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. Interestingly, many many cultures have practices of self-denial including secular beliefs. Fasting, abstinence, pilgrimage, and further rituals that include the body like scarification, coal walking, immersion in water, piercing, carrying heavy loads, tattoos, etc are practices that exist in cultures across the world. These practices are not unique to Catholicism, nor are catholic and christian practices somehow separate from these rituals. As religious have grown, fallen, merged and separated nearly every religion has borrowed or stolen from others, and thus we see similar acts and rituals throughout.

Many of these more extreme actions were willingly done to allow the practitioner to be closer to Christ. In the New Testament it is written that Jesus willingly accepted his crucifixion and death in order to repent for mankind’s sins. Notably, Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights to prepare to minister. The cross he carried was estimated to weigh 80-110lbs. And of course, all the experiences surrounding his crucifixion, including flogging. According to Christian texts, he did all of this willingly and with love in his heart knowing it would save his followers. Early christians, in recognition of this, practice these mortifications of the flesh in honor of Jesus. The concept of confessions of the faith came about, or accepting torture and pain in a joyous way. As christians were persecuted many accepted their suffering or torture and even embraced it. It was believed their love of christ transformed them and allowed them to endure these extreme experiences. Many who were killed these ways were considered martyrs and entered sainthood. Others who were not persecuted chose to willingly undergo similar suffering and experiences to honor Jesus and and their faith. As non-believers watched christian’s suffer torture and pain either willingly or by their own hand, with joy and bliss, they were moved to convert to experience this passion of God’s love. There was a common belief that suffering the literal pain of christ brought you closer to god. Paul the Apostle was known for alluding to using bodily harm to feel closer to god in his letters.