Desecration

Desecration (also called desacralization or desanctification) is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.

Detail

Many consider acts of desecration to be sacrilegious acts. This can include desecration of sacred books, sacred places or sacred objects. Desecration generally may be considered from the perspective of a particular religion or spiritual activity. Desecration may be applied to natural systems or components, particularly if those systems are part of naturalistic spiritual religion.

To respectfully remove the sacred character of a place or an object is deconsecration, and is distinct from desecration.

Some religions, such as the Roman Catholic Church have specific rules as to what constitutes desecration and what should be done in these circumstances.

Examples

Christianization of the Roman Empire

Examples of the destruction of pagan temples in the late fourth century, as recorded in surviving texts, describe Martin of Tours' attacks on holy sites in Gaul, the destruction of temples in Syria by Marcellus the destruction of temples and images in, and surrounding, Carthage, the Patriarch Theophilus who seized and destroyed pagan temples in Alexandria, the levelling of all the temples in Gaza and the wider destruction of holy sites that spread rapidly throughout Egypt. This is supplemented in abundance by archaeological evidence in the northern provinces exposing broken and burnt out buildings and hastily buried objects of piety. The leader of the Egyptian monks who participated in the sack of temples replied to the victims who demanded back their sacred icons:

Desecration (band)

Desecration is a British death metal band formed in Newport, south Wales in 1992.

Background

Formed in 1992, and releasing their first demo in 1993, the band caused controversy in 1995 when their debut album Gore and Perversion (original version on Anoxic Records) was infamously seized and incinerated by the local police due to the album's offensive content, for what they deemed to be its obscene nature, and banned upon release. The printers of the original artwork and lyrics, after taking the money for the pressing and without sending any copies to the band, sent the albums to the police authorities and were subsequently incinerated. Band members were arrested. The ensuing court case and media furore firmly established the name Desecration in the South Wales scene and beyond. The album was later released with a black cover featuring the statement "SORRY! Censored by the authorities. Original artwork can be obtained from Arctic Serenades. Send an IRC.", now out of print, by Arctic Serenades.

Desecration (novel)

Desecration: Antichrist Takes the Throne is the ninth book in the Left Behind series. It was published on Tuesday, October 30, 2001 by Tyndale House. It was on The New York Times Best Seller List for 19 weeks, and was the best selling novel in the world in 2001. It takes place 42–43 months into the Tribulation and 25 days to a month into the Great Tribulation.

Plot summary

Nicolae Carpathia stages a gruesome and evil desecration of the temple. Hattie publicly confronts him and is burned to death by Leon, the False Prophet. As millions take the Mark of the Beast, the first Bowl Judgment rains down as foul and loathsome sores appear on the bodies of all who have taken the mark, including Nicolae's inner circle. When the temple is defiled, millions of Jews and Gentiles rebel against Nicolae and many of them become believers.

The Tribulation Force launches "Operation Eagle", a mass exodus of the believers to the refuge city of Petra. Leading them is none other than Dr. Chaim Rozensweig turned into a modern-day Moses, who, calling himself Micah, and along with Buck Williams, confronts Nicolae and leads the faithful to refuge. Meanwhile, David Hassid, the first to arrive at Petra, is murdered by two renegade GC soldiers left over from a confrontation between the Trib. Force and the GC. The second Bowl Judgment hits as all the oceans and seas turn into blood.

Fauna

Fauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora. Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota. Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess Shale fauna". Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils.

Etymology

Fauna comes from the Latin names Fauna, a Roman goddess of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and panis is the Greek equivalent of fauna. Fauna is also the word for a book that catalogues the animals in such a manner. The term was first used by Linnaeus in the title of his 1745 work Fauna Suecica.

Subdivisions

Cryofauna

Cryofauna are animals that live in, or very close to, ice.

Fauna (album)

Fauna is the debut album by Danish recording artist Oh Land. It was released in Denmark on 10 November 2008 by Danish independent label Fake Diamond Records. The album received generally positive acclaim in her home country.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Oh Land. 

Personnel

Credits for Fauna adapted from liner notes.

Fauna (deity)

In ancient Roman religion, Fauna is a goddess said in differing ancient sources to be the wife, sister, or daughter of Faunus (the Roman counterpart of Pan).Varro regarded her as the female counterpart of Faunus, and said that the fauni all had prophetic powers. She is also called Fatua or Fenta Fauna.

Names

Varro explained the role of Faunus and Fauna as prophetic deities:

Fauni are gods of the Latins, so that there is both a male Faunus and a female Fauna; there is a tradition that they used to speak of (fari) future events in wooded places using the verses they call 'Saturnians', and thus they were called 'Fauni' from 'speaking' (fando).

Servius identifies Faunus with Fatuclus, and says his wife is Fatua or Fauna, deriving the names as Varro did from fari, "to speak," "because they can foretell the future." The early Christian author Lactantius called her Fenta Fauna and said that she was both the sister and wife of Faunus; according to Lactantius, Fatua sang the fata, "fates," to women as Faunus did to men.Justin said that Fatua, the wife of Faunus, "being filled with divine spirit assiduously predicted future events as if in a madness (furor)," and thus the verb for divinely inspired speech is fatuari.