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A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid as an Sacrifice to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many of Ancient history and continues to be offered in cultures today.
Various substances have been used for libations, most commonly wine or other alcoholic drinks, olive oil, honey, and in India, ghee. The vessels used in the ritual, including the patera, often had a significant form which differentiated them from secular vessels. The libation could be poured onto something of religious significance, such as an altar, or into the earth. On the other hand, one or more libations began most meals and occasions when wine was drunk in Greco-Roman and other ancient societies, mostly using normal cups or jugs.
Milk libations for Osiris may have originated at Philae and spread southwards into Meroe. It is also possible the reverse occurred; as milk libation was already known to Nubians, they may have introduced it to Philae.
The typical form of libation, spondȇ , is the ritualized pouring of wine from a jug or bowl held in the hand. The most common ritual was to pour the liquid from an Oenochoe (wine jug) into a phiale, a shallow bowl designed for the purpose. After wine was poured from the phiale, the remainder of the oinochoē's contents was drunk by the celebrant. A libation is poured any time wine is to be drunk, a practice that is recorded as early as the Homeric epics. The etiquette of the symposium required that when the first bowl (krater) of wine was served, a libation was made to Zeus and the Twelve Olympians. Heroes received a libation from the second krater served, and Zeús Téleios (Ζεύς Tέλειος, lit. "Zeus who Finishes") from the third, which was supposed to be the last. An alternative was to offer a libation from the first bowl to the Agathos Daimon and from the third bowl to Hermes. An individual at the symposium could also make an invocation of and libation to a god of his choice.
Libation generally accompanied prayer. The Greeks stood when they prayed, either with their arms uplifted, or in the act of libation with the right arm extended to hold the phiale.
In conducting animal sacrifice, wine is poured onto the offering as part of its ritual slaughter and preparation, and then afterwards onto the ash and flames. This scene is commonly depicted in Greek art, which also often shows sacrificers or the gods themselves holding the phiale.
The Greek verb spéndō (σπένδω), "pour a libation", also "conclude a pact", derives from the Indo-European root spend-, "make an offering, perform a rite, engage oneself by a ritual act". The noun is spondȇ (plural spondaí), "libation." In the middle voice, the verb means "enter into an agreement", in the sense that the gods are called to guarantee an action.: From the same root derives the Latin verb spondeo, "promise, vow". Blood sacrifice was performed to begin a war; spondaí marked the conclusion of hostilities, and is often thus used in the sense of "armistice, treaty." The formula "We the polis have made libation" was a declaration of peace or the "Truce of God", which was observed also when the various city-states came together for the Panhellenic Games, the Olympic Games, or the festivals of the Eleusinian Mysteries: this form of libation is "bloodless, gentle, irrevocable, and final".
Libations poured onto the earth are meant for the dead and for the chthonic gods. In the Book of the Dead in the Odyssey, Odysseus digs an offering pit around which he pours in order honey, wine, and water. For the form of libation called choē ( , cheuma, "that which is poured"; from Proto-Indo-European gʰeu-), a larger vessel is tipped over and emptied onto the ground for the chthonic gods, who may also receive spondai. Heroes, who were divinized mortals, might receive blood libations if they had participated in the bloodshed of war, as for instance Brasidas the .Gunnel Ekroth, "Heroes and Hero-Cult," in A Companion to Greek Religion, p. 107. In rituals of caring for the dead at their tombs, libations would include milk and honey.D. Felton, "The Dead," in A Companion to Greek Religion, p. 88.
The Libation Bearers is the English title of the center Greek tragedy from the Oresteia of Aeschylus, in reference to the offerings Electra brings to the tomb of her dead father Agamemnon. Sophocles gives one of the most detailed descriptions of libation in Greek literature in Oedipus at Colonus, performed as atonement in the sacred grove of the Erinyes:
First, water is fetched from a freshly flowing spring; cauldrons which stand in the sanctuary are garlanded with wool and filled with water and honey; turning towards the east, the sacrificer tips the vessels towards the west; the olive branches which he has been holding in his hand he now strews on the ground at the place where the earth has drunk in the libation; and with a silent prayer he departs, not looking back.
Hero of Alexandria described a mechanism for automating the process by using altar fires to force oil from the cups of two statues.
In Roman art, the libation is shown performed at a mensa (sacrificial meal table), or tripod. It was the simplest form of sacrifice, and could be a sufficient offering by itself. The introductory rite (praefatio) to an animal sacrifice included an incense and wine libation onto a burning altar.Nicole Belayche, "Religious Actors in Daily Life: Practices and Related Beliefs," in A Companion to Roman Religion, p. 280. Both Roman emperor and divinities are frequently depicted, especially on coins, pouring libations.Jonathan Williams, "Religion and Roman Coins," in A Companion to Roman Religion, pp. 153–154. Scenes of libation commonly signify the quality of pietas, religious duty or reverence.
The libation was part of Roman funeral rites, and may have been the only sacrificial offering at humble funerals. Libations were poured in rituals of caring for the dead (see Parentalia and Caristia), and some tombs were equipped with tubes through which the offerings could be directed to the underground dead.Nicola Denzey Lewis, entry on "Catacombs," The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome (Oxford University Press, 2010), vol. 1, p. 58; John R. Clarke, Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans: Visual Representation and Non-elite Viewers in Italy, 100 B.C.–A.D. 315 (University of California Press, 2003), p. 197.
Milk was unusual as a libation at Rome, but was regularly offered to a few deities, particularly those of an archaic natureSuch as Jupiter Latiaris and Pales. or those for whom it was a natural complement, such as Rumina, a goddess of birth and childrearing who promoted the flow of breast milk, and Cunina, a tutelary deity of the cradle.Hendrik H.J. Brouwer, Bona Dea: The Sources and a Description of the Cult (Brill, 1989), pp. 328–329. It was offered also to Mercurius Sobrius (the "sober" Mercury), whose cult is well attested in Roman Africa and may have been imported to the city of Rome by an African community.Robert E.A. Palmer, Rome and Carthage at Peace (Franz Steiner, 1997), pp. 80–81, 86–88.
In Isaiah 53:12, Isaiah uses libation as a metaphor when describing the end of the Suffering Servant figure who "poured out his life unto death".
Libations of wine were offered at the Jerusalem temple, and a double libation of wine and water was offered during Sukkot, possibly as a rain making ritual.
Idolatrous libations were forbidden, along with the Torah's prohibitions on idolatrous sacrifice and worship generally.
In African cultures and African traditional religions the ritual of pouring libation is an essential ceremonial tradition and a way of giving homage to the ancestors. Ancestors are not only respected in such cultures, but also invited to participate in all public functions (as are also the gods and God). A prayer is offered in the form of libations, calling the ancestors to attend. The ritual is generally performed by an elder. Although water may be used, the drink is typically some traditional wine (e.g. palm wine), and the libation ritual is accompanied by an invitation (and invocation) to the ancestors, gods and God. In the Volta region of Ghana, water with a mixture of corn flour is also used to pour libation.
Libation is also commonly recognized as the break within the famous performance of Agbekor, a ritual dance performed in West African cultures. It is also poured during traditional marriage ceremony, when a child is born and funeral ceremony. Traditional Festivals like Asafotu and Homowo of the Ga-Adangbe people of Ghana and Togo. Also during installment of kings, queens, and chiefs, libation is poured.
As recently as the 1920s, it was a custom in Lower Nubia for women to go to the graves of relatives every Friday and pour a libation of water into a red bowl at the head of the grave. For widows, it was also once a custom for them to pour a libation of milk on their husband's grave the second day after his death.
Similarly, it has been Copts tradition for women to visit graves and make water libations, both in intervals during the first 40 days after a death, and during a few annual occasions, such as Nayrouz.
Libation was done in this manner: when octli was drunk, when they tasted the new octli, when someone had just made octli...he summoned people. He set it out in a vessel before the hearth, along with small cups for drinking. Before having anyone drink, he took up octli with a cup and then poured it before the hearth; he poured the octli in the four directions. And when he had poured the octli then everyone drank it.
Then, the merit is distributed by the donors (called ahmya wei အမျှဝေ) by thrice saying the following:
Afterward, in unison, the participants repeat thrice a declaration of affirmation: thadu (သာဓု, sadhu), Pali for "well done", akin to the Christian use of amen. Afterward, the libated water is poured on soil outside, to return the water to Vasudhara. The earth goddess Vasudhara is invoked to witness these meritorious deeds.
Prior to colonial rule, the water libation ceremony was also performed during the crowning of Burmese kings, as part of procedures written in the Raza Thewaka Dipani Kyan, an 1849 text that outlines proper conduct of Burmese kings.
Although the offering of water to Vasudhara may have pre-Buddhist roots, this ceremony is believed to have been started by King Bimbisara, who poured the libation of water, to share his merit with his ancestors who had become .
This ceremony is also practiced at the end of Thai and Laotian Buddhist rituals to transfer merit, where it is called kruat nam (กรวดน้ำ) and yaat nam respectively.
Among the Ainu people, libations are offered by means of the ikupasuy, a carved wooden implement with a "tongue," the pointed end from which millet beer or sake is dripped upon the venerated object.
In Russia and some parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States, there is a tradition of pouring vodka onto a grave, an act possibly connected with dziady custom. In Georgia, where wine plays a more culturally significant role, it is common to pour a glass of wine on graves, especially around Easter in commemoration of all deceased.
In the contemporary United States, libations are occasionally offered in the name of a deceased person on various occasions, usually when drinking socially among friends in a private setting. There is also a tradition of pouring libations of malt liquor before drinking, which is particularly associated with African American . This is referred to as "tipping" to one's deceased friends, or "pouring one out". This practice has been recorded in film, such as Boyz n the Hood, and referenced in various songs, such as the 1993 "Gangsta Lean (This Is For My Homies)" by DRS ("I tip my 40 to your memory") and the 1994 "Pour Out a Little Liquor" by 2Pac. As with similar practices worldwide, various symbolic sayings accompany the pouring.
In Rabbinic Judaism, drops of wine are taken from one's glass at the Passover Seder by pouring them out or dipping one's finger into the glass, either 10 for each plague, or 16; ten for the ten plagues, three for "Blood, Fire and Columns of Smoke", and three for "Detzach, Adash, B’achav". Explanations vary, but the common one is regret that the freeing of the Jewish people came at the cost of many Egyptians suffering and dying, and out of respect to "not rejoice the downfall of an enemy". However, this is a more modern interpretation originally created by Rabbi Yirmiyahu Löw's grandfather, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century, though with precedent from Sanhendrin 39b:5.
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