Posted by jane d on July 24, 2013, at 2:49:18
In reply to Re: anxiety about Babble and me » jane d, posted by SLS on July 22, 2013, at 6:43:01
> The origin of the term "scapegoat" is quite interesting. Lou Pilder can correct me if I am wrong. In the days of old, it was a tradition of Jews on the Yom Kippur holiday to choose two goats to perform rituals that were designed to cleans the community of sin. The first goat was chosen by lottery to be slaughtered. This sacrifice was meant to atone for the sins of the community. Once atoned for, the sins could then be removed. It was the remaining goat that would become the scapegoat. All of the sins were ritually transferred to this one goat. The scapegoat was then released into the wilderness to wander, taking with it the sins of Israel.
>You're right. It is interesting. I looked it up after I first (mis)used it. And I think I got my goats confused. I hadn't realized before that there were two of them.
poster:jane d
thread:1047296
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20130702/msgs/1047734.html