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Few Neo-pagan goddesses are as strongly associated with Samhain as is Hecate (also often spelled Hekate). Therefore, I thought it might be a good time of year to point out the perhaps unexpected ways that Hecate has always had a place at the vegetarian table.
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One of the most obvious candidates for a Vegan Pagan ancestor is Pythagoras. Whether he fully abstained from all animal products (and at what point in his life) we cannot know, but he had enough to say about the practice to make “Pythagorean” the term for a person who abstained from flesh up until the term “vegetarian” was coined, around the 1850s.
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For a long time, I believed that vegetarian and vegan (strict vegetarian) practices were fairly new in human societies and cultures. In doing some research, however, I have found more and more that this is far from the case. Many ancient writers, thinkers, religious leaders, and ethicists considered this topic. They tended to be concerned both with ritual animal sacrifice, and with the eating of animals. These two issues were almost synonymous in the ancient world, since sacrificed animals were eaten at least by the priests, and usually by the general public.
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