HISTORY OF SALT IN RELIGION

Salt has long held an important place in religion and culture. Greek worshippers consecrated salt in their rituals. Jewish Temple offerings included salt; on the Sabbath, Jews still dip their bread in salt as a remembrance of those sacrifices. In the Old Testament, Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Author Sallie Tisdale notes that salt is as free as the water suspending it when it's dissolved, and as immutable as stone when it's dry - a fitting duality for Lot's wife, who overlooks Sodom to this day.

Covenants in both the Old and New Testaments were often sealed with salt: the origin of the word "salvation." In the Catholic Church, salt is or has been used in a variety of purifying rituals. In fact, until Vatican II, a small taste of salt was placed on a baby's lip at his or her baptism. Jesus called his disciples "the Salt of the Earth." In Leonardo DaVinci's famous painting, "The Last Supper," Judas Escariot has just spilled a bowl of salt - a portent of evil and bad luck. To this day, the tradition endures that someone who spills salt should throw a pinch over his left shoulder to ward off any devils that may be lurking behind.

In Buddhist tradition, salt repels evil spirits. That's why it's customary to throw salt over your shoulder before entering your house after a funeral: it scares off any evil spirits that may be clinging to your back.

Shinto religion also uses salt to purify an area. Before sumo wrestlers enter the ring for a match - which is actually an elaborate Shinto rite - a handful of salt is thrown into the center to drive off malevolent spirits.

In the Southwest, the Pueblo worship the Salt Mother. Other native tribes had significant restrictions on who was permitted to eat salt. Hopi legend holds that the angry Warrior Twins punished mankind by placing valuable salt deposits far from civilization, requiring hard work and bravery to harvest the precious mineral. In 1933, the Dalai Lama was buried sitting up in a bed of salt.

Today, a gift of salt endures in India as a potent symbol of good luck and a reference to Mahatma Gandhi's liberation of India, which included a symbolic walk to the sea to gather tax-free salt for the nation's poor.

The Bible refers to salt in many places. The Book of Job (dating to hundreds of years before Christ) contains the line, “Can nothing which is unsavory be eaten without salt”. Salt mountains with cathedral-like chimneys and caves are found around the perimeter of the Dead Sea. Ancient tradition holds that Lot’s wife remains there as a salt pillar.

Lot (nephew of Abraham) lived in the city of Sodom with his wife and two daughters. Before Sodom was destroyed by the wrath of God, two angels warned them to escape to the mountains and were instructed not to look back at the burning Sodom behind them. Lot’s wife turned to look back on the burning city. She was immediately turned into a pillar of salt.

Elisha, a Hebrew prophet of 9th century BCE, sweetened the waters of Jericho by casting salt into them saying, “witness, we are the salt of the earth”. Salt was considered a symbol of purity and value. Many religious rituals from time immemorial demanded that all sacrifices be salted before they were offered to God. Jews dip bread in salt on the Sabbath (prayer day) as a remembrance of their sacrifices.

Jesus told his disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth and if salt loses its test wherewith shall it be salted again” (Matthew 5:13). Spilling salt entails evil consequences such as incurring the anger of all good spirits and to this day it survives as a superstition, among Christians, that has to be warded off by throwing a few grains of salt over one’s left shoulder. This belief carries over from the time of Christ when Judas spilled the salt kept in the bowl in front of him which signified that he was precipitating an evil act.

Leonardo da Vinci, in his famous fresco in the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, 'The Last Supper', painted an overturned salt bowl at the table in front of Judas. He must have been thinking of the covenant of love and friendship that Judas had broken in betraying Jesus.

In Scotland it was a common practice to take a salt box as the first item to move into a new dwelling symbolising purity (similar to the habit of Indians taking milk into a new residence and boil it there to drink it as the first food item) and to start the new life on a good footing.


Read More:
● Salt History
● History of Salt in Religion
● History of Salt in Warfare
● History of Salt in Politics
● Bangladesh Salt History
● History of Salt in Economics