A cat, beef or even a person: these sacrifices protect your building

And you have to take that very literally, it turned out a week ago in Breda. A cat appeared that was bricked into the Grote Kerk about six hundred years ago to protect the house of God with its meows against the devil and angry spirits.

The mummified animal was already discovered in 1906 during a restoration of the Breda prayer house, disappeared at one point and was found a few years ago. That the cat is bricked in is certainly no surprise.

In fact, research by archaeologist Diederick Habermehl shows that such a building sacrifice has been found in 18 percent of all medieval houses. If we go further back in time, it appears that 38 percent of Roman homes contain such a sacrifice.

The further you go back in time, the ‘more normal’ it is to satisfy the gods through a sacrifice. And using a cat for that appears to be very popular. Not entirely coincidentally, a mummified cat was found in the sixties of the last century during a hefty refurbishment of the castle of Helmond.

The beast turned out to be hidden for four hundred years between the wallnis of the wedding room and the council chamber, together with four bags of oats. Since this is Helmond, there could also be another explanation for the find. The inhabitants are also known as cat messages and the animal was also regularly steaming on the table. Could it have been a hidden food supply?

Dog, chicken, beef and horse
Not only cats are a widely used sacrifice, also other animals, such as a dog, chicken, beef or horse have been found in houses or farms. Just like food scraps or pots with money under a support beam. Animals and their blood were also used to sprinkle the building to be protected with it.

And remember that these are the ‘lighter’ forms of sacrifice. In fact, human blood or the use of a person as a sacrifice was the best working means according to superstition. You must also think that setting up large buildings is not without risk for the builders themselves. For example, no fewer than fourteen workers died while building the Afsluitdijk. Also no small, human sacrifice.

Building sacrifices were mainly done to protect important buildings. Reason that they can often be found in churches. That is actually very strange, because normally the church should have little of this kind of superstition. But church buildings are popular buildings anyway to leave groceries.

Bottle with a note
For example, during a restoration of the more than 800 -year -old Sint Janskathedral in Den Bosch, a bricked bottle with a note was found. It was left by stonemasons who were working there at the start of the Second World War with a makeover of the cathedral.

They describe how the German bombers are flying above the city and thousands of people have already died from war violence. “The one who finds this bottle we want a happy life. And hope that life may be better than now. Do do.”

Building sacrifices now seem to have disappeared. But the superstition around the acceleration of buildings is still alive. For example, reaching the highest point, the moment the roof tiles can go, is often celebrated by planting a flag on the building. However, my personally most favorite way to celebrate this is drinking pancreas!