Editing Snake (section)

=== Religion ===
[[File:Mixco Viejo ballcourt marker.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.85|[[Mesoamerican ballcourt|Ballcourt]] marker from the Postclassic site of [[Mixco Viejo]] in Guatemala. This sculpture depicts [[Kukulkan]], jaws agape, with the head of a human warrior emerging from his maw.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sharer |first1=Robert J. |author-link=Robert Sharer |first2=Loa P. |last2=Traxler |name-list-style=vanc |year=2006 |title=The Ancient Maya |edition=6th (fully revised) |location=Stanford, California |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8047-4817-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientmaya0006shar/page/619 619] |oclc=57577446 |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientmaya0006shar/page/619}}</ref>]]
{{Main|Snake worship}}
Snakes are used in [[Hinduism]] as a part of ritual worship.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/hindus-unite-to-worship-the-snake-god-today/articleshow/9474357.cms |title=Hindus unite to worship the snake god today |date=August 4, 2011 |last=Kerkar |first=Rajendra P. |work=The Times of India |access-date=March 3, 2021 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507062700/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Hindus-unite-to-worship-the-snake-god-today/articleshow/9474357.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> In the annual [[Nag Panchami]] festival, participants worship either live cobras or images of [[Nāga]]s. Lord [[Shiva]] is depicted in most images with a snake coiled around his neck.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.timesnownews.com/spiritual/religion/article/what-is-the-significance-of-the-snake-around-lord-shivas-neck/468331 |title=What is the significance of the snake around Lord Shiva's neck? |date=August 22, 2019 |last=Iyer |first=Gayathri |website=TimesNowNews.com |access-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415042638/https://www.timesnownews.com/spiritual/religion/article/what-is-the-significance-of-the-snake-around-lord-shivas-neck/468331 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Puranas|Puranic]] literature includes various stories associated with snakes, for example [[Shesha]] is said to hold all the planets of the Universe on his hoods and to constantly sing the glories of [[Vishnu]] from all his mouths. Other notable snakes in Hinduism are [[Vasuki]], [[Takshaka]], [[Karkotaka]], and [[Pingala]]. The term ''Nāga'' is used to refer to entities that take the form of large snakes in Hinduism and [[Buddhism]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=naga {{!}} Hindu mythology |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/naga-Hindu-mythology |access-date=July 1, 2022 |website=Britannica |language=en |archive-date=4 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904152421/https://www.britannica.com/topic/naga-Hindu-mythology |url-status=live }}</ref>

Snakes have been widely revered in many cultures, such as in [[ancient Greece]] where the serpent was seen as a healer.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-815339-0.00017-2 |chapter=Asclepius and the Snake as Toxicological Symbols in Ancient Greece and Rome |title=Toxicology in Antiquity |date=2019 |last1=Tsoucalas |first1=Gregory |last2=Androutsos |first2=George |pages=257–265 |isbn=978-0-12-815339-0 }}</ref> [[Asclepius]] carried a serpent wound around his wand, a symbol seen today on many ambulances.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mediband.com/gb/blog/medical-emergency-symbol-origin/ |title=The Origin of the Medical Emergency Symbol |date=February 26, 2019 |website=Mediband.com |access-date=February 26, 2021 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326034414/https://www.mediband.com/gb/blog/medical-emergency-symbol-origin/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In [[Judaism]], the snake of [[brass]] is also a symbol of healing, of one's life being saved from imminent death.<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|21:6–21:9|NAB}}</ref>

In religious terms, the snake and [[jaguar]] were arguably the most important animals in ancient [[Mesoamerica]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.manzanillosun.com/the-mesoamerican-serpent/ |title=The Mesoamerican Serpent |date=2019-08-01 |last=Vickery |first=Kirby |work=Manzanillo Sun |access-date=March 3, 2021 |archive-date=20 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120152448/https://www.manzanillosun.com/the-mesoamerican-serpent/ |url-status=live }}</ref> "In states of ecstasy, lords dance a serpent dance; great descending snakes adorn and support buildings from [[Chichen Itza]] to [[Tenochtitlan]], and the [[Nahuatl]] word ''coatl'' meaning serpent or twin, forms part of primary deities such as [[Mixcoatl]], [[Quetzalcoatl]], and [[Coatlicue]]."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya |last=Miller |first=Mary |date=1993 |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-500-27928-1}}</ref> In the [[Maya calendar|Maya]] and [[Aztec calendar]]s, the fifth day of the week was known as Snake Day.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

In some parts of [[Christianity]], the redemptive work of [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] is compared to saving one's life through beholding the [[Nehushtan]] (serpent of brass).<ref>{{bibleverse|John|3:14|NAB}}</ref> [[Snake handling in Christianity|Snake handlers]] use snakes as an integral part of church worship, to demonstrate their faith in divine protection. However, more commonly in Christianity, the serpent has been depicted as a representative of [[evil]] and sly plotting, as seen in the description in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] of a snake tempting [[Eve]] in the [[Garden of Eden]].<ref name=genesis/> [[Saint Patrick]] is purported to have expelled all snakes from Ireland while converting the country to Christianity in the 5th century, thus explaining the absence of snakes there.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/saint-patrick-banish-snakes-irleand |title=Did St. Patrick really banish all the snakes from Ireland? |date=February 24, 2019 |last=Drew |first=April |website=IrishCentral.com |access-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310204431/https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/saint-patrick-banish-snakes-irleand |url-status=live }}</ref>

In Christianity and Judaism, the snake makes its infamous appearance in the first book of the Bible when a serpent appears before [[Adam and Eve]] and tempts them with the [[forbidden fruit]] from the [[Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil|Tree of Knowledge]].<ref name=genesis>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:1|NAB}}</ref> The snake returns in the [[Book of Exodus]] when [[Moses]] turns his staff into a snake as a sign of God's power, and later when he makes the Nehushtan, a bronze snake on a pole that when looked at cured the people of bites from the snakes that plagued them in the desert. The serpent makes its final appearance symbolizing [[Satan]] in the [[Book of Revelation]]: "And he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."<ref>{{bibleverse|Revelation|20:2|NAB}}</ref>

In [[Neo-Paganism]] and [[Wicca]], the snake is seen as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge.<ref>{{Cite web |title=DISCUSSION ON WITCHCRAFT, WICCA NEO-PAGANISM AND AFRICAN TRADITIONS |url=https://people.ucalgary.ca/~nurelweb/papers/hayes/witch.html |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=people.ucalgary.ca |archive-date=9 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609060259/https://people.ucalgary.ca/~nurelweb/papers/hayes/witch.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, snakes are sometimes associated with [[Hecate]], the Greek goddess of [[witchcraft]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Oskar |last=Seyffert |title=A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities: Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art |url=https://archive.org/details/b3135841x/page/270/mode/2up?view=theater |publisher=[[William Swan Sonnenschein|Swan Sonnenschein and Co]] |edition=6 |date=1901 |page=271 |access-date=January 2, 2022}}</ref>