Editing Fertility rite (section)

===Phoenicia===

Ancient Phoenicia saw "a special sacrifice at the season of the harvest, to reawaken the spirit of the vine"; while the winter fertility rite to restore "the spirit of the withering vine" included as sacrifice "cooking a kid in the milk of its mother, a [[Canaanite religion|Canaanite]] custom which [[Mosaic law]] condemned and formally forbade".<ref>Guirand, p. 77–9</ref>

The death of [[Adonis]] – "a vegetation spirit who...was manifest in the seed of corn" – was marked by "the most beautiful of Phoenician festivals...celebrated immediately after the harvest".<ref>Guirand, p. 81–2</ref>