How were goats and sheep used in mountain rituals in North Africa and the Canary Islands?

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Charles Sprague Pearce: Religion — Nature worship Detail of *Religion*, mural in lunette from the Family and Education series by Charles Sprague Pearce, 1897; in the Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.

In the context of nature worship, the pre-Islamic peoples of North Africa and the Guanches of the Canary Islands integrated goats and sheep into their mountain rituals to address the challenges of their arid environments.1

These rituals were specifically performed with the belief that they would secure essential rainfall and trigger thunderstorms. By associating mountain worship with these animals, these cultures sought to influence the natural forces necessary for survival in dry landscapes. Similar practices involving such cults have also been documented in the Balkans and the valleys of the southern Alps.1