In Christian tradition, Black Mass is the name given to a ceremony supposedly celebrated during the Sabbath, which was a parody of the Christian Mass. Its main objective was the profanation of the host, although there is no agreement among authors on how were hosts obtained or profaned; the most common idea is that they were profaned by means of some ritual related to sexual practices. Authors also disagree on which rites were performed during the ceremony.

Some scholars believed that the host was replaced by a toad, a turnip or a bit of dry flesh, but most judges and authors believed that true hosts were given by Christian priests that had made a diabolical pact to the attendants to the Sabbath to be profaned by them.

As it was believed that the culmination of this mass was an orgy, the term was later applied to a sexual orgy.

The Church of Satan occasionally stages black masses, not as an act of worship, but rather to quite deliberately shock Christians and thereby draw media attention.

External links

• Black Mass, The - article at the MYSTICA