sacred deer
Divinely protected stag
Sacred deer are deer granted special protection due to religious, cultural, or mythological significance.
The deer at Japan's Nara Park are the most famous example—Shinto tradition holds them as divine messengers, and harming them was once a capital offense.
Tourists feed the sacred deer rice crackers.
The phrase also references the 2017 film *The Killing of a Sacred Deer*, which draws on the Greek myth of Iphigenia.
- stagMale deer
- white stagLeucistic male deer
- antlersBranching cervid headgear
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
- blood sacrificeRitual killing for deities
ritual · ancient ritual · holy · hunt · forest · myth · Artemis · offering · divine · white · hind · Celtic · temple · woodland · blood · ceremony · innocence · purity
sacred deerfair game
Legitimate object of pursuit
quarry · game animal · prey · venison · vermin
sacred deersacrificial animal
Creature killed for deity
ill omen · blood offering · ritual sacrifice · burnt offering · scapegoat
sacred, deer, sacredly, sacredness, sacral, sacrament, sacramental, consecrate, consecration