Bear Your Soul.

Bears have quite a little history with humans. We're both omnivores for one. In the past, they've had the nickname of "four legged humans", "chief's son" , or "old man in fur garment." Some kings even believed their decedents were bears. Other folktale mention humas descending from bears. Even women mating with bears in the mountains.

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The Ainu people of Japan held special places in their hearts for bears. Infact, their own beliefs was based on bears.

"The Ainu practiced an elaborate bear cult into the 1920s which immediately calls to mind the Paleolithic bear cult and the epiphany of the Great Goddess as Bear Mother. The Ainu captured a bear cub, nurtured it for months and then sacrificed it during an elaborate ritual. They are the only people to have retained a full fledged bear cult into the twentieth century and the Paleolithic elements are unmistakable; the Ainu are truly spectacular from a Western anthropologist's viewpoint."

Their bear ritual went like so:
First, a baby bear would be captured and brought to the village. He would be kept and fed for 2-3 years until nice and fat. During mid-winter, at midnight, while the bear had the most fat on him and thickest fur.

They would shoot the bear with ceremonial arrows and then kill it by crushing it with a log.

Women weren't allowed to participate in this festival. The bear is placed on an alter as a sacrafice and there are lots of celebrations with sake and hard liquor.
Organs in the head are removed and replaced with flowers. Afterwards, the bear's skulls are repected by putting them in their huts.

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