BULL HORNS.

When a person travels deep into the Pashtun rural areas he would find large homes with one main entrance & that entrance would have either one or two bull horns or a complete goat skull with horns guarding the entrance. The myth about it varies from places to places but mostly revolves around the ancient pagan roots of mithra, mazdean(zoroastrian) beliefs. The bull has been exalted t
throughout the ancient world for its strength and vigor.
The slaying of the bull represented the victory of man's spiritual nature over his animalistic nature, parallel to the symbolic images of Marduk slaying Tiamut, Gilgamesh killing Humbaba & Michael subduing Satan.
Pashtuns myths carry that a bull represents domination, power, wealth & sacrifice & its horns if mounted at the entrance of a room or the main gate is used to guard the home, showing the force & strength of the family related to bull slaying. It also cast out any evil intentions while it protects the family within the home.

The closest myths to the bull horns mounted on the gates can be one of these according to my knowledge & research.

• The altar in front of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem was adorned with bull horns believed to be endowed with magical powers. The bull was also one of the four tetra-morphs, the symbols later associated with the four gospels. It has also been related to the Golden calf where the bani-Israel mounted an imaginary god in the form of a cow & praised it as the image of their idol. When Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he saw the golden calf. He was so raged that he threw away the 10 commandments & ordered to kill the Israelite who took part in making the golden calf from gold. When the calf was melted, only the horns of it remained which later were taken as a sign to remove any idolatry images that be depicted as god.

• The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the killing of the bull of heaven by Gilgamesh as an act of defiance of the gods. From the earliest times, the bull was lunar in Mesopotamia (its horns representing the crescent moon). The Bull of Heaven is the constellation we call Taurus. He is controlled by the sky god Anu. After Gilgamesh upsets the goddess Ishtar, she convinces her father Anu to send the Bull of Heaven to earth to destroy the crops and kill people. However, Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull of Heaven. The gods according to the sumerian myths got angry that the Bull of Heaven has been killed & as punishment for killing the bull Enkidu falls ill and dies. Thus reviving the mighty bull to be at help again of the heavens & be the protector of those who serves the gods. No wonder the word gilgamesh resembles the pashto word Gaamesh (the black cow).

• Mithra a Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, , contract, war and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters. Mithra was given the command by the raven, messenger of the sun, to slay the bull. Mithras seized it by the horns and decapitated it to show his victory. As the bull died, the world came into being and time was born. From the body of the slain beast sprang forth all the herbs and plants that cover the earth. From the spinal cord of the animal sprang wheat to produce bread, and from the blood came the vine to produce wine. The shedding of the sacrificial blood brought great blessings to the world. The term Mithra is from the Avestan language. In Middle Iranian languages Mithra became Lmar in southern Pashto or meher in waziri pashto.
Mithras killed a bull as Offering. The Yezidis do the same in autumn. They offer it for mankind and for the generation of a harmonious world, and for the original New Year’s feast. The bull earlier symbolized the autumn, and a rainy, fruitful green year was expected to follow its slaughter.

• Gate keeper of Shiva's abode. The close association of Shiva and Nandi (the bull) explains the presence of a statue of Nandi at the gate of many temples dedicated to Shiva. In indian languages the word nandi is used as a metaphor for a person blocking the way. In Sanskrit, a bull is called "vrisha" & It is important to seek the blessings of Nandi before proceeding to worship Lord Shiva.

• The mounting of the bull horns has slowly faded away in the pashtun lands & has also died within the zoroastrian & indic religion. The bull horn mounting in modern era is only now practiced in Texas & mexico only as it has a totally different origin for it. "In 1493, Columbus brought Spanish cattle to Santa Domingo. Within 200 years their descendents were grazing the ranges of Mexico. Translating wild cattle into hard cash was an epic struggle between man, beast and the elements - from this grew the romantic legends of the Western Cowboy. In the quarter century following the Civil War, 10 million head were trailed north. The longhorns of texas have ideal characteristics - they can go incredible distances without water, rustle their own food, fend for themselves, swim rivers and survive the desert sun and winter snow. Texas designated the longhorn as the official state large mammal in 1995. It has to do with the identity of the state of Texas as a sort of culture of its own, or as a very distinct part of the greater American culture, which is likely why Texans mount these long horns in their houses. It was an official response to a part of the culture that had existed for some time.