Ethnography and Cultural Practices

Ritual Sacrifice

Also Known As Sacrifice

Citation Formats

General Reference

Society and Culture Atlas. "Ritual Sacrifice." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://society.interactiveatlas.org/practices/ritual-sacrifice.

APA Style

Society and Culture Atlas. (n.d.). Ritual Sacrifice. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://society.interactiveatlas.org/practices/ritual-sacrifice

BibTeX

@misc{societyandcultureatlas-ritual-sacrifice,
  author = {Society and Culture Atlas},
  title = {Ritual Sacrifice},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://society.interactiveatlas.org/practices/ritual-sacrifice},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

An act or offering made to a deity or spirit, most often an animal or valued good given up by the offerer, carrying a spiritual significance that distinguishes it from an ordinary gift.

Facts

Typical Regionthe subject's own account

Documented across the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world, with evidence of ritual animal sacrifice among the ancient Hebrews and Greeks among the earliest attested, and in traditional religious practice worldwide; not confined to any one region or era. 1

Documented Year

1898 2

the subject's own accountThe year Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss published Essai sur la nature et la fonction du sacrifice, the founding academic theory of sacrifice as gift exchange with the gods.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Ancestor Veneration

Offerings made to or for the dead, propitiating or honoring them, are a documented category of sacrifice that overlaps directly with ancestor veneration practice.

Source Wikipedia: Sacrifice

Headhunting

Both are practices of ritualized violence that anthropologists analyze chiefly for their ceremonial and social function rather than their material or military purpose.

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Sacrifice

WikipediaOpening definition, description

Quote, Opening definition, description