Sacrifice is a word that comes from the Latin language "sacrificium", which refers to doing something sacred. The sacrifice has different uses, it can be related to an offering or a tribute that is prepared for a divinity, in this case the sacrifice can be human or animal. Likewise, the sacrifice or the sacred act, always symbolizes an act of effort and will in favor of achieving a greater purpose for which one fights.
The sacrifice, in the past times, were usually carried out through different types of rituals in which animals and different offerings were promised in honor of their gods. These rituals, when carried out through the burning of these offerings, were popularly like holocausts.
It is thought that human sacrifice in pre-Hispanic times was a religious method that was carried out in the context of some cults of the indigenous populations of America. The presence of this practice is fought for by modern analysts and ethnographers.
Self-denial is a kind of moral dignity that lies in spontaneous sacrifice or through the will of one's own interests, desires and even life itself, in the help of others or all. It is a type of altruism that requires self-sacrifice or immolation.
The sacrifice can be promised for a personal cause and give part to a domestic party, a serious example for the celebration of a marriage; it can take part in a tabernacle, at the request of a person or a society, or even at the request of a city.
The sacrificer could be the head of the family, as a first option, or a mageiros: an expert hired for the moment, who operates as sacrificer and cook at the same time. In oratories, normally, the priests are in charge of the rite, being these the ones who carry out the sacrifices on behalf of the sacrificers.
The Panateneas in Athens and the Jacintias in Sparta, to give an example of the most majestic festivities of two cities, were slaughter places for a large number of oxen, which was what the groups of citizens participating in the festivities fed.
