Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly existed before that. Evidence of ritual human sacrifice can also be found back to at least pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica as well as in European civilizations. Varieties of ritual non-human sacrifices are practiced by numerous religions today.
Marcus Aurelius and members of the Imperial family offer sacrifice in gratitude for success against Germanic tribes: contemporary bas-relief, Capitoline Museum, Rome.
The sacrificial cairn in Janakkala, Finland
Animal sacrifice offered together with libation in Ancient Greece. Attic red-figure oinochoe, c. 430–425 BC (Louvre).
Aztec human sacrifice, from Codex Mendoza, 16th century (Bodleian Library, Oxford).
Worship is showing regard with great respect, honor, or devotion. This may be encountered in religious settings. In such instances it may represent divine worship; reverence for a divine being or supernatural power. This activity may have other focuses, such as hero worship. Worship may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, supplication, devotion, prostration, or submission. An act of worship can be performed as simple prayer or through elaborate ceremony, individually, in an informal or formal group, or by a designated leader. The focus of worship is ultimately honoring the subject in some manner.
Detail from Religion by Charles Sprague Pearce (1896)
A wayside cross in Kizhi, Republic of Karelia
Ilja Praasniekka, the Elijah Day worship on the shore of lake in Ilomantsi, Finland in July 1996
In Islam, Sujud (prostrations) occupy a quintessential position in the five obligatory daily formal prayers.