What are Human Sacrifices?
Human sacrifice is the act of killing human beings as part of a religious ritual or for other means. It parallels with animal sacrifice, which is the killing of animals as part of a religious ritual as well. Now, you may ask, “Why would they even think of doing something like this?” Here are some reasons and forms of human sacrifices that have existed for many centuries:
1) Appeasement: Human sacrifices were said to appease gods, spirits, or the deceased. This is mostly for religious purposes.
2) Retainer sacrifice: Kings’ servants would die in order to continue serving their master in the next life.
3) Cannibalism: The act or practice of humans eating or consuming other humans.
4) Headhunting: The practice of taking a person’s head after killing the victim.
5) Capital Punishment: Although this may be difficult to distinguish from human sacrifices, many have looked at capital punishment as a form of human sacrifice.
6) Execution by burning: This is a harsh method of capital punishment that is thought to be almost a human sacrifice.
7) Genocides, Lynching, & Pogroms: After Theodor W. Adomo, these three acts of crime can be looked at as a form of human sacrifice.
Human sacrifices can be seen throughout history. The Aztecs are well-known for their practices of human sacrifice. It is extremely rare to see traditional human sacrifice rituals take place today but there have been cases in the 21st century that are looked at as traditional human sacrifices. These multi-killings took place in Sub-Saharan Africa and some in Europe with the immigrant African diaspora. Children are being trafficked into the United Kingdom and used for human sacrifices. They are beaten and murdered after being labeled as witches by pastors.
Check out Boys ‘used for human sacrifice’ and Kenyan arrests for ‘witch’ deaths to read accounts of human sacrifice that have taken place so far in the 21st century.
Present-day human sacrifices are an embarrassing and senseless aspect of modern-day society. Those that engage in these activities must be taught the value of the human life.
