Sacrifice

== Animal sacrifice ==
[[File:Sacrifice scene Louvre G402.jpg|thumb|left|Animal sacrifice offered together with [[libation]] in [[Ancient Greece]]. Attic red-figure [[oinochoe]], {{circa|430}}–425 BC ([[Louvre]]).]]
{{main|Animal sacrifice}}
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practiced by adherents of many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature. It also served a social or economic function in those cultures where the edible portions of the animal were distributed among those attending the sacrifice for consumption. Animal sacrifice has turned up in almost all cultures, from the [[Hebrews]] to the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] (particularly the purifying ceremony [[Lustratio]]), [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]] (for example in the cult of [[Apis (god)|Apis]]) and from the [[Aztecs]] to the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]]. The religion of the ancient Egyptians forbade the sacrifice of animals other than sheep, bulls, calves, male calves and geese.<ref>{{cite book|last1=introduction|first1=Herodotus; translated by Robin Waterfield; with an|last2=Dewald|first2=notes by Carolyn|title=The histories|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-953566-8|edition=1a ed. 1998; reimpr. 2008.}}</ref>

Animal sacrifice is still practiced today by the followers of [[Santería]] and other lineages of Orisa as a means of curing the sick and giving thanks to the [[Orisa]] (gods). However, in Santeria, such animal offerings constitute an extremely small portion of what are termed ''ebos''—ritual activities that include offerings, prayer and deeds. Christians from some villages in Greece also sacrifice animals to Orthodox saints in a practice known as [[kourbània|kourbánia]]. The practice, while publicly condemned, is often tolerated.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}