Sacrifice

thumb|250px|Marcus Aurelius and members of the Imperial family offer sacrifice in gratitude for success against Germanic tribes: contemporary [[bas-relief, Capitoline Museum, Rome.]]

offering of a human being to a god or goddess in tribute, as an act of repentance, to ask forgiveness, or in exchange for a favor

objects placed intentionally in a grave

formal, ritualized killing of an animal as a sacred act

Self-denial (related but different from self-abnegation or self-sacrifice) is an act of letting go of the self as with altruistic abstinence – the willingness to forgo personal pleasures or undergo personal trials in the pursuit of the increased good of another. Various religions and cultures take differing views of self-denial, some considering it a positive trait and others considering it a negative one. According to some Protestants, self-denial is considered a superhuman virtue only obtainable through Jesus. Some critics of self-denial suggest that self-denial can lead to self-hatred.

thumb|400px|King Yudhishthira, a character in the [[Mahabharata, performs the rajasuya sacrifice]] Rajasuya () is a śrauta ritual of the Vedic religion. It is ceremony that marks a consecration of a king. According to the Puranas, it refers to a great sacrifice performed by a Chakravarti – universal monarch, in which the tributary princes may also take part, at the time of his coronation, as a mark of his undisputed sovereignty.

form of joss paper printed to resemble bank notes

thumb|Pan de muerto altar commemorating a deceased man in Milpa Alta, México DF

Korean worship

Chinese festival

Self-sacrifice is the giving up of something that a person wants for themselves, so that others can be helped or protected, or so that other external values can be advanced or protected. Generally, an act of self-sacrifice conforms to the rule that it does not serve the person's best self-interest, and will leave the person in a worse situation than the person otherwise would have been.

religious activity in Maya culture