Motif family
Sacrifice and Offering
The giving up of something precious # life, status, possession, self # to the sacred. Includes burnt offerings, self-sacrifice, the scapegoat, and sacrificial death that creates or renews.
103 traditions
10,519 occurrences
339 mapped motifs
- african akan
- african bantu
- afro caribbean
- ainu
- akan
- amazonian
- arctic inuit
- armenian
- arthurian
- australian aboriginal
- basque
- bavili
- biblical
- buddhist
- burmese
- buryat mongol
- caucasian
- celtic
- celtic irish
- celtic welsh
- chaco amerindian
- christian
- christian apocrypha
- comparative
- confucian
- daoist
- egyptian
- ekoi
- estonian
- ethiopian christian
- fijian
- filipino
- finnic
- finnish karelian
- fjort
- ganda
- georgian
- germanic
- gnostic
- greek
- greek roman
- guiana amerindian
- hausa
- hawaiian
- hermetic
- hindu
- hopi
- inca
- indigenous australian
- inuit
- islamic
- islamicate folklore
- jain
- japanese
- jewish christian
- jewish pseudepigrapha
- kikuyu
- kimbundu
- korean
- malagasy
- malay
- mangaian
- maori
- maya
- maya quiche
- melanesian
- mesopotamian
- micronesian
- mongol
- nahua
- nahua maya inca
- native american california
- native american great lakes
- native american northeast woodlands
- native american northwest coast
- native american plains
- native american plateau
- native american southeast
- native american southwest
- navajo
- norse
- oceanic
- persian
- roman
- romanian
- samoan
- san
- shan
- shinto
- siberian
- sikh
- slavic
- sufi
- taoist
- temne
- tibetan buddhist
- tongan
- vietnamese
- xhosa
- yoruba
- zoroastrian
- zulu
- zuni
Conserved neighbors: covenant · sacred exchange · death and transformation · primordial sacrifice · sacred substance
This family has not yet been binned into sub-families; its mapped motifs are listed directly, most widespread first.
Mapped motifs
339 motifs, showing the 60 most attested
- Sacrifice 10,174 occurrences · 102 traditions
- african akan
- african bantu
- afro caribbean
- ainu
- amazonian
- arctic inuit
- armenian
- arthurian
- +94 more
- atonement rite 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- jewish christian
- communal expulsion of misfortune-causing spirits 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Communal expulsion of pestilential influences 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- expulsion beyond civic boundary 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Feasting before death 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- sufi
- heroic companion pair ready to die for one another 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- ritual expulsion of a tempter by stones 2 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- Accidental or mad killing followed by purification quest 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- affliction removed by boat 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- affliction removed from one person and transferred to another 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- japanese
- ally dies or nearly dies for the captive 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Ally falls while saving another ally 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Animal Bodhisattva bears an unmatched burden 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- animal corpse substituted for human corpse 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- slavic
- animal fattened for celebratory slaughter 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- buddhist
- animal treated as kin before ritual killing 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- annual expulsion of evil from the community 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- annual expulsion of human or personified scapegoat 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- annual purification 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- jewish christian
- apotropaic expulsion of pestilence and cold airs 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Apotropaic expulsion of pestilential influences 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- confucian
- Archaic offerings for an ancient deity 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- armed and noisy procession to drive out demons 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- armed ritual performance against demons 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- ascetics threatened by demonic disruption of rites 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Atonement after killing sea animals 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- inuit
- atonement enabling kinship after bloodshed 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Atonement offered for a household member's wrongdoing 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Attack and dread of the expelled effigy 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- avoidance of false or mistaken offering 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- navajo
- banishment of a harmful spirit to remote or contrary realms 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- finnish karelian
- Banishment of afflictions to inaccessible or chthonic containment places 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- finnish karelian
- Banishment of an invading evil from the body 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- finnish karelian
- Bearing communal iniquity by numbered days 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- biblical
- Believers threatened by tyrant accept martyrdom 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- binding of a dangerous wolf with bodily cost 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- Bodily infestation revealed and expelled 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- native american northwest coast
- Boiling-water corpse washing exposes or expels a supernatural intruder 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- slavic
- bound hero who voluntarily remains bound 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- boundary expulsion as disease removal 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- boundary preventing return of expelled harms 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- boundary preventing the return of expelled harms 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Boundary removal of affliction to sea, forest, shore, or outside village 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- boundary removal of spirits 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Bubbling blood of a slain figure on an altar 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- islamic
- burning of a human-shaped effigy 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- capturing a disease demon with a pathside device 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- shan
- Celestial witnessing of sacrifice 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- chosen or assisted violent death for afterlife benefit 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- inuit
- cleansing after bloodshed before feast and offering 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- clinging ghost or spirit removed from the body 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Closing boundaries after expelling spirits 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Communal contest for a sacrificial head 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- communal destruction of a dangerous spirit 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- arctic inuit
- communal house-to-house exorcism 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- communal illness transferred to a scapegoat and expelled 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Communal noise, procession, and purification in epidemic rite 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- communal ritual expulsion of disease and evils 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- communal sins transferred to a scapegoat 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
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