The Innate nature of Sacrifice and the Mystery of Its Deviations in Primitive Religions

The ritual of sacrifice is the most ancient ritual in most religions. Throughout the history, men have tried to attract God's or god's satisfaction and prevent their wrath and anger by submitting presents and sacrifices to them. The origin of sacrifice in religions is divine decree, but this ritual has been subject to many changes and developments during different periods of history for different reasons. However, despite these changes and developments, the performance of this ritual in different religions has some similarities such as remembering God and having the intention of drawing nigh to Him when doing the sacrifices. There are some differences in some cases such as the status of sacrifice in the religion and its liturgies. In order to better expound the matter, it is advisable to seek the origin of the sacrifice in various periods of the history and its nature and to know how it was performed in previous religions. Was this holy ritual subject to distortion, too? The present paper tries to study the emergence and history of sacrifice, the aims and motives of offering sacrifice, and deviations and distortions appeared in its meaning and performance.