Paganism of Balts: human sacrifice

ENHuman sacrifice means the act of ritual murder of a human being for religious reasons. The human life is given up as the greatest gift possible to the deity. Human sacrifice comes from the significance given to blood as a symbol of vitality. Blood spilled symbolizes the fertility of the fields, it was seen as symbolically watering the crops, and consequently human sacrifice rituals were much more common in agricultural nations than in those of nomads and hunters. The written sources provide evidence of human sacrifices practiced not just by the Aztecs, but also the Incas, Mayan, Celts and specific African nations. Hints or reflections of human sacrifice are also found in the history of the religions of the Teutons, Celts, Greeks, Romans, Druids and Slavs. Did the Baltic tribes practice human sacrifice? Analysis of the written sources and folklore texts may help answer this question. Initially, it can be said the written monuments attributed to the Lithuanians and Prussians and Lithuanian folklore contain examples testifying to the existence of these sorts of rituals, but whether these rituals were actually practiced is disputed. The reason for the controversy is quite simple: the lack of information. Information in written sources ascribed to the Lithuanians and Prussians allows us to ask about and discuss not just the sacrifice of prisoners of war following successful battle or a successful military campaign, but also about the right of every member of the community to sacrifice themselves voluntarily to the gods (to travel to the gods). We can also talk about building sacrifices separately. [p. 137].

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