Offerings

Offerings names gifts presented in religious or ceremonial context: food, drink, incense, flowers, candles, money, ritual objects, or symbolic substances[1]. The English term covers practices found in nearly every religious tradition under various theological framings. The specific theological meaning of an offering varies enormously by tradition.

offerings can express gratitude, dependence, remembrance, reciprocity, or worship.

Christian offerings include monetary contributions to the church (tithing in some traditions, freewill offering in others), Eucharistic offerings of bread and wine (which are then consecrated), offerings of candles and flowers in churches, and various devotional offerings to saints. The theology of offering varies across Christian traditions; Catholic and Orthodox Eucharistic theology develops offering most extensively.

Hindu puja involves offerings in many forms: flowers, fruit, food (prasada), incense, light (especially the arati flame), water, and ritual substances. After offering to the deity, the food typically returns to the worshippers as prasada (literally "grace" or "favor"), now blessed by the deity's contact. The reciprocal flow (offering to deity, return as blessing) is central to Hindu devotional practice.

Buddhist offerings include flowers, incense, light, food, and water placed before images and shrines. The classical Buddhist understanding holds that the buddhas and bodhisattvas do not need the offerings; the act of offering benefits the giver by cultivating generosity (dana) and devotion. The offering is for the practitioner's spiritual development.

Jewish offerings in biblical times included sacrifices at the Temple (animal, grain, peace offerings, and others). With the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, classical sacrifice ended; rabbinic Judaism reframed offering through prayer, charity (tzedakah), and acts of righteousness. The principle that "the offerings of the heart" continue even when Temple sacrifice ended is central in rabbinic thought.

Islamic offerings include the sacrifice during hajj (the ram or sheep slaughtered in commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son), the zakat (obligatory almsgiving), and voluntary sadaqah (charity).

Shinto offerings to kami include food, sake, salt, and other items. Ancestor veneration across many traditions involves offerings of food, drink, and incense. African Diaspora traditions develop elaborate offering practices to orishas, lwa, and ancestors.

Across traditions, offering typically involves both material gift and the disposition of the giver[2]. A reluctant or grudging offering is considered theologically deficient; an offering made with genuine devotion or generosity carries weight regardless of monetary value.

Comparative offerings studies has produced significant literature in ritual studies, anthropology, and religious studies. Marcel Mauss's classic The Gift (1925) shaped much subsequent thinking about gift exchange in religious and social contexts[2]. Comparative ritual studies across traditions has continued the work.

• The Giftby Marcel Mauss
  book
• Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functionby Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss
  book