Immolation

Immolation is destruction by fire, that is, burning something to destroy it. In its usual sense, this "destruction" is a sacrifice of a living being.

Sacrifice

See animal sacrifice, human sacrifice

Self-immolation

Self-immolation is the act of setting oneself ablaze, most often in protest. It is considered to be among the most powerful symbolic acts of sacrifice.

During the Vietnam War a number of Buddhist monks self-immolated in protest of the then-escalating civil war, and US involvement. Two Americans also immolated themselves in 1965, in religious protest of the war; the first was Norman Morrison, who performed the act after reading an article by a missionary about the destruction of a Vietnamese village by napalm. The other was Roger Allen LaPorte. Another American, on or about May 11, 1970, immolated himself on the campus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). His name was George Winne Jr, and he was 20 years old. He left a sign saying "For God's sake, stop the war."

The act is a particularly dramatic form of sacrifice, often a part of religious rituals (see ritual suicide).

While this is suicide, it is unconventional as it is long and extremely painful. This makes it a powerful statement, a way of stating ones absolute dedication to a position or belief, such that it warrants literal self-sacrifice.

MIT student Elizabeth Shin committed suicide in this manner.