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Originally Posted by Montino Bourbon
Rome had blood sacrifice, although not usually human. There was a very well-established protocol for doing that, with professionals officiating.
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Ah, but you're forgetting that the great games evolved out of funeral rites, and the deaths engendered by them were considered, at least initially, as a form of sacrifice. Later it devolved into simple bloodsport as the masses became addicted to the spectacle, but the foundation of the practice was religious in nature.
The collecting of heads as trophies/religious objects is one of the oldest in human nature; examples have been found in paleolithic sites dating back 30,000 years where bear skulls were set up in a ceremonial nature, and some form of sacrifice, whether ritual or actual, is part of virtually every religion known to man, even Christianity.
As for the significance of specific weapons being used for sacrificial purposes as opposed to picking up whatever's handy, I imagine it's an evolving situation. No doubt the first Aztec priests to practice human sacrifice used whatever blade was handy; as the practice evolved and the society changed specific blades would have become part of the priest's regalia, imbued with significance and power by their repeated use in ritual.
In my own faith it is tradition that for a person to pass into Valhalla they must die with a sword in their hand (how much of that is true and how much is Hollywood is subject to debate). Originally of course the belief was that warriors were chosen on the battlefield by the Valkyrie to join the Einherjar, the army waiting to fight with the Aesir at Ragnarok, the Norse version of the Apocalypse. These days the average person doesn't have much chance to fall in battle with a sword in their hand, so the practice has evolved that, when possible, the knidred will make sure that one of their brethren has a sword physically in their hands, or at least in their presence, when they pass away, our version of last rites.
I currently have hanging on my wall such a sword that was in my best friend's hands when he passed away. Prior to his death it wasn't anything special as such swords go; it was hand forged by a smith who makes a living making swords, but it was no different than a hundred other such swords he's made. Afterwards I commissioned the same smith to make it into a memorial sword, with brasswork and runes to indicate its history. In the future it may be used again as a ritual blade, but it will never again be 'just another' sword.
Fenris