Propitiation

Okay, imagine you have a friend who is very upset with you because you did something to make them mad. To make things right and make your friend happy again, you decide to give them a gift or do something nice for them. This is kind of like propitiation.

In religion, propitiation is like giving a gift or doing something to make a god or spirit happy when they are upset with people for doing wrong things. It is like saying sorry and trying to make things right with the god or spirit by doing something to show that you are sorry and want to make up for your mistakes.