Who discovered America. And why did they name it America

Who discovered it:

Leif Eriksson

Half a millennium before Columbus “discovered” America, those Viking feet may have been the first European ones to ever have touched North American soil. Exploration was a family business for the expedition's leader, Leif Eriksson (variations of his last name include Erickson, Ericson, Erikson, Ericsson and Eiriksson).

Why they named it america:

America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer who set forth the then revolutionary concept that the lands that Christopher Columbus sailed to in 1492 were part of a separate continent. ... He included on the map data gathered by Vespucci during his voyages of 1501-1502 to the New World.

it depends on which society you are referring to. many civilization performed rituals so the gods would with their growing season but the most well known is that of the aztecs. they would make sacrifices, usually animals, but sometimes humans as well.