This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Ritual purification" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(November 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Ritual purification is a ritual prescribed by a religion through which a person is considered to be freed of uncleanliness, especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may also apply to objects and places. Ritual uncleanliness is not identical with ordinary physical impurity, such as dirt stains; nevertheless, body fluids are generally considered ritually unclean.
Most of these rituals existed long before the germ theory of disease, and figure prominently from the earliest known religious systems of the Ancient Near East. Some writers connect the rituals to taboos.
Some have seen benefits of these practices as a point of health and preventing infections especially in areas where humans come in close contact with each other. While these practices came before the idea of the germ theory was public in areas that use daily cleaning, the destruction of infectious agents seems to be dramatic.[dubious – discuss][1] Others have described a 'dimension of purity' that is universal in religions that seeks to move humans away from disgust (at one extreme), to uplift them towards purity and divinity (at the other extreme), away from uncleanliness to purity, and away from deviant to moral behavior (within one's cultural context).[2]
^"Nitten Soji and the prevention of infections" Classical fighting arts vol 2 #18
^Haidt, Johnathan (12 February 2010). The Happiness Hypothesis. Basic Books.
and 29 Related for: Ritual purification information
Ritualpurification is a ritual prescribed by a religion through which a person is considered to be freed of uncleanliness, especially prior to the worship...
on the third and seventh day of the purification process. The Kohen who performs the ritual then becomes ritually impure and must then wash himself and...
exceptions. Ritual washing is not generally performed in Reform Judaism. The Hebrew Bible requires immersion of the body in water as a means of purification in...
Japanese Shinto practice of ritualpurification by washing the entire body. Misogi is related to another Shinto purificationritual, harae. Thus, both are...
of religious indoctrination or ritualpurification. Examples include the Mikveh in Judaism, a custom of purification; misogi in Shinto, a custom of spiritual...
sacrifice to achieve purification. Impurity from touching a corpse requires a special Red Heifer sacrifice and ritual to achieve purification. The term tumah...
term for ritualpurification in Shinto. Harae is one of four essential elements involved in a Shinto ceremony. The purpose is the purification of pollution...
of uncleanliness for a period of time after childbirth, requiring ritualpurification. Practices vary, but typically there are limits around what she can...
Jerusalem forty days (inclusive) after His birth to complete Mary's ritualpurification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn...
the Islamic act of dry ritualpurification using purified (clean) sand or stone or mud, which may be performed in place of ritual washing (wudu or ghusl)...
[ˈɣʊsl]) is an Arabic term to the full-body ritualpurification mandatory before the performance of various rituals and prayers, for any Muslim after sexual...
source. He pointed to similarities in content, such as the focus on purification in Numbers 5:1–4, chapter 19 and 31:19–24, as well as in linguistics...
the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritualpurification, or ablution. The four Fardh (Mandatory) acts of wudu are washing...
ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply a sweat. Traditionally the structure is simple, constructed...
Visitors to a Shinto shrine follow a purificationritual before presenting themselves to the kami. This ritual begins with hand washing and swallowing...
pollution, and may refer to: Ritualpurification, the religious activity to remove uncleanliness Purification after death Purification of the Virgin, a Christian...
'enclosing rope') are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritualpurification in the Shinto religion. Shimenawa vary in diameter from a few centimetres...
Lustratio was an ancient Greek and ancient Roman purificationritual. It included a procession and in some circumstances the sacrifice of a pig (sus)...
the mouth-rite ritual (brushing teeth), and a cultural hero known as Notgnihsaw (Washington spelled backwards). These ritualpurification practices are...
famous for its holy spring water, where Balinese Hindus go to for a ritualpurification called Melukat. The temple pond has a spring which gives out fresh...
A temazcal [temasˈkal] is a type of sweat lodge, which originated with pre-Hispanic indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica. The term temazcal comes from the...
performed at Izumo Shrine serve a number of purposes, including ritualpurification, celebration of auspicious days, and the reenactment of folktales...
regulations involving cleanliness before prayer, observing days of ritualpurification, as well as those concerning diet and apparel. The Ethiopian Orthodox...
a Muslim into a state of ritual impurity (Arabic: نجاسة najāsa, in opposition to ṭahārah, ritual purity). Ritualpurification is then required before religious...
hygiene is mentioned in a single verse of the Quran in the context of ritualpurification from a minor source of impurity, known as the Wuḍūʾ verse; its interpretation...
it does seem highly likely that they were together employed in rituals of purification, as revealed by their Akkadian (Aka Assyrian, Babylonian) names:...
"associated with the ruling class".[citation needed] "In addition to her ritual performances of ecstatic trance", writes Kuly, "[the miko] performed a variety...
god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle and also the deity of ritualpurification. His oracles were often consulted for guidance in various matters...