| RELIGIOUS RITES |
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| 4 THE CONCEPT AND FORMS OF RITUAL |
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Throughout the history of religions and
cultures, objects used in cults, rituals, and sacred ceremonies have almost
always been of both utilitarian and symbolic natures. Ceremonial and ritualistic
objects have been utilized as a means for establishing or maintaining
communication between the sacred (the transcendent, or supernatural, realm) and
the profane (the realm of time, space, and cause and effect). On occasion, such
objects have been used to compel the sacred (or divine) realm to act or react in
a way that is favourable to the participants of the ceremonies or to the persons
or activities with which such rituals are concerned, or to prevent the
transcendent realm from harming or endangering them. These objects thus can be
mediatory devices to contact the divine world, as, for example, the drums of shamans
(religious personages with healing and psychic-transformation powers).
Conversely, they can be mediatory devices used by a god or other supernatural
being to relate to man in the profane realm. They may also be used to ensure
that a chief or sovereign of a tribe or nation achieves, and is recognized to
have, the status of divinity in cultic or community ceremonies. Of such a nature
may be phallic cult statues bearing the name of a king associated with that of
the Hindu god Shiva, in areas under Indian influence (such as in ancient
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia, where the lingam was worshipped
under a double name: Indreshvara [Indra, king of the gods, plus Ishvara,
Lord, a name of Shiva]), or the Buddhist
"body of glory" statues in Cambodia dating from the end of the 7th
century. The religious dance masks of many societies, including those used in
ancient Tibet and in Buddhist sects of Japan, may, to some extent, also belong
to this class. (see also sacred
and profane, sacred kingship,
Hinduism, Southeast
Asia, Tibetan Buddhism,
Japanese religion) |
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Because such objects vary as much in
nature as they do in form and material, they are difficult to evaluate. If
limited strictly to religious practices, an inventory of ceremonial and
ritualistic objects remains incomplete, because these objects have played
significant roles on solemn secular occasions, such as consecrations,
enthronements, and coronations, which may be closely linked to the divine order,
as in Hindu-, Buddhist-, and Christian-influenced cultures. |
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Constituting a most significant category
of cult objects are representations of a deity. Though such representations are
often depicted in the form of statues and images (icons) of divine or sacred
beings, they may also be either figurative or symbolic, the meanings often being
equivalent. In Tantrism (a Hindu and Buddhist esoteric, magical, and
philosophical belief system centred on devotion to natural energy), for example,
the sacred Sanskrit syllable Om--which
is a transcendent word charged with cosmological (order-of-the-universe)
symbolism--is identified with the feminine counterpart of the god. In its
written form, particularly on Tibetan banners (tankas),
the word Om (often corresponding with the feminine counterpart--Tara--of
the patron of Tibet) is considered to be eminently sacred, even more so, in some
instances, than an anthropomorphic (human-form) divine effigy. (see also
religious symbolism, iconography,
Tantric Hinduism) |
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Statues and painted images occur most
frequently in religious iconography, as noted above. These are often viewed as
the permanent embodiments of the deities they represent, whether they are
located in sacred places of religious communities, such as temples, shrines, or
chapels, or on domestic altars, which contain statues or icons of the divinities
of prosperity and fertility, mother goddesses, household gods, saints, relics,
the tablet of the ancestors in ancient China, and other similar domestic cult
objects. Many household cult objects are made from clay or terra-cotta and are
sometimes multicoloured. The material of which major cult objects are composed
is often explicitly defined and assumes a certain importance. If the statue is
fashioned in wood, the choice of the wood (acacia, sandal, or any other) is
symbolically important because it is considered auspicious. By the same token,
the choice of stone is likewise important, depending on the region. If metal is
chosen, it is one that is deemed precious (e.g.,
golden statues bring prosperity). In the case of bronze statues and other
cult objects, the composition is carefully defined and often corresponds to
alloys to which symbolic values are attached. In addition to a proper and
distinct form and material, the technique of fabricating and the procedural
patterns of composing such objects are controlled by traditional rules that have
become established rituals in many religions--sophisticated, folk, and
primitive. In the production of statues in human or animal form, the last
procedure is often the "opening the eyes" (i.e.,
the painting of the eyes of a statue of a deity or inserting gold in them by
an officiating priest during the installation of the statue [pratistha]
in the sanctuary, along with the reciting of appropriate prayers that make the
statue "living" and "real"), particularly in Brahmanic
India and Chinese-influenced areas (see also RELIGIOUS
SYMBOLISM AND ICONOGRAPHY ). (see also
Chinese religion, metalwork) |
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The practice of wearing special garments
for conducting rites, participating in worship, or even witnessing such
ceremonies is very unevenly distributed, and the conceptions associated with
this practice are highly varied and complex (see below Religious
dress and vestments ). |
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The types and varieties of instruments
used in worship and religious ceremonies are almost innumerable. The role they
play in ritual occasions may be as containers and sacred furniture, as objects
with properties necessary for worship, and as "mediatory" objects
through which a magical or mystical connection is believed to be made between
the human and divine worlds. There are also the materials used in bloody or
nonbloody sacrifices. |
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Amulets
(charms) have been used for protection in all ages and in all types of human
societies; they persist even today in industrial societies, in which they are
mass-produced by the most modern methods (e.g., mustard seeds encased in plastic to be worn as necklaces
reminding the wearer of Jesus' words about the growth of the Kingdom of Heaven).
The purpose of most amulets is not so much religious as it is for protection
against danger, sickness, and bad luck (e.g., the "mystical eye" of the ancient Egyptians or the
"Hand of Fatima" of Muslims). The same is true of talismans, which
offer the additional advantage of conferring supernatural power on other people,
even on the deity, from a distance. Dancers' masks and jewels, such as earrings,
bracelets, necklaces, and belts, may be classified with amulets. Such objects
are individually worshipped in order to gain their goodwill among some Hindus in
India and among the Pueblo and Navajo Indians of North America (see also OCCULTISM
). (see also jewelry,
magic) |
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Throughout history there is evidence of
worship at natural sites as well as at sites constructed for ritualistic
purposes. In the protohistory and perhaps the prehistory of most ancient
civilizations, people venerated trees, stones, bodies of water, and other
natural objects, which gradually became the objects of established cults and
which often were included, in some form, as aspects of later official ritual.
Initially, the objects of this frequently occurring process were sacred trees
considered to be the habitats of spirits or gods, such as in Vedic, Brahmanic,
and Buddhist India or pre-Islamic Arabia; sacred stones, such as
fragments of meteorites, menhirs (upright stones), and rocks--for example, the Black
Stone of Mecca in the Ka'bah; flowing waters, natural lakes, and sacred
and purifying rivers, such as the Ganges; crossroads and junctions, such as the tirtha (river fords and, by extension, sacred spots) in India; and
other such objects or places of nature. According to Hesiod,
an 8th-century-BC Greek writer, such objects of nature were venerated in the
popular piety of the rustic people of Greece in his times. (see also
nature worship, sacred
place, prehistoric religion,
Greek religion) |
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The association on the same site of four
natural elements (mountain, tree, stone, and water) is supposed to constitute a
sacred whole (a quarternity of perfection), a sacred landscape or
"geography" similar to the world of the gods. Such sites, in many
civilizations, were the initial points of departure for pilgrimages or for the
establishment of places of worship. In some instances the natural sacred places
were gradually adapted for religious use (e.g.,
the oracle at Delphi, in Greece), but in others the earlier natural sites
were artificially recreated by using man-made symbolic equivalents. An
artificial or natural hill, such as a barrow, mound, or acropolis (elevated
citadel), often served as a base for the temple, but in many instances the temple
itself has been an architectural representation of the mountain,
as were the bamot ("high
places," usually constructed with stones) of the ancient Hebrews,
the ziggurats (tower temples)
of the ancient Babylonians, and the pyramidal temples of Cambodia, Java, and
pre-Columbian Mexico. A branchless tree
has often been transformed into a cultic object: a sacrificial post, such as the
Vedic yupa;
the central pole of a nomadic tent in Siberia and Central Asia, the yurtor initiation hut; or a parasol shaft (chattravali)
in the Buddhist stupas(reliquary buildings) and the Japanese and Chinese pagodas.
If represented in stone, the
tree evolved into a column gnomon (a perpendicular shaft), such as the Buddhist lat,
the sacred pillar (matzeva) of the
ancient Hebrews, or the obelisk
of pre-Hellenistic Egypt (before the 4th century BC, especially from the 3rd
millennium to the early 1st millennium BC). Stone, transformed into an altar,
has been used either to support or seat the image or symbol of the deity, or to
receive sacrifices, burnt offerings, plant offerings, or aromatic perfumes. Water,
because to it is generally ascribed a power that is purifying or even curative
or miraculous, almost always plays an important role in or near sacred places.
The whole assemblage of actual or symbolic mountains, trees, stone, and water is
usually arranged architecturally within an enclosed space. An example of this
arrangement is the typical Christian church,
with its raised chancel (the mountain), the cross or crucifix (the tree), the
altar (usually stone, but sometimes wood), and the baptismal font or tank
(water). (see also Christianity) |
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This widespread scheme is almost
everywhere bound up with a cosmology
(theory of the universe) that establishes a symbolic identity between the divine
world and the temple. This identity holds true in all stages of culture; e.g.,
the sacred sites of the Algonquin, Sioux, and Blackfoot North American
Indian tribes; the templum (temple) of
the Etruscans in ancient Italy; the temple of Bel at Palmyra (in Syria); the
Mithraic crypts centring on devotion to the Iranian god Mithra throughout the
Roman Empire; the kiva (a circular,
partly underground ceremonial room) of the Pueblo villages; the Temple of Heaven
at Peking and that at Hue (Vietnam); the Buddhist stupa;
and Brahmanic, Buddhist, and Mexican mountain temples. The cosmic character
of the Israelite king Solomon's Temple, of the 10th century BC, constructed on
Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem, was not given such an interpretation, however, until
hellenistic times (3rd century BC-3rd century AD), as in the writings of Philo
of Alexandria and Josephus. That of the Muslim mosques is very subdued, although
the Ka'bah of Mecca, which contains the black stone, is believed by Muslims to
be the centre of the cosmos. The cosmological scheme has been applied to
Christian basilicas and churches--with square floor plans, an overarching dome,
and symbolic ornamentation--from as far back as the 6th and 7th centuries. (see
also Jerusalem,
Temple of) |
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Whatever its size and form, a sacred
area is usually delimited by an enclosure, such as a simple fence around sacred
trees or Buddhist stupas or high walls
with immense gates around temples. The sacred space may comprise multiple
enclosures, such as that of huge sacred structures--such as the temple of Shrirangam
in southeastern India, which has seven concentric enclosures. The dominant idea
in delimiting the holy place is to protect the sacred element and its mystery.
Access to the sanctuary is
often hidden by grills or screens: the veil of the Jewish Temple in ancient
Jerusalem, which separated the holy area (or hekhal) from the Holy of Holies (or devir); or the Eastern
Orthodox ikonostasis (image
screen), which hides the chancel from the view of the faithful except on certain
ritual occasions when it is opened to them. Hindu sanctuaries also are concealed
by hangings. In Roman Catholic,
Lutheran, and Anglican churches, the chancel
has usually been separated from the nave by a railing, before which the faithful
kneel to receive the eucharistic (communion) meal. (see also Srirangam) |
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In Indo-European civilizations the
essential element of the sacred furniture
is the altar, the site of which varies according to the cult and period under
consideration. Tables for sacrifice, burnt offerings, and offerings of plants or
perfume have sometimes been placed outside the temple, as at the Temple of
Solomon in Jerusalem and in temples of ancient Egypt. In early Christian cults,
a single altar was placed in the chancel. Later, about the 6th century, the
number of altars was increased, with one in each chapel of the larger church
building. |
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The most sacred furnishings of temples
are those most closely related to altars, such as the Jewish ark
of the Law, or aron ha-qodesh, in the synagogues, which is made in the image of
Moses' ark of the Covenant, and the tabernacle
(the receptacle containing the consecrated bread and wine) of Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox churches. The ark, which is portable, is a kind of chest (aron) with a cover (kapporet),
and the tabernacle, made of wood, metal, or stone, is a locked chest. On the
fire altars of Zoroastrianism
(a religion founded by the Iranian prophet Zoroaster in the 7th century BC) is a
sacred metal urn (atash-dan),
containing the eternal fire, ashes, and aromatic substances. (see also
Judaism) |
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When temples or other major sanctuaries
are also places for assembly and common prayer, as, for example, Muslim mosques
and Catholic and Protestant churches, pulpits are provided. They may be integral
parts of the masonry, of the anterior screen of the chancel--as are ambos
(raised platforms), or wooden furnishings fixed to the walls, like the formerly
mobile minbar(domed boxes in mosques). In Manichaeism
(a dualistic religion founded by the Persian prophet Mani in the 3rd century
AD), the Bema Feast was centred on the exaltation of a reconstructed
pulpit (Bema), which symbolically represented the rostrum from which Mani
spread his teachings. Another important element of sacred furniture is the lectern,
on which is placed one or more sacred books (from which one of the officiants
reads aloud) or a collection of hymns and religious chants intoned by a cantor
in monasteries or other religious structures. |
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Permanent lighting is also required in
certain cults. This has encouraged the creation of supports or vessels for
inflammable materials, the most characteristic of which are the seven-branched
candelabrum of the Jerusalem Temple, the Easter candle holder of Roman
Catholicism, the sanctuary lights of Roman Catholicism that signal the presence
of the Eucharist in the tabernacle, lights suspended before icons in Orthodox
rituals, glass or perforated-metal lamps in mosques, and spherical lanterns
adorned with an eye, which represents the universal monad (one), of Vietnamese Cao
Daism (a syncretistic religion combining Confucianism, Taoism, Roman
Catholicism, and Buddhism). (see also
menorah) |
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Other objects, such as fans,
flyswatters, parasols, and standards--analogous to the symbols of royalty--often
complete the permanent furnishings of sacred places. In addition to their
utilitarian role, they are endowed with a sacred character; fans used in
Brahmanic and Buddhist cults may be compared to the flabella
("fans") in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. They are
waved before the iconostasis during the Eucharist in the divine liturgy of the
Eastern Orthodox Church, and they also are placed on either side of the papal
chair in solemn processions. The parasol,
or umbrella, is generally a symbol of the vault of heaven, as in India and
China; the domes of stupas
are often surmounted by parasols (chattras).
In its symbolic and protective role the umbrella can be compared to the
baldachin (canopy) in many of its forms. Whether it covers the altar, the statue
or symbol of a deity, or even the imperial throne--as in Zoroastrian Iran during
the Sasanian period (3rd-7th centuries) and Orthodox Byzantium
(during the 4th-15th centuries) -- the baldachin's
celestial symbolic ornamentation is generally explicit, and its cosmic character
is apparent. The standard (dhvaja), in
the Brahmanic cults, takes on the appearance of a high column (dhvaja-stambha)
erected in front of temples; it is surmounted by a divine effigy, most often
that of the sacred steed, or vahanaof the god. Simultaneously a signal (because of its height) and a protective
device, it first receives the homage of pilgrims. The poles adorned with flags
erected before the pylons of the temples of ancient Egypt may also have had such
a double character. (see also armorial
ensign, Egyptian religion) |
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In the form of magic or sacred words,
singing, and music, sound plays or has played an important role in the worship
of most religions. The same is true of light and of aromatic substances, such as
oils, perfumes, and incense. The importance of these elements has brought about
the creation or adoption of specific objects with functions that often serve
converging purposes in worship. In most cases they are used to draw the
attention of the deity, to establish a connection with it, and to exorcise
forces that are evil or harmful to the god and to men. Because of the need to
attract the deity's attention, the sound-producing instruments are usually
percussive or shrill, rather than melodic, and drums, gongs, cymbals, bells,
conchs, and sistrums (timbrels, or rattles) are the most common forms. (see also
musical
instrument) |
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Summoning devices are played either
alone, as objects to accompany prayers or litanies, as in Tantric Buddhism, or
as instruments in a temple orchestra. Their size and form and the materials used
to make them vary according to locale. Generally viewed as sacred, they are
often worshipped, as in West Africa, Malaysia, and Burma, and partake of divine
attributes, as in Brahmanism, Mahayana (Greater Vehicle, or
northern) Buddhism, and Tantrism. Drums vary greatly in both size and form. The
two-skinned damaru(drum) of Shaivism (devotion to the Hindu god Shiva) and
Tantrism, believed to be effective in communicating with the divine world, is
shaped like an hourglass and fitted with two pellets that hang from cords and
that strike the skins when the drum is twirled. Gongs
usually are suspended metallic disks, with or without a central protuberance.
The gongs of ancient and contemporary China, however, are of varied form, with
cutout designs, and may be made of resonant stone or of jade. Cymbals
are very widespread and were used in the Hellenistic mystery (salvatory)
religions, such as those of Dionysus (a god of wine) and the Eleusinian
mysteries (centred on devotion to Demeter, a seasonal-renewal goddess). They
were the only instruments played in the Temple of Jerusalem, where they were
known as metziltayim or tzeltzelim.
The sistrum, used in
pre-Hellenistic Egypt in the worship of the goddesses Isis and Hathor and in
Rome and Phoenicia, as well as among the Hebrews, is composed of a handle and
frame with transverse metal rods and mobile disks. Producing a sharp ringing
sound, it was regarded as particularly sacred and was carried to the temple by
women of high rank. There are countless types of bells;
the Indian ghanta, or Tibetan dril-bu, a
metal handbell with a handle shaken during prayers in order to attract
beneficent spirits and to frighten away evil ones, is used particularly during
Brahmanic and Mahayana Buddhist ceremonies. (see also
Hellenistic religion) |
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In this category of objects, the
shaman's drum of the Buryats, Yakuts, Altaic Turks, and Eskimos is composed of a
skin stretched over a circular or oval frame provided with a handle; it is
struck with a curved beater. It plays the same magical role as the ghanta,
but it also serves as a mode of ascending to the realm of the sacred for the
shaman. The bull-roarer--a
flat, elongated piece of wood, ivory, reindeer antler, or other material--used
in primitive religions of Australia, equatorial Africa, western North America,
Colombia, Brazil, and Sumatra, and the similar rhombos of the Hellenistic
mystery religions, was propelled and whirled by a thin strap. Its humming sound
and trajectory gave it the dual character of a summons to the divine world and a
link with the celestial regions. |
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In comparison with sound, which in
worship usually presents a coercive character, lighting and fire,
whether permanent or occasional, generally signify a sacred or spiritual
presence, an offering, prayer, intercession, or purification. They are often
viewed as sacred or even of divine origin, if not directly identified with the
deity, as in the Zoroastrian fire altars. Their supports and containers can be
made of either durable or perishable materials, depending on the ritual or
ceremonial requirements. Torches have been used throughout history: in ancient
Assyria and Babylonia they were used to carry a newly consecrated fire from
torch to torch throughout the city three times a month; in ancient Rome they
were sometimes placed in a hollow clay or metal shaft; and in the ancient
Hebraic religion a lamp (ner) filled
with sacred oil was used in the worship of the god Yahweh. In the Roman Catholic
Church, from about the 10th century on, wax candles have been used, with bronze
or copper candle holders--the forms of which changed according to style. Two of
them were placed on the altar for the mass, and two others were carried by
acolytes (light bearers). The Easter
(Paschal) candle, made of
beeswax around a wood core, had a candle holder appropriate to its size. At
Westminster, in England, during the 14th century, a candela
rotunda ("round candle") was the centre of a "festival of
lights" during the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary (February
2), also called Candlemas Day. |
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Festivals of lights have been and still
are common throughout the world, especially among the Jews, who celebrate Hanukka,
the Feast of Dedication of the Temple. In India and in Indian-influenced
countries (particularly Thailand), the festival of lights (Dipavali
or Divali) is celebrated by the Vaisnava
Hindus (devotees of the god Vishnu [Visnu]) in October-November, at the
end of the monsoon season. It is practiced on other religious occasions by the
Jaina (followers of the Indian reformer Mahavira, of the 6th
century BC), Thais, and Tibetans, who celebrate it in December. The lamps, which
are lit everywhere (e.g., in temples,
in houses, and at crossroads), are also set afloat on streams, rivers, and
lakes. Some lamps are made of glass--like the votive lights of Roman
Catholicism--with a wick dipped in a vegetable oil, usually coconut; some are
made of clay; and others are made of rice paste with a central hollow filled
with ritual clarified butter, or ghee (ghi),
or are cut out of a plant stalk in the shape of a bark or raft. The Jaina use
earthen saucers containing either wicks immersed in coconut oil or pieces of
lighted camphor. Another form of this festival was known in Thailand,
where three earthen pots, containing rice, seeds, beans, and an oil-soaked wick,
were placed at the top of three poles opposite the temple entrance, and the fire
was kept burning for three days. (see also
Jainism, Tibetan
Buddhism) |
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The "cordons of light" placed
around the sacred places of Buddhism during great festivals, such as at Bodh
Gaya, in India, for the Buddhajayanti (the commemoration of the
Buddha's 2,500th birthday) in 1958, are composed of thousands of small brass
lamps in the form of footed cups filled with ghee, in which a cotton wick is
soaked. |
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The use of incense or the fumes of
aromatic substances is especially widespread in the great religions of the world
and has many symbolic meanings. It may signify purification, symbolize prayer
(as among the Hebrews), or be an offering that rises to the celestial or sacred
realm. Bronze incense burners were cast very early, as exemplified by those from
the Chou period (c. 1111-255 BC).
Their forms were often inspired by cosmological themes. In early Taoist ritual
the fumes and odours of incense burners produced a mystic exaltation and
contributed to well-being. Under the T'ang
dynasty (AD 618-907), perforated golden vessels with handles were carried
in the hand to accompany a votive
offering. In Japan the censer (kodan)--a
vessel with a perforated cover and carried by chains--was used in Buddhist and Shinto
rituals. In pre-Hellenistic Egypt and among ancient Jews, incense was burned in
golden bowls, which sometimes had handles, and in cauldrons placed on or beside
the altar or outside the temple. In pre-Columbian Mexico and Peru, incense
burners were made of terra-cotta and sometimes of gold. Censers
of precious metal provided with chains for hanging have been used since the 4th
century in Christian churches, and the rite of swinging the censer is practiced
in many rituals, both Christian and others. (see also
bronze work , Chou
dynasty) |
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Several of the objects already described
serve as protection against evil or demonic spirits. Of such a nature are the ghanta
and dril-bu, the shaman's drum, the lamps of the Indian Dipavali,
and the burning of incense, which has also been practiced in ancient Greece,
pre-Columbian America, Morocco, and many other regions. The possession of a
large number of the same form of a protective object often is believed to be
effective; this is the reason for the large number of bells (ghantamala)
suspended on lattices on the handrail of the balustrade (vedika)
around the stupas of ancient India;
even today, small bells are hung from the roofs of Buddhist pagodas in
Sino-Japanese regions. Like the small bells seen on the roofs of Romanian
country dwellings until the beginning of the 20th century, these bells have a
clapper provided with a feather or plaquette that enables the wind to ring them
continually. Perhaps the most effective protective object, however, is the
"diamond thunderbolt" (Sanskrit vajraTibetan rdo-rje) of Mahayana Buddhism, Tantrism, and Lamaism
(a Tibetan form of Buddhism and folk religion). Well-known in early Buddhism as
an instrument held in the hand, the vajra is
handled in the middle and has, at one or both ends, four curved points that meet
at the tips. Of varying size, they are usually made of gilded or ungilded
bronze. The Tantric vajra is also
associated with the ghanta (vajra-ghanta),
for which it forms a handle. A symbol of theindestructible force of religion, it
is believed to be able to drive away all manifestations of evil. Although they
are perishable, gunshots and firecrackers are viewed as protective and expelling
devices, as in China and Cambodia
(where soldiers, in the early 1970s, fired ammunition at a lunar eclipse to
drive away the dragon they believed was devouring the moon). |
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In many religions, the god or divine
order is represented among men by objects, which may be regarded simply as the
god's material form on earth or may be totally identified with the god and
endowed with his powers. In pre-Hellenistic Egypt the god was believed to be
present in his statue, and elsewhere the statue frequently was believed to
contain the god. |
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Statues
of human or animal figures are the most explicit of the objects representing the
divine order. In most iconic (image-using) religions the gods are generally
anthropomorphic, half man, half animal (as in Egypt and India) or often entirely
animal. In most cases the statues conform to an ideal physical type that is
symbolic and conventional. The formulation of the ideal is governed by precise
aesthetic and iconometric (ritual image proportion) rules, as well as by
iconographic (image-representation) requirements, as in Egypt, Greece, and
India. All such standards and requirements guarantee conformity to the divine
model and, therefore, the effective presence of the god in his statue. Typical
in this regard are the sculptured animals of the Hindu pantheon, such as
elephants, lions, horses, bulls, and birds, which--erected at sacred places in
India and other Hindu-influenced countries--serve as ever-ready sacred mounts (vahana)
for the journeys of the corresponding gods. (see also animal worship) |
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The masks
representing beneficent and maleficent sacred or holy forces in religious
dances--particularly in Buddhist monasteries of Nepal, Tibet, and Japan and in
the majority of primitive societies--constitute another category of sacred
representational objects. They are usually worshipped just as statues are
worshipped. |
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Certain customs incorporating
representational figures have been widespread since prehistoric times and appear
to be more related to magic
than to religion. One example of this type of practice is a custom observed in
primitive or prehistoric societies--the incorporation of a skull in an
anthropomorphic statue in order to emphasize its divine, sacred, or magical
character. To some extent, a similar use of a skull, human bones, a mummified
corpse, or a skeleton appears in Christian churches in the veneration of relics. |
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In all civilizations, plants and trees
have been viewed as sacred. Generally, the tree
is either a god's habitat or the god himself and is worshipped. Such was the
case, for example, in early Indian Buddhism. Trees may also be associated with
the divine order because of some incident and subsequently venerated, as was the
bodhi tree, under which the Buddha received his Enlightenment. Fences or even
open-air temples, the form adopted for the early Bodh Gaya Buddhist
temples, are built around such trees. Innumerable cases of sacred or divine
trees and their painted or sculptured representations are found throughout
written religious tradition and in the ethnological data. The branches of trees
such as the palm, olive, and laurel are often associated with the gods; such
branches may crown the god or be included among his attributes. Many are used in
worship, as are the branches of the bilva (wood-apple
tree) among the adepts of Shiva, and the tulasi
(basil), symbol of Laksmi
(Hindu goddess of prosperity and Vishnu's wife) and sacred plant of the Vaisnavites. |
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As symbols of life and immortality,
plants such as the vine of the Greco-Roman and the Christian world and the haoma
(a trance-inducing or intoxicating plant) of pre-Islamic Iran are
planted near tombs or represented on funerary steles, tombstones, and
sarcophagi. Two similar and related rites involving plants, the haomanoted in the Avesta (ancient Zoroastrian scriptures), and the somanoted in the Vedas (ancient Hindu scriptures), pertain to the ritual
production of exalted beverages presumed to confer immortality. The ritualistic
objects for this ceremony included a stone-slab altar, a basin for water, a
small pot and a larger one for pouring the water, a mortar and pestle for
grinding the plants, a cup into which the juice drips and a filter or strainer
for decanting it, and cups for consuming the beverage obtained. In many
sacrifices, branches or leaves of sacred plants, such as the kusha
plant (a sacred grass used as fodder) of the Vedic sacrifice and the
Brahmanic puja (ritual), are used in
rituals such as the Zoroastrian sprinkling (bareshnum), or Great
Purification, rite, in which the notion of fertility and prosperity is combined
with their sacred characters (see above under Purification
rites and customs ). (see also
stupa) |
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The staves of martial banners or
standards are often surmounted by the figure of a god, which is frequently in
its animal form. Such effigies, used by the Indo-Iranians, the Romans, the
Germanic tribes, the Celts, and other ancient peoples, were probably meant to
ensure the presence of the god among the armies. From the 4th century on,
Byzantine armies placed the labarum (a
cross bearing the Greek letters XP, signifying Christ) on their standards. Shields,
such as the Greek gorgonotos ("gorgon-headed"),
were also often decorated with sacred figures, emblems, and symbolic themes,
particularly in post-Gupta (4th-century) India, as seen in the 6th-century
findings from the frescoes of Ajanta. In the Mycenaean civilization
(15th-12th centuries BC) of ancient Greece, shields were worshipped in front of
the temple, and at Knossos (in Crete) votive offerings were made of clay and
ivory in the form of shields. The famous ancilia
("figure of eight" shields) of Rome were kept by the Fratres
Arvales (a college of priests) and used by the Salii
(Leapers), or warrior-priests, for their semiannual dances (in March and
October) honouring the god Mars. |
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Relics of saints, founders of religions,
and other religious personages, which are often objects of worship or
veneration, generally consist of all or part of the skeleton (such as the skull,
hand, finger, foot, or tooth), a piece or lock of hair, a fingernail, or
garments or fragments of clothing. Such veneration is nearly universal, as is
the production of reliquaries,
or shrines that contain relics. The size, form, and materials of reliquaries
vary greatly and often depend on the nature of the relic being exhibited. They
may be fixed but are generally portable so that they can be carried in
processions or on pilgrimages. Wood, bone, ivory, quartz, glass, semiprecious
stones, and metals such as gold, silver, bronze, and copper are frequently used
materials, and chasing (embossing), enamelwork, and precious stones often
ornament reliquaries. They vary considerably in form; like the Tibetan
reliquaries, or ga'u, they may be
constructed on a small scale to look like churches, chapels, towers, stupas,
or sarcophagi, but sometimes they assume the form of the relic, such as in
the form of anthropomorphic statues, busts, hands, feet, and other forms.
Occasionally, as in Tantrism and Tibetan Lamaism, the bones of holy persons are
used to make ritual musical instruments--flutes, horns (rkang-gling),
and drums (damaru)--or objects such as
the ritual scoop made of a skull cup (thodkhrag)
and a long iron handle encrusted with silver. |
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In many Asiatic regions, however, human
relics are replaced by copies of sacred texts introduced into statues of bronze,
as in Tibet and Yunnan (China), or of stucco, as in Afghanistan (Hadda,
an archeological site near Jalalabad excavated since
1928) in about the 4th-6th centuries. |
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In many religions the practice of prayer
requires the use of certain objects, among which rosaries (strings of beads) and
chaplets (circular strings of beads) occupy an important place in the popular
piety of various religions. They are widespread in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam,
Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy,
and Judaism, although they are not found in Shinto. Brahmanic and
Buddhist rosaries have 108 beads, made of tulasi, or basil (in Vaisnavism), of lotus seeds or small
bones (in Shaivism), or of small disks of human bone (in Lamaism). In
China, rosaries are composed of coloured beads. Elsewhere, their number varies;
the rosary of Japanese
Buddhism has 112 wooden beads, that of Islam has 99 amber beads, and that
of the Christian world--and of the well-to-do Jaina--has 150 beads made of
various materials, such as wood, pearl, mother-of-pearl, precious or
semiprecious stones, gold, and silver. The beads of Brahmanic and Buddhist
rosaries are usually strung continuously, except in Japan, where cords--which
may or may not have beads on them--are tied to the principal cord in several
combinations. The Christian rosary is divided into "decades" (tens)
with intercalations, and in many cases the rosary has a "head"
composed of a larger bead, several other beads, and a Christian cross. |
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There are several other objects
pertaining to prayer--in addition to the rosary, which is principally a
mnemotechnic (memory-technique) device. One example is the Lamaist prayer
wheel ('khor-lo), which varies widely in size. It is a cylinder, generally
of chased metal, rotating on an axis and containing prayers inscribed on strips
of paper, fabric, or parchment. Weighted by two balls suspended externally on
small cords, the prayer wheels are set in motion when a hand rotates a handle
extending from the axis or when the prayer wheels are aligned along a common
axis. Some are driven by hydraulic power and others even by electrical power.
There is some evidence of the use of prayer wheels among other peoples, such as
the Japanese, the ancient Celts and Bretons, the ancient Greeks, and the ancient
Egyptians. The idea of permanent prayer through the agency of objects is found
in the candles lit in churches, in the perpetually burning lamps (chomyoto)
of Buddhist Japan, and in Tibetan prayer flags, with sacred formulas painted on
them, which wave in the wind around temples, houses, and villages. The phylacteries
(tefillin) worn by traditional Jews during weekday morning prayers
consist of two leather cases bound by leather straps to the forehead and left
forearm; they contain parchment citations from the Pentateuch enjoining this as
a reminder of God's commandments. An amuletic function has been attributed to
them, but this is disputed. Among protective objects associated with prayer are
Muslim prayer rugs, the
rectangular shape of which symbolizes the sacred area of the mosque, and the
fringe-trimmed prayer shawl (tallit) worn by devout Jews
during synagogue services. |
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Related to prayer and meditation are
sacred and magical diagrams. Typical examples are the yantras(two- or three-dimensional meditation apparatus, often geometrical or
anthropomorphic in form) and mandalas(symbols of the cosmos in the form of circles, squares, or rectangles) of
Brahmanism, Tantric Buddhism, and Lamaism and found in India, Nepal, Tibet,
China, Korea, and Japan. Derived from sacred syllables (mantras)
or from geometric designs endowed with mystical and cosmological symbolism, they
are executed on sand, on the ground with coloured powders, and on durable
materials. They may be made on stones, engraved on plates of copper, silver, or
some other metal, or drawn and painted on skins, linen, silk, or hempen cloth.
Like statues, they are consecrated by the rite of "initiation of
breath," pranapratistha (see also
Prayer
, above). |
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Large numbers of purification rites are
performed universally on widely varying occasions, both in private life, from
conception to death, and in religious ceremonies. Such rites employ materials
that include water, dust, or dry sand (in Islam); water and henna, a
reddish-brown dye (in Islam); oil, incense, balm, and natron, a salt (in
ancient Egyptian religion); ale (öl)
or wine (in post-15th-century Germanic religion); salt (in Shinto);
bread, sugar, spices, and animal blood (in ancient Greek and Scandinavian
religions); paper, used in the Shinto gohei, a white paper "whip" that is shaken; ashes, among
the Brahmans; and other materials. Water, fire, and light play especially
important roles in purification rites. Objects used in such rites include water
vessels of various shapes and sizes used for ablutions; jugs and vats containing
ale or wine; terra-cotta or glass containers used for balms and perfumes;
incense burners, cauldrons, and censers for fumigation; containers used in
Confucian rituals, which include a basin (chin-lei)
for pure water, another small basin (huan-po),
and seven goblets (chio) for the
sacrificial wine; and ewers and basins of gold, silver, or copper used in
purifying the hands and feet, as in pre-Hellenistic Egypt, or for ritual
sprinklings. (see also Confucianism) |
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The wearing of new clothes that have not
yet been washed is also a purification rite, practiced, for example, in the
spring of the year (October-November) in Brahmanic India, where it is associated
with the festival of lights, the Dipavali. |
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Purification may also be attained
through mortification and penance, practices that were especially common in
medieval Christianity and in Judaism. Methods included the wearing of hair
shirts or sackcloth, wearing haircloth undergarments and belts bristling with
spikes next to the skin, and flagellating oneself with a scourge made of leather
straps or lashing oneself with a whip, such as the sraosho-karana
of Persia (see also Purification rites
customs ,
above). |
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Most of the objects noted above have
played or still play a role in rites of passage. Such objects play a secondary
role in all such rites, which include rites of initiation, marriage, and death. |
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Circumcision
in pre-Hellenistic Egypt and among the Hebrews, Muslims, Ethiopians, and certain
primitive peoples was and is performed with a flint-blade knife, with some other
kind of sharp knife, perhaps of metal, with a razor, or (as in Africa) with a
pair of scissors. Among the Zulus and other African tribes, bull-roarers were
launched on such an occasion of initiation. In the Brahmanism, Zoroastrianism,
and Parsiism of the Indo-Iranian world, a sacred cord (Pahlavi kusti
Sanskrit yajñopavita)
is the mark of initiation; in Iran and among the Parsis (Zoroastrians in India),
the kusti is wound around the torso, and in India the yajñopavita
is passed diagonally from
shoulder to waist. Among the Parsis, including the women, the cord is made of
strands of lamb's wool or of goat's or camel's hair, and in India the material
varies according to caste and may be cotton, hemp, or wool. In addition, the
Zoroastrians and Parsis wear a sacred shirt (sudra) made of two pieces of white cambric stitched together. For
ordination, a shawl, a cotton veil (padan)
to cover the nose and mouth, and a mace are added; the Brahmanic (Vedic)
initiate also receives a tall staff and a black antelope skin. In Sikhism
(an Indian religion combining Hindu and Muslim elements, founded by Guru
Nanak in the 16th century), initiations of novices formerly included
drinking water into which sugar had been mixed with the blade of a dagger (khanda). (see also initiation
rite) |
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In the initiation of Buddhist monks, the
tonsure (cutting the hair of
the head) is performed with a razor with a handle, and each initiate receives
three red or yellow garments, a belt, a bowl for alms (patra),
a filter or ewer (kundika), an
alms-collector's staff (khakkara), a
needle, a toothpick, and a fan. Japanese Tantric monks are initiated when they
are past 50 years of age, at which time they are baptized (abhiseka) by having water
from five kundika poured on their
heads and receive, in addition to the objects listed above, a vajra("thunderbolt"), a wheel (cakra),
and a conch (sankha). The principal
objects involved in the initiation of Christian priests and monks are the
tonsure and sacerdotal vestments. The Buryat
shaman receives, in addition
to his magical cloak and drum, a four-legged chest (shiré)
decorated with lunar and solar symbols. |
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The religious character of marriage is
not universal. Objects involved in the ceremonies of betrothal and marriage
include jars (loutrophoroi) for the
water of the prenuptial bath of ancient Greece; metal rings placed on the ring
finger of the betrothed or married couple among Hebrews, Zoroastrians and
Parsis, and persons in classical Rome and in both Eastern and Western
Christianity; the bridal veil, orange (flammeum)
in Rome and white in the Christian and Slavic worlds; the bride's crown, made
first of marjoram and verbena and later of myrtle and orange blossoms in Rome
and of various materials in the Christian and Slavic worlds; and the crown held
above the heads of the bridal couple in Eastern Orthodox marriage ceremonies. In
Roman and Slavic marriage rites a tunic or shirt was used, and in Hindu rites a
yellow wool bracelet (kautukasutra) is
tied around the wrist of the betrothed girl by her mother. (see also
wedding) |
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The marriage ceremony sometimes takes
place under a marriage pavilion or canopy, as among the ancient Etruscans of
Italy. The Hebrews first used a closed tent (huppa)
and later a silk or tapestry canopy to symbolize the nuptial chamber. Hindus and
Parsis use a tent or pavilion (pandal),
in which the bridal couple are initially separated by a curtain. Among the
Sikhs, a paper parasol (agast) is
rotated continually over the head of the bridegroom. |
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In some areas, particularly in
contemporary Hindu India, a swing (dola)
is set up under the pandal, on which
the couple seat themselves after the official ceremony. The seesaw here
symbolizes prosperity, love, and the union between earth and sky. The aiora ("swing") used in the ancient Athenian Dionysiac
festival, the swings of the spring festivals at Puri (Orissa) and in Thailand,
also have similar symbolic connotations. During the winter solstice, a Vedic
sacrifice (hotr) is performed on the
swing (prenkha). |
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Except for Brahmanic and Buddhist ritual
suicides by drowning, which require neither ceremony nor funeral apparatus,
there are three methods of disposing of dead human bodies: cremation, stripping
of the flesh, and inhumation, performed with or without embalming. These methods
have coexisted and still coexist throughout the world. The preparation of the
corpse often depends on the method adopted, which, in turn, governs the objects
and instruments used. In Japanese sects, particularly in the Shingon and other
Buddhist sects, a razor (made of gold in the Jodo sects) is used for an
actual or simulated tonsure of the head of the deceased. A mirror, used in magic
to detect evil spirits, figured in the judgment of souls in ancient China. A
copper mirror was placed under the head of the dead of pre-Hellenistic Egypt;
one of bronze was placed near the head in Buddhist Japan. In Vedic and Brahmanic
India, thin pieces of gold were used to close the facial and bodily orifices,
and pieces of jade served the same purpose in ancient China. Mortuary masks
made of gold, bronze, hard stone, many-coloured terra-cotta, and other materials
were used at Mycenae, in pre-Hellenistic and later in Coptic (early Christian)
Egypt, in Peru, and other places to cover the face and sometimes the chest.
Elsewhere, a cloth covering the face or a shroud, which often was red, was
considered sufficient. Pieces of money to pay for the passage from this world to
the next were placed in the mouth of corpses in ancient Mycenae, Greece, and
Rome and in a pouch in Japan. (see also burial, death
rite, funerary art) |
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Corpses have been borne to funeral sites
by various means. Among primitive peoples and in Tibet, they are carried on the
back or in the arms, and among the Jews, Muslims, Parsis, Slavs, and Hindus they
are carried on biers, which are sometimes richly decorated and are either put in
a tomb or destroyed. In modern Western countries, the funeral chariots of Rome
and elsewhere have been transformed into motor hearses, while the contemporary
Chinese and Vietnamese use carts that have been specially fitted out. Funeral
boats were used in pre-Hellenistic Egypt, in ancient Scandinavia, and in the
Pacific islands; Venetians of Italy still use gondolas for funeral rites. The
sledge was used in the Kurgans of southern Russia. |
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When cremated, the corpse is often
burned with its bier. In the Buddhist world, as, for example, in Cambodia and
Thailand, it is burned in a wood and paper coffin made in the form of a sacred
animal, with a cloth canopy surmounting the pyre. If the ashes are dispersed
after cremation, as in India,
they are collected in a cinerary urn. The form and composition of such urns have
varied considerably, being made of terra-cotta, stone, porphyry, alabaster,
bronze, silver, gold, ceramic ware, and other materials. The urn is placed in
the grave, as in ancient Assyria and elsewhere, on a bronze or terra-cotta
support (usually an armchair) and lowered into a large jug, as among the
Etruscans, or in the niches of the cineraria (places containing ashes of
cremated bodies), columbaria (vaults containing urns of cremated bodies), or
catacombs, as in Etruria (in Italy), Greece, and Rome. Among the Zapotec
of Mexico, the ceramic urn was placed in the niches of cells, the mogotesmade beneath hills set aside for the purpose, a practice also observed by
the Mosquito Indians of
Nicaragua. In Buddhist countries the urn is often displayed on the domestic
altar, and in Tibet the imperfectly calcined bones are ground up and mixed with
clay and the mixture is molded into the form of a votive
offering (tsha-tsha), which is
placed in the niches of the funeral stupa (mchod-rten). In ancient southwestern India the terra-cotta
"feminine" urns had a pair of "breasts" formed by two bowls
stuck onto the bulge of the urn. (see also
cinerary vase, Zoroastrianism) |
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Stripping the flesh of the corpse
generally does not require the use of specific objects, since it is the work of
vultures or sometimes of pigs, dogs, or other animals. The Parsis,
however, build "towers of silence" (dakhma)
for the purpose, to which they accompany the deceased with a pot containing
fire. |
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Bodies have been and still are sometimes
buried without coffins, as in Rome, where they were put into pit tombs. Among
primitive and prehistoric peoples, ancient Egyptians, and the people of the Harappa
civilization (c. 2500-1700 BC)
of the Indus, the corpse was wrapped in a mat made of plant fibres. Coffins
are sometimes carved or painted, and the crudest ones--such as those used by
ancient Romans and primitive peoples--are made from hollowed-out tree trunks.
Some coffins are modelled according to the human form, such as the colourful
wooden coffins of pre-Hellenistic Egypt or the Chinese coffins covered with jade
mosaic of the 2nd-century-BC Han dynasty. The majority, however, are oblong and
made of wood; in ancient Greece, coffins were made of cypress. Tibetan coffins (ro-sgam)
and Japanese Buddhist and Shinto coffins, however, are cubical, with the
corpse placed in a sitting or crouching position. Among certain coastal
peoples--e.g., the Vikings--the
deceased is either buried in his boat or put out to sea and cremated with it. Sarcophagi--used
in many civilizations--were made of various materials; terra-cotta in Etruria,
Greece, southern India prior to the 2nd century BC, and Japan; wood and stone in
Japan; and marble in late Rome and in the Christian world. They are often richly
decorated with symbolic or allegorical carvings and are frequently very
colourful. In ancient Egypt the viscera were placed separately in canopic
(burial) jars. The Etrurians also used such jars, the covers of which were
decorated with the portrait of the deceased. (see also Egyptian religion,
Canopic jar) |
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From prehistoric times, the deceased was
accompanied by ordinary objects placed either in the coffin or in the grave
itself, the most common of which were drinking cups, pitchers, cups or vessels
for solid food, weapons, tools and ornaments, and jewelry. Ancient Chinese
collections of funerary objects of high quality have been exhumed, but the most
complete outfitting of the dead was that of the Egyptian tombs, which is
completed by scenes painted or carved on the interior walls of the rooms of the
tomb. Funeral models of houses, wells, farms, herds, and armies were used in the
Han (206 BC-AD 220), T'ang (618-907), and Ming (1368-1644) periods of China as
well as in ancient Egypt. Figurines representing the deceased were included
among Egyptian funerary objects, along with figurines representing his retinue;
in China the retinue figurines included dancers, musicians, and soldiers (ming-ch'i).
The models were probably substitutes for the servants who formerly had been
sacrificed in the royal tomb. For a long time the Chinese figurines were made of
ceramic decorated in many colours, but in more recent periods (i.e.,
after the revolution of 1911 and during the 19th century) they were straw
effigies. |
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Some of the individual objects used in
funeral rites include situlae,
Roman and Egyptian bronze libation jars with a handle on the tops; Indian Brahmanic
terra-cotta jars with perforated bases, which are broken after their use in the
aqueous purification of the pyre; and cages containing birds (Buddhist Japan),
sometimes eagles (ancient Rome), released near the tomb after burial. There are
also the objects used in postmortem rites, such as the tablet of the ancestors
(Japanese ihai) in China, Japan, and
Vietnam and the miniature straw boat, flat-bottomed and with a curved prow,
which is set afloat with a bit of candle and food during the Japanese Shinto
festival of lights (Bon Matsuri), returning the spirit of the ancestor to the
land of souls after three days' visit (see also Rites
of Passage ,
above). |
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The most elementary type of site in
which a sacrifice is performed is simply a massive rock or a hilltop, with no
accoutrements. Menhirs (e.g., the
Hebrew matzeva, a conical stele rubbed
with oil at the top), megaliths, and sacrificial posts (e.g.,
the Vedic yupa)--which are widespread throughout the primitive world--are also
quite rudimentary. Altars, properly speaking, are set up either on sacrificial
sites or in temples and may be either hollowed out in the earth or raised or
constructed. Both of these categories are unknown in Africa and South America,
where sacrifices are made on the ground or on a bed of sand. The first category
includes the vedi ("altar")
of Vedic rites, trenches, pits, and ditches dug in the earth. Some of the
hollowed-out sites are used for a sacrificial fire and some for collecting
victims' blood, as in Greece, pre-Sasanid Iran, and pre-Islamic
Arabia. The altar is most often a table with one, three, four, or more legs. The
top may be smooth, or it may be provided with drains for blood and liquid
libations or with dishes to hold solid offerings, such as the firstfruits--e.g.,
the kernoi (small sacrificial pots) of the pre-Hellenic Aegean
civilization. |
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The altar may be round or oblong or may
imitate other forms, such as the Indian Vedic altar, which was made in the form
of a bird with spread wings. Altars are usually fixed in place and are made of
various materials: clay (pre-Columbian religions of Central America);
terra-cotta (kernos) and
stucco-covered sun-baked bricks (religions of ancient Greece); fired bricks
(Vedism in ancient India); wood (Buddhism and Shinto
of Japan, primitive religions of Polynesia, and Christianity in Western and
Nestorian--an Eastern independent church--churches until the 10th or 11th
century); wood plated with metals, such as bronze and gold (the religions of the
Hebrews and Byzantine Christians); and metals, such as iron (Germanic religion),
bronze (ancient Near Eastern religions), and gold (5th- and 6th-century
Byzantine Christianity). Most commonly, however, altars are made of stone slabs
resting horizontally on legs, columns, or lateral supports, although the pre-Sasanid
Iranian slab altar (adoshi) rested on a pedestal. The Christian altar is square or
oblong; that used in Greek hero worship was rectangular, as was the altar of
pre-Hellenistic Egypt, whic was made of alabaster. Some altars, such as the
marble Altar of the Earth at Peking, are cubical, and others, such as the Altar
of Heaven at Peking and ancient Phoenician altars, are cylindrical.
Occasionally, as in Greece, they are hollow and contain the ashes of burnt
offerings. The Roman Catholic altar is required to contain a stone, no matter
what the predominant material may be. |
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A throne
may be a special form of altar and may be either a true piece of furniture
fashioned in wood or metal or a seat carved out in rock. It also may surmount a
stele, as in northern Vietnam and Bali. |
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Sacrificial weapons, like the utensils,
vary according to the nature of the sacrifice. The most common weapon is the knife,
which is used to slit the throat of the human or animal victim, a practice
observed, for example, by Semites, Muslims, and ancient Greeks. Sometimes the
knife is cast into the sea after use. An ax involved in the Athenian Bouphonia
("Ox-Slaughtering Festival") was carried to the tribunal of the
Prytaneum (the town hall, containing a community altar or hearth), inspected,
and then submerged in the same way. Sometimes a poniard or dagger was used, such
as in the Mithraic sacrifice of a bull; a ritual knife (khadga)
shaped like a sickle, with the outer edge forming the cutting edge, is used in
the sacrifice of black goats to Kali (a Hindu goddess who is the
consort of Shiva) in Calcutta. In the great imperial sacrifice of the
horse (ashvamedha)
of Vedic India, a gold-ornamented knife was used to sacrifice the horse, but
knives of copper and iron were used for other animals.
In the sacrificial rites of contemporary primitive peoples, a sword, which
varies in size and form, generally is used. In ancient Iran the victim was
slaughtered with a log or pestle. In all sacrificial rites, it should be noted
that a flow of blood is always necessary, even when the victim is clubbed. (see
also Greek
religion) |
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Sacrificial victims are also very
frequently burned or else are cooked for a communal meal. Vessels for holding
and maintaining the sacrificial fire may be used in such situations. Two such
vessels have been well described in religious literature: the Vedic Indian
vessel (ukha) made of earth and fired
in a pit on the sacrificial grounds and the urn (atash-dan)
of pre-Sasanid Iranian fire altars. Sometimes the ashes were
collected in cauldrons (the ancient Hebrews), and occasionally the viscera were
placed separately in a gourd (Africa) or on a tray (pre-Hellenistic Egypt and
contemporary Africa). When intoxicating beverages--such as the Avestan Iranian haoma
and the Vedic Indian soma--are
made at the same time as the sacrifice, the inventory of ritual objects
necessarily includes the stones for pressing the plants, a wooden vat, a filter,
and a libation cup at the fire. |
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Three types of objects used in ablution
and libation rites may be
distinguished. First are the containers for storing liquids, such as water,
fermented liquor, wine, and blood. A second type includes utensils--e.g.,
spoons and ladles--used for drawing off liquids, which are fashioned out of
pieces of wood of different, although ritualistically defined, varieties. The
third type comprises the containers used directly for ablutions, libations, and
oblations--e.g., the ewers of Sumer,
Egypt, and Vedic India; gold, silver, copper, or iron patra
of the Vedic and Brahmanic world; Hebrew goblets; cups of various forms,
such as the Vedic and Tantric skull cup; the phial (bowl) and patera (shallow
libation dish) of the Roman and early Christian worlds, made of gold, chased and
engraved metal, semiprecious stones, or glass; the Australian bark pitchi;
and the ciborium (covered container for the consecrated bread) and chalice
(cup containing the consecrated wine) of Roman
Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran worship. The cup of the chalice must be
made of gold, silver, or vermeil (gilded silver, bronze, or copper). |
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The sickle for harvesting plants, a
winnowing basket for preparing grain offerings, a reed broom for cleaning the
sacrificial area, the scoop for collecting ashes used in Vedic India and by the
Hebrews (who made it of gold or bronze), and baskets for presenting offerings of
fruit or cakes are among the many other objects used in sacrificial rites. In
order to consecrate such offerings, a priest of ancient Egypt touched them with
a sceptre (kherep). |
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Ornaments used in sacrificial rites are
of many different types. The adornment of the victim before sacrifice may take
the form of gilding the horns, as in ancient Greece, or putting a necklace or
garland of flowers on it. The priest may wear a breastplate, as in Egypt,
Etruria, and Jerusalem, or a gold ornament--e.g.,
the Vedic Indian niksa--around
his neck. Divine statues also may be adorned with jewels, diadems, tiaras, and
garments consisting of goldworked covers, a practice still observed in southern
India, or with ceremonial apparel, a Christian practice observed in the
veneration of saints, particularly in Czechoslovakia (Prague), Poland, and
France (Brittany). Altars are permanently or occasionally decorated with incense
burners, candelabra, and vases of flowers. Artificial flowers have been used on
altars in Japan since the 7th century. (see also
Christianity) |
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Finally, many sacrifices
are accompanied by music, which may be viewed either as a protective measure or
as an offering of sound. The musical
instruments used in worship do not necessarily assume any special form,
but they are often played by the priests themselves, as among Hindus, Tibetan
Tantrists, and Hebrews, or are reserved for the accompaniment of particular
rites. The silver trumpets of the Hebrews and the conches of Indian-influenced
countries are used in this way. (see also
Southeast Asia, Hinduism,
Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhism) |
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A large number of ordinary objects
produced especially for the god have been used in the daily worship of divine
statues. The most complete and best described rites were those practiced in
ancient Assyria and Egypt and those still observed in the Vaisnavite
temples of southeastern India. Such objects are identical in form to those
ordinarily used by men, although the materials may vary: earthenware jars for
"pure" water; table service, which may include plates, trays, bowls,
cups, and pitchers; clothing; pots and flasks for salves and perfumes; jewels,
ornaments, flower garlands, and metal mirrors; thrones and platforms; a swing;
palanquins (enclosed litters), processional chariots, and boats for the god's
journeys outside the temple; musical instruments, such as drums of all sizes,
lutes, clarinets, and conches; and parasols, fans, flyswatters, standards, and
oriflammes (banners). |
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The principal ceremony that pertains to
the state is the coronation of
the king or emperor. In addition to the pomp displayed on such occasions, the
most significant objects generally are the containers used in baptizing or
anointing the king, such as the sacred conches or antelope horns used for the
lustral water in Indian-influenced countries and the Holy Ampulla (flask) for
consecration oil, used particularly in France; the throne, which is the
essential object of the ceremony in almost all civilizations; and the crown, the
sceptre, the hand of justice, and the globe of the Byzantine, Iranian, and
Western worlds. |
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Domestic rites were observed daily in
ancient Rome, Brahmanic India, the Buddhist world, China, Japan, and other
areas, as they still are in many places. The objects involved in such ceremonies
are the same as those used in temple worship. Permanent altars,
which are often placed near the entrance, contain statues, the tablets of the
ancestors, and offerings of flowers, incense, fruits, and lights. (see also
Chinese religion, Japanese
religion) |
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Ceremonial and ritual objects in past
times have held and still hold, in many cases, a very important place in the
civilizations of the world. From prehistoric times, they have played an integral
part in the evolution of the various civilizations on two levels: (1) on the
level of rites and rituals practiced in everyday life and (2) on the level of
the more solemn and rare cultic and communal rites. From a merely functional
standpoint, such objects serve sacred or symbolic purposes; their construction,
forms, dimensions, and styles have been, from earliest times, codified. Some
have been so closely associated with the divine or the sacred that they have
been considered either a symbolic manifestation of the deity or an actual
manifestation of the deity itself. In general, however, they lose in the course
of time this particularistic characteristic. In this process, they generally
survive only in a formal sense, and thus henceforth are devoid of any sacred
power. (J.Au.) |
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