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Kaparot before Yom Kippur
The custom of swinging a chicken or money around the head as a symbolic exchange before the Day of Atonement.
About Kaparot before Yom Kippur
In the days before Yom Kippur, and most often on its eve, some Jews hold a chicken, or a bundle of coins, and swing it over the head while saying a short text that declares the offering to be a substitute, an exchange and an atonement. The belief is that misfortune that might fall on the person is symbolically passed to the substitute, and the bird is then slaughtered and given to the poor, or the money is donated. The practice is first recorded among medieval communities and has long been disputed by rabbis, some holding that it resembles pagan practice, and it is today kept by many Hasidic and Sephardi communities but rejected by others. Animal welfare groups object to it, and several courts and councils have debated it.
Also part of it, and being written: Kapparot (The ritual, its text and the debate over it.), Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement it precedes.).
Written by the EveryJaadu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Kapparot" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family, and are described as belief and practice. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.