All entries

2,158 entries so far, best known first. 3,227 more are on the list to be written. Narrow by region, kind, purpose, practitioner, belief world, occasion or how alive it is.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇮🇳 India and 5 morePretaप्रेत A suffering spirit of insatiable hunger found in Asian religious traditionsBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreAstragalomancy Divination by casting marked bones, carved rods, or numbered diceOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇨🇳 China and 2 moreDiyu地獄 The underworld realm of trial, atonement, and rebirth in Chinese mythologyBelief · Cleansing and purification · Change and initiation Living

🇨🇳 China and 4 moreSky burialབྱ་གཏོར་ A Tibetan funerary rite where human remains are offered to scavenging birdsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living

🇰🇷 South KoreaJesa제사 A Korean ancestral memorial rite involving food offerings and ritual bowsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreAncestor veneration in China中國傳統宗法性宗教 Rites for dead kin who are thought to watch over the familyTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇯🇵 JapanMount Osore恐山 A volcanic pilgrimage site in Japan believed to be a gateway to the underworldTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living

🇯🇵 Japan and 3 moreObonお盆 A Japanese Buddhist festival honoring the spirits of ancestors through dance and offeringsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living 🇫🇷 France and 3 moreBardo Thodolབར་དོ་ཐོས་གྲོལ (bar do thos grol) A Tibetan Buddhist guide for navigating the intermediate state between death and rebirth.Text Living

🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreRelic An object or body part kept to honor a holy person and mark their connection to the divineCharm · Protection · Healing Living 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka and 2 moreParittaපිරිත් (Sinhala), ปริตร (Thai), ပရိတ် (Burmese) Pali verses recited in Theravada Buddhism for protection and blessingsText · Protection · Healing Living

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreDongyue Dadi東嶽大帝 The Chinese mountain god of Mount Tai who rules lifespans and underworld recordsBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living

🇨🇳 China and 5 moreJoss paper金紙 Paper burned as money and goods for ancestors, gods and the deadCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇳 China and 5 moreGhost FestivalZhongyuan Festival; Yulanpen Festival A festival to feed wandering spirits and guide them home during the seventh lunar month.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living

🇰🇷 South KoreaJeoseung Saja저승사자 A Korean psychopomp who escorts the dead to the afterlife.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇨🇳 ChinaSuperstition in China A broad category for folk beliefs and rituals dismissed as backward by modern Chinese authoritiesBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇯🇵 JapanDatsue-ba奪衣婆 A Japanese underworld figure who strips clothes from spirits at the river of deathBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreKṣitigarbhaक्षितिगर्भ A bodhisattva vowed to empty the hells and guard children, shown with a staff and jewel.Being · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇳🇵 Nepal and 3 moreGurung ShamanismTamu Cho The ancient shamanic beliefs and rituals of the Gurung people in NepalTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Obon: Batholith, Public domain, source
Astragalomancy: Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Sky burial: FishOil at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
Jesa: by Joseph Steinberg (Baltimoron in Korea) at Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Ancestor veneration in China: Three huntings, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Mount Osore: Douglas P Perkins ( Douglaspperkins ( talk )), CC BY 3.0, source
Datsue-ba: Fred Cherrygarden, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Relic: MathieuGuy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Dongyue Dadi: H2v5o68z, CC0, source
Joss paper: Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Ghost Festival: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Jeoseung Saja: National Folk Museum of Korea, CC BY 4.0, source
Preta: Temple, Richard Carnac, Sir, Public domain, source
Kṣitigarbha: སངས་རྒྱས་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།, Public domain, source
Diyu: ScribblingGeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Superstition in China: Gary Todd, CC0, source

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Photo credits on this page

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