Rites

87 rites, charms and ceremonies, each told in outline as a custom: a ring of what goes into it, coloured by role, and a drawn frame for every step. Cleanse, gather, circle, speak, light, offer, bind, bury, cast, read, rest, close.

Presented by ClearTrust Customs described as customs, free to read.

RegionAll South 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

Protective rites

Rites that ward a person, house or journey: thresholds, salt, red thread, blessings against the evil eye.

🇨🇳 🇹🇼 🇭🇰 Protective ritesWriting and burning a fu talismanThe Taoist talisman written in red or black ink on paper, then pasted, worn, or burned to send its message.🇯🇵 Protective ritesOmamori and ofuda renewalThe yearly return of last year's charms to the shrine, and the taking of new ones for the home and the body.

Cleansing and purification

Smoke, water, sweeping and fire used to clear a person or place: limpia, smudging customs, lustration.

🇯🇵 Cleansing and purificationHarai, the Shinto rite of purificationThe wand, water and salt rites of Shinto that clear tsumi, impurity, from people and places.

Rites of divination

Set ways of asking and reading the answer: casting, drawing, scrying, and the sessions of diviners.

🇭🇰 🇹🇼 🇨🇳 Rites of divinationKau cim and jiaobeiShaking numbered sticks from a cylinder in a temple, and tossing two crescent blocks to ask a question.🇨🇳 🇹🇼 🇰🇷 Rites of divinationThe I Ching and the yarrow stalksThe older way of consulting the Book of Changes: sorting fifty yarrow stalks to build a hexagram of six lines.🇯🇵 Rites of divinationOmikuji fortune slipsA paper fortune drawn at a shrine or temple, kept if it is good and tied to a branch if it is not.

Luck and love

Rites for fortune, a good match, fertility and a prosperous year.

🇨🇳 🇭🇰 🇹🇼 Luck and loveFeng shui placementThe arrangement of a house, a grave or an office so that the flow of qi is believed to gather and not scatter.

Offerings and feeding the unseen

Food, drink and gifts set out for ancestors, spirits, gods and the land.

🇨🇳 🇹🇼 🇭🇰 Offerings and feeding the unseenJoss paper and the Hungry Ghost offeringThe burning of paper money and goods for the dead, and the street offerings of the seventh lunar month.

Seasonal rites

Fire, water and first-fruits customs kept at fixed points of the year.

🇯🇵 Seasonal ritesSetsubun bean-throwingOn the eve of spring, roasted beans are thrown at a masked ogre while the household calls for good luck.

Spirit work

Mediumship, possession, trance and journeying: rites for meeting the unseen.

🇰🇷 Spirit workGut, the Korean shaman riteThe day-long ritual of a mudang, who calls gods and ancestors with music, dance, offerings and costume.