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

Cleansing and purification

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

🇲🇾 🇮🇩 🇧🇳 Cleansing and purificationMandi bunga, the Malay flower bathA cleansing bath in water with flowers and limes, taken to remove ill luck, with a bomoh or at home.

Healing rites

Rites of folk and spiritual healing, said as tradition and never as medical advice.

🇵🇭 Healing ritesAlbularyo healingThe visit to a Filipino folk healer, who reads wax or alum in water and prays over an ill person.

Offerings and feeding the unseen

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

🇹🇭 🇱🇦 🇰🇭 Offerings and feeding the unseenSpirit house offeringsThe small shrine at the edge of a Thai plot where food, flowers and drink are set out for the spirit of the place.🇮🇩 Offerings and feeding the unseenCanang sari and the daily offeringThe small palm-leaf tray of flowers and incense that Balinese Hindus set out each day for gods and for powers of the earth.

Initiation and passage

Rites by which a person enters a priesthood, a society or a new stage of life.

🇹🇭 🇰🇭 🇱🇦 Initiation and passageSak Yant blessingA sacred tattoo with protective script, given by a monk or lay master with vows to keep, in Thailand and Cambodia.

Seasonal rites

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

🇮🇩 Seasonal ritesTawur KesangaThe great offering to the powers of the earth on the day before Nyepi, when Bali is cleared before a day of silence.