Living practices
Practised today by communities who hold it as their own.
- Living
- Revived
- Fading
- Historical
- Legendary
- Performed
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 1 moreGarba
A Gujarati circle dance performed around a central symbol during NavaratriIllusion 路 Power and authority 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚛 IndonesiaSanghyang岈册瑐岈翅瓌岈瑐 (Tari Sanghyang)
A Balinese sacred dance where performers enter trance to host spiritual entitiesIllusion 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚳馃嚰 ZimbabweMhande
A Shona song and dance performance tied to rain rituals and ancestral communicationIllusion 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Luck and prosperity Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Garba: anurag agnihotri, CC BY 2.0, source
- Sanghyang: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source