Ritual purification is a ritual prescribed by a religion through which a person is considered to be freed of uncleanliness, especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may also apply to objects and places. Ritual uncleanliness is not identical with ordinary physical impurity, such as dirt stains; nevertheless, body fluids are generally considered ritually unclean.
Taking the bride to the bath house, Shalom Koboshvili, 1939.
Male Ablution Facility at University of Toronto's Multifaith Centre.
Tsukubai at Ryōan-ji temple in Kyoto.
Lavabo in the Poblet Monastery in Spain.
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or revered objects. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, but not defined, by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance.
A Śrauta yajna or fire ritual in Kerala, India.
The use of Latin in a Tridentine Catholic Mass is an example of a "restricted code".
The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil on canvas by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930). The painting shows common misconceptions about the event that persist to modern times: Pilgrims did not wear such outfits, and the Wampanoag are dressed in the style of Plains Indians.
Ritual practitioner on Inwangsan Mountain, Seoul South Korea