incense offering
Burning fragrant tribute
An incense offering is the ceremonial burning of aromatic substances as a religious or spiritual act.
Found across many traditions—from ancient temple rituals to modern Buddhist practice—the smoke rising from burning incense symbolizes prayers ascending to the divine or serves to purify sacred spaces.
The term appears most frequently in biblical contexts, where incense offerings were prescribed acts of worship.
The priest made the daily incense offering at the altar.
- myrrhFragrant gum from trees
- frankincenseAromatic resin for incense
- copalFragrant tropical tree resin
- sandalwoodAromatic wood from tropical trees
- cedarDurable, fragrant conifer
benzoin · prayer · prayer beads · altar · reverence · atonement · sacred ritual · oblation · stick · consecration · high priest · Hinduism · smudging · sacrifice · worship · Zoroastrianism · Ancient Egypt · resin
- Tibetan BuddhismBuddha, Tibet, Dalai Lama, lama, lamas
- Korean religionConfucianism, folk religion, shamans, Korean temples, Buddhist temples
- ceremonieswedding ceremony, wedding, weddings, graduation, graduations
- incensefrankincense, censer, myrrh, sandalwood, joss stick
- BuddhismBuddha, dharma wheel, Four Noble Truths, nirvana, dharma
- HinduismVishnu, Shiva, Krishna, Ganesh, Ganesha
incense offeringhuman sacrifice
Ritual offering of life
animal sacrifice · blood sacrifice · burnt offering · holocaust · self-sacrifice
incense offeringsilent prayer
Voiceless religious entreaty
meditation · spoken prayer · hymn · psalm · chanting