ritual cleansing
Ceremonial spiritual purging
Ritual cleansing is the use of water, fire, or other substances to purify a person, object, or space according to religious or cultural tradition.
The cleansing removes spiritual contamination rather than physical dirt—washing hands before prayer, smudging a room with sage, immersing in a mikveh.
The phrase also appears in secular contexts for any ceremonial fresh start: After the scandal, the company needed a ritual cleansing of its leadership.
- lustrationCleansing rite or vetting
- ablutionRitualized washing of body
- baptismRitual water purification ceremony
- sacred watersReligiously venerated bodies of liquid
- smudgingMaking blurry marks
white sage · mikvah · purification · holy water · sanctification · immersion · anointing · sweat lodge · atonement · exorcism · washing · detoxification · spring cleaning · temple · sage · ceremony · rebirth · clean slate
- ritualsceremony, sacrament, blessing, prayer, baptism
- folk medicinefolk medicine, herbalism, herbal remedies, folk healer, herbal medicine
- Ritual Purificationmikveh, lustration, purification rites, purification ceremony, holy water blessing
- traditional religionancestors, ancestral spirits, deities, rituals, sacrifices
- Shintokami, torii, jinja, shintai, kagura
- Bantu spiritualityancestor spirits, ancestral spirits, ancestor veneration, spirit possession, spirit world
ritual cleansingdefilement
Act of corrupting purity
contamination · desecration · profanation · impurity · uncleanness