ritual purity
Ceremonial spiritual cleanness
Ritual purity is a state of cleanliness required by religious law before participating in sacred activities.
Many traditions—Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Shinto—prescribe washing, abstaining from certain foods or contact, or waiting periods after events like menstruation, childbirth, or touching the dead.
The concept distinguishes spiritual cleanliness from physical hygiene: She performed the ablutions to restore ritual purity before prayer.
- ablutionRitualized washing of body
- mikvehJewish purification immersion pool
- menstrual tabooSocial prohibition on discussing menstruation
- washingCleaning with liquid
- washing handsCleaning one's palms, fingers
clean hands · prayer · smudging · lustration · incense burning · consecration · immersion · holy water · priesthood · sin offering · sanctity · sprinkling · fumigation · bathing · fasting · halal · temples · unclean
- Islamic Lawsharia, Sharia, Shariah, Islamic law, fatwa
- Hajjhajj, Mecca, Makkah, Kaaba, Arafat
- HinduismVishnu, Shiva, Krishna, Ganesh, Ganesha
- Indian Societycaste, varna, Dalit, untouchability, caste system
- Jewish practiceShabbat, halakhah, kosher, kosher laws, Sabbath observance
- atonementpropitiation, substitution, reconciler, forgiveness, sin offering
ritual puritydefilement
Act of corrupting purity
uncleanness · contamination · pollution · profanation · impurity
ritual puritytransgression
Violation of law or code
desecration · abomination · sin · corruption · impiety