Water and religion

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A Hindu ablution as practiced in Tamil Nadu

Water is considered a purifier in most religions.

Holy water

Inda Abba Hadera holy water in Inda Sillasie, Ethiopia

Some faiths use water especially prepared for religious purposes (

Roman Catholicism, the Jordan River (at least symbolically) in some Christian churches and Mandaeism called Yardena, the Zamzam Well in Islam and the River Ganges
(among many others) in Hinduism.

Ritual washing

Main articles: Ritual purification, Ablution in Christianity, and Ritual washing in Judaism

Faiths that incorporate ritual washing (

mikvah) and Sikhism (Amrit Sanskar). In addition, a ritual bath in pure water is performed for the dead in many religions including Judaism, Mandaeism and Islam. In Islam, the five daily prayers can be done in most cases (see Tayammum) after completing washing certain parts of the body using clean water (wudu). In Shinto, water is used in almost all rituals to cleanse a person or an area (e.g., in the ritual of misogi
).

Immersion of deities

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India
An ice hole is cut in the form of a cross in Russia to celebrate the Epiphany.

In Hinduism, statues of

Ganesh are immersed in rivers at the final stages of the festivals Durga Puja and Ganesh Chaturthi respectively.[4]

In Christianity, the baptism of Jesus is an important moment in Christian theology and is celebrated in Western Christianity as Epiphany. In the Christian East this feast is celebrated as Theophany on January 6.[5]

Water deities

Main article: List of water deities

Water deities are usually a focus of worship at specific springs or holy wells, but there are also more abstract ocean deities, and deities representing "water" as an abstract element, such as Aban
in Zoroastrianism.

Example for local

Igbo lake goddess Ogbuide (Uhammiri), the Igbo river goddess Idemili and Agulu Lake (Achebe).[citation needed
]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9781611689556
    . Water plays a role in other Christian rituals as well. ... In the early days of Christianity, two to three centuries after Christ, the lavabo (Latin for "I wash myself"), a ritual handwashing vessel and bowl, was introduced as part of Church service.
  2. ISBN 978-1-4411-6767-5
    . It was probably out of the Jewish rite that the practice developed among early Christians, especially in the east, of washing their hands and feet before going into church. Early Christian basilicas had a fountain for ablutions, known as cantharus or phiala, and usually placed in the centre of the atrium. They are still found in some Eastern Orthodox churches, notably at the monastery of Laura at Mount Athos, where the phiala is an imposing structure in front of the entrance covered by a dome resting on eight pillars. In several Orthodox churches today worshippers take off heir shoes and wash their feet before entering the church just as Muslims do before going into a mosque.
  3. ^ Bingham, Joseph (1840). The antiquities of the Christian Church. W. Straker. p. 396. In the middle of which stood a Fountain for washing as they entered into the Church, called Cantharus and Phiala in some authors. It is further to be noted, that in the middle of the atrium, there was commonly a fountain, or a cistern of water, for people to wash their hands and face, before they went into the church.
  4. ISBN 81-7625-064-3
    .
  5. ^ "The Theophany of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ". Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  • Sabine Jell-Bahlsen, The Water Goddess in Igbo Cosmology; Ogbuide of Oguta Lake. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008.
  • Robin Horton
    , "African Traditional Thought and Western Science." Africa (37) 1967.
  • Judith Gleason, Oya. In Praise of an African Goddess. New York: Harper and Collins, 1987.
  • Badejo, Deirdre. Osun Seegesi; The Elegant Deity of Wealth, Power and Femininity. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1996.

Further reading

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