Religious use of incense

Religious use of incense has its origins in antiquity. The burned incense may be intended as a sacrificial offering to various deity or to serve as an aid in prayer.

The first recorded use of incense was by the Egyptians during the Fifth Dynasty, 2345-2494 BC.

Incense use in religious ritual was either further or simultaneously developed in China, and eventually transmitted to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. Incense holds an invaluable role in East Asian Buddhist ceremonies and rites as well as in those of Chinese Taoist and Japanese Shinto shrines. It is reputed to be a method of purifying the surroundings, bringing forth an assembly of buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods, demons, and the like.

In Chinese Taoist and Buddhist temples, the inner spaces are scented with thick coiled incense, which are either hung from the ceiling or on special stands. Worshipers at the temples light and burn sticks of incense in small or large bundles, which they wave or raise above the head while bowing to the statues or plaques of a deity or an ancestor. Individual sticks of incense are then vertically placed into individual censers located in front of the statues or plaques either singularly or in threes, depending on the status of the deity or the feelings of the individual. The incense is also used to burn a Buddhist monk or nun's scalp during ordination and the burning usually lasts for 5 minutes, produces 6, 9 or 12 circular scars (called "jieba" or ordination scars) on the person's scalp after the person has suffered great pain from the burning.

In Japanese Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, the sticks of incense are placed horizontally into censers on top of the ash since the sticks used normally lack a supporting core that does not burn.

The formula and scent of the incense sticks used in various temples throughout Asia vary widely.

Incense has been employed in worship by Christians since antiquity, particularly in the Eastern Christian churches, the Roman Catholic Church/Eastern Catholic, Old Catholic/Liberal Catholic Churches and some Anglican and Lutheran Churches. Incense is being increasingly used among some other Christian groups as well, for example, the Book of Worship of The United Methodist Church calls for incense in the Evening Praise and Prayer service. The practice is rooted in the earlier traditions of Judaism in the time of the Second Jewish Temple. The smoke of burning incense is interpreted by both the Western Catholic and Eastern Christian churches as a symbol of the prayer of the faithful rising to heaven. This symbolism is seen in Psalm 141 (140), verse 2: "Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight: the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice." Incense is often used as part of a purification ritual. In the Latin rite of the Roman Catholic Church, whenever the thurible is swung to incense people or objects, it is always done in groups of three swings (to represent the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit; the precise number depends on the level of sanctity of the object being reverenced, and if a person whether the person is alive or dead and whether they are a cleric or a layperson, and if a cleric, their rank within the hierarchy).

...
Wikipedia