Ritual Pemurnian Shinto

berun · Post time 5-11-2014 02:50 PM

Ritual Pemurnian Shinto

Many Shinto rituals revolve around purification and purging pollution, often through ritual ablution, the scattering of salt and the shaking of sakaki trees branches with white paper strips. Among the earthly offenses listed in a book of ceremonial codes, dated to A.D. 927, that can be remedied through purification rituals are the “cutting the living skim, cutting the dead skin, being an albino, sufferings from growths, a son’s cohabitation with his own mother, a father’s cohabitation with his own child...cohabitation with animals, calamities caused by crawling worms.” The spilling of blood has traditionally been looked down upon not because it was caused by an act of violence but because it was dirty and impure.

Sakaki tree are sacred in Shinto. Sprigs with bright green leaves, often adorned with small strips of white paper, are often left as offerings at Shinto Shrines. Branched have been used for centuries in Shinto rituals. In the Japanese creation myth the Sun Goddess is lured of a cave with a variety of items placed on a sakaki wood altar. A member of the tea family, sakaki are small evergreen trees with small flowers. They are believed to have been selected in ancient times for their sacred role because they grew well in forest clearings where pre-Shinto rituals were held.

In the old days there were three primary types of ritual purity: 1) abstention and withdrawal, the avoidance of a number things, only required of priests: 2) rituals for accidental defilements, including women experiencing menstruation, practiced by laymen; and 3) paying purification, traditionally invoked for more serious sins and often manifested in the paying of a fine to a kami.

During formal purification ceremonies, which are usually conducted on New Year's Day, participants have scared sakaki branches waved over their head by a priest or miko; drink some sacred rice wine called miki; perform a ritual prayers and partake in a symbolic feast; and offer some money (usually $100 or more). People that offer big money get their names placed on special plaques that vary in size according to the amount of money given.

Purification is also a key element of secular life and it has been for some time. A Chinese visitor to 8th century Japan wrote: “When funeral ceremonies are over, all members of the family go into the water together to cleanse themselves in a bath of purification. When they go on voyages across the sea, they always chose a man who does not arrange his own hair does not rid himself of fleas, lets his clothing get dirty as at will, does not eat meat and does not approach women. This man behaves like a mourner and is known as a “fortune keeper”. If the voyage turns out well, they all lavish slaves and other valuables on him. In case there is disease or mishap, they kill him, saying that he was not scrupulous in his duties.”

The Daimokutate Shinto rituals of Nara Prefecture were added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.

DeMax · Post time 5-11-2014 02:57 PM

Cehhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! Gambaq umah pprt Jawa tak blh tahan..hantaq balik pi P. Jawa, buat mencemarkan keDULIan Malaya je puak ni Last edited by DeMax on 5-11-2014 05:03 PM