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72-552: The chthonic deities have been compared to the more commonly referred-to Olympic gods and their associated rites and cults. Olympic gods are understood to reference that which exists above the earth, particularly in the sky. Gods that are related to agriculture are also considered to have chthonic associations as planting and growing take place in part under the earth. Chthonic and ouranic, or olympic, are not completely opposite descriptors. They do not cleanly differentiate types of gods and worship into distinct categories, but represent

144-535: A holocaust , defined by the completely burned and destroyed nature of the offering. The sacrifice was performed on a low altar or in a pit in the ground, offered in the direction of the earth where chthonic deities would reside. The animal sacrifice was sometimes buried as well. The temples in which these sacrifices were performed were typically built outside city walls with caves and grottos being popular locations, believed to be openings for chthonic deities. Worshippers lowered their palms and faced them downwards toward

216-544: A samurai warrior might perfume his helmet and armor with incense to achieve an aura of invincibility (as well as to make a noble gesture to whoever might take his head in battle). It was not until the Muromachi period during the 15th and 16th century that incense appreciation ( kōdō , 香 ( こう ) 道 ( どう ) ) spread to the upper and middle classes of Japanese society. A variety of materials have been used in making incense. Historically there has been

288-549: A binder to form a paste, which, for direct burning incense, is then cut and dried into pellets. Certain proportions are necessary for direct-burning incense: "Dipped" or "hand-dipped" direct-burning incense is created by dipping "incense blanks" made of unscented combustible dust into any suitable kind of essential or fragrance oil. These are often sold in the United States by flea-market and sidewalk vendors who have developed their own styles. This form of incense requires

360-420: A cultic spectrum. These terms communicate associations with the underworld and/or agriculture. This makes some deities such as Hades , Persephone , and Erinyes more likely to be considered chthonic due to their proximity to the underworld. While this is the case, virtually any god could be considered chthonic to emphasize different aspects of the god. For example, Demeter and Hermes are categorized within

432-432: A direct burning incense mixture not only binds the fragrant material together but also allows the produced incense to burn with a self-sustained ember, which propagates slowly and evenly through an entire piece of incense with such regularity that it can be used to mark time. The base is chosen such that it does not produce a perceptible smell. Commercially, two types of incense base predominate: Typical compositions burn at

504-464: A libation. They were performed on high altars which resided outside of temples . The animal sacrifice was roasted with the smoke traveling upward toward the sky, in the direction of the Olympic gods. Once cooked, the worshippers would feast on the sacrifice with the idea that they were sharing this meal with the gods. The worshippers would eat the consumable portions of the animal and burn the rest for

576-594: A preference for using locally available ingredients. For example, sage and cedar were used by the indigenous peoples of North America. Trading in incense materials comprised a major part of commerce along the Silk Road and other trade routes, one notably called the Incense Route . Local knowledge and tools were extremely influential on the style, but methods were also influenced by migrations of foreigners, such as clergy and physicians. The combustible base of

648-505: A race of deities , primarily consisting of a third and fourth generation of immortal beings, worshipped as the principal gods of the Greek pantheon and so named because of their residency atop Mount Olympus . They gained their supremacy in a ten-year-long war of gods , in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the previous generation of ruling immortal beings, the Titans , children of

720-430: A simple deodorant or insect repellent . Incense is composed of aromatic plant materials, often combined with essential oils . The forms taken by incense differ with the underlying culture, and have changed with advances in technology and increasing number of uses. Incense can generally be separated into two main types: "indirect-burning" and "direct-burning." Indirect-burning incense (or "non-combustible incense")

792-800: A simple trail of incense material calibrated to burn in a specific time period, to elaborate and ornate instruments with bells or gongs, designed to involve multiple senses. Incense clocks are used to time social, medical and religious practices in parts of eastern Asia. They are primarily used in Buddhism as a timer of meditation and prayer. Different types of incense burn at different rates; therefore, different incense are used for different practices. The duration of burning ranges from minutes to months. Incense made from materials such as citronella can repel mosquitoes and other irritating, distracting, or pestilential insects. This use has been deployed in concert with religious uses by Zen Buddhists , who claim that

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864-560: A single altar. Many other places had cults of the twelve gods, including Delos , Chalcedon , Magnesia on the Maeander , and Leontinoi in Sicily . As with the twelve Olympians, although the number of gods was fixed at twelve, the membership varied. While the majority of the gods included as members of these other cults of twelve gods were Olympians, non-Olympians were also sometimes included. For example, Herodorus of Heraclea identified

936-476: A temperature between 220 and 260 °C (428–500 °F). Incense is available in various forms and degrees of processing. They can generally be separated into "direct-burning" and "indirect-burning" types. Preference for one form over another varies with culture, tradition, and personal taste. The two differ in their composition due to the former's requirement for even, stable, and sustained burning. Indirect-burning incense, also called "non-combustible incense",

1008-592: A traditional incense burner ( censer ) similar to the Somali dabqaad . It is customary in many Arab countries to pass bakhoor among the guests in the majlis ( مَجْلِسٌ‎ , 'congregation'). This is done as a gesture of hospitality . For over two thousand years, the Chinese have used incense in religious ceremonies, ancestor veneration , traditional Chinese medicine , and daily life. Agarwood ( 沉香 ; chénxiāng ) and sandalwood ( 檀香 ; tánxiāng ) are

1080-464: Is an aromatic material or combination of materials, such as resins, that does not contain combustible material and so requires a separate heat source. Finer forms tend to burn more rapidly, while coarsely ground or whole chunks may be consumed very gradually, having less surface area. Heat is traditionally provided by charcoal or glowing embers. In the West, the best known incense materials of this type are

1152-481: Is an everyday practice in traditional Chinese religion . There are many different types of sticks used for different purposes or on different festive days. Many of them are long and thin. Sticks are mostly coloured yellow, red, or more rarely, black. Thick sticks are used for special ceremonies, such as funerals. Spiral incense, with exceedingly long burn times, is often hung from temple ceilings. In some states, such as Taiwan, Singapore, or Malaysia, where they celebrate

1224-505: Is called 'Moskolibano', and generally comes in either a pink or green colour denoting the fragrance, with pink being rose and green being jasmine. Indirect-burning incense is burned directly on top of a heat source or on a hot metal plate in a censer or thurible . In Japan and China, a similar censer called a egōro ( 柄香炉 ) in Japanese, or a shǒulú (手爐) in Chinese, is used by several Buddhist traditions. The egōro / shǒulú

1296-661: Is either extruded , pressed into forms, or coated onto a supporting material. This class of incense is made from a moldable substrate of fragrant finely ground (or liquid) incense materials and odourless binder. The composition must be adjusted to provide fragrance in the proper concentration and to ensure even burning. The following types are commonly encountered, though direct-burning incense can take nearly any form, whether for expedience or whimsy. Moxa tablets, which are disks of powdered mugwort used in Traditional Chinese medicine for moxibustion , are not incenses;

1368-518: Is generally practiced as a separate art form from the tea ceremony, and usually within a tea room of traditional Zen design. Agarwood ( 沈香 , jinkō ) and sandalwood ( 白檀 , byakudan ) are the two most important ingredients in Japanese incense. The characters in agarwood mean "incense that sinks in water" due to the weight of the resin in the wood. Sandalwood is used in the Japanese tea ceremony . The most valued sandalwood comes from Mysore in

1440-553: Is historically accurate and/or useful. Some scholars, including van Straten, argue that the term is not archaeologically verifiable. Some of these scholars believe that the modern use of chthonic is much more binary and concrete than it was in Ancient Greece. Schlesier notes that discussions of chthonic practices often create a false sense of "normal" worship and "deviant" worship, again citing the stark binary which modern scholars may fall into. In response, Scullion articulates

1512-523: Is not capable of burning on its own, and requires a separate heat source. Direct-burning incense (or "combustible incense") is lit directly by a flame and then fanned or blown out, leaving a glowing ember that smoulders and releases a smoky fragrance. Direct-burning incense is either a paste formed around a bamboo stick, or a paste that is extruded into a stick or cone shape. The word incense comes from Latin incendere pronunciation: /inˈt͡ʃɛn.de.re/ meaning 'to burn'. Combustible bouquets were used by

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1584-431: Is placed. The incense is placed directly upon the charcoal, where it melts to produce a sweet smelling smoke. This may be done several times during the religious service as the incense burns quite quickly. The thurible is swung by its chains to fan the charcoal, to produce copious smoke, and to distribute the smoke. Incense sticks, also known as agarbattī ( Hindi : अगरबत्ती ) and joss sticks, in which an incense paste

1656-526: Is rolled or moulded around a bamboo stick, are the main forms of incense in India. The bamboo method originated in India and is distinct from the Nepali, Tibetan, and Japanese methods of stick making without bamboo cores. The basic ingredients are the bamboo stick, the paste (generally made of charcoal dust and joss/jiggit/gum/tabu powder – an adhesive made from the bark of litsea glutinosa and other trees), and

1728-568: Is the case, a few gods are most commonly considered chthonic due to their considerable role in the underworld and/or agriculture. These include Hades as he is the ruler of the underworld. Persephone is the Queen of the Underworld alongside Hades. She spends half the year in the underworld and the other half above the earth. The period when Persephone is in the underworld corresponds with winter while she personifies spring when she returns to above

1800-432: Is then trimmed and slowly dried. Incense produced in this fashion has a tendency to warp or become misshapen when improperly dried, and as such must be placed in climate-controlled rooms and rotated several times through the drying process. Traditionally, the bamboo core of cored stick incense is prepared by hand from Phyllostachys heterocycla cv. pubescens since this species produces thick wood and easily burns to ashes in

1872-483: Is usually made of brass, with a long handle and no chain. Instead of charcoal, makkō powder is poured into a depression made in a bed of ash. The makkō is lit and the incense mixture is burned on top. This method in Japan is known as sonae-kō (religious burning). For direct-burning incense, the tip or end of the incense is ignited with a heat source such as a flame until the incense begins to turn into ash at

1944-596: The Eastern Orthodox Christian monastic tradition on Mount Athos is made by powdering frankincense or fir resin, mixing it with essential oils. Floral fragrances are the most common, but citrus such as lemon is not uncommon. The incense mixture is then rolled out into a slab approximately 1 centimetre (0.39 in) thick and left until the slab has firmed. It is then cut into small cubes, coated with clay powder to prevent adhesion, and allowed to fully harden and dry. In Greece this rolled incense resin

2016-474: The Ghost Festival , large, pillar-like dragon incense sticks are sometimes used. These generate so much smoke and heat that they are only burned outside. Chinese incense sticks used in popular religion are generally odorless or only use the slightest trace of jasmine or rose, since it is the smoke, not the scent, which is important in conveying the prayers of the faithful to heaven. They are composed of

2088-569: The Horae , the Graces , the Muses , Eileithyia , Iris , Dione , and Ganymede . Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other various cultic groupings of twelve gods throughout ancient Greece. The earliest evidence of Greek religious practice involving twelve gods ( Greek : δωδεκάθεον , dōdekátheon , from δώδεκα dōdeka , "twelve", and θεοί theoi , "gods") comes no earlier than

2160-514: The Roman Catholic , Eastern Orthodox , Assyrian Church of the East and Oriental Orthodox , as well as in some Lutheran , Old Catholic , United Methodist , Reformed , Presbyterian , and Anglican churches. A thurible is used to hold the burning incense. Each thurible consists of a censer section, chains to hold and swing it, a perforated lid, and a crucible in which burning charcoal

2232-607: The Song dynasty , with numerous buildings erected specifically for incense ceremonies. Brought to Japan in the 6th century by Korean Buddhist monks , who used the mystical aromas in their purification rites, the delicate scents of Koh (high-quality Japanese incense) became a source of amusement and entertainment for nobles in the Imperial Court during the Heian Era 200 years later. During the 14th-century Ashikaga shogunate ,

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2304-568: The Temple in Jerusalem and is stated in the Book of Exodus to be a mixture of stacte , onycha , galbanum and frankincense . In Japan incense appreciation folklore includes art, culture, history, and ceremony. Incense burning may occasionally take place within the tea ceremony , just like calligraphy , ikebana , and scroll arrangement. Kōdō ( 香道 ) , the art of incense appreciation,

2376-567: The ancient Egyptians , who employed incense in both pragmatic and mystical capacities. Incense was burnt to counteract or obscure malodorous products of human habitation, but was widely perceived to also deter malevolent demons and appease the gods with its pleasant aroma. Resin balls were found in many prehistoric Egyptian tombs in El Mahasna, giving evidence for the prominence of incense and related compounds in Egyptian antiquity. One of

2448-473: The primordial deities Gaia and Uranus . They were a family of gods, the most important consisting of the first generation of Olympians, offspring of the Titans Cronus and Rhea : Zeus, Poseidon , Hera , Demeter and Hestia , along with the principal offspring of Zeus: Aphrodite , Athena , Artemis , Apollo , Ares , Hephaestus , Hermes and Dionysus . Although Hades was a major deity in

2520-451: The twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon , commonly considered to be Zeus , Poseidon , Hera , Demeter , Aphrodite , Athena , Artemis , Apollo , Ares , Hephaestus , Hermes , and either Hestia or Dionysus . They were called Olympians because, according to tradition, they resided on Mount Olympus . Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other cultic groupings of twelve gods. The Olympians were

2592-559: The Alpheus, to the "twelve ruling gods": [Heracles] enclosed the Altis all around and marked it off in the open, and he made the encircling area a resting-place for feasting, honoring the stream of the Alpheus along with the twelve ruling gods. Another of Pindar's Olympian odes mentions "six double altars". Herodorus of Heraclea (c. 400 BC) also has Heracles founding a shrine at Olympia, with six pairs of gods, each pair sharing

2664-569: The Greek pantheon and was the brother of Zeus and the other first generation of Olympians, his realm was far away from Olympus in the underworld , and thus he was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians. Olympic gods can be contrasted to chthonic gods including Hades and his wife Persephone , by mode of sacrifice, the latter receiving sacrifices in a bothros ( βόθρος , "pit") or megaron ( μέγαρον , "sunken chamber") rather than at an altar. The canonical number of Olympian gods

2736-423: The benefits of the term chthonic as long as one also understands the fact that chthonic and Olympian are not mutually exclusive categories. The term serves to highlight differing aspects of religious practice. Scholars emphasize the importance of reserving the label of chthonic for situations that were explicitly labeled as such in Ancient Greece. Olympic gods In ancient Greek religion and mythology ,

2808-427: The burning end. The flame is then fanned or blown out, leaving the incense to smolder. In most Arab countries, incense is burned in the form of scented chips or blocks called bakhoor ( Arabic : بَخُورٌ [baˈxuːɾ] ). Incense is used on special occasions like weddings or on Fridays or generally to perfume the house. The bakhoor is usually burned in a mabkhara ( Arabic : مبخر or مبخرة ),

2880-509: The ceremonial use of incense was abandoned until the Oxford Movement , it was common to have incense (typically frankincense ) burned before grand occasions, when the church would be crowded. The frankincense was carried about by a member of the vestry before the service in a vessel called a 'perfuming pan'. In iconography of the day, this vessel is shown to be elongated and flat, with a single long handle on one side. The perfuming pan

2952-431: The dried powdered bark of a non-scented species of cinnamon native to Cambodia, Cinnamomum cambodianum . Inexpensive packs of 300 are often found for sale in Chinese supermarkets. Though they contain no sandalwood, they often include the Chinese character for sandalwood on the label, as a generic term for incense. Highly scented Chinese incense sticks are used by some Buddhists. These are often quite expensive due to

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3024-595: The earth and underworld, in the direction of the chthonic gods. The goal of chthonic worship was to interact with gods beneath the earth so offerings were directed toward the ground to reach these deities. For this reason, incense was not used in Chthonic worship, as the smoke would rise upwards rather than downwards. Wine was not utilized in this form of worship, but instead honey was a common libation used. Sacrificial practices would not always follow these exact patterns, but these are differences which can allude to whether

3096-501: The earth. It is for these reasons that she is mainly associated with the underworld as well as agriculture. Demeter is related to the underworld as she attempts to rescue Persephone from Hades in her grief. She is associated with agriculture and fertility. The Furies, or the Erinyes , reside in the underworld and are known for vengeance. Offerings were a significant aspect of Ancient Greek religion. They were used to communicate with

3168-463: The god Hermes divide a sacrifice of two cows he has stolen from Apollo, into twelve parts, on the banks of the river Alpheus (presumably at Olympia): Next glad-hearted Hermes dragged the rich meats he had prepared and put them on a smooth, flat stone, and divided them into twelve portions distributed by lot, making each portion wholly honorable. Pindar, in an ode written to be sung at Olympia c. 480 BC, has Heracles sacrificing, alongside

3240-399: The god. While performing the sacrifice, worshippers would raise their palms open and upward, again gesturing toward the sky where the ouranic gods resided. Chthonic sacrifice was commonly defined by offering a black or dark-hided animal to the deity. Worshippers did not consume the sacrifice themselves, but instead burned the entirety of the animal for the god. This type of sacrifice is called

3312-405: The gods and commonly took the forms of sacrifice and libation . Offerings were central to the worship of both chthonic and ouranic gods, though the specifics of these rituals differed. These differences provide insight into the ways in which Greeks perceived chthonic and ouranic deities as well as the ways they related to them. Ouranic sacrifices took place during the daytime and included wine as

3384-554: The incense could smother the scent of decay. An example, as well as of religious use, is the giant Botafumeiro thurible that swings from the ceiling of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It is used in part to mask the scent of the many tired, unwashed pilgrims huddled together in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela . A similar utilitarian use of incense can be found in the post- Reformation Church of England . Although

3456-443: The incense stick. In a process known as "splitting the foot of the incense stick", the bamboo is trimmed to length, soaked, peeled, and split in halves until the thin sticks of bamboo have square cross sections of less than 3mm. This process has been largely replaced by machines in modern incense production. In the case of cored incensed sticks, several methods are employed to coat the sticks cores with incense mixture: Incense of

3528-491: The late sixth century BC. According to Thucydides , an altar of the twelve gods was established in the agora of Athens by the archon Pisistratus (son of Hippias and the grandson of the tyrant Pisistratus ), around 522 BC. The altar became the central point from which distances from Athens were measured and a place of supplication and refuge. Olympia apparently also had an early tradition of twelve gods. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes ( c.  500 BC ) has

3600-516: The least skill and equipment to manufacture, since the blanks are pre-formed in China or South East Asia. Incense mixtures can be extruded or pressed into shapes. Small quantities of water are combined with the fragrance and incense base mixture and kneaded into a hard dough . The incense dough is then pressed into shaped forms to create cone and smaller coiled incense, or forced through a hydraulic press for solid stick incense. The formed incense

3672-667: The main entrance of every village. Here the earth god is propitiated in the hope of bringing wealth and health to the village. They can also be burned in front of a door or open window as an offering to heaven , or the devas . The word "joss" is derived from the Latin deus (god) via the Portuguese deus through the Javanese dejos , through Chinese pidgin English. The raw materials are powdered and then mixed together with

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3744-575: The name of a god or goddess to reference their relationship either to the underworld or agriculture. For example, Hermes Chthonios references Hermes' role as the underworld escort. In contrast, Charon does not necessitate a chthonic epithet as his relation to the underworld is his main attribution. Additional examples of deities with recorded epithets include Demeter Chthonia, Ge Chthonia, Persephone Chthonia, Zeus Chthonios, and Hecate Chthonia. As discussed, many deities can be considered chthonic based upon what attributes are being referenced. Though this

3816-546: The oldest extant incense burners originates from the 5th dynasty . The Temple of Deir-el-Bahari in Egypt contains a series of carvings that depict an expedition for incense. The Babylonians used incense while offering prayers to divine oracles . Incense spread from there to Greece and Rome. Incense burners have been found in the Indus Civilization . Evidence suggests oils were used mainly for their aroma. This

3888-616: The original twelve being "cast out". In the Iliad , the goddess Themis , who is listed among the twelve Titans , dwells on Olympus alongside the other gods, making her a Titan and an Olympian at the same time. According to Hesiod, the children of Styx — Zelus (Envy), Nike (Victory), Kratos (Strength), and Bia (Force)—"have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling nor path except that wherein God leads them, but they dwell always with Zeus". Some others who might be considered Olympians include

3960-634: The perfume ingredients - which would be a masala ( spice mix ) powder of ground ingredients into which the stick would be rolled, or a perfume liquid sometimes consisting of synthetic ingredients into which the stick would be dipped. Perfume is sometimes sprayed on the coated sticks. Stick machines are sometimes used, which coat the stick with paste and perfume, though the bulk of production is done by hand rolling at home. There are about 5,000 incense companies in India that take raw unperfumed sticks hand-rolled by approximately 200,000 women working part-time at home, and then apply their own brand of perfume, and package

4032-596: The place of Vesta (Greek Hestia), who played a crucial role in Roman religion as a state goddess maintained by the Vestals . There is no single canonical list of the twelve Olympian gods. The thirteen Greek gods and goddesses, along with their Roman counterparts, most commonly considered to be one of the twelve Olympians are listed below. Some lists of the Twelve Olympians omit her in favor of Dionysus, but

4104-504: The religious sense, namely for worship. Incense was used by Chinese cultures from Neolithic times and became more widespread in the Xia , Shang , and Zhou dynasties. The earliest documented use of incense comes from the ancient Chinese, who employed incense composed of herbs and plant products (such as cassia , cinnamon , styrax , and sandalwood ) as a component of numerous formalized ceremonial rites. Incense usage reached its peak during

4176-527: The resins frankincense and myrrh , likely due to their numerous mentions in the Bible . Frankincense means "pure incense", though in common usage, it refers specifically to the resin of the boswellia tree. Direct-burning incense, also called "combustible incense", is lit directly by a flame. The glowing ember on the incense will continue to smoulder and burn the rest of the incense without further application of external heat or flame. Direct-burning incense

4248-499: The river god Alpheus, with the status of the Graces (here apparently counted as one god) being unclear. Plato connected "twelve gods" with the twelve months and implies that he considered Pluto (Or Hades) one of the twelve in proposing that the final month be devoted to him and the spirits of the dead. The Roman poet Ennius gives the Roman equivalents (the Dii Consentes ) as six male-female complements, preserving

4320-512: The six pairs of gods at Olympia as: Zeus and Poseidon, Hera and Athena, Hermes and Apollo, the Graces and Dionysus, Artemis and Alpheus , and Cronus and Rhea . Thus, while this list includes the eight Olympians: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, and Dionysus, it also contains three clear non-Olympians: the Titan parents of the first generation of Olympians, Cronus and Rhea, and

4392-404: The speculation that she gave her throne to him in order to keep the peace seems to be a modern invention. Incense Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship , aromatherapy , meditation , and ceremonial reasons. It may also be used as

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4464-425: The state of Karnataka in India. Japanese incense companies divide agarwood into six categories depending on its properties and the region from which it is obtained. Kyara ( 伽羅 ) , a type of agarwood, is currently worth more than its weight in gold. Incense fragrances can be of such great strength that they obscure less desirable odours. This utility led to the use of incense in funerary ceremonies because

4536-453: The sticks for sale. An experienced home-worker can produce 4,000 raw sticks a day. There are about 50 large companies that together account for up to 30% of the market, and around 500 of the companies, including a significant number of the main ones, including Moksh Agarbatti, PremaNature , and Cycle Pure , are based in Mysore. Ketoret ( Hebrew : קְטֹרֶת‎ ) was the incense offered in

4608-404: The treatment is by heat rather than fragrance. Incense sticks may be termed joss sticks, especially in parts of East Asia , South Asia and Southeast Asia . Among ethnic Chinese and Chinese-influenced communities these are traditionally burned at temples, before the threshold of a home or business, before an image of a religious divinity or local spirit, or in shrines, large and small, found at

4680-454: The twelve Olympian gods but are often considered chthonic. Zeus has also been referenced with the surname "chthonios", demonstrating the situational use of a chthonic description. In Ancient Greece, the names of deities were sometimes followed by an epithet , similar in concept to a surname. In this context, the purpose of an epithet was to describe a characteristic or association of a deity. The epithets 'chthonios' and 'chthonia' would follow

4752-464: The two most important ingredients in Chinese incense. Along with the introduction of Buddhism in China came calibrated incense sticks and incense clocks . The first known record is by poet Yu Jianwu (487–551): "By burning incense we know the o'clock of the night, With graduated candles we confirm the tally of the watches." The use of these incense timekeeping devices spread from Buddhist monasteries into Chinese secular society. Incense-stick burning

4824-468: The use of large amounts of sandalwood, agarwood , or floral scents. The sandalwood used in Chinese incenses does not come from India, its native home, but rather from groves planted within Chinese territory. Sites belonging to Tzu Chi , Chung Tai Shan , Dharma Drum Mountain , Xingtian Temple , or City of Ten Thousand Buddhas do not use incense. Incense is used in Christian churches, including

4896-411: The worshipper is conducting an ouranic or chthonic sacrifice. Though the specifics of chthonic and ouranic sacrifice differ, they both have similar goals. In both scenarios, worshippers perform sacrifices to communicate and forge a relationship with the gods. They may perform a sacrifice to thank, honor, or request a favor from a god. There is scholarly debate regarding whether the distinction of chthonic

4968-419: Was assimilated into the religious practices of the time. As Hinduism matured and Buddhism was founded in India, incense became an integral part of Buddhism as well. Around 200 CE, a group of wandering Buddhist monks introduced incense stick making to China. Some incense, depending on the contents, may also act as organic insect repellent. At around 2000 BCE, Ancient China began the use of incense in

5040-565: Was the first usage of subterranean plant parts in incense. The oldest textual source on incense is the Vedas , specifically the Atharvaveda and the Rigveda . Incense-burning was used to create pleasing aromas as well as a medicinal tool. Its use in medicine is considered the first phase of Ayurveda , which uses incense as an approach to healing. The practice of incense as a healing tool

5112-404: Was twelve, but besides the (thirteen) principal Olympians listed above, there were many other residents of Olympus, who thus might be considered to be Olympians. Heracles became a resident of Olympus after his apotheosis and married another Olympian resident Hebe . According to Diodorus Siculus , some said that Heracles was offered a place among the twelve, but refused as it would mean one of

5184-521: Was used instead of the thurible , as the latter would have likely offended the Protestant sensibilities of the 17th and 18th centuries. Incense is also often used by people who smoke indoors and do not want the smell to linger. Papier d'Arménie was originally sold as a disinfectant as well as for the fragrance. The regular burning of direct-burning incense has been used for chronological measurement in incense clocks . These devices can range from

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