ceremonial object

Introduction
Varieties
- Icons and symbols
- Religious dress and vestments
- Instruments for worship and religious ceremonies
- Amulets and talismans
Types of sacred settings for ceremonial and ritualistic objects
- Places of worship and sacrifice
- Sacred furniture and related objects
- Protective devices and markers of sacredness
Forms of ceremonial and ritualistic objects according to their functions
- Summoning, mediating, and expelling devices
  - Sound devices
  - Lighting devices
  - Incense and other smoke devices
  - Expelling and other protective devices
- Representational objects
  - Figures
  - Plants and plant representations
  - Other representational objects
  - Relics
- Other ritual objects
  - Objects used in prayer and meditation
  - Objects used in purification rites
  - Objects used in rites of passage
  - Objects used in sacrifices and in sacred meals
  - Objects used in temple, state, and private ceremonies
Conclusion

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Ornate leaded bronze staff head from Igbo Ukwu, Nigeria, featuring intricate openwork patterns and loops adorned with colored glass and stone beads, displayed on a stand.

Yoruba dance staff

Yoruba ceremonial robe

Beijing: Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

bronze Egyptian sistrum

Ornate leaded bronze staff head from Igbo Ukwu, Nigeria, featuring intricate openwork patterns and loops adorned with colored glass and stone beads, displayed on a stand. — Leaded bronze ceremonial object A leaded bronze ceremonial object, thought to have been the head of a staff, decorated with colored beads of glass and stone, 9th century, from Igbo Ukwu, Nigeria.

ceremonial object

religion

Also known as: ritualistic object, sacred object

Written by

Jeannine Auboyer

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

ceremonial object, any object used in a ritual or a religious ceremony. Throughout the history of religions and cultures, objects used in cults, rituals, and sacred ceremonies have almost always been of both utilitarian and symbolic natures. Ceremonial and ritualistic objects have been utilized as a means for establishing or maintaining communication between the sacred (the transcendent, or supernatural, realm) and the profane (the realm of time, space, and cause and effect). On occasion, such...

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