Ablution

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Ablutions. Ritual cleansings to remove impurity and to mark transitions from profane to sacred states, etc. They are often, therefore, associated with rites of passage. In Judaism, ablution is ritual washing intended to restore or maintain a state of ritual purity is rooted in Torah. A complete list of when it is required was compiled by Samson b. Zadok (13th cent. CE): see Joseph Caro's Shulḥan Arukh. OH 4. 18.

In Christianity, in addition to the general sense in which baptism might be regarded as ‘an ablution’, the word has a technical sense. The ablutions are the washing of the fingers and of the communion vessels after the communion.

In Islam, ritual purity (ṭahāra) is required before carrying out religious duties, especially ṣalāt (worship). Ablution is of two kinds: ghusl and wuḍūʾ (regulations being given in the Qurʾān, 5. 7), with a third kind substituting for the others where necessary:1. Ghusl, major ablution: complete washing of the body in pure water, after declaring the niyya (intention) to do so. It is obligatory after sexual relations whereby a state of janāba (major ritual impurity) is incurred. It is recommended before the prayer of Friday and the two main feasts (ʿid al-aḍḥā and ʿīd al-fiṭr), and before touching the Qurʾān. For the dead, ghusl must be carried out before burial.2. Wuḍūʾ, minor ablution, is required to remove ḥadath, minor ritual impurity which is incurred in everyday life. Wuḍūʾ should usually be carried out before each of the five times of daily prayer.3. Where water is not available, clean sand may be used, rubbed upon the body; this method, tayammum, can be substituted for wuḍūʾ and, occasionally, for ghusl.

For ablution among Hindus, see TARPAṆA, ŚODHANA. Since Sikhs concentrate on inner cleanliness (‘True ablution consists in the constant adoration of God’, Ādi Granth 358), ritual ablutions are much diminished.

ablutions.
1. The washing of fingers and chalice by the celebrant after Communion in the Eucharist. The ceremony became part of the Eucharistic rite in the 10th or 11th cent.; details have varied.

2. In the RC Church the rinsing of the mouth with wine after reception of the Blessed Sacrament by the new priests in the Ordination Mass, customary until 1968, and a similar rinsing with water formerly common at the Communion of the Sick. A similar custom exists in the E., where in many places communicants receive unconsecrated wine after Communion in the Liturgy.

ab·lu·tion / əˈbloōshən/ • n. (usu. ablutions) the act of washing oneself (often used for humorously formal effect): the women performed their ablutions. ∎  a ceremonial act of washing parts of the body or sacred containers. DERIVATIVES: ab·lu·tion·ar·y adj.

ablution XIV. — (O)F. ablution or ecclL. ablūtiō, -ōn-, f. L. abluere, f. AB- + luere wash; see -TION.

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