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Water is considered apurifier in mostreligions.
Some faiths use water especially prepared for religious purposes (holy water in most Christian denominations,mambuha in Mandaeism,amrita in Sikhism and Hinduism). Many religions also consider particular sources or bodies of water to be sacred or at least auspicious; examples includeLourdes inRoman Catholicism, theJordan River (at least symbolically) in some Christian churches and Mandaeism calledYardena, theZamzam Well in Islam and the RiverGanges (among many others) in Hinduism.
Faiths that incorporate ritual washing (ablution) includeChristianity,[1][2][3]Mandaeism,Hinduism,Buddhism,Sikhism,Judaism,Islam, theBaháʼí Faith,Shinto,Taoism, and theRastafari movement. Immersion (oraspersion oraffusion) of a person in water is a centralsacrament of Christianity (where it is calledbaptism); it is also a part of the practice of other religions, including Mandaeism (masbuta), Judaism (mikvah) andSikhism (Amrit Sanskar). In addition, a ritual bath in pure water is performed for the dead in many religions including Judaism, Mandaeism and Islam. In Islam, the five daily prayers can be done in most cases (seeTayammum) after completing washing certain parts of the body using clean water (wudu). In Shinto, water is used in almost all rituals to cleanse a person or an area (e.g., in the ritual ofmisogi).
In Hinduism, statues ofDurga andGanesh are immersed in rivers at the final stages of the festivalsDurga Puja andGanesh Chaturthi respectively.[4]
InChristianity, thebaptism of Jesus is an important moment inChristian theology and is celebrated inWestern Christianity asEpiphany. In the Christian East this feast is celebrated asTheophany on January 6.[5]
Water deities are usually a focus of worship at specific springs orholy wells, but there are also more abstractocean deities, and deities representing "water" as an abstract element, such asAban in Zoroastrianism.
Example for localtutelary water deities includeCelticSulis, worshipped at the thermal spring atBath, orGanges in Hinduism, personified as a goddess. The Hindu goddessSaraswati originated as a personification of theSaraswati River in theRigveda, but became a more abstract deity of wisdom in Hinduism. African examples include theYoruba river goddessOshun, theIgbo lake goddessOgbuide (Uhammiri), the Igbo river goddessIdemili and Agulu Lake (Achebe).[citation needed]
Water plays a role in other Christian rituals as well. ... In the early days of Christianity, two to three centuries after Christ, the lavabo (Latin for "I wash myself"), a ritual handwashing vessel and bowl, was introduced as part of Church service.
It was probably out of the Jewish rite that the practice developed among early Christians, especially in the east, of washing their hands and feet before going into church. Early Christian basilicas had a fountain for ablutions, known as cantharus or phiala, and usually placed in the centre of the atrium. They are still found in some Eastern Orthodox churches, notably at the monastery of Laura at Mount Athos, where the phiala is an imposing structure in front of the entrance covered by a dome resting on eight pillars. In several Orthodox churches today worshippers take off heir shoes and wash their feet before entering the church just as Muslims do before going into a mosque.
In the middle of which stood a Fountain for washing as they entered into the Church, called Cantharus and Phiala in some authors. It is further to be noted, that in the middle of the atrium, there was commonly a fountain, or a cistern of water, for people to wash their hands and face, before they went into the church.
