Religion is not only an organized worship of one or another form of higher powers, it is also a special form of perception of the world around us and one's fellows, the fulfillment of certain laws, it is the observance of religious customs and the obligatory performance of rituals corresponding to certain events.
Religion not only gives a person hope for the help of higher powers, for an afterlife and serves as one of the forms of social consciousness. Religion creates certain moral foundations of society, defines the boundaries of good and evil, teaches morality and respect for others. In addition, each type of religion imposes certain obligations on its followers, requires compliance with the canons, the performance of rituals, and ceremonies corresponding to a particular event in a person's life.
Types of religions and their characteristic rituals, ceremonies and customs
The oldest of all forms of religion is Judaism, which originated in ancient Palestine. Judaism is characterized by strict observance of customs, it is impossible to violate the prohibitions in any case, upon reaching a certain age, all boys must be circumcised. One of the main prohibitions concerns food - Jews are strictly forbidden to eat meat products of kosher origin, that is, meat from animals whose limbs end in a forked hoof. The wedding rituals of the Jews are unusually beautiful, and the funeral rites will touch the soul of even those who have no idea about this type of religion.
But Islam is considered the youngest world religion, the date of its first mention in historical annals is the 7th century AD. The adherents of Islam sacredly revere the Prophet Muhammad, daily perform the so-called namaz, that is, say a prayer five times a day, consider it their duty to help the poor. The peculiarities of this religion is that a man can have several wives at the same time, and even of another faith, but an Islamic woman is obliged to marry only a compatriot. True devotees of Islam never drink alcohol, once a year they observe the strictest fast, the so-called Ramadan, and make a hajj - a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Christianity - most people adhere to this religion. The Christian faith is divided into Catholic and Orthodox, and each of them has its own customs and rituals, some of them are similar, and some are completely opposite. Against the background of these disagreements, wars broke out more than once, during which a brother killed a brother, and a son killed a father. But both directions are characterized by the observance of such rituals as the rite of baptism, communion, weddings, regular repentance of their sins. All rituals are carried out by priests and must be fixed by ablution or irrigation with holy water.
The most unusual religious rituals
But the customs characteristic of this or that ethnic group and nationality also impose great importance on the peculiarities of the ritual ceremonies.
For example, in one of the Indian states, Islamists throw newborns from a rather high wall of a temple onto a cloth stretched below and firmly believe that this will add health to the child.
In Scotland, a Catholic bride must be smeared with rotten eggs, molasses and flour on the night before the wedding - this ritual is a guarantee of the happiness and well-being of the future family.
For some peoples of the Christian faith, it is still customary to use real blood during the sacrament, and among some African peoples, a woman, according to religious custom, receives a metal ring around her neck for each year of family life. But in the event of her betrayal to her husband, all the rings are removed, and the woman's neck simply breaks.
