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Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body.[1]
By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or other fat.[2] Scented oils are used as perfumes and sharing them is an act of hospitality. Their use to introduce a divine influence or presence is recorded from the earliest times; anointing was thus used as a form of medicine, thought to rid persons and things of dangerous spirits and demons which were believed to cause disease.
In present usage, "anointing" is typically used for ceremonial blessings such as the
coronation of European monarchs. This continues an
earlier Hebrew practice most famously observed in the anointings of
Aaron as high priest and both
Saul and
David by the prophet
Samuel. The concept is important to the figures of the
Messiah and the
Christ (
Hebrew and
Greek for "The Anointed One") who appear prominently in
Jewish and
Christian theology and
eschatology.
Used in conjunction with bathing, anointment with oil closes pores.[1] It was regarded as counteracting the influence of the sun, reducing sweating.[1] Aromatic oils naturally masked body and other offensive odors,[1] and other forms of fat could be combined with perfumes.
Applications of oils and fats are also used as traditional medicines. The Bible records olive oil being applied to the sick and poured into wounds.[n 2][10] Known sources date from times when anointment already served a religious function; therefore, anointing was also used to combat the malicious influence of demons in Persia, Armenia, and Greece.[2] It was more recently used in traditional Indian medicine to remove illness, "bad luck", and "demonic possession".[citation needed]
Anointing was also understood to "seal in" goodness and resist
corruption, probably via analogy with the use of a top layer of oil to
preserve wine in ancient amphoras, its spoiling usually being credited to demonic influence.[11]
For sanitary and religious reasons, the bodies of the dead are sometimes anointed.[n 3][10] In medieval and early modern Christianity, the practice was particularly associated with protection against vampires and ghouls who might otherwise take possession of the corpse.[11]
