Home›Devotional Practices›All Devotional PracticesBrowse ByAll Devotional PracticesOngoing acts of personal devotion toward a deity or sacred figure, the largest subcategory in the practice type and its broadest, covering everything from private prayer habits to pilgrimage undertaken as an act of piety. Where a devotional act has hardened into a fixed formal rite, it is generally filed instead under devotional rituals in the ritual type.FactsLearn MoreAll Devotional PracticesSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedThe sustained acts by which adherents attend to a deity, ancestor or holy figure - prayer at fixed hours, recitation and chant, offerings at a shrine or home altar, veneration of saints and images, pilgrimage. It is the widest and loosest of these groupings and holds acts that are obligatory in one tradition and freely optional in another. 2StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedA standard analytic category in the study of religion 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedPractices 1ComparisonPrimary Academic DisciplineWell-attestedComparative Religion 3Learn MoreThe Devotional Practices This group gathers devotional practices, the acts by which the faithful express love, reverence and dependence toward the divine: prayer, worship, praise, offering, the reciting of names and the observance of daily and seasonal devotion. It is the largest practice grouping in the atlas, reflecting how central devotion is to religious life. The browser will find devotional practices from across the world's traditions. The entries describe each practice's form, purpose and setting, noting the tradition to which it belongs and how it is performed.All Devotional PracticesFilter Results158 entriesOrigin Period Start YearAll-3000 (1)-1500 (3)-1000 (7)-800 (1)-650 (1)-500 (5)-400 (3)-300 (3)-200 (2)-195 (1)30 (2)70 (4)100 (1)142 (1)150 (1)375 (1)600 (2)610 (12)634 (1)680 (1)700 (3)850 (1)874 (1)900 (2)1100 (4)1150 (1)1195 (1)1200 (2)1253 (1)1400 (3)1499 (1)1549 (1)1550 (1)1600 (1)1604 (1)1652 (1)1699 (1)1700 (1)1800 (1)1840 (1)1870 (2)1894 (1)1901 (1)1920 (1)1946 (1)1965 (1)1966 (1)1970 (1)1971 (2)1985 (1)Unesco StatusAllInscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2)Solitary or CommunalAllPerformed alone (28)Performed alone or together (61)Performed by a gathered group (42)Performed by an officiant for a recipient (15)TraditionAllAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church (5)African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (5)Ahmadiyya (1)Aladura (2)Alevism (2)Alexandrian Wicca (2)Amish (1)Anabaptism (1)Anglican Communion (11)Anglicanism (11)Armenian Apostolic Church (11)Assyrian Church of the East (1)Baptist (3)Beta Israel (2)Breslov Hasidism (16)Calvinism (Reformed) (3)Chabad-Lubavitch (16)Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (5)Christian Science (2)Church of Cyprus (18)Church of England (11)Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) (2)Church of Greece (18)Church of Ireland (11)Church of Satan (1)Church of Scotland (3)Church of Sweden (9)Church of the Nazarene (5)Conservative Judaism (7)Coptic Orthodoxy (12)Dianic Wicca (2)Disciples of Christ (1)Dutch Reformed Church (3)Eastern Orthodoxy (21)Eclectic Solitary Wicca (2)Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (18)Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (12)Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (12)Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (9)Evangelicalism (1)Feri Tradition (1)Free Methodist Church (5)Gardnerian Wicca (2)Georgian Orthodox Church (18)Global Methodist Church (5)Greek Orthodox Church (18)Haredi Judaism (16)Hasidic Judaism (16)Humanistic Judaism (2)Ibadism (1)Irani Zoroastrianism (1)Jehovah's Witnesses (1)Karaite Judaism (2)Khalsa (1)Kimbanguist Church (1)Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) (3)Lutheranism (9)Mahayana (1)Maronite Church (2)Mennonites (1)Methodism (5)Modern Orthodox Judaism (16)Moravian Church (2)National Baptist Convention of America (3)Nichiren (1)Old Believers (2)Oriental Orthodoxy (12)Orthodox Judaism (16)Parsi Zoroastrianism (1)Pentecostalism (2)Presbyterianism (3)Progressive National Baptist Convention (3)Pure Land (1)Quakerism (Religious Society of Friends) (2)Quanzhen (Complete Reality) (1)Reclaiming (1)Reconstructionist Judaism (4)Reform Judaism (7)Roman Catholicism (27)Romanian Orthodox Church (18)Russian Orthodox Church (18)Saint Thomas Christians (2)Seax-Wica (1)Sect Shinto (1)Serbian Orthodox Church (18)Seventh-day Adventism (2)Shaivism (2)Shaktism (1)Shangqing (Highest Clarity) (1)Shia (Twelver) (6)Shrine Shinto (2)Smartism (1)Sufism (5)Sunni (2)The Episcopal Church (11)The United Methodist Church (5)Theravada (1)Tibetan Buddhism (3)Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (4)Ukrainian Orthodox Church (18)Vaishnavism (3)Vajrayana (2)Wesleyan Church (5)Zaidiyyah (1)Zen (1)Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) (2)Zion Christian Church (3)Category of PracticeAllArtistic and literary (1)Devotional (36)Devotional, addressed to the worshipper's own inner head (1)Devotional, and divinatory in the same act (1)Who Performs ItAllAll adherents of the tradition (85)Clergy or ordained officiants (19)Householders, those living in the world (3)Initiates only (5)Lay people (8)Monastics: monks and nuns (2)Trained or authorised specialists (23)Women only (2)Practice StatusAllHistorical; not practised continuously (8)Living tradition, practised today (127)Revived or reconstructed in the modern era (1)Scholarly StandingAllA standard analytic category in the study of religion (156)Used, but its validity as a comparative category is disputed (2)CadenceAllAnnual (11)As the occasion requires (26)Continuous: a standing discipline, not an event (5)Daily (42)Monthly (3)Once, or at a turning point in a life (4)Seasonal, at set points in the year (4)Several times a day (2)Weekly (10)ObligationAllObligatory (33)Obligatory on those who meet its conditions (10)Optional and voluntary (8)Recommended and meritorious, not required (13)Undertaken only with authorisation or transmission (3)Offered ToAllExu (1)Pomba Gira (1)The Orishas (1)In GroupAllAncient and Historical Religious Practices (7)Buddhist Devotional Practices (11)Christian Devotional Practices (34)East Asian Devotional Practices (5)Hindu Devotional Practices (13)Indigenous and Folk Devotional Practices (2)Islamic Devotional Practices (38)Jewish Devotional Practices (14)New Religious Movement Practices (6)Sikh Devotional Practices (6)Traditional African and Diaspora Practices (3)Zoroastrian Devotional Practices (6)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 100Aboriginal Dot PaintingDevotional PracticesAgpeyaDevotional PracticesAiwisruthrem GahDevotional PracticesAkhand PathDevotional PracticesAltar callDevotional PracticesAncestor tablet venerationDevotional PracticesAncestor venerationDevotional PracticesAparche (First Fruits Offering)Devotional PracticesAsrDevotional PracticesBadhaiDevotional PracticesBaptism for the deadDevotional PracticesBaptismal lifeDevotional PracticesBhajanDevotional PracticesBhakti (devotion)Devotional PracticesBharatanatyamDevotional PracticesBlessingDevotional PracticesCandle and lamp lightingDevotional PracticesChaand RaatDevotional PracticesChanting / MantraDevotional PracticesChanting HUDevotional PracticesChanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyoDevotional PracticesChristian MissionDevotional PracticesComplineDevotional PracticesConsecrationDevotional PracticesCoven-based initiatory worshipDevotional PracticesDaily Temple Ritual (Cult Image Service)Devotional PracticesDarshanDevotional PracticesDhikr (remembrance of God)Devotional PracticesDhuhrDevotional PracticesDivine healingDevotional PracticesDoor-to-door evangelismDevotional PracticesEthiopian Church PaintingDevotional PracticesEucharistic adorationDevotional PracticesFajrDevotional PracticesFamily History ResearchDevotional PracticesFoot washingDevotional PracticesFriday prayerDevotional PracticesFull-Time Missionary ServiceDevotional PracticesGreater and Lesser MagicDevotional PracticesHakafotDevotional PracticesHatsumodeDevotional PracticesHavan GahDevotional PracticesHellenic Household WorshipDevotional PracticesHetep Di Nesu (Offering Formula Recitation)Devotional PracticesHifzDevotional PracticesHindu Temple SculptureDevotional PracticesHoshanotDevotional PracticesHukamnamaDevotional PracticesIcon PaintingDevotional PracticesIncense offeringDevotional PracticesIntinctionDevotional PracticesIshaDevotional PracticesIstikharaDevotional PracticesIstisqaDevotional PracticesJapaDevotional PracticesKabbalat ShabbatDevotional PracticesKever AvotDevotional PracticesKhutbahDevotional PracticesKirtanDevotional PracticesKola Nut OfferingDevotional PracticesKufic CalligraphyDevotional PracticesLandtaking Observances (Landnam)Devotional PracticesLaudsDevotional PracticesLiturgical ColorsDevotional PracticesLiturgy of the HoursDevotional PracticesMaarivDevotional PracticesMaghribDevotional PracticesMandala offeringDevotional PracticesMatinsDevotional PracticesMehndiDevotional PracticesMerit-making (punya)Devotional PracticesMinchaDevotional PracticesMourning of AshuraDevotional PracticesMusafDevotional PracticesMut'ah of HajjDevotional PracticesNaskh CalligraphyDevotional PracticesNastaliq CalligraphyDevotional PracticesNembutsu (reciting Amitabha's name)Devotional PracticesNew Moon observanceDevotional PracticesNextlahualli (Debt Payment Offering)Devotional PracticesNitnemDevotional PracticesNiyyahDevotional PracticesNone (Ninth Hour)Devotional PracticesNorito recitationDevotional PracticesNovenaDevotional PracticesObserving the SabbathDevotional PracticesOri VenerationDevotional PracticesPersian MiniatureDevotional PracticesPesukei DezimraDevotional PracticesPilgrimageDevotional PracticesPradakshinaDevotional PracticesPrayerDevotional PracticesPrayer compensationDevotional PracticesPraying the RosaryDevotional PracticesPrimeDevotional PracticesProstrationsDevotional PracticesPuja (daily worship)Devotional PracticesQiyamDevotional PracticesQiyam al-LaylDevotional PracticesQuimbanda Offerings at the CrossroadsDevotional Practices12Next →Sources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Worship and Devotional LifeView the Source3. Wikipedia: Comparative religiontier 2WikipediaComparative religion, opening definitionQuote, Comparative religion, opening definitionComparative religion is the branch of religious studies that systematically compares the doctrines, practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the worlds religions.View the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.