A bell rung to mark a moment in worship. The sanctus bell in a Catholic Mass rings at the consecration to direct attention to it, a practice that dates from the thirteenth century and from a period when the liturgy was in Latin and the priest faced away. Shinto worshippers ring a suzu at a shrine to greet the kami. Buddhist temple bells mark the hours, and the Japanese bonsho is struck one hundred and eight times at the new year, once for each affliction.
The common thread is a sound used as a boundary: the bell separates what was happening before from what is happening now. Bells have also been the first thing seized in war, since a large bronze bell is a cannon that has not been melted down yet, and church and temple bells were requisitioned on a large scale in both world wars.
Facts
Use
Who May Handle ItTrained or authorised specialists only 1 ConsecrationNot consecrated; an instrument, not a consecrated object 1 Attributions
TraditionChristianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto 1 Identity
Category of Sacred Object Learn More
The Bell That Directs Attention
The ritual bell is a bell rung to mark a moment in worship, and though the object is simple its use is precise: it directs attention to the sacred at the instant it is present.
The moment of consecration
In the Catholic Mass the sanctus bell is rung at the consecration, at the raising of the host and the cup, to draw the attention of the congregation to the central moment of the rite, a practice that arose in the medieval church partly because the people could not see or hear clearly what the priest did at the altar. The bell thus serves as a signal that the most sacred point has come, gathering the eyes and the minds of the assembly to it. The larger tower bell that calls the community to worship belongs to the same logic on a greater scale.
A shared instrument
The bell rung in worship is not confined to Christianity: it is rung before the image in Hindu temple worship, sounded in Buddhist practice, and used at the Shinto shrine, where the worshipper rings a bell to greet the kami before praying, so the ritual bell is a widely shared object. In each case the sound marks a threshold, announcing the presence of the sacred or the beginning of an approach to it, and calling the attention of the worshipper from the ordinary to the holy. The object is humble and its action momentary, but that momentary sound is charged in each tradition with the task of marking when the sacred is at hand.
One Shape Across Four Traditions, with Different Rules on Who Rings It
A small ritual bell is cast bronze or brass in every tradition that uses one, but the traditions differ sharply in who is allowed to ring it, which turns out to be the more interesting variable than the metal itself.
Construction across traditions
A Catholic sanctus bell is a small cast handbell rung at the elevation during Mass, a Hindu temple bell is often larger, inscribed, and mounted at a doorway rather than carried, a Shinto suzu bell contains loose pellets that jingle rather than a struck clapper, closer in mechanism to a rattle than to a Western bell, and each is produced by foundries specific to its own tradition rather than a shared cross cultural supply chain.
Who is permitted to ring it
A Catholic sanctus bell is rung only by an assigned server at a specific moment in the liturgy, a restriction tied closely to the rite itself, while a Hindu temple doorway bell is typically rung by any devotee entering, a deliberately open gesture rather than a restricted one, and a Shinto shrine bell is likewise rung by any visitor as part of getting a kami's attention before praying. A cracked small ritual bell of any of these kinds is usually just replaced rather than repaired, unlike a large church or temple bell, which is valuable enough to be re-cast.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Related To
The handbell rung at the consecration and the tower bell rung to summon are one instrument at two scales, and both were requisitioned for their bronze on a large scale in the world wars.
The ghanta is the Hindu and Vajrayana ritual bell, held in the left hand against the vajra in the right. The atlas holds it separately from the general form.
Sources
Essays About This Entity (1 essay)
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.