Editing Anointing (section)

{{Short description|Ritual act of putting aromatic oil on a person}}
{{For|the non-human animal behavior|Self-anointing in animals}}
{{Redirect|Anointed|the savior and liberator in Abrahamic religions|Messiah|the character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Anointed One (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)}}
[[File:Paris psaulter gr139 fol3v.jpg|thumb|''The Anointing of David'', from the [[Paris Psalter]], 10th century ([[Bibliothèque Nationale]], Paris)]]

'''Anointing''' is the [[ritual|ritual act]] of pouring [[aromatic oil]] over a person's head or entire body.{{sfnp|EB|1878}} By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any [[perfume]]d oil, milk, butter, or other fat.{{sfnp|EB|1911|p=79}} Scented oils are used as perfumes and sharing them is an act of [[#Hospitality|hospitality]]. Their use to [[#Religion|introduce a divine influence or presence]] is recorded from the earliest times; anointing was thus used as [[#Health|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 [[#Royalty|coronation of European monarchs]]. This continues an [[#Judaism|earlier Hebrew practice]] most famously observed in the anointings of [[Aaron]] as high priest and both [[Saul]] and [[David]] by the prophet [[Samuel (Bible)|Samuel]]. The concept is important to the figure of the [[Messiah]] or the [[Christ]] ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]<ref>James Strong, The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: T. Nelson, 1990) Heb. No. 4899 Gr. No. 5547.</ref> for "The Anointed One") who appear prominently in [[Jewish theology|Jewish]] and [[Christian theology]] and [[eschatology]]. Anointing—particularly the [[anointing of the sick]]—may also be known as '''unction'''; the anointing of the dying as part of [[last rites]] in the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic church]] is sometimes specified as "[[extreme unction]]".

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