Editing Incense (section)

==Usage==
===Practical===
[[File:Santiago de Compostela (40305048451).jpg|thumb|The giant [[Botafumeiro]] thurible swinging from the ceiling of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela]]
[[File:Katorisenkou.jpg|thumb| [[Mosquito repellent]] is often manufactured in coil/spiral form and burned in a similar manner as incense.]]
[[File:Papier d'Armenie 1523.jpg|thumb|{{lang|fr|[[Papier d'Armenie]]}} was used to disinfect.]]

==== Odorizant ====
Incense fragrances can be of such great strength that they obscure less desirable odours. This utility led to the use of incense in funerary ceremonies because the incense could smother the scent of decay. An example, as well as of religious use, is the giant [[Botafumeiro]] thurible that swings from the ceiling of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It is used in part to mask the scent of the many tired, unwashed pilgrims huddled together in the [[Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela]].<ref name="smellsbells.com"/>

A similar utilitarian use of incense can be found in the post-[[English Reformation|Reformation]] [[Church of England]]. Although the ceremonial use of incense was abandoned until the [[Oxford Movement]], it was common to have incense (typically [[frankincense]]) burned before grand occasions, when the church would be crowded. The frankincense was carried by a member of the [[vestry]] before the service in a vessel called a 'perfuming pan'. In iconography of the day, this vessel is shown to be elongated and flat, with a single long handle on one side. The perfuming pan was used instead of the [[thurible]], as the latter would have likely offended the Protestant sensibilities of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Incense is also often used by people who smoke indoors and do not want the smell to linger.

[[Papier d'Arménie]] was originally sold as a disinfectant as well as for the fragrance.

==== Time-keeper ====

The regular burning of direct-burning incense has been used for chronological measurement in [[incense clock]]s. These devices can range from a simple trail of incense material calibrated to burn in a specific time period, to elaborate and ornate instruments with bells or gongs, designed to involve multiple senses.<ref name="SB">{{cite web |url=https://naturalscents.net/incense/time-measurement-with-incense-in-japan-51 |title=Time Measurement With Incense in Japan |author=Silvio A. Bedini|date=2 November 2021 }}</ref>

Incense clocks are used to time social, medical and religious practices in parts of eastern Asia. They are primarily used in Buddhism as a timer of meditation and prayer. Different types of incense burn at different rates; therefore, different incense are used for different practices. The duration of burning ranges from minutes to months.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}

==== Insect repellent ====
Incense made from materials such as [[Cymbopogon|citronella]] can repel mosquitoes and other irritating, distracting, or pestilential insects. This use has been deployed in concert with religious uses by [[Zen|Zen Buddhists]], who claim that the incense that is part of their meditative practice is designed to keep bothersome insects from distracting the practitioner.

===Aesthetic===
Many people burn incense to appreciate its smell, without assigning any other specific significance to it; this is in the same way that certain items can be produced or consumed solely for the contemplation or enjoyment of the aroma. An example is the {{Nihongo||香道|[[Japanese incense#Kōdō|kōdō]]}}, where raw incense materials such as agarwood, which are frequently costly, are appreciated in a formal setting.

===Religious===
{{main|Religious use of incense}}
[[File:Chinese temple incence burner.jpg|thumb|upright|Incense burning at a temple in [[Taipei]], [[Taiwan]]]]
Religious use of incense is prevalent in many cultures and may have roots in the practical and aesthetic uses, considering that many of these religions have little else in common.{{cn|date=April 2023}} One common motif is incense as a form of sacrificial offering to a [[deity]]. Such use was common in Judaic worship<ref name="smellsbells.com"/> and remains in use for example in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches, Taoist and Buddhist Chinese {{lang|zh-Latn|[[jingxiang|jìngxiāng]]}} ({{lang|zh|敬香}}, 'offer incense [to ancestors/gods]'), etc. Different cultures have associated rising sweet-smelling smoke with [[prayer]] - communication directed towards a deity on high.<ref>
{{cite book
 |author1              = Holly Crawford Pickett
 |editor1              = Jane Hwang Degenhardt
 |editor-last2         = Williamson
 |editor-first2        = Elizabeth
 |date                 = 8 April 2016
 |orig-date            = 2011
 |chapter              = The Idolatrous Nose: Incense on the Early Modern Stage
 |title                = Religion and Drama in Early Modern England: The Performance of Religion on the Renaissance Stage
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=JY_tCwAAQBAJ
 |publication-place    = London
 |publisher            = Routledge
 |page                 = 37
 |isbn                 = 9781317068112
 |access-date          = 16 April 2023
 |quote                = [...] the metaphor most often associated with incense in the Bible and early modern sermons is prayer, an invisible, sometimes private, and often silent communication with the divine.
}} 
</ref>

===Aphrodisiac===
Incense has been used as an aphrodisiac in some cultures. Both ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian mythology suggest the usage of incense by goddesses and nymphs. Incense is thought to heighten sexual desires and sexual attraction.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://taodewan.com/benefits-of-burning-incense/ |title=10 Physical and Psychological Benefits Of Burning Incense |website=Tao de Wan |last=Sanchez |first=David M. |date=17 November 2017 |access-date=2019-02-12}}</ref> {{unreliable source?|date=December 2022}}