Editing Ablution in Christianity (section)

== History ==
{{further|Hygiene in Christianity}}
[[File:Βυζαντινό λουτρό Άνω Πόλης 1788.jpg|thumb|[[Byzantine Bath (Thessaloniki)|Byzantine Bath]] in [[Thessaloniki]]]]
[[Christianity]] has always placed a strong emphasis on [[hygiene]],<ref name="Warsh" /> and [[water]] plays a role in the [[Sacrament|Christian rituals]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Hand Book: Surviving in a Germ-Filled World|first=Miryam |last=Z. Wahrman|year= 2016| isbn=9781611689556| pages =46–48 |publisher=University Press of New England|quote=Water plays a role in other Christian rituals as well. ... In the early days of Christianity, two to three centuries after Christ, the lavabo (Latin for "I wash myself"), a ritual handwashing vessel and bowl, was introduced as part of Church service.}}</ref> The [[early Christianity|early Christian Church]] denounced the practice of [[mixed bathing]] in Roman pools, as well as the pagan custom of women naked bathing in front of men; as such the [[Didascalia Apostolorum]], an early Christian manual, enjoined believing men and women to go to bathing facilities separated by gender, which contributed to hygiene and good health according to the [[Church Father]]s, including [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Tertullian]].<ref name="Gibson1903"/><ref name=" Squatriti "/> The Church also built [[public bathing]] facilities that were separate for both sexes near monasteries and pilgrimage sites; also, the popes situated baths within church basilicas and monasteries since the early Middle Ages.<ref name="Mary Thurlkill "/> Pope [[Gregory the Great]] urged his followers on value of bathing as a bodily need.<ref name="Paolo Squatriti "/>

Great [[Bath House|bathhouses]] were built in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine centers]] such as [[Constantinople]] and [[Antioch]],<ref>{{citation | editor-first = Alexander | editor-last = Kazhdan |editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan | title = Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6}}</ref> and the [[popes]] allocated to the Romans bathing through ''[[diaconia]]'', or private [[Lateran]] baths, or even a myriad of monastic [[Bath House|bath houses]] functioning in eighth and ninth centuries.<ref name="Paolo Squatriti "/> Popes maintained their baths in their residences which described by scholar Paolo Squatriti as " luxurious baths", and bath houses including hot baths incorporated into Christian Church buildings or those of monasteries, which known as "charity baths" because they served both the clerics and needy poor people.<ref name=ArthurAshpitel1851>{{citation | first = Arthur |last=Ashpitel | year = 1851 | title = Observations on baths and wash-houses | oclc=501833155 |jstor=60239734}}</ref> Public bathing were common in medivail [[Christendom]] larger towns and cities such as [[Paris]], [[Regensburg]] and [[Naples]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Middle Ages: Facts and Fictions|first=Winston |last= Black|year= 2019| isbn=  9781440862328| page =61 |publisher=ABC-CLIO|quote=Public baths were common in the larger towns and cities of Europe by the twelfth century.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Perception and Action in Medieval Europe|first=Harald|last=  Kleinschmidt|year= 2005| isbn=  9781843831464| page =61 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer|quote=The evidence of early medieval laws that enforced punishments for the destruction of bathing houses suggests that such buildings were not rare. That they ... took a bath every week. At places in southern Europe, Roman baths remained in use or were even restored ... The Paris city scribe Nicolas Boileau noted the existence of twenty-six public baths in Paris in 1272}}</ref> Catholic religious orders of the [[Augustinians]]' and [[Benedictines]]' rules contained [[ritual purification]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The English Spa, 1560–1815: A Social History|first=Phyllis|last= Hembry|year= 1990| isbn= 9780838633915|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press}}</ref> and inspired by [[Benedict of Nursia]] encouragement for the practice of therapeutic bathing; Benedictine monks played a role in the development and promotion of [[spa]]s.<ref name=ASpiritualHistory>{{cite book | title = Water: A Spiritual History| first =Ian |last=Bradley | year =2012| isbn= 9781441167675|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing}}</ref> [[Protestantism|Protestant Christianity]] also played a prominent role in the development of the British spas.<ref name="ASpiritualHistory"/>
[[File:Bagno del Papa.jpg|thumb|''Bagno del Papa'' in [[Viterbo]]]]
In circa 1454 pope [[Nicholas V]] commissioned building a [[bathing|bath]] [[palace]] in [[Viterbo]], and the construction at the ''Bagno del Papa'' was continued on through the reigns of several popes after Nicholas V. The Vatican accounts mention of payments "for building done at the bath palace of Viterbo" during the reigns of [[Calixtus III]], [[Pope Paul II|Paul II]], and [[Sixtus IV]]. There also is evidence Pope [[Pius II]] was responsible for the addition of a western wing to the building.<ref>Mack, 1992, 47</ref>

Contrary to popular belief<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://historymedren.about.com/od/dailylifesociety/a/bod_weddings.htm |title=The Bad Old Days — Weddings & Hygiene |access-date=2016-01-15 |archive-date=2017-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130223521/http://historymedren.about.com/od/dailylifesociety/a/bod_weddings.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[bathing]] and [[sanitation]] were not lost in Europe with the collapse of the [[Roman Empire]], as the spread of the [[Black Death]] made "Medieval people look for a link between health and hygiene".<ref name="vlib.us"/><ref name="Middle Ages Hygiene"/> [[Soap making|Soapmaking]] first became an established trade during the so-called "[[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages]]".<ref>footnote 48,  ''Understanding the Middle Ages: the transformation of ideas and attitudes in the Medieval world'', Harald Kleinschmidt, illustrated, revised, reprint edition, Boydell & Brewer, 2000, {{ISBN|0-85115-770-X}}.</ref><ref name="Related Lime Soap Dispersants 1996, p. 632">Anionic and Related Lime Soap Dispersants, Raymond G. Bistline Jr., in ''Anionic Surfactants: Organic Chemistry'', Helmut Stache, ed., Volume 56 of Surfactant science series, CRC Press, 1996, chapter 11, p. 632, {{ISBN|0-8247-9394-3}}.</ref> The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] used [[scent]]ed [[oils]] (mostly from Egypt), among other alternatives. By the 15th century, the manufacture of soap in the [[Christendom]] had become virtually industrialized, with sources in [[Antwerp]], [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]], [[Marseille]], [[Naples]] and [[Venice]].<ref name="Related Lime Soap Dispersants 1996, p. 632"/> 
[[File:Agkistro Byzantine bath.jpg|thumb|[[Agkistro]] Byzantine bath.]]
By the mid-19th century, the English urbanised middle classes had formed an ideology of cleanliness that ranked alongside typical [[Victorian era|Victorian]] concepts, such as Christianity, respectability and [[social progress]].<ref name="Eveleigh, Bogs 2002"/> [[The Salvation Army]] has adopted movement of the deployment of the [[personal hygiene]],<ref name="salvationarmy-newyork.org"/> and by providing [[personal hygiene]] products, such as a [[toothbrush]], [[toothpaste]], and [[soap]].<ref name="auto"/><ref>[https://archive.org/details/christianityinac0000gari <!-- quote=Christianity in Action: The History of the International. --> Christianity in Action: The History of the International Salvation Army] p.16</ref> A major contribution of the [[Christian missionaries]] in [[Africa]],<ref>{{cite book |last= Newell|first= Stephanie|title=International Encyclopaedia of Tribal Religion: Christianity and tribal religions|year=2006|publisher=Ohio University Press|quote=|isbn=9780821417096|page=40}}</ref> [[China]],<ref>{{cite book |last= Grypma |first=Sonya|title=Healing Henan: Canadian Nurses at the North China Mission, 1888–1947|year=2008|publisher=University of British Columbia Press|quote=the Gospel of Christ was central to the "missionary" aspect of missionary nursing, the gospel of soap and water was central to "nursing" aspect of their works.|isbn=9780774858212|page=27}}</ref> [[Guatemala]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Kedron|title=Securing the City: Neoliberalism, Space, and Insecurity in Postwar Guatemala|year=2011|publisher=Duke University Press|quote=Christian hygiene existed (and still exists) as one small but ever important part of this modernization project. Hygiene provides an incredibly mundane, deeply routinized, marker of Christian civility ...Identifying the rural poor as "The Great Unwashed," Haymaker published Christian pamphlets on health and hygiene, ... of personal hygiene" (filled with soap, toothpaste, and floss), attempt to shape Christian Outreach and Ethnicity.|isbn= 9780822349587|pages=180–181}}</ref> [[India]],<ref>{{cite book |last=M. Bauman |first=Chad|title=Christian Identity and Dalit Religion in Hindu India, 1868–1947|year=2008|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|quote=Along with the use of allopathic medicine, greater hygiene was one of the most frequently mobilized markers of the boundary between Christians and other communities of Chhattisgarh ... The missionaries had made no secret of preaching "soap" along with "salvation,"..|isbn=9780802862761|page=160}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Baral|first= K. C.|title=Between Ethnography and Fiction: Verrier Elwin and the Tribal Question in India|year=2005|publisher=North Eastern Hill University Press|quote=where slavery was in vogue Christianity advocated its end and personal hygiene was encouraged|isbn=9788125028123|page=151}}</ref> [[Indonesia]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first= J. Gelman |title=Cleanliness and Culture: Indonesian Histories|year=2011 |publisher=Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies|quote=CLEANLINESS AND GODLINESS: These examples indicate that real cleanliness was becoming the preserve of Europeans, and, it has to be added, of Christianity. Soap became an attribute of God – or rather the Protestant|isbn=9789004253612|pages=22–23}}</ref> [[Korea]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Choi|first=Hyaeweol |title=Gender and Mission Encounters in Korea: New Women, Old Ways: Seoul–California Series in Korean Studies, Volume 1|year=2009|publisher=University of California Press|quote=In this way, Western forms of hygiene, health care and child rearing became an important part of creating the modern Christian in Korea.|isbn=9780520098695|page=83}}</ref> and other places was better [[health care]] of the people through [[hygiene]] and introducing and distributing the [[soap]]s,<ref>{{cite book |last= Channa|first=Subhadra|title=The Forger's Tale: The Search for Odeziaku|year=2009|publisher= Indiana University Press|quote=A major contribution of the Christian missionaries was better health care of the people through hygiene. Soap, tooth–powder and brushes came to be used increasingly in urban areas.|isbn=9788177550504|page=284}}</ref> and "cleanliness and hygiene became an important marker of being identified as a Christian".<ref>{{cite book |last= Thomas|first=John|title=Evangelising the Nation: Religion and the Formation of Naga Political Identity|year=2015|publisher=Routledge|quote=cleanliness and hygiene became an important marker of being identified as a Christian|isbn=9781317413981|page=284}}</ref>

Believing that on [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]] day water becomes holy and is imbued with special powers, [[Eastern Orthodox]] cut holes in the ice of lakes and rivers, often in the shape of the cross, to bathe in the freezing water.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/moscowtravel/ss/moscowchristmasphotos_7.htm |title=Epiphany in Russia – Baptism of Jesus |date=December 9, 2011 |publisher=Goeasteurope.about.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112210944/http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/moscowtravel/ss/moscowchristmasphotos_7.htm |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |access-date=December 22, 2011}}</ref> Christianity strongly affected the development of [[holy wells]] in [[Europe]] and the [[Middle East]], and its water are known for its [[faith healing|healing]] properties.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barnes|first=Philip|title=Streams of Healing Grace|year=2017|publisher=Walsingham Review|language=en |pages=12–13}}</ref>

The [[Anal hygiene|use of water]] in many [[Christian countries]] is due in part to the Biblical toilet etiquette which encourages washing after all instances of defecation.<ref>{{cite book|title=Contemporary Biology: Concepts and Implications|first=Mary|last= E. Clark|year= 2006| isbn= 9780721625973|publisher=University of Michigan Press}}</ref> The [[bidet]] is common in predominantly [[Catholic countries]] where water is considered essential for [[anal cleansing]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Contemporary Biology: Concepts and Implications|first=Mary|last= E. Clark|year= 2006| isbn= 9780721625973| page =613 |publisher=University of Michigan Press|quote= Douching is commonly practiced in Catholic countries. The bidet ... is still commonly found in France and other Catholic countries.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |date= 2013|title= Made in Naples. Come Napoli ha civilizzato l'Europa (e come continua a farlo)|trans-title=Made in Naples. How Naples civilised Europe (And still does it)|language=it |publisher= Addictions-Magenes Editoriale|isbn=978-8866490395}}</ref> and in some traditionally [[Eastern Orthodox|Orthodox]] and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] countries such as [[Greece]] and [[Finland]] respectively, where [[bidet shower]]s are common.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.biginfinland.com/hose-always-next-every-finnish-toilet/|title=A hose: the strange device next to every Finnish toilet|first=Santiago|last=H|date=July 8, 2014}}</ref>