Circumambulation. — A rite consisting in walking around the boundaries of a piece of land, a building, or an object. This circuit is performed for two reasons: either to enclose the thing encircled within a sacred-magical circle that prevents evil influences from entering and drives out those that may be lurking within (apotropaic circumambulation); or to procure for those who walk around the object charged with “sacredness” the benefits that derive from it (augural circumambulation).
It is a rite of universal use that can be performed either in rhythmic dance, or in a run, or in a processional step, and is accompanied by prayer formulas, lustrative rites (water, fumigations, lit torches), and the carrying of sacred objects or sacrificial animals.
Examples of apotropaic circumambulation: the race of the Luperci around the slopes of the Palatine to enclose the hill within a magic circle against the snares of wolves for the flocks of primitive shepherds; the lustration of fields by leading around them the three sacrificial animals: pig, sheep, and ox (Cato, De agr., 141); the circuit that, in Indian ritual, the sacrificer makes around the thing offered, holding in his hand a burning coal (Sacred Books of the East, XII, p. 143); the circumambulation of the corpse in funeral rites: at the funerals of Patroclus (Il., XIII, 13); of Pallas (Virgil, Aen., XI, 188); in imperial apotheosis (Herodian, IV, 2).
Examples of augural circumambulation: the race made the newborn around the fire in Athens during the Amphidromia (q.v.); the triple circuit that the bride performs on a camel around her father’s tent among the Arabs of Sinai; the circumambulation of the Ka'bah that Muslims perform seven times during the pilgrimage; the circuit that Buddhist devotees make around stūpas (shrine-tombs) containing the relics of their saints. A characteristic example of circumambulation is found in the Old Testament in that for the siege of Jericho (Josh. 6:1–20), which Joshua had the soldiers perform for six days around the walls, and on the seventh, seven times around the Ark of the Covenant. Circumambulation is also found among ecclesiastical rites: in the consecration of a church on the day of its dedication; in the funeral rites of Latin-rite faithful; and in other rites of particular and local character.