Washing and anointing

Washing and anointing (also called the initiatory) is a ritual purification ordinance similar to chrismation that is part of the temple endowment ceremony practiced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and Mormon fundamentalists.

In the deeply sacred ritual, a person, generally over the age of 18, is sprinkled with water, then anointed with perfume or oil as a cleansing before God. Once washed and anointed, the participant is dressed in the temple garment, a symbolic white undergarment. The ordinance performed by the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood, and by an officiator of the same sex as the participant, is "mostly symbolic in nature, but promis[es] definite, immediate blessings as well as future blessings," contingent upon continued righteous living. These ordinances of washing and anointing are referred to often in the temple as "initiatory ordinances" since they precede the endowment and sealing ordinances.

Just like the other ordinances of the temple, washings and anointings are also conducted on behalf of deceased individuals as a type of "vicarious ordinance".

The church states the origins of these rituals can be traced back to the biblical period, where anointings were used to sanctify individuals and objects, while washings were used for ritual purification. The LDS Church introduced washings and anointings in the Kirtland Temple in Ohio in 1836, before revising the rituals in Nauvoo, Illinois in 1842. The modern LDS Church only performs these rites in temples set apart and dedicated for sacred purposes according to a January 19, 1841 revelation said by Joseph Smith to be from Jesus Christ.