Zār

In the cultures of the Horn of Africa and adjacent regions of the Middle East, Zār (Arabic: زار, Ge'ez: ዛር) is the term for a demon or spirit assumed to possess individuals, mostly women, and to cause discomfort or illness. The so-called zār ritual or zār cult is the practice of reconciling the possessing spirit and the possessed individual. Zār possession is often considered lifelong and the rituals associated with it are a form of adorcism, though some have falsely attributed it as an exorcism rite because it involves possession. It is similar to the Maghreb's Hamadsha, Hausa Animism, and various African Traditional religions, such as Voodou.

Zār is also a form of predominantly (not solely) women's entertainment that has become popular in the contemporary urban culture of Cairo and other major cities of the Islamic world. Participants have compared it to how those not involved in zār go to the discotheque. Zār gatherings involve food and musical performances and they culminate in ecstatic dancing, lasting between three and seven nights. The tanbūra, a six-string bowl lyre, is often used in the gathering. Other instruments include the manjur, a leather belt sewn with many goat hooves, and various percussion instruments.

The term zār may be used to mean various different things in the places the belief is found: it may refer to the hierarchy of zār spirits, an individual spirit of this type, the ceremonies concerning these spirits, the possessed person, or the troubles caused by these spirits.