Bakhoor: A History Of Burning Incense
by Shahinda Abdalla
Throughout the world for millennia people have been burning all sorts of aromatic biotic material to create pleasant smells. The need for good smells was at first practical more than anything. Before our era of hyper cleanliness, our access to running water and modern soaps, our ancestors used incense for hygienic reasons to cover up the unpleasant smells of sweat and other human odors that permeated common living quarters. It was believed as well that incense had antibacterial properties. Then soon enough these practices became associated with the cleansing of spaces, dispelling bad spirits and slowly burning incense evolved into a sacred ritual used in religious ceremonies and temples.
The exact historical origin of burning incense is unknown but the first recorded use can be found in Ancient Egypt more than 6000 years ago. Resin balls were found in many prehistoric Egyptian tombs in El Mahasna in Sohag. In Ancient Egypt, a special variety of incense was used called kyphi. Three Egyptian kyphi recipes from Ptolemaic times are inscribed on the temple walls of Edfu and Philae. Some of the recorded ingredients used were honey, wine, frankincense, sandalwood, mastic, myrrh, calamus, juniper berries, raisins, henna, cinnamon and saffron. Many of these ingredients weren’t necessarily available locally and so our ancient ancestors would import these materials creating some of the very first trade routes of spices between east and west. Incense were considered to be very valuable as they were believed to have both spiritual as well as medicinal properties, allowing people to access alternate states of consciousness as well as more everyday things like healing snake bites. Incense were also used to repel mosquitoes, attract partners by infusing clothes with scent, and to keep time during meditation.
An Egyptian incense burner from the 7th century BC
There are two main ways of burning incense: directly and indirectly. In modern day Egypt, we are accustomed to burning incense indirectly by lighting up pieces of coal first and placing the biotic materials on the coal and then letting them slowly burn. This method of indirect burning is what’s most commonly used in Egypt and other Arab countries when burning incense which we call bakhoor in Arabic. This indirect way of burning incense means that we need to use a mobkhara which is a chalice-like device made of clay or stone in which a handful of burning coals are placed alongside the specific bakhoor (incense) you’d like to burn. Interestingly, the shape of the mabkhara has inspired architects to create buildings and sculptures to decorate landscapes with this iconic shape.
According to David Michael Stoddart in his book The Scented Ape: The Biology and Culture of Human Odour, of all the apes we humans are the most richly endowed with scent producing glands. It is therefore unsurprising the extent of how important smell is to us as humans and thus makes complete sense how much attention, resources and artistry we have given to this practice of producing pleasant smells.