What is the purpose of lighting incense?

People have been burning incense for religious worship purposes for many thousands of years. Egyptians were using it more than 2000 years before Jesus Christ appeared on earth. So many nations have used it specifically for religious purposes: To create a mood (aromatherapy), to purify the environment (burning sage), and to let people know they have entered the inner sanctum of their place of worship.

So many different cultures have used incense religiously since the Egyptians, there are too many to mention. But here are some of the highlights:

• Chinese Taoist temples: Large coils of incense were always burning to set the space apart from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
  
  
• Chinese Buddhist temples: The incense is used to burn a Buddhist monk or nun's scalp during ordination and the burning usually lasts for 5 minutes, produces 6 to 12 circular scars.
  
  
• Japanese Shinto temples: The incense is placed in horizontal piles and kept burning constantly, with the bottom layers staying unlit.
  
  

Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism have all used incense in their worship practices through the centuries. The Catholic church, especially, has “censers,” which are ornate receptacles for the incense to be flung around for maximum effect.
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I haven’t delved into all the ways incense has been used in religious practice but it is fascinating to discover how pervasive the practice of lighting incense is in the world of religious worship.