ln ancient religions, it was customary to please the gods and deities by singing, dancing, chanting, and burning incense. It was believed that fragrance and aroma in the house of worship creates intense feelings of devotion and reverence for gods. It was also required of the worshippers to appear before the god after taking bath and wearing neat and clean clothes. As the house of worship was regarded as a sacred place, the visitors had to observe certain etiquettes in order to maintain its sanctity.

If we trace the history regarding how perfume was used in religious ceremonies, we find numerous references to this effect in the accounts of various ancient civilisations. In Mesopotamia, worshippers were bound to purify their bodies and apply perfume before going for prayers. It was the duty of the priests to sprinkle perfume on the walls, floors, and the images of gods in order to create a serene atmosphere. In Babylonia, it was a practice to mix perfume with building material at the time of laying the foundation of a temple; the idea was probably to keep the fragrance in its structure. Frances Kennett writes in History of Perfume that “Many kinds of aromatic perfumes, especially cedar and cypress, sweet smelling myrtle, myrrh, etc. 'delighted the hearts of gods as well as man'”. Mesopotamians not only used perfume for religious purposes but they believed that it averted evil and would protect them from natural calamities.

In Egypt, where religion was closely associated with rulers as well as people, they made all efforts to show their love and devotion to gods. It was the usual practice to burn lamps filled with aromatic oil at the altar of gods. Pharaohs, who regarded themselves as divine and wanted to get the blessings of gods, gifted large quantities of perfume to temples as an expression of their devotion. They also perfumed their bodies as a sign of their divinity. Perfume was also used in religious ceremonies and processions. It was the ritual to burn incense in the temples three times a day. People believed that incense and perfume offerings were blessed by divine powers.

In ancient India, worshippers used perfumes in religious ceremonies and sandalwood was burnt for fragrance in temples. China learnt the use of fragrance from the Buddhist priests who came from India during the 3rd and 5th centuries. It was also customary for Hindus to decorate their gods and deities with flowers.

Like other ancient people Greeks also used perfume as offering to gods. Frances Kennett writes about Alexander

“Alexander the Great, when a boy, was on one occasion loading the altars with frankincense with great prodigality, upon which his tutor Leonides remarked that the time to worship gods in such a lavish manner would be when he conquered the countries that produced frankincense. After Alexander conquered Arabia he dispatched Leonides a ship freighted with frankincense and sent him word that he would now worship the gods without stint or limit.”

With the advent of Semitic religions, the use of perfume in temples and religious ceremonies was forbidden. It was an attempt to discontinue the pagan traditions and customs and implement new religious cultural values. Moreover, as there were no images of gods and deities in their places of worship, there was no need to burn incense to please them. That's why, in Judaism it was denounced as an act of idolatry. The same attitude was adopted by early Christian fathers. Jack Goody in his excellent study The Culture of Flowers points out that “pagans profusely used flowers in their religious ceremonies, which was discontinued after the conversion and the newly converts were prohibited to use flowers in religious rituals.” However, early Christian fathers, Cyril of Alexandria and John Chrysostom, condemned its use because of its “association with pagan practice,”. Jack quotes the saying of a Christian religious scholar “Enjoy the scent of flowers, use them for medicinal purposes but not for rituals and religion”. In England, when the Puritans came to power they did not allow perfumes in religious ceremonies. The Orthodox Christianity which developed in the East, however, continued the use of perfume in their churches, which was the continuity of earlier practice. It was adopted rather than abandoned because people were closely associated with them.

In Muslim society, there was no concept of incense burning or decoration of flowers in mosques but later on shrines adopted the tradition of using perfume and flowers. Some shrines are washed with rose water and their graves are covered by wreath of flowers. In religious ceremonies such as milad or Quran khawani flowers and different kinds of perfumes are used. In the meetings of zikr or qawwali incense is burnt which stimulate feelings of spiritual ecstasy among the audience.

It shows that in spite of prohibition by the Puritan groups in different religions, the pagan tradition survived and continued as it is related to nature and gives sensual pleasure to man.