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The priest or altar boy swings the incense in different directions, but always in groups of three, for the purpose of distributing the smoke evenly.

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When swinging the incense, there is a set pattern, the Blessed Sacrament gets three double swings, the celebrant of the Mass gets one double swing, and the congregation gets three single swings. The gifts on the altar have a complicated pattern of circles, so many to the right, and then to the left. And the altar itself has a series of single swings all around it. "Symbolically it represents the consuming zeal of the Christian, the good odour of virtue and the going-up of prayer and good works to God, and to offer it before a person or thing is a makr of honour thereto." fromA Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

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