Mary Douglas famously argued that dirt is a by-product of order: something is perceived as‘dirty’to the extent that it does not match with cultural classificatory systems. Dirt is a heterogeneous, residual category which threatens social order by threatening people’s cogni- tive order. Against its perils, rituals of cleansing help redressing mental wounds, restoring the faith in established systems of classifications which keep beings and events in ‘the right place’.