What is the ceremony of casting bread into water called?

The ceremony of casting bread into water is called Tashlich, or Tashlikh.

Tashlich is a Rosh Hashanah ritual associated with repentance and symbolic release. Participants traditionally gather near flowing water and recite biblical verses and prayers, especially the passage describing God casting sins into the depths of the sea. The ceremony expresses a wish to leave wrongdoing behind and begin the new year with renewed moral purpose.

It is commonly performed on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah, although communities may postpone it when that day falls on Shabbat or observe it later, up to Hoshana Rabbah. Practices vary among Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and other Jewish communities.

Bread is only one version of the custom, and many rabbis object to throwing food into water or feeding wildlife. Some participants instead shake the ends of their garments or use pebbles. Tashlich is therefore broader than simply “throwing bread”: the central idea is symbolic casting off, not the bread itself.