A discussion over at r/skeptic recently hinged around someone trying to find evidence to refute "spirits and demons" although they seemed less interested in hearing skeptical viewpoints and more interested in arguing in favor of angels and the like. Throughout the discussion the poster determinedly clung to the claim that demons, an evil adversary, and exorcisms where pretty much identical across the known world and this suggested that there was some truth to these beliefs. While I urged the poster to come here to this wonderful subreddit in order to learn more about the subject they didn't seem interested. So instead I decided to ask the question a few days later for my own education, and for future conversations of course.
So what are the actual origins of the christian exorcism, what rituals in other cultures have connections to those european rituals and what is a good way to categorize the broad class of rituals that deal with cleansing in such a way that does NOT lump them all under the category of exorcism. Finally when did Europeans start referring to rituals in other cultures as an exorcism, is this a very modern thing (20th century) or did this start much earlier.
This isn't as easy to answer as you might think. Folkloristics provides a method(s) to study various traditions/aspects of culture, but it does not endow folklorists with knowledge of all cultures. Anymore than being a historian means having authority over all the world's past!
You may find it useful to ask /r/Askanthropology for examples from various cultures of spirit possessions and traditional ways to be rid of invasive spirits. I suspect - but can't write with authority - that one would find that many cultures do not have this notion and that among those that do have this idea, the means of being rid of the invader are dramatically different. Because that is the way cultures are across the enormous span of possibilities.
Any effort to assert that "demons, an evil adversary, and exorcisms where pretty much identical across the known world" is likely not going to hold water when held up against of spectrum of comparative ethnographies.
My suggestion that you consider cross-posting this for anthropological assessment doesn't mean that others here can't add thoughts: there are authorities here who have insights into many different cultures. Since I am most comfortable with western European traditions, I cannot add something that will contradict an assertion that is, in itself, drawn from what is clearly a Euro-centric perspective (which is then being imposed on all other cultures in the world).