"A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or revered objects."
A religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.
Definition of Rituals: An introduction to the concept of ritual and its importance in human societies.
Anthropological Perspectives on Ritual: An overview of different theories and approaches used by anthropologists to study rituals.
Ritual and Symbolism: An exploration of how rituals use symbolic actions, objects, and words to communicate meaning.
Types of Rituals: A survey of the different types of rituals found in various cultures, including initiation rites, daily devotions, life cycle ceremonies, and festivals.
Ritual Performance: An examination of how performances, movements, and bodily expressions contribute to the creation and enactment of rituals.
Ritual Power: An analysis of how rituals can be used to exert power and control over individuals or groups.
Ritual and Healing: A study of the role of rituals in promoting physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.
Ritual and Community: An exploration of the role of rituals in creating and maintaining communal bonds and social structures.
Ritual and Identity: An analysis of how rituals contribute to the construction and expression of individual and group identities.
Ritual and Change: An examination of how rituals evolve, adapt, and transform as societies change over time.
Comparative Ritual Studies: A comparative analysis of rituals across different societies, cultures, and historical periods, to identify similarities and differences in how humans use ritual to create meaning.
Ritual and Religion: An exploration of the interactions between religious beliefs and rituals, including how rituals can reinforce or challenge religious authority and dogma.
Ritual and Secularism: An analysis of how rituals are used in non-religious contexts, such as political ceremonies or sporting events, and their role in shaping secular identities and values.
Gender and Ritual: A study of how gender roles and norms influence the design and enactment of rituals, and how rituals can reinforce or challenge gender inequalities.
Ethics of Ritual: An examination of the ethical considerations involved in the design and enactment of rituals, including issues of cultural appropriation, power dynamics, and human rights.
Rites of passage: Rites of passage are culturally significant rituals that mark and symbolically transition individuals from one social status or life stage to another.
Calendrical rituals: Calendrical rituals refer to ceremonial practices tied to specific dates or periods within a calendar system, playing a central role in the cultural, social, and religious life of a community.
Life-cycle rituals: Life-cycle rituals in anthropology refer to the ceremonial practices and traditions that mark significant stages of human existence, such as birth, puberty, marriage, and death.
Healing rituals: Healing rituals are culturally patterned practices aimed at addressing physical, emotional, or spiritual ailments and promoting restoration of health.
Sacrificial rituals: Sacrificial rituals refer to culturally-specific ceremonies involving the offering of objects, animals, or even humans to higher powers or deities as a means of communication, appeasement, or transcendence within a particular social and religious context.
Divinatory rituals: Divinatory rituals refer to the cultural practices and ceremonies used for connecting with supernatural forces or spiritual entities in order to obtain insights, guidance, or predictions about the future or unknown aspects of the present.
Exorcism or purification rituals: Exorcism or purification rituals are ceremonial practices performed across cultures to remove or cleanse individuals or spaces from evil spirits or impurities, often involving the use of specific chants, prayers, or symbolic actions.
Reverential Rituals: Reverential rituals in anthropology refer to ceremonial acts or practices performed by a group or individual that express reverence, respect, or devotion towards a sacred object, entity, or concept.
Communal celebratory rituals: Communal celebratory rituals refer to shared cultural practices that bring people together to express joy, unity, and social solidarity.
Symbolic ritual: Symbolic ritual refers to a form of ceremony or performance that utilizes symbolic actions, objects, or gestures to communicate meaning, values, and beliefs within a specific cultural or social context.
"Rituals are a feature of all known human societies."
"They include not only the worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also rites of passage, atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals and more."
"Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying 'hello' may be termed as rituals."
"The field of ritual studies has seen a number of conflicting definitions of the term."
"A ritual is an outsider's or 'etic' category for a set activity (or set of actions) that, to the outsider, seems irrational, non-contiguous, or illogical."
"The term can be used also by the insider or 'emic' performer as an acknowledgement that this activity can be seen as such by the uninitiated onlooker."
"In psychology, the term ritual is sometimes used in a technical sense for a repetitive behavior systematically used by a person to neutralize or prevent anxiety."
"It can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder."
"But obsessive-compulsive ritualistic behaviors are generally isolated activities."
"Rituals are characterized, but not defined, by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance."
"Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community."
"Rituals include not only the worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also rites of passage, atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals and more."
"They also include rites of passage, atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals and more."
"Dedication ceremonies, coronations, and presidential inaugurations" are examples of rituals in societal and political contexts.
"Rituals are characterized by traditionalism."
"Rituals are characterized by sacral symbolism."
"Rituals are characterized by rule-governance."
"Rituals are characterized by formalism."
"The field of ritual studies" is dedicated to researching and understanding rituals.