ritual

In religious devotion or service, the practice of certain set formulas that either mark a particular important event in a person's life – such as birth rituals or death rituals – or form a patterned daily, weekly, or annual cycle; for example, Sunday services in Christian churches, or the Saturday Sabbath for Jews. Rituals are usually understood to hold deep symbolic meaning.

Another definition is that ritual covers all behaviour that has to conform to certain rules, the infringement of which is thought to result in supernatural consequences.

Rituals are closely linked to the world view, religion, and ideology of the society in question, but also to political and economic structures. Rituals may be carried out to improve crop fertility, overcome enemies, compete with rivals, achieve enlightenment, allay misfortune, cure sickness of the mind and body, legitimize important events such as marriage, offset the effects of infringements of taboos and social rules, and exorcize spirits.

In some societies, all persons are entitled to carry out ritual activities (some Australian Aborigines); in others this may be done by men only (the Yanamamo Indians of Brazil) or by women only (the Kalabari of northern Nigeria); in still others, only priests or shamans may officiate at the ceremony. Rituals may make use of drugs (most Brazilian rainforest Indians and the Plains Indians of North America), repetitive incantations, masks and dancing, and music and rhythmical drum-beating.

Rituals present alternatives to everyday reality. This enables the ritual specialist to introduce a substitute to perceived reality: sickness may be considered to be cured, and psychological transformation and political changes may be considered to have occurred. Ritual is thus a form of control over suffering and other subjective problems. In ecstatic rituals, consciousness is altered and people may lose awareness of their surroundings and of their own bodily sensations, and may prophesy or speak in tongues (glossolalia).