ritual
Sign in to savethumb|A Javanese culture|Javanese ritual dance dedicated to the goddess of [[rice and fertility, Dewi Sri]]
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A ritual is a formal, repeated action or ceremony that holds special meaning for a group of people, such as a dance performed to honor a deity or important concept. Rituals matter because they help communities express their beliefs, strengthen shared identity, and mark significant aspects of life like harvests and spiritual devotion.
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43 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Characteristics
- Formalism
- Traditionalism
- Invariance
- Rule-governance
- Sacral symbolism
- Performance
- Genres
- Rites of passage
- Rites of affliction
- Death, mourning, and funerary rites
- Calendrical and commemorative rites
- Rites of sacrifice, exchange, and communion
- Rites of feasting, fasting, and festivals
- Water rites
- Fertility rites
- Sexual rituals
- Political rituals
- Anthropological theories
- Functionalism
- As social control
- Rebellion
- Structuralism
- Structure and anti-structure
- Anti-structure and communitas
- Social dramas
- Symbolic approaches to ritual
- As a form of communication
- As a disciplinary program
- As a form of social solidarity
- Ritualization
- Sociobiology and behavioral neuroscience
- Ritual as a methodological measure of religiosity
- Religious perspectives
- Ancient Mesopotamia
- Christianity
- Islam
- Freemasonry
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
thumb|A Javanese culture|Javanese ritual dance dedicated to the goddess of [[rice and fertility, Dewi Sri]]
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally associated with gestures, words, or revered objects, rituals also occur in non-human species, such as elephant mourning or corvid object-leaving. They may be prescribed by tradition, including religious practices, and are often characterized by formalism, traditionalism, rule-governance, and performance.