Ritual

For other senses of this word, see ritual (disambiguation).

A ritual is a set of actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions^[1]^[2]

A ritual may be performed at regular intervals, or on specific occasions, or at the discretion of individuals or communities. The musical instrument is spelled Cymbal. A symbol is something --- such as an object, Picture, written word a sound a piece A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of It may be performed by a single individual, by a group, or by the entire community; in arbitrary places, or in places especially reserved for it; either in public, in private, or before specific people. A ritual may be restricted to a certain subset of the community, and may enable or underscore the passage between religious or social states.

The purposes of rituals are varied; they include compliance with religious obligations or ideals, satisfaction of spiritual or emotional needs of the practitioners, strengthening of social bonds, demonstration of respect or submission, stating one's affiliation, obtaining social acceptance or approval for some event — or, sometimes, just for the pleasure of the ritual itself.

Rituals of various kinds are a feature of almost all known human societies, past or present. They include not only the various worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also the rites of passage of certain societies, oaths of allegiance, coronations, and presidential inaugurations, marriages and funerals, school "rush" traditions and graduations, club meetings, sports events, Halloween parties, veteran parades, Christmas shopping and more. This article refers to the religious act For the album by Michael W A rite of passage is a Ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status An oath of allegiance is an Oath whereby a subject or Citizen acknowledges his/her duty of Allegiance and swears loyalty to his Monarch A coronation is a ceremony marking the investiture of a Monarch with regal power specifically involving the placement of a crown upon his or her head and the Many activities that are ostensibly performed for concrete purposes, such as jury trials, execution of criminals, and scientific symposia, are loaded with purely symbolic actions prescribed by regulations or tradition, and thus partly ritualistic in nature. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. Symposium originally referred to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means "to drink together" but has since come to refer to any Academic conference Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello are rituals. A handshake is a short Ritual in which two people grasp each other's right or left hand often accompanied by a brief up and down movement of the grasped hands Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language and is Synonymous with other greetings such as Hi or

In any case, an essential feature of a ritual is that the actions and their symbolism are not arbitrarily chosen by the performers, nor dictated by logic or necessity, but either are prescribed and imposed upon the performers by some external source or are inherited unconsciously from social traditions.

1 Ritual actions
2 Purposes
3 Religious
4 Sociology
5 Anthropology
6 Fraternal
7 Psychology
8 Further reading
9 See also
10 References

Ritual actions

Due to their symbolic nature, there are hardly any limits to the kind of actions that may be incorporated in a ritual. The rites of past and present societies have typically involved special gestures and words, recitation of fixed texts, performance of special music, songs or dances, processions, manipulation of certain objects, use of special dresses, consumption of special food, drink, or drugs, and much more. Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with Speech. Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic Food is any substance usually composed primarily of Carbohydrates Fats water and/or Proteins that can be eaten or drunk by an A drink, or beverage, is a Liquid specifically prepared for Human consumption A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a Chemical substance that acts primarily upon the Central nervous system where it alters Brain Religious rituals have also included animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, ritual suicide, and ritual murder. Animal Sacrifice is the Ritual killing of an Animal as part of a Religion. Human sacrifice is the act of Homicide (the Killing of one or several Human beings in the context of a Religious ritual ( ritual killing Human sacrifice is the act of Homicide (the Killing of one or several Human beings in the context of a Religious ritual ( ritual killing Ritual lamentation -- song performed with weeping -- in many societies was regarded as required to ritually carry the departed soul to a safe afterlife (Tolbert 1990a, 1990b; Wilce 2006).

Purposes

Ritual serves diverse purposes including, but not limited to:

Worship
Ritual purification with the aim of removing uncleanliness, which may be real or symbolic. Ritual purification is a feature of many Religions The aim of these Rituals is to remove specifically defined uncleanliness prior to a particular type
Atonement
Dedication
Education

Urarina shaman, 1988

Religious

In religion, a ritual can comprise the prescribed outward forms of performing, the cultus or cult of a particular observation within a religion or religious denomination. This article discusses cult in the original and typically ancient sense of "religious practice" (cultus A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Church (disambiguation A religious denomination is a subgroup within a Religion that operates under a common name tradition and identity Although ritual is often used in context with worship performed in a church, the actual relationship between any religion's doctrine and its ritual(s) can vary considerably from organized religion to non-institutionalized spirituality, such as ayahuasca shamanism as practiced by the Urarina of the upper Amazon. This article refers to the religious act For the album by Michael W This entry focuses on the Ayahuasca brew for information on the vine of the same name see Banisteriopsis caapi Ayahuasca The Urarina are an Indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon Basin ( Loreto) who inhabit the Chambira, Urituyacu and Corrientes Rivers The Amazon River (Rio Amazonas Río Amazonas of South America is the largest river in the world by volume with a total river flow greater than the next top ten largest rivers Rituals often have a close connection with reverence, thus a ritual in many cases expresses reverence for a deity or idealized state of humanity. See also List of deities A deity is a Postulated Preternatural or Supernatural Being, who is always

However, despite these understandings of ritual, the significance of ritual as a force for creating and maintaining religions has been largely under-studied. The possibilities allowed by ritual's distinctive combination of traditional meaning with instrumental or partially instrumental actions has been underestimated by many religious studies scholars who instead account for the formation of religious groups in terms of "expression" of mental beliefs (or other mentalistic accounts) rather than in terms of social bodily actions that become symbolic over time.

Sociology

Rituals have formed a part of human culture for tens of thousands of years. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic The earliest known undisputed evidence of burial rituals dates from the Upper Paleolithic. Burial, also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground (Older skeletons show no signs of deliberate 'burial', and as such lack clear evidence of having been ritually treated. )

Alongside the personal dimensions of worship and reverence, rituals can have a more basic social function in expressing, fixing and reinforcing the shared values and beliefs of a society. Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" This function can be exploited for political ends, though it lies at the heart of most sociological understandings of religious ritual.

Rituals can aid in creating a firm sense of group identity. Humans have used rituals to create social bonds and even to nourish interpersonal relationships.

Anthropology

Anthropologists have found rituals performed across the globe, in every conceivable culture. In its most basic elements ritual is one of many cultural universals, yet cross-cultural variation in form, content and social function is often great. A cultural universal (see George Murdock, Claude Levi-Strauss, Donald Brown) is an element pattern trait or institution that is common to all Human Of particular interest to anthropologists has been the role of ritual in structuring life crises, human development, religious enactment and entertainment. Among anthropologists, and other ethnographers, who have contributed to ritual theory are Victor Turner, Ronald Grimes, Mary Douglas, and the Biogenetic Structuralists. Victor Witter Turner ( May 28, 1920 – December 18, 1983) was a cultural Anthropologist best known for his work on symbols rituals Dame Mary Douglas, DBE, FBA ( 25 March 1921 &ndash 16 May 2007) was a British Anthropologist, known for Biogenetic structuralism is a body of theory in Anthropology. Anthropologists from Emile Durkheim through Turner and contemporary theorists like Michael Silverstein (2004) treat ritual as social action aimed at particular transformations often conceived in cosmic terms. Émile Durkheim ( April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French Sociologist whose contributions were instrumental Though the transformations can also be thought of as personal (e. g. the fertility and healing rituals Turner describes), even an apparently secular goal like uniting the warring states during the American Civil War (Lincoln's Gettysburg Address [for an semiotic-anthropological analysis, see Silverstein 2002] becomes a sort of cosmic event, one stretching into "eternity. "

Fraternal

Nearly all fraternities and sororities have rituals incorporated into their structure, from elaborate and sometimes "secret" initiation rites, to the formalized structure of convening a meeting. Fraternities and sororities (from the Latin words la frater and la soror, meaning "brother" and "sister" respectively are fraternal Thus, numerous aspects of ritual and ritualistic proceedings are engrained into the workings of the societies.

Psychology

In psychology, the term ritual refers to a repetitive, systematic behavioral process enacted in order to neutralize or prevent anxiety and is a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD is a Chronic Anxiety disorder most commonly characterized by obsessive Distressing Intrusive thoughts

References

Durkheim, E. A ceremony is an activity infused with Ritual significance performed on a special occasion The intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator See also Habit (psychology In Psychology, habituation is the psychological process in humans and animals in which there is a decrease in behavioral A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group according to their particular traditions Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD is a Chronic Anxiety disorder most commonly characterized by obsessive Distressing Intrusive thoughts A processional walkway is a ceremonial Walkway in use since ancient times A rite is an established ceremonious usually Religious act or Process art. Ritualization is a behavior that occurs typically in the member of a given Species in a highly Stereotyped fashion and independent of any direct Physiological this article is on the Anglican church in particular See Orthopraxis for ritualism in general A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Superstition ( Latin superstitio, literally "standing over" derived perhaps from standing in awe used in Latin as a unreasonable or excessive belief In traditional societies myth and ritual are two central components of religious practice 1965 [1915]. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. New York: The Free Press.

Fogelin, L. 2007. The Archaeology of Religious Ritual. Annual Review of Anthropology 36:55–71.

Silverstein, M. 2003. Talking Politics :The Substance of Style from Abe to "W". Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press (distributed by University of Chicago). —. 2004. "Cultural" Concepts and the Language-Culture Nexus. Current Anthropology 45:621-652.

Tolbert, E. 1990a. Women Cry with Words: Symbolization of Affect in the Karelian Lament. Yearbook for Traditional Music 22:80-105. —. 1990b. "Magico-Religious Power and Gender in the Karelian Lament," in Music, Gender, and Culture, vol. 1, Intercultural Music Studies. Edited by M. Herndon and S. Zigler, pp. 41-56. Wilhelmshaven, DE. : International Council for Traditional Music, Florian Noetzel Verlag.

Turner, V. W. 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Harmondsworth: Penguin. —. 1967. The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

Wilce, J. M. 2006. Magical Laments and Anthropological Reflections: The Production and Circulation of Anthropological Text as Ritual Activity. Current Anthropology 47:891-914.

^ AskOxford.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-31. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian 's forces but most of his army subsequently
^ Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-31. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian 's forces but most of his army subsequently

Dictionary

-adjective

Related to a rite or repeated set of actions.

-noun

rite; a repeated set of actions

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