Formal and serious events held according to traditional or religious rules, like weddings, graduations, or religious services.
From Latin 'caerimonia' meaning sacred rite or religious observance, possibly from Etruscan origin. The word entered Old French and then English by the 12th century, maintaining its association with formal and formal and meaningful occasions.
Across wildly different cultures—Japanese tea ceremonies, Jewish bar mitzvahs, Christian weddings, military honors—the shared element is that ceremonies transform ordinary moments into meaningful ones through deliberate ritual and witnesses.
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