Ceremonial acts or series of actions performed according to established procedures, often with religious or cultural significance. Habitual or customary practices performed regularly.
From Latin 'ritualis,' from 'ritus' meaning 'rite' or 'usage,' ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning 'to count' or 'to arrange.' The connection to counting reflects the ordered, repetitive nature of ceremonial actions.
Rituals serve as social glue, creating shared experiences that bond communities together across time and space. Modern psychology has discovered that even secular rituals, like birthday celebrations or graduation ceremonies, provide psychological comfort by creating predictable structure in an uncertain world.
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