ancient rituals
Bygone sacred practices
Ancient rituals are ceremonial practices handed down from earlier times, often with religious, spiritual, or cultural significance.
The phrase emphasizes age and tradition—rites performed essentially as they were centuries ago: The tribe still observes ancient rituals at the solstice.
In looser use, ancient rituals can describe any longstanding customs, sometimes with gentle irony: My morning coffee is an ancient ritual.
- rain dancesCeremonies to summon precipitation
- sun worshipReligious devotion to daystar
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
- blood sacrificeRitual killing for deities
- bloodlettingTherapeutic withdrawal of fluid
prayer · harvest festivals · divination · purification · holy water · mummification · ancestor veneration · fertility rites · sacred grove · handfasting · invocation · oath-taking · initiation · burial rites · rites · death masks · chanting · exorcism
- ancient magicspells, curses, sorcery, witchcraft, enchantment
- Norse PrehistoryViking Age, Iron Age, Bronze Age, Stone Age, runestones
- ancient sitesPompeii, Stonehenge, pyramids, Colosseum, Giza
- Prehistoriccave dwellers, Flintstones, Ice Age, cave paintings, Cro-Magnon
- Celtic folkloreIrish folklore, Celtic myths, folktales, fairy lore, Celtic myth
- Nigerian historyNigeria, Oyo Empire, British rule, Sokoto Caliphate, Biafra