rites
Formal sacred ceremonies
Rites are formal ceremonies or rituals, especially religious or cultural ones marking significant occasions: funeral rites, rites of passage, initiation rites.
The word carries solemnity—rites are prescribed actions performed according to tradition or custom, not improvised.
The priest administered the last rites.
Formal event marking occasions
- liturgyFormal worship structure
- sacramentSacred ritual conveying grace
- observanceKeeping of customs
- processionFormal moving line
invocation · benediction · chant · incantation · offering · libation · sacrifice · ablution
Sacred ritual conveying grace
- communionProfound shared closeness
- baptismRitual water purification ceremony
- confessionAdmission of wrongdoing
- ordinationClergy appointment ceremony
matrimony · mass · vespers · liturgy · pilgrimage · penance · absolution · devotion
Formal admission ceremony
- coming-of-ageYouth becoming adulthood
- baptismRitual water purification ceremony
- confirmationEstablishing something as true
- graduationCompleting academic requirements formally
ordination · wedding · funeral · puberty · adolescence · maturation · adulthood · milestone
Custom passed through generations
- customHabitual group practice
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- observanceKeeping of customs
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
indigenous · tribal · ancestral · totemic · ceremonial · customary · communal · sacred
Spoken magical formula
- conjurationMagical act of summoning
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
- exorcismRitual to expel demons
- invocationCalling upon higher authority
sorcery · shamanism · hex · spell · curse · summoning · banishment · enchantment
ceremony
Formal event marking occasions
- liturgyFormal worship structure
- sacramentSacred ritual conveying grace
- observanceKeeping of customs
procession · invocation · benediction · chant · incantation · offering · libation · sacrifice · ablution · anointing
sacrament
Sacred ritual conveying grace
- communionProfound shared closeness
- baptismRitual water purification ceremony
- confessionAdmission of wrongdoing
ordination · matrimony · mass · vespers · liturgy · pilgrimage · penance · absolution · devotion · worship
initiation
Formal admission ceremony
- coming-of-ageYouth becoming adulthood
- baptismRitual water purification ceremony
- confirmationEstablishing something as true
graduation · ordination · wedding · funeral · puberty · adolescence · maturation · adulthood · milestone · transition
tradition
Custom passed through generations
- customHabitual group practice
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- observanceKeeping of customs
folklore · indigenous · tribal · ancestral · totemic · ceremonial · customary · communal · sacred · taboo
incantation
Spoken magical formula
- conjurationMagical act of summoning
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
- exorcismRitual to expel demons
invocation · sorcery · shamanism · hex · spell · curse · summoning · banishment · enchantment · necromancy
burial
Placing deceased underground
eulogy · interment · mourning · lamentation · shroud · pyre · tomb · grave · memorial · obituary
- cultismcult, sect, brainwashing, indoctrination, fanaticism
- religious practiceobservance, sacrament, commandments, holy days, almsgiving
- Riteslibation, sacrifices, prostration, kowtow, ancestral worship
- traditional religionancestors, ancestral spirits, deities, sacrifices, spirits
- Japanese Memorialsmemorial tablets, ancestor veneration, grave visits, memorial services, death anniversary
- culturemusic taste, beliefs, food preferences, custom, festivals
ritesinformality
Relaxed, unofficial tone
spontaneity · improvisation · randomness · chaos · hangouts
ritesinnovations
New methods or devices
novelties · improvisations · experiments · departures · modern inventions
- sacred ritesReligious ceremonial practices
- rite of passageTransition-marking ceremony
- last ritesSacrament for the dying
- ritual killingCeremonial taking of life
- drinking ritualFormalized communal beverage consumption
- healing ritualsCeremonies intended to cure
ritual, rite, rituals, ritualistic, ritually, ritualism, ritualistically