ritual
Formal repeated practice
A ritual is a ceremony or series of actions performed according to a prescribed order, often with religious or spiritual significance: funeral rituals, purification rituals.
More loosely, ritual describes any habitual practice that feels meaningful or necessary: Her morning coffee ritual took exactly fifteen minutes.
As an adjective, ritual describes actions done as part of ceremony or routine: ritual sacrifice, ritual handwashing.
Something done ritually follows established form rather than spontaneous impulse.
Formal worship structure
- prayerAddress to deity
- worshipReligious reverence and praise
- massQuantity of matter
- sermonClergy's worship address
sacrament · communion · confession · pilgrimage · fasting · ablution · vespers · benediction
Spoken magical formula
- séanceSpirit communication ritual
- summoningCalling forth deliberately
- spellArrange letters correctly
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
necromancy · witchcraft · conjuring · enchantment · invocation · hex · curse · black mass
Inherited cultural legacy
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- cultureCollective social practices
legacy · observance · continuity · initiation · coming-of-age · ancestral · generational · tribal
Marriage rite and feast
- funeralService honoring the dead
- graduationCompleting academic requirements formally
- baptismRitual water purification ceremony
- coronationCeremony installing a sovereign
inauguration · commencement · ordination · investiture · induction · installation · convocation · dedication
Settled regular tendency
- dailyPer diem, repeated
- morningDay's early hours
- bedtimeDesignated hour for retiring
- regimenPrescribed course of treatment
discipline · practice · repetition · consistency · structure · pattern · systematic · methodical
Removing dirt or toxins
- washingCleaning with liquid
- ablutionRitualized washing of body
- smudgingMaking blurry marks
- baptismRitual water purification ceremony
immersion · anointment · sweat lodge · mikveh · lustration · exorcism · detox · renewal
liturgy
Formal worship structure
sermon · sacrament · communion · confession · pilgrimage · fasting · ablution · vespers · benediction · sabbath
incantation
Spoken magical formula
divination · necromancy · witchcraft · conjuring · enchantment · invocation · hex · curse · black mass · blood sacrifice
heritage
Inherited cultural legacy
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
culture · legacy · observance · continuity · initiation · coming-of-age · ancestral · generational · tribal · indigenous
wedding
Marriage rite and feast
- funeralService honoring the dead
- graduationCompleting academic requirements formally
- baptismRitual water purification ceremony
coronation · inauguration · commencement · ordination · investiture · induction · installation · convocation · dedication · procession
habit
Settled regular tendency
regimen · discipline · practice · repetition · consistency · structure · pattern · systematic · methodical · automatic
cleansing
Removing dirt or toxins
baptism · immersion · anointment · sweat lodge · mikveh · lustration · exorcism · detox · renewal · rebirth
symbolism
Representing concepts through images
icon · emblem · motif · allegory · representation · significance · enactment · pageantry · regalia · iconography
- group activitiesgroup games, voting, protest, group dance, group project
- cultural heritagefolklore, traditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections
- anthropologyanthropology, fieldwork, ethnography, social anthropology, cultural anthropology
- traditional ruleetiquette, protocol, ceremony, dress code, table manners
- FreemasonryMason, Masons, Freemasons, Freemasonry, lodge
- culturemusic taste, beliefs, food preferences, custom, festivals
ritualimprovisation
Spontaneous, unplanned creation
spontaneity · informality · informal · free-form · extemporization
ritualnovelty
Quality of being original
innovation · change · variation · irregularity · anomaly
- ritual killingCeremonial taking of life
- drinking ritualFormalized communal beverage consumption
- healing ritualsCeremonies intended to cure
- mourning ritualCeremonial grief expression
- daily ritualsRecurring personal practices
- morning ritualHabitual start-of-day practice
rituals, ritualistic, ritualize, ritually, ritualism, ritualist, ritualized, ritualizing, ritualization