secret rituals
Clandestine group practices
Secret rituals are ceremonial practices performed by a restricted group, hidden from outsiders.
The term spans religious initiations, fraternal lodge ceremonies, and occult rites.
The secrecy may protect sacred meaning, maintain group cohesion, or simply cultivate mystique: The fraternity's secret rituals were revealed in a leaked video.
Often invoked to suggest something sinister or conspiratorial.
- tribal dancesTraditional group ceremonial movement
- ceremonial magicFormalized supernatural invocation practice
- masqueradeDeceptive act or costume party
- initiation ritesFormal admission procedures
- blood oathVow sealed by bloodshed
prayer circles · burial rites · mystery cults · inner circle · fasting rituals · meditative practices · clandestine · coven · sacred chants · concealment · occult practices · hidden knowledge · sacred vow · black mass · fertility ceremonies · candlelit · ceremony · robes
- fraternal orderslodge, Freemason, lodges, Mason, Shriner
- Greek lifefraternities, fraternity, sorority, sororities, frats
- secret societiesFreemasons, Illuminati, Masons, Freemasonry, Rosicrucians
- Japanese ChristianityNagasaki, Jesuits, Franciscans, Catholic martyrs, apostasy
- TemplarsKnights Templar, Templars, grand master, grandmaster, warrior monks
- Crypto-Jews
secret ritualspublic worship
Collective religious ceremony
civic ceremonies · town hall meetings · communal worship · public celebrations · mass