Religious Rituals and Ceremonies: Understanding the Sacred
Religious Rituals and Ceremonies
Rituals: In the religious sense, a ritual is the set of rules governing how believers perform ceremonies to honor the gods. It has a symbolic character and sets the way they relate to the sacred. Meeting the rites enables believers to emotionally express their faith, stating that they agree to the dogmatic aspects of their doctrine. Most importantly, the rite reinforces the social cohesion of believers. Every religion creates its own rites, but there are features in all that often recur (thanksgiving, consecration, atonement, application, etc.).
Rituals and Rules
The ritual is performed according to previously established rules, and compliance with these rules derives its effectiveness. The sacred acts can be neither violated nor changed; it would be a desecration. All rites require accurate preparations: washing, purification by water, decorations, etc. In the ritual process, three points are emphasized: the purification of the individual, the pivotal moment of the ritual, and the culmination of this.
Hazing
The first creed they are witnessing is the beginning. Two facts should be pointed out: the first relates to religions that require a ritual ceremony to be a member of the religious community (Jewish circumcision). The second concerns the so-called primitive societies’ initiation rite, which consists of a series of events to make known the magical secrets that will make the tribal adult a member of the group.
Ceremonial
Ceremonial is the set of actions that are performed to give solemnity to an act. It is the protocol that dictates what you have to do and what you should not. The peculiarity of religious ritual is that the bidder is in a position to access personal divinity.
Celebrant, Consecrated Persons
A celebrant is a sacred person. Before contact with the divine, they must increase their purity. To achieve this, they are usually subject to some state of deprivation (fasting, discipline, chastity, etc.), depending on the religion. A ritual is not understood without preliminary purification; hence, preparatory ritual purification is usual. The use of special clothes, once that purification is achieved, allows them to go to divinity.
Ceremonies and Rituals in Everyday Life: Rites transform the profane into the sacred. The impurity of the profane disappears during ritual ceremonies. Thus, we see the case of Christians and their habit of crossing themselves at times, or Muslim women covering their heads. Religious people have been in the habit of moving the sacred to routine social forms (greeting, food, clothing).
Prayer
Prayer is the conversation between the believer and their God and demands that the man appears from himself and opens to the love of God. Prayer intentions require cleaning, simple, humble sincerity, and transparency.
Dialogue with the Divine
Prayer is a dialogical relationship with the sacred in which the prayer is offered to God in the belief that He hears his words. From this dialogue, the believer is excited to order his life. Prayer has a varied intention; it may be supplication, thanksgiving, praise, etc.
Communal Prayer
In addition to private and intimate prayer, there is group prayer that tries to express publicly that this faith is shared with other believers, forming a religious community. Sacred readings are also a way of prayer for the religious group to not forget them and be aware of the community.
Places of Worship
If prayer is intimate, any place or time is suitable to pray. But if the sentence has a community spirit, it is made in sacred places fit for that purpose. Each religion has designated a few days to gather in community with believers. Prayer can be done in various postures. You can also pray at the graves of individuals characterized by their religion, to statues, relics, or figures that represent him or that represent the gods themselves.