Rituals 3-2

What is my understanding of the word “ritual?” My understanding of ritual is a ceremony or act that is performed at a certain point in a person’s life or at a certain time of year. A ritual can be passed down from generation to generation giving it meaning and purpose. All the rituals observed are not necessarily huge but simply something we do with routine. Merriam-Webster defines ritual as, “the established form for a ceremony; a ceremonial act or action; and an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner.” What rituals do you observe in our society? In our society we observe the rituals of the holiday season; many families enjoy celebrating thanksgiving with huge gatherings, and then this time of year leads us into the ritual of Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa based on your religious beliefs. In January, society will be watching as on its 44th Presidential inauguration takes place in Washington D.C., society recently took place in watching the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing, China Aug.8-24. What rituals do you observe in your family? In my family we observe the rituals of the holiday season, we celebrate Christmas with family and friends, we never open our gifts until Christmas day, and we always dine at home first and then go from house to house. We observer the ritual of birthdays, although each year we do something new it is the remembrance to observe the day, and at our family gatherings we make it a point to perform the ritual of telling family stories and instilling religious values. Every two weeks I groan about the ritual of allowance giving to the children. Are there any rituals that you can identify that are prevalent today? If so, what are they? In religious cultures the ritual of baptismal or christening is just as important in today’s society as it has been in past generations. Parents believe that it is their job to lay the ground work for religious beliefs and traditions, starting with the baptismal or christening. Two rituals that are constantly taking place are marriages and funerals; in each culture these ceremonies are done in specific ways to honor tradition and to uphold the significance and integrity of the ceremony. What ritual would you like to develop for either our society or your family? For my family I would like to start the ritual of a family reunion. My family is extremely large and it is impossible to know who all of them are but I believe even getting the immediate aunts and uncles together would be a great start and then branch out into other areas, dealing with second and third generations. As a society we celebrate the fourth of July, symbolizing independence, I would like for society to celebrate once a year its collective differences together, not individually. Every year you can find parades that honor African Americans, or Latinos, or Asians, the homosexual community, religious affairs and anything else you can think of, but we cannot seem to come together at one time to simply honor or celebrating just being who we are different in so many ways.