A person, both secular and churched, is accompanied everywhere by rituals - an established order of actions appropriate for a particular occasion. Some are inclined to see in them only a tribute to traditions, while others believe that there is a sacred meaning behind certain procedures.
Instructions
Step 1
According to the dictionary definition, a ceremony is a traditional action that accompanies the most important moments in the life of a human collective. A sign of a ritual is a stable order of actions that have no direct expediency, but symbolically link sacred (divine) and profane (earthly) structures.
Step 2
Certain well-established rituals appeared in time immemorial, at the dawn of the formation of society. Almost always they were of a sacred nature, which is associated with the so-called syncretic nature of primitive cultures: in the minds of ancient people, the divine principle permeated all spheres of human life, existed, as it were, in parallel with everyday life, inseparably from it. Therefore, symbolic actions - rituals - accompanied the most important events of the agricultural cycle, hunting or military operations, family life.
Step 3
Examples of rituals in the Orthodox Christian tradition are the sacraments: baptism, wedding, communion, penance, and others. The history of the church knows many examples of how the change of ceremonial structures became the cause of serious unrest and indignation. Thus, the split in the Russian Orthodox Church began with seemingly quite insignificant transformations: three fingers instead of two at the sign of the cross, a different order of singing prayers, and so on. Adherents of the traditional view of the practice of religious worship argue that deviation from the canons breaks the connection with the sacred and makes rituals meaningless, leading in the opposite direction from God.
Step 4
At the same time, in secular life there are many rituals that have lost their connection with a religious cult, but from this they are no less revered. For example, the flow of modern weddings is not like traditional wedding feasts, but it has its own structure, thanks to which this celebration cannot be confused with others. Rituals not only help keep generations connected and pay tribute to tradition. This is the formative part of the holiday that raises it above everyday life.
