My understanding of the word “ritual” is an act that all society performs everyday. From small rituals, such as rinsing with mouth wash before brushing, to larger rituals, such as commuting to work everyday, these rituals are part of society’s everyday life.
Some rituals I observe in our community is the weekly act of setting out the trash in the morning before the trash man comes, then putting the trash can away in the evening, everyone commuting to and from work, the Buckeye tail gate parties and people putting up and taking down their Christmas lights.
Some rituals I observe in my family is my boyfriend playing his video games every night to help him unwind from work, my son coming home from school everyday and letting the dogs out and then doing his homework and then going to bed at 9:00, the entire family sitting down every Sunday night at 7:00 and watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos and finally I get up each morning at the crack of dawn and workout.
A couple rituals that I can identify that are prevalent today are wedding and funerals.
A ritual that I would like to develop for my society is rather corny, but I would like to start going around door to door on Christmas Eve singing Christmas Carols. I sang Christmas Carols while in middle school. We went door to door singing away. It was a magical time and really brought a meaning to Christmas.
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I remember signing Christmas Carols in elementary school. I went to French Run in Reynoldsburg which is on the edge of a housing development. We went around one evening and sang to the neighborhood. One house we stopped at has a man who was terminally ill. We went to the side of the house to sing by the window so he could hear us. His mother thanked us as we left and told us how special it was to him that we came and sang Christmas Carols to him on his last Christmas. Though I was young, I still remember that night. I agree with your suggestion that singing Christmas Carols would be a good ritual to develop. It would bring happiness to many people and maybe just for one night make us all nicer to each other.
Yes it sounds a little corny, but don't let that stop you. It sounds like a good idea, maybe we need to get away from the splashy 'sophisticated' stuff and get back to some meaningful things!
Nice posting and comments!
Sitting out the trash is definitely a ritual that I did not even think of.
Also, Christmas is a magical time and singing Christmas Carols is a great idea. Go for it!
There are many home rituals like the trash, some develop to the point of popular culture, though not in the traditional commerical sense. Lawn care for many home owners is still the same kind of ritual.
Saturday's, long ago, used to be bath night, when people didn't have indoor plumbing (I hope that is a thing of the past), now it might be date night (o.k., that still might make it a bath night).
When there were only three televsion networks, there used to be nights when eveyone was watching the same show, it happens more rarely now (except times like Superbowl Sunday).
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