Ritual
A set of actions, words and objects performed in a fixed or meaningful way, whose power is found in the doing.
Also: rite, ceremony, ritual action
Ritual is not restricted to magic or religion. People mark births, weddings, funerals and festivals with it, and many also have private routines. Anthropologists describe ritual as formal, repeated and symbolic, often set apart from everyday action by time, place or dress. Victor Turner studied how rites carry ideas about society, and Catherine Bell cautioned that the word can hide more than it explains. In magic, ritual joins words, gestures, materials and timing, and practitioners hold that each element has a part. Scholars also study what rites do for their participants, such as easing anxiety, forming bonds and marking change.