Rituals, From Religious to Routine

August 29, 2024

By Molly Channon, Interpretation Specialist, and Susana Perez, Museum Educator

Rituals are woven into the very fabric of our lives, shaping our days and marking our most important moments. They can be as formal as a religious ceremony, like partaking in communion or reciting prayers, or as simple and personal as brewing your morning coffee or following a bedtime skincare routine. Often, the word "ritual" suggests religious or other kinds of ceremonial acts, but it can be used more broadly to encompass all of the patterns of behavior that give structure and meaning to our existence. Inspired by our July 2024 Into the Stacks—a program series co-hosted by Bookleggers Library director Nathaniel Sandler focusing on thematic deep dives into our holdings—we've mined The Wolfsonian's collection for items that reflect, and sometimes contributed to, rituals in many forms.

In exploring the themes below, we invite you to consider the rituals that shape your own life. Which ones do you turn to, and how do they connect you to others and the world around you?

Religious Rituals

Rituals are at the core of many religious and spiritual practices. As expressions of faith and community, they physically or symbolically link believers to one another, to traditions, and to past sacred events. These connections are vividly depicted in an illustration from a book of Jewish holidays; the worshippers are engaged in communal prayer before the ancient stones of the Western Wall during Tisha B'Av, a day of mourning marking the destruction of the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem.

Movement is another key element of religious rituals, whether through prayer or performative acts. Gustave Baumann's woodcut beautifully captures a moment of the winter Eagle Ceremony at Tesuque Pueblo near Santa Fe, New Mexico, in which dancers don feathered beaks and wings to take the form of an eagle—a revered animal in many American Indian cultures.

Community Rituals

Communal events, whether festivals, parades, or county fairs, often center the rituals of shared social experience. In their heyday during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, world's fairs became monumental forums for a wide variety of ritual-like acts—groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies, performances, historic pageants, military maneuvers, thrilling displays of color, lighting, and music, and gestures of hospitality and welcome by host cities. Even more personal behaviors within the experience of the fair might have ritual aspects, such as purchasing souvenirs for remembrance or sending a postcard to a relative at home.

Public festivities, like carnival, as shown in a photograph taken in 1950s Cuba, reflect a collective ritual of joy and cultural pride, involving hundreds of masqueraders and participants filling the streets with music, dance, and food. And who is immune to the ritualistic appeal of fireworks? Year after year, Americans gather for Fourth of July celebrations promising an impressive firework display. Despite seeing them time and time again, we still experience awe and delight. Japanese artist Koizumi Kishio perfectly illustrates this crowd-building spectacle at a river festival in the Ryōgoku district in Tokyo.

Military and Civic Rituals

Rituals are the bedrock of highly structured military and civic activities. In the military, rituals like marching or salutes serve different purposes—a combination of practical and symbolic. Marching instills collaboration, sharpens skills, and fosters a collective identity. Victory parades, like the one pictured on the sheet music cover Onto Victory, show recruits from each branch of the U.K.'s armed forces (army, navy, marines) marching for a public, supportive crowd. The synchronized steps of the soldiers project an image of strength, skill, and mass power, transforming the ritual into a public affirmation of success and solidarity.

A ritual found across military and civic contexts is the granting of medals. Medals celebrate individual and collective achievements, reinforcing the values of honor and service, and are often given in a ritualistic ceremony performed in public. For example, in 1922 the American Legion began issuing its "School Award" medallions to boys in Pennsylvania who exhibited the qualities of courage, honor, service, leadership, and scholarship (in later years, the medallions were awarded across the nation). Civic rituals, too, play a crucial role in shaping government activity and organization—the acts of registering to vote and casting a ballot are rituals of voting. Ben Shahn's Register poster captures the urgency and importance of this democratic ritual, encouraging citizens to participate.

Milestone and Life Cycle Rituals

We perform rituals at each important life stage and event. This starts at birth, when, in many cultures, a newborn is presented to the community with a birth announcement and/or ceremony. A kimono currently on view in The Big World would be worn by an infant during their first Shinto shrine visit. This ritual marks the child's introduction to spiritual life, a moment of connection between family, community, and the divine.

Marriages (often) begin with a wedding ceremony and the exchanging of rings, symbols of unity and commitment; birthdays are celebrated with cake, candles, and song. Marking a death is also highly ritualized, providing moments and mementos that offer loved ones means of processing their loss. A commemorative plate from the late 19th century depicts one such ritual of remembrance, the practice of marking a grave with a headstone, a physical place for loved ones to visit with the departed.

Everyday Rituals

Everyday rituals are the habits that ground us in routine and offer comfort in their familiarity. Consider the tobacco pipe—the ritual of packing, lighting, and savoring the tobacco is a meditative act, a pause in the day to gather thoughts or share a moment with others. Similarly, the alarm clock, often dreaded yet indispensable, signals the start of each new day, its persistent ring pulling us from sleep and setting us in motion. The morning coffee—perhaps the most universally cherished ritual—anchors countless morning routines. The act of brewing, pouring, and savoring that first sip of coffee in one's favorite coffee cup is a moment of quiet anticipation, a small pleasure that readies us for whatever lies ahead. These objects remind us that even the simplest routines carry their own significance, shaping our days in subtle but meaningful ways.