Shavuot, which was originally an ancient pilgrimage festival, has gone through many changes over the years – as has Judaism itself.
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Articles on Ritual
Displaying 1 - 20 of 31 articles
From Bali to China, Italy to India, the way people grieve varies greatly across the world.
Rituals have been around for hundreds of thousands of years – but are they still useful today?
Water is sacred in many religious traditions, holding power that can also be dangerous.
England and Wales remain outliers in Britain when it comes to modernising weddings legislation. Couples are looking for laws that accommodate more personal ways of finding meaning.
Nigerians are at risk of kidnapping as the cost of committing this crime is far less than its benefits.
Many Balinese believe COVID-19 cannot be fought with health measures alone, and requires ritual offerings and prayer. But collective ritual places people at more risk.
All that planning, shopping, prepping, serving and cleaning can pay off with better physical and mental health for all members of the family.
Music is supposed to transcend the mundane and horrific. Yet it has also served as an accompaniment to torture and punishment.
Formal ceremonies and rituals can trigger psychological signals that command people’s attention and strengthen the perceived importance of those moments.
Biblical texts contain many references to food, reflecting the complex symbolism in the preparation and sharing of food.
Saudi Arabia is barring international visitors for the hajj. A scholar explains a long history of disease, politics and war that have previously prevented people from making the journey to Mecca.
Rituals, such as keeping vigil, can help people when a loved one is near the end of their life.
Africans have steadfastly responded to oppression through culture.
Reading the poem Eurydice to her students unleashed surprising emotions for Stephanie Trigg. But literature works in mysterious, unpredictable ways, highlighting the impossibility of trigger warnings.
How did civilization emerge from small groups of hunter-gatherers? Some archaeologists focus on cooperation as the vital ingredient – and find evidence for it in the form of feast-related artifacts.
There are many myths associated with St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. But Patrick’s own writings and early biographies reveal the person behind the legend.
Holiday traditions – whether culinary, religious, decorative or musical – help families bond and individuals feel stable and content.
At one point, turkey was jockeying with duck and chicken for king of the Thanksgiving table.
Australia has few public rituals around death, leaving people to figure out how to process grief alone. But Mexico’s Day of the Dead, with its focus on art and community, could help us cope better.
Top contributors
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Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
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Associate Professor of Anthropology and Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut
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Director of the Complex Adaptive Systems Research Group, University of Newcastle
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Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Massey University
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Research Fellow, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
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Professor of Social Psychology IPU Berlin and Visiting Professor of Social and Political Psychology, Coventry University, Coventry University
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Professor of French and Critical Disability Studies, Lancaster University
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University of Nottingham Associate, University of Nottingham
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Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of English Literature, The University of Melbourne
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Research Fellow, Coventry University
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Senior Research Fellow, Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at IUPUI and Journalist-fellow, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California
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Associate Professor, Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
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Professor of Ocean Cultures and Heritage, Nelson Mandela University
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Director of the Family Resiliency Center and Professor of Human Development & Family Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Professor of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota
