A ceremony is an event of ritual A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers, or dictated purely by logic, chance, necessity, etc significance, performed on a special occasion.

Ceremonial occasions

A ceremony may mark a rite of passage The concept as a general theory of socialization was first formally enunciated by Arnold van Gennep in his book of that name, to denote rituals marking the transitional phase between childhood and full inclusion into a tribe or social group. Gennep's work exercised a deep impact on anthropological thought in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:

• birth Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and birth of the infant, and birth of the placenta. In many cases, with (birthday A birthday, as the term implies, is the day or anniversary of the particular day on which a person was born. Though by no means universal, birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a party or, in some instances, a rite of passage. Though major religious traditions such as the Buddhist or the Christian celebrate the birth of their)
• initiation Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role (college orientation week Orientation week or Freshers' week is the first week of the academic year at a university or other tertiary institution, and a variety of events are held to help orient and welcome new students. It goes by a variety of names in different countries)
• puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. Puberty is initiated by hormone signals from the brain to the gonads . In response, the gonads produce a variety of hormones that stimulate the growth, function, or transformation of brain, bones, muscle, skin, breasts, and
• social adulthood An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age. In human context, the term has other subordinate meanings associated to social and legal concepts, for example a legal adult is a legal concept for a person who has attained the age of (Bar (or Bat) Mitzvah According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach 13 years old for boys and 12 years old for girls they become responsible for their actions, and "become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah" (English: Son or Daughter (Bat) of the commandments). In many Conservative and Reform synagogues, girls celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah at age 12[citation)
• graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. At the
• marriage Marriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found. Such a union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks
• retirement Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely . A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours. Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to work any more (by illness or accident). In most
• death Death is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. The word refers both to a particular process and to the condition that results thereby. The nature of the latter has been for millennia a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical enquiry. Belief in some kind of afterlife or rebirth (Day of the Dead Day of the Dead , is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Mexican Americans living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 2 in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1))
• burial Burial , also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over (funeral A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a deceased person. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from the funeral itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor. These customs vary widely between cultures, and)
• spiritual Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of their being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop an individual's inner life; such practices often lead to an (baptism In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which a person is admitted to membership of the Church. The New Testament reports that Jesus himself was baptized, communion The term Communion is derived from Latin communio . The corresponding term in Greek is κοινωνία, which is often translated as "fellowship". In Christianity, the basic meaning of the term communion is an especially close relationship of Christians, as individuals or as a Church, with God and with other Christians. This basic)

Government ceremonies

Sometimes, a ceremony may only be performed by a person with certain authority. For example, the opening of the United Kingdom Parliament In the United Kingdom, the State Opening of Parliament is an annual event that marks the commencement of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is held in the House of Lords Chamber, usually in November or December, or in a general election year, when the new Parliament first assembles. In 1974, when two general elections were held, is presided over by the Sovereign (Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II is queen regnant of 16 independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. She). A captain or a higher-ranked naval officer usually supervises the naming and launching of a warship. A wedding is performed by a priest or a Civil Celebrant, as in Australia For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of the roughly 250 language groups. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north and discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by the British. The President of the United States The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers, the other being the Vice President of the United States is customarily sworn in by the Chief Justice of the United States The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. The position is also commonly referred to as the, and the British sovereign The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties. As a constitutional monarch, the Queen is limited to non- is always crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group of Christians in the world.

Celebration of events

Other, society-wide ceremonies may mark annual or seasonal or recurrent events such as:

• vernal equinox An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the centre of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus, winter solstice The Winter Solstice occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. Though the Winter Solstice lasts only an instant in time, the term is also colloquially used as Midwinter or contrastingly the first day of winter to refer to the day on which it occurs. More evident to those in high latitudes, and other annual astronomical positions
• weekly Sabbath In Christianity, the Sabbath is generally a weekly religious day of rest as ordained by one of the Ten Commandments . The practice is derived from Judaism, the parent religion of Christianity; shabbat (Hebrew: שַׁבָּת‎, šabbāt) meaning "the [day of] rest" and entailing a ceasing or resting from labor. The institution of the day
• inauguration An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office of an elected office-holder
• occasions in a liturgical year The liturgical year, also known as the Christian year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in connection with different seasons of the or "feasts" in a calendar of saints The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as that saint's feast day. The system arose from the very early Christian custom of annual commemoration of martyrs on the dates of their deaths, or birth into heaven, and is thus

Other ceremonies underscore the importance of non-regular special occasions, such as:

• coronation A coronation is a ceremony marking the investiture of a monarch or their consort with regal power, specifically involving the placement of a crown upon his or her head, and the presentation of other items of regalia. This rite may also include the taking of a special vow, acts of homage by the new ruler's subjects, and/or performance of other of a monarch A Monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which a country or entity is usually ruled or controlled by an individual who normally rules for life or until abdication. Monarchs may be autocrats or may be ceremonial heads of state who exercise little or no power or only reserve power, with actual authority vested in a
• victory in battle Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign. Battles generally are well defined in duration, area and force commitment

In some Asian cultures, ceremonies also play an important social role, for example the tea ceremony A tea ceremony is a ritualised form of making tea. The term generally refers to the Japanese tea ceremony. One can also refer to the whole set of rituals, tools, gestures, etc. used in such ceremonies as tea culture. All of these tea ceremonies and rituals contain "artificiality, abstractness, symbolism and formalism" to one degree or.

Process

Ceremonies may have a physical display or theatrical Theatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion. By this broad definition, theatre had existed since the dawn of man, as a component: dance Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting, a procession A procession is, in general, an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner, the laying on of hands. A declaratory verbal pronouncement may explain or cap the occasion, for instance:

• I now pronounce you man and wife.
• I swear to serve and defend the nation ...
• I declare open the games of ...
• I/We dedicate this ... ... to ...

Both physical and verbal components of a ceremony may become part of a liturgy A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions. The word is sometimes rendered by its English translation "service", may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Roman Catholic Mass, or a daily activity such as the Muslim.

See also

Notes

See Also:

• Ceremonies
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