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Functions of ritual

Torii, ritual gates that mark the division between the secular and the sacred, at the 6th-century Shintō shrine on Itsuku Island, Japan.
Torii, ritual gates that mark the division between the secular and the sacred, at the 6th-century Shintō shrine on Itsuku Island, Japan.

Ritual behaviour, established or fixed by traditional rules, has been observed the world over and throughout history. In the study of this behaviour, the terms sacred (the transcendent realm) and profane (the realm of time, space, and cause and effect) have remained useful in distinguishing ritual behaviour from other types of action.

Although there is no consensus on a definition of the sacred and the profane, there is common agreement on the characteristics of these two realms by those who use the terms to describe religions, myth, and ritual. For Durkheim and others who use these terms, ritual is a determined mode of action. According to Durkheim, the reference, or object, of ritual is the belief system of a society, which is constituted by a classification of everything into the two realms of the sacred and the profane. This classification is taken as a universal feature of religion. Belief systems, myths, and the like, are viewed as expressions of the nature of the sacred realm in which ritual becomes the determined conduct of the individual in a society expressing a relation to the sacred and the profane. The sacred is that aspect of a community’s beliefs, myths, and sacred objects that is set apart and forbidden. The function of ritual in the community is that of providing the proper rules for action in the realm of the sacred as well as supplying a bridge for passing into the realm of the profane.

shamans in South Korea
shamans in South Korea
Korean shamans petitioning the spirits to protect the community's fishermen.

Although the distinction between the sacred and profane is taken as absolute and universal, there is an almost infinite variation on how this dichotomy is represented—not only between cultures but also within a culture. What is profane for one culture may be sacred to another. This may also be true, however, within a culture. The relative nature of things sacred and the proper ritual conducted in relation to the sacred as well as the profane varies according to the status of the participants. What is set apart, or holy, for a sacred king, priest, or shaman (a religious personage having healing and psychic transformation powers), for example, will differ from the proper ritual of others in the community who are related to them, even though they share the same belief systems. The crucial feature that both sustains these relations and sets their limits is the ritual of initiation.

Three further characteristics are generally used to specify ritual action beyond that of the dichotomy of sacred and profane thought and action. The first characteristic is a feeling or emotion of respect, awe, fascination, or dread in relation to the sacred. The second characteristic of ritual involves its dependence upon a belief system that is usually expressed in the language of myth. The third characteristic of ritual action is that it is symbolic in relation to its reference. Agreement on these characteristics can be found in most descriptions of the functions of ritual.

The scholarly disputes that have arisen over the functions of ritual centre around the exact relation between ritual and belief or the reference of ritual action. There is little agreement, for example, on the priority of ritual or myth. In some cases, the distinction between ritual, myth, and belief systems is so blurred that ritual is taken to include myth or belief (see also myth: Myth and religion).

The function of ritual depends upon its reference. Once again, although there is common agreement about the symbolic nature of ritual, there is little agreement with respect to the reference of ritual as symbolic. Ritual is often described as a symbolic expression of actual social relations, status, or the role of individuals in a society. Ritual is also described as referring to a transcendent, numinous (spiritual) reality and to the ultimate values of a community.

Whatever the referent, ritual as symbolic behaviour presupposes that the action is nonrational. That is to say, the means–end relation of ritual to its referent is not intrinsic or necessary. Such terms as latent, unintended, or symbolic are often used to specify the nonrational function of ritual. The fundamental problem in all of this is that ritual is described from an observer’s point of view. Whether ritual participants are basically nonrational or rational, as far as their behaviour and belief systems are concerned, is largely dependent upon whether they also understand both their behaviour and belief to be symbolic of social, psychological, or numinous realities. The notion of the sacred as a transcendent reality may, however, come closest to the participants’ own experience. The universal nature of the sacred–profane dichotomy, however, remains a disputed issue.

What is needed is a new theory that will overcome the basic weaknesses of functional descriptions of ritual and belief. Until such a time, ritual will remain a mystery. The progress made in the study of language may be of help in devising a more adequate explanation of nonverbal behaviour in general and of ritual in particular.

Types of ritual

Because of the complexities inherent in any discussion of ritual, it is often useful to make distinctions by means of typology. Although typologies do not explain anything, they do help to identify rituals that resemble each other within and across cultures.