What is Ritual?
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 147-0510, Berlin, Lustgarten, Kundgebung der HJ.jpg|thumb|180px|A [[Nazi]] membership with commitment and consequences]] [[File:Mosque.jpg|thumb|180px|Also a membership, with quite different consequences]] [[File:Traditional dogon masque.jpg|thumb|180px|A [[Dogon]] ceremonial mask]] [[File:Oxford Matriculation 2003.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Matriculation]] at [[Oxford University]]]] A '''ritual''' (or a '''''rite''''') is a [[ceremony|set of actions]] [[wikt:people|people]] do. In a ritual, the actions are important because every action stands for something. Each ritual of a type is done in a certain way.<ref>Turner, Victor W. 1969. ''The ritual process''. Penguin.</ref><ref>Bell, Catherine 1992. ''Ritual theory, ritual practice''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref> [[wikt:danger|Danger]] might be involved in carrying out the ritual. When the ritual has been performed successfully, it is often followed by a celebration. Rituals can mark a personal change. For example, a [[rite of passage]] may show that a child has reached the [[age of majority]]. All societies seem to have had them.<ref>Padilla, Mark William (editor) 1999. ''Rites of passage in Ancient Greece: literature, religion, society''. Bucknell University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8387-5418-X</ref> A religious rite is a [[religious]] [[ceremony]]. Many rituals have a [[religion|religious]] significance and are part of the religion or traditions of a community. The rite signals that those who take part are [[member]]s of the religion, or [[belief|believers]] in the religion. The rite may signal [[status]], [[qualification]], [[prayer]] and [[promise|commitment]] to the god or to the [[belief]]. A [[rite]] need not be to a religion as understood in the present day. Fervent support of a sports team, or kissing the ring of an [[organised crime]] lord, or a [[military |military enrollment]] is equally a rite, because it has consequences for the behaviour of the person, and for their [[belief]]s.<ref>Hall, Richard Andrew 2007. ''The world of