Rituals Assignment

What Does Ritual Have to

Do With Mythology?

In the context of religion, the

connection is clear: myths are the

stories told by those who

participate in the group, while

rituals are the actions performed

by members of the group.

However, we often study myths

outside of their religious context,

as literary works, as cultural

objects, or just as entertaining

stories. Nonetheless, there is a great deal to be learned about myths by considering

them in the context of rituals. Take, for example, the story of the kidnapping of

Persephone. In it, Demeter’s daughter Persephone is seized by Hades and taken as his

bride to live in the underworld. Demeter, who is the goddess of grain, wanders the earth

and refuses to let the crops grow until Zeus arranges a compromise which returns

Persephone to her mother for part of each year.

We can appreciate this by itself as an example of a good story that represents the

relationship between mother and daughter. We can ponder the themes it

emphasizes: sexuality and death, perseverance and regeneration. However, our view of

the myth is expanded and enriched by recognizing that it was told as part of

the ceremonies conducted at the temple of Demeter in Eleusis. In this context, the story

is no longer about the efforts of individuals; it is also a public communication

recounting the traditions and struggles of a society. We can then see the myth as a

representation of marriage customs in a society where a daughter’s consent was not

required before she was given in marriage, and we can notice that it emphasizes the

personal longing to survive death and return from the land of the dead, as Persephone

did.

Because ritual deals with human activities rather than stories, its study brings us into

some areas that may seem unexpected. Religious ceremonies, parades, festivals, even

sporting events like the Balinese cockfight or American football, and children’s activities

like trick or treating all come into consideration when we look for activities related to

beliefs and values expressed in mythological stories.

What is the Purpose of Rituals?

Remember that all mythologies are attempts to provide answers to the fundamental

questions of human existence: Who are we? Where have we come from? Where are we

going? Why are we here?

The twentieth century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche described the process of myth

formation as having originated in a time when the conception of natural laws (i.e.,

scientific explanation) was not yet clear. The whole of nature is, in the conception of the

religious man, a sum of actions by conscious and volitional beings, a tremendous

complex of arbitrariness.

Such a concept led to the recognition that there must be some suprahuman existence,

which, in turn, gave rise to a belief in gods or a god. According to Nietzsche, individuals

assume that their existence, happiness, and the

happiness of family, tribe or state depends on this

arbitrary concept visible in Nature. Certain natural

events occur with regularity, such as the seasons,

while others are random, like rainfall. Mankind is

determined to exert some influence over these

unknown powers through the very things that

regulate each individual’s actions: tradition and

law. As humans reflect upon ways to impose controls upon nature, to find order in the

apparent chaos of the universe, religion and myth are born.

Laws and traditions were passed on through the generations by a combination of ritual,

the dramatic expression of the culture’s ideas, and story, the narrative account. Origin

stories, for example, are concerned with explaining why life is the way it appears.

Whether story arose before or after ritual is a matter that scholars have debated for

generations, but we do know that both arise from the same need—a need for assurance

that life will continue and that the continuance will be favorable for the family of man.

Rituals and Habits

In the earlier discussion of the four functions of myth, we mentioned that with the

cosmological function a culture gave physical shape to the abstract mystical ideas

formed in its consciousness. The stories were one product and the rituals were another.

(Whether the myth or the ritual arose first is a topic long debated by scholars.) Both

form an integral part of the culture and its living myth. A basic dictionary definition of

“ritual” is “a form for a ceremony or a system of ceremonies,” but rituals possess a

deeper meaning and purpose for any culture. Unlike the simple telling of a story, in

which there is usually one teller and option in the story. Thus, the ritual serves not only

to reinforce the story but also to unify the community.

One important difference that needs to be established is that rituals are not the same as

habits, which are patterns of behavior acquired by frequent repetition. With a habit there

is no real deeper meaning; it is the way one does something because that is the way it

has always been done. Rituals are repeated, they carry with them in their symbolic

objects, dress and ceremony, deeper ideas that relate to the culture’s understanding of

the universe and its perceived place within that design.

Rituals also utilize two elements that are not a part of habits. Firstly, they make use of

symbolic objects and colors, such as bread, wine, rings or specifically colored clothing.

Secondly, they often use some form of dancing, music or chanting, which helps to bring

all the participants onto the same emotional plane. Examples of this are evident today

both in churches that have pre-service music and in concerts that use warm-up bands

to set the mood.