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Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living
A pioneering anthropologist takes readers on a journey through the rich tapestry of human ritual—showing how and why our most irrational behaviors are a key driver of our success."
Ritual is one of the oldest, and certainly most enigmatic, threads in the history of human culture. It presents a profound paradox: people ascribe the utmost importance to their rituals, but few can explain why they are so important. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we ever learned to farm, we were gathering in giant stone temples to perform elaborate rites and ceremonies. And yet, though rituals exist in every culture and can persist nearly unchanged for centuries, their logic has remained a mystery—until now.
In Ritual, pathfinding scientist Dimitris Xygalatas leads us on an enlightening tour through this shadowy realm of human behavior. Armed with cutting-edge technology and drawing on discoveries from a wide range of disciplines, he presents a powerful new perspective on our place in the world. In birthday parties and coronations, in silent prayer, in fire-walks and terrifying rites of passage, in all the bewildering variety of human life, Ritual reveals the deep and subtle mechanisms that bind us together.
Ritual is one of the oldest, and certainly most enigmatic, threads in the history of human culture. It presents a profound paradox: people ascribe the utmost importance to their rituals, but few can explain why they are so important. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we ever learned to farm, we were gathering in giant stone temples to perform elaborate rites and ceremonies. And yet, though rituals exist in every culture and can persist nearly unchanged for centuries, their logic has remained a mystery—until now.
In Ritual, pathfinding scientist Dimitris Xygalatas leads us on an enlightening tour through this shadowy realm of human behavior. Armed with cutting-edge technology and drawing on discoveries from a wide range of disciplines, he presents a powerful new perspective on our place in the world. In birthday parties and coronations, in silent prayer, in fire-walks and terrifying rites of passage, in all the bewildering variety of human life, Ritual reveals the deep and subtle mechanisms that bind us together.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2022
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February 2, 2023
Review The rituals chosen in this book are all somewhat out-there, I don't suppose it would be very interesting to read a book like this if they weren't. However I have to doubt whether the details are true or not, since an easily checked 'fact' was misrepresented. "Jews watch over the dead body at home over a seven-day mourning period."
How hard was it to check that Jews bury their dead as soon as possible, within 24 hours unless there is a compelling reason not to. (Like me flying home for my mother's burial, because I am next of kin it was delayed). The seven days, 'sitting shiva' (shiva means seven) is a period of mourning after the funeral .
I found another 'fact' where the author says that the formaldehyded and preserved corpses are brought out once a year, cleaned and dressed. It might be so, but another site said every three years.
How many more rituals were not fact-checked and people not familiar with the culture being discussed will take them as 'true'?
Still the author makes some good points.
The book is very full of rituals, whether it is marching in the army, fighting bulls, African witchcraft in immigrants in London, he even pushes the boundaries including co-operation with societal laws and rules, but I don't get that as ritual. The most extreme example of ritual, that is almost a house that Jack built - demolished, is this story of a pastor, the reverend Matthew Hood. The ending is ironic, hilariously so, but only if you read the rest of it first.
__________
Reading notes - Death Ritual The strangest death ritual I have ever heard of is that the Toraja keep their dead family at home and visible for years. "Their skin and flesh are preserved from decaying and rotting - which begins within days of death - by a coating of formaldehyde and water. The stench is strong, so the family store dried plants beside the body to mask the odour." Pics - Torajan people and their dead Another set, of pics.
How hard was it to check that Jews bury their dead as soon as possible, within 24 hours unless there is a compelling reason not to. (Like me flying home for my mother's burial, because I am next of kin it was delayed). The seven days, 'sitting shiva' (shiva means seven) is a period of mourning after the funeral .
I found another 'fact' where the author says that the formaldehyded and preserved corpses are brought out once a year, cleaned and dressed. It might be so, but another site said every three years.
How many more rituals were not fact-checked and people not familiar with the culture being discussed will take them as 'true'?
Still the author makes some good points.
If people claim to beieve in Santa Claus but do not engage in any regular worship to honour him, even small children will eventually realise that Santa is not a supernatural being of high standing. But if those who claim to believe in Lord Murugan [Mauritius] walk the walk by putting skewers through their cheeks for him, this conveys not merely that those individuals are truly commited but also that Murugan is a god worthy of commitment. Actions speak louder than words.There is a custom apparently practiced in the Deep South until the end of the 20thC that he says has died out now, of tying mourning crepes onto a mailbox to signify a death in the household. He says that the closest we get now is a yellow ribbon around a tree or balloons tied to a mailbox. On the island we make giant multi-looped purple bows, like the ones you put on gifts. We put them on doors, gates, businesses, private homes, to indicate a loved one has passed away.
The book is very full of rituals, whether it is marching in the army, fighting bulls, African witchcraft in immigrants in London, he even pushes the boundaries including co-operation with societal laws and rules, but I don't get that as ritual. The most extreme example of ritual, that is almost a house that Jack built - demolished, is this story of a pastor, the reverend Matthew Hood. The ending is ironic, hilariously so, but only if you read the rest of it first.
He had been serving as a pastor at the St Lawrence parish in Utica, Michigan. In 2020 he was going through his father’s collection of family videos and found an old tape of his baptism from when he was an infant. When he played it, he noticed that the deacon who performed the baptism had used the words ‘we baptise you’ instead of ‘I baptise you’, which Hood was accustomed to.The book is very interesting, I just wish that I could rely on it as fact rather than unchecked stories. It is almost a 10 star read because I learned so much and people are so fascinatingly irrational. But 4 star...
Alarmed, he went to the archdiocese of Detroit. ‘We talked to some theologians and canon lawyers, and we thought it was probably valid,’ he said. But a statement from the Vatican said otherwise. The deviation from the script meant that Hood had never been baptised. As a consequence, his confirmation was not valid either, which meant that his ordination as deacon was void, and therefore his ordination as priest as well. To return to his job, Hood would have to be baptised anew, then confirmed, made a deacon and ordained priest all over again. He did all this within a week, but there was more to the story.
The mistake meant that he had not been a real priest before, and therefore any sacraments he administered during his ministry were also rendered null. His church had to contact thousands of people with some unexpected news: those who had been confirmed by Father Hood were informed that they were not full members of the Catholic Church. Those who had been ordained by him found out that they were not legitimate clergy. Those who went to confession before him learned that their sins had not been absolved. People who attended Holy Communion were told that they had not received the Eucharist, as they thought. As for the marriages at which he officiated, things were unclear, because in some cases non-ordained Catholics are allowed to perform weddings.
Ironically, those who were baptised by him had no reason to worry: when it comes to baptism, it does not matter who administers it, as long as they use the right formula.
__________
Reading notes - Death Ritual The strangest death ritual I have ever heard of is that the Toraja keep their dead family at home and visible for years. "Their skin and flesh are preserved from decaying and rotting - which begins within days of death - by a coating of formaldehyde and water. The stench is strong, so the family store dried plants beside the body to mask the odour." Pics - Torajan people and their dead Another set, of pics.
In Indonesia, the Toraja people have a remarkable tradition that involves keeping the bodies of their dead relatives in their homes for months or even years until they prepare an elaborate funeral for them.Excuse me for my crudity, but how long do they smell terrible and attract flies and maggots and things for before they mummify? I'd think they would need industrial strength air-fresheners, not just a few plants to actually manage to sit next to them and chat.
During that time the corpses dry and become mummified but the relatives treat them as if they were still living. They keep them on a bed, change their clothes, offer them food and drinks and have daily conversations with them.
When all the preparations have been completed, a large public gathering is attended by the entire community and the corpse is finally laid to rest. But the interactions with the deceased do not end with the funeral. Each year the mummified body is exhumed, dressed up and paraded around town.
August 24, 2022
Generally speaking, when I finish a book I have a clear idea about my reaction to it, and about what I will say in the “reviews” I come up with. My thoughts about this book are quite jumbled, and I found this a difficult one to write about.
The author has made a speciality out of studying the role of ritual in human society, and the human drive to engage in ritual. The book considers both mundane and extreme rituals, but with more emphasis on the latter. I certainly can’t argue with the depth of the author’s research, which encompasses extensive field observations with the use of biometric sensors, hormonal sampling, behavioural measurements, and psychometric tests.
There was an interesting opening section in which the author claims that ritual behaviour can be observed in the animal world, which is something I had not suspected. It is of course in humans that ritual behaviour has developed most, and we know from prehistoric grave sites that it has been long-established in our behaviour. The early part of the book discusses the its mundane manifestations, such as “touching wood” or blowing on dice, that are often performed in solitary fashion. It’s well-known that these rituals are most prevalent amongst certain categories of people, such as gamblers, sailors and sportsmen. They are all people whose daily tasks have unpredictable outcomes, and the rituals adopted are essentially attempts to impose order on chaos. They therefore stem from the same need to control the world as science does.
The bulk of the book however, concerns social rituals. The author provides a battery of evidence to suggest that participation in these promotes social connectedness and, for better or worse, creates highly bonded groups. He seems to have made a special study of Thaipusam, a Hindu Festival in which the most committed devotees pierce their bodies (including their faces and tongues) with numerous sharp skewers; and of the Anastenaria, a small sect in his native Greece who engage in fire walking preceded by days of exhausting dancing. A feature of extreme rituals is that the people with the lowest socio-economic status often engage in the most extreme behaviours. Doing so allows socially marginalised people to gain respect and status. The author argues that social rituals promote the mental wellbeing of participants.
The restrictions on funerals during the COVID pandemic illustrated the continued importance of ritual in marking the major transitions in people’s lives. Many people were deeply affected through being unable to conduct proper funerals for family members, and it is remarkable how quickly variations to the traditional services developed.
It’s nevertheless true that traditional ritual has been in decline in western society, and the author links this to how the vast majority of its people live in comfort, far removed from the existential struggles most people have historically had to deal with. He comments that new rituals are being invented, but it remains to be seen whether these will stand the test of time.
There was much of interest in this book, but whilst the author provided extensive evidence for his conclusions, I couldn’t help feeling that much of it confirmed things I already intuitively felt. Perhaps the book’s main merit was in how clearly the author articulated those intuitive feelings. Despite the high quality of scholarship, my personal enjoyment of the book was between a 3 and a 4-star rating. I’ve gone for the more generous option.
The author has made a speciality out of studying the role of ritual in human society, and the human drive to engage in ritual. The book considers both mundane and extreme rituals, but with more emphasis on the latter. I certainly can’t argue with the depth of the author’s research, which encompasses extensive field observations with the use of biometric sensors, hormonal sampling, behavioural measurements, and psychometric tests.
There was an interesting opening section in which the author claims that ritual behaviour can be observed in the animal world, which is something I had not suspected. It is of course in humans that ritual behaviour has developed most, and we know from prehistoric grave sites that it has been long-established in our behaviour. The early part of the book discusses the its mundane manifestations, such as “touching wood” or blowing on dice, that are often performed in solitary fashion. It’s well-known that these rituals are most prevalent amongst certain categories of people, such as gamblers, sailors and sportsmen. They are all people whose daily tasks have unpredictable outcomes, and the rituals adopted are essentially attempts to impose order on chaos. They therefore stem from the same need to control the world as science does.
The bulk of the book however, concerns social rituals. The author provides a battery of evidence to suggest that participation in these promotes social connectedness and, for better or worse, creates highly bonded groups. He seems to have made a special study of Thaipusam, a Hindu Festival in which the most committed devotees pierce their bodies (including their faces and tongues) with numerous sharp skewers; and of the Anastenaria, a small sect in his native Greece who engage in fire walking preceded by days of exhausting dancing. A feature of extreme rituals is that the people with the lowest socio-economic status often engage in the most extreme behaviours. Doing so allows socially marginalised people to gain respect and status. The author argues that social rituals promote the mental wellbeing of participants.
The restrictions on funerals during the COVID pandemic illustrated the continued importance of ritual in marking the major transitions in people’s lives. Many people were deeply affected through being unable to conduct proper funerals for family members, and it is remarkable how quickly variations to the traditional services developed.
It’s nevertheless true that traditional ritual has been in decline in western society, and the author links this to how the vast majority of its people live in comfort, far removed from the existential struggles most people have historically had to deal with. He comments that new rituals are being invented, but it remains to be seen whether these will stand the test of time.
There was much of interest in this book, but whilst the author provided extensive evidence for his conclusions, I couldn’t help feeling that much of it confirmed things I already intuitively felt. Perhaps the book’s main merit was in how clearly the author articulated those intuitive feelings. Despite the high quality of scholarship, my personal enjoyment of the book was between a 3 and a 4-star rating. I’ve gone for the more generous option.
July 28, 2023
najlepsza książka z serii „zrozum”, jaką do tej pory czytałem. idealnie mądra i wciągająca. bardzo przyjemny styl.
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April 22, 2024"I started my journey with ritual as a sceptic. To me, the human obsession with ceremony seemed puzzling. I was not alone in that view. For a long time, ritual had barely been the subject of scientific scrutiny, because scientists either rejected its utility out of hand or considered its inner workings to be a mystery. Now, for the first time, an interdisciplinary science of ritual allows us to appreciate that behaviours that seemed wasteful may be both meaningful and beneficial."
Rituals. They are characterised by their rigidity: the procedure has to be followed faithfully and scrupulously. By their repetition: do it once, it aint no ritual. And by their redundancy: the behaviour will always go beyond any purported aim and include actions that have no apparent purpose. In fact that is almost a definition of ritual: it is causally opaque. We brush our teeth before going to bed - that is a habit, because its goal lies in its function. Waving a symbolic brush in the air would not keep our teeth clean. Er, no.
So why on earth do we all engage in ritualised behaviours, what is the point? Dimitris Xygalatis is a convert at the end of his book, and I am too. It is informative, engaging and fascinating: so good that I took copious notes. I always enjoy the kind of science book where I can admire the ingenuity of the scientist in finding a way of testing something very complex in a controlled way, and also for the serendipity of some experiments that set people thinking. My favourite example:
A group of scientists at the University of St Andrews compared imitative behaviour in children and young chimpanzees. They built a puzzle box that released a gummy bear when solved - a reward that both children and chimps coveted. The researchers demonstrated the solution, which involved four steps: 1) opening a bolt to reveal a hole at the top of the box; 2)inserting a stick into the hole and tapping it three times; 3) sliding a door at the front of the box to reveal a second hole; and 4) using a metal rod to pull the treat out of the hole. Then they offered the box to the participants.
In half of the cases the puzzle box was opaque, so participants could not see exactly how each action affected the outcome. In this case, both chimps and children copied the actions precisely and got the reward. The other half of the participants saw exactly the same demonstration, except that the box was now made of transparent acrylic glass. This revealed that the first two steps in the process were in fact irrelevant to the goal: the top of the box had a false ceiling and therefore inserting the stick through the top hole had no impact on the subsequent steps. When they realised this, the shrewd chimps cut to the chase. They skipped the unnecessary actions and jumped to the final steps, which was all that was needed to get to the treat. When it comes to food there is no room for etiquette. The children, by contrast, still copied the whole sequence faithfully, including the steps that were irrelevant to the end goal. Other studies found that even when children are specifically told to copy only the actions that are relevant to the task, they still imitate the entire procedure faithfully, including the non-functional actions.
So it appears that apes do not mindlessly ape, but that human children do.
We are the ritual species.
Rituals. They are characterised by their rigidity: the procedure has to be followed faithfully and scrupulously. By their repetition: do it once, it aint no ritual. And by their redundancy: the behaviour will always go beyond any purported aim and include actions that have no apparent purpose. In fact that is almost a definition of ritual: it is causally opaque. We brush our teeth before going to bed - that is a habit, because its goal lies in its function. Waving a symbolic brush in the air would not keep our teeth clean. Er, no.
So why on earth do we all engage in ritualised behaviours, what is the point? Dimitris Xygalatis is a convert at the end of his book, and I am too. It is informative, engaging and fascinating: so good that I took copious notes. I always enjoy the kind of science book where I can admire the ingenuity of the scientist in finding a way of testing something very complex in a controlled way, and also for the serendipity of some experiments that set people thinking. My favourite example:
A group of scientists at the University of St Andrews compared imitative behaviour in children and young chimpanzees. They built a puzzle box that released a gummy bear when solved - a reward that both children and chimps coveted. The researchers demonstrated the solution, which involved four steps: 1) opening a bolt to reveal a hole at the top of the box; 2)inserting a stick into the hole and tapping it three times; 3) sliding a door at the front of the box to reveal a second hole; and 4) using a metal rod to pull the treat out of the hole. Then they offered the box to the participants.
In half of the cases the puzzle box was opaque, so participants could not see exactly how each action affected the outcome. In this case, both chimps and children copied the actions precisely and got the reward. The other half of the participants saw exactly the same demonstration, except that the box was now made of transparent acrylic glass. This revealed that the first two steps in the process were in fact irrelevant to the goal: the top of the box had a false ceiling and therefore inserting the stick through the top hole had no impact on the subsequent steps. When they realised this, the shrewd chimps cut to the chase. They skipped the unnecessary actions and jumped to the final steps, which was all that was needed to get to the treat. When it comes to food there is no room for etiquette. The children, by contrast, still copied the whole sequence faithfully, including the steps that were irrelevant to the end goal. Other studies found that even when children are specifically told to copy only the actions that are relevant to the task, they still imitate the entire procedure faithfully, including the non-functional actions.
So it appears that apes do not mindlessly ape, but that human children do.
We are the ritual species.
March 18, 2025
Um livro curioso e uma abordagem “macro” pelos meandros do comportamento humano.
Repleto de informação e amplamente documentado, Dimitris Xygalatas é sem dúvida no mundo da antropologia um profundo conhecedor do tema.
Dois pontos fortes parecem-me dignos de nota. O primeiro é a interpretação que o autor faz do investimento e retorno social. Aquilo que alguns seria inútil e mesmo sem sentido, como o investir em artigos de luxo e inúteis, é na perspectiva do autor um investimento compreensível. O segundo aspecto prende-se com o que podemos chamar de procedimentos ritualizados. Nunca tinha observado o comportamento humano nesta perspectiva e parece-me que o autor está absolutamente correto em muitas das observações que faz.
O aspecto menos positivo do texto relaciona-se com a abordagem dos rituais pelo lado da biologia. Uma abordagem demasiado pobre quando comparada com a perspectiva macro.
Ainda nesta perspectiva teria sido interessante ter-se debruçado sobre o comportamento obsessivo e tentar verificar se os mecanismos biológicos destes não são os mesmo que encontramos nos rituais e não têm nestes a sua expressão macro. Teria sido interessante perceber de que forma os comportamentos ritmados e compassados como o prazer da música não são em última instância um ritual entre “”.
Repleto de informação e amplamente documentado, Dimitris Xygalatas é sem dúvida no mundo da antropologia um profundo conhecedor do tema.
Dois pontos fortes parecem-me dignos de nota. O primeiro é a interpretação que o autor faz do investimento e retorno social. Aquilo que alguns seria inútil e mesmo sem sentido, como o investir em artigos de luxo e inúteis, é na perspectiva do autor um investimento compreensível. O segundo aspecto prende-se com o que podemos chamar de procedimentos ritualizados. Nunca tinha observado o comportamento humano nesta perspectiva e parece-me que o autor está absolutamente correto em muitas das observações que faz.
O aspecto menos positivo do texto relaciona-se com a abordagem dos rituais pelo lado da biologia. Uma abordagem demasiado pobre quando comparada com a perspectiva macro.
Ainda nesta perspectiva teria sido interessante ter-se debruçado sobre o comportamento obsessivo e tentar verificar se os mecanismos biológicos destes não são os mesmo que encontramos nos rituais e não têm nestes a sua expressão macro. Teria sido interessante perceber de que forma os comportamentos ritmados e compassados como o prazer da música não são em última instância um ritual entre “”.
October 17, 2022
"Without a single exception, all known human societies – whether past or present – have a range of traditions that involve highly choreographed, formalised and precisely executed behaviours that mark threshold moments in people’s lives..."
Ritual was an eye-opening look into the ubiquitous human habit of personal and social rituals. I enjoyed the writing here.
Author Dimitris Xygalatas is an anthropologist and cognitive scientist who runs the Experimental Anthropology Lab at the University of Connecticut. He has published over 100 articles across various disciplines, and has been interviewed about his groundbreaking work by the New York Times,The Guardian, PBS, the History Channel, National Geographic, and numerous other outlets.
Dimitris Xygalatas:
The book opens with a decent intro. Xygalatas mentions a few masochistic religious rituals, including snake handlers in the American south, the Shia Islamic Ashura ritual, Ramadan, and a few others.
He has a decent writing style, and this one shouldn't have trouble holding the reader's attention.
Xygalatas continues the quote above:
He continues on:
As stated at the start of this review, the human habit of ritualization is endemic to all cultures and peoples of the world. Xygalatas says that there has never been a group of people whose culture did not include some (or many) forms of elaborate ritualization.
But not all features of life across different societies are subjected to ritualization. Interestingly, Xygalatas says:
Some more of what is covered here by the author includes:
• Rituals in the animal kingdom
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Ubiquitous human rituals; deaths, births, marriages
• "Immutable essences"
• Tribalism; group membership. "phenotypic matching"
• Episodic vs semantic memories
• Abraham Maslow; his "Hierarchy of Needs"
• Firewalking
• Oxytocin; the hormone's role in rituals.
• Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's "flow" state
• The bullet ant ritual among the young men of Satere-Mawe tribe in Brazil
• Sexual selection; costly or "honest" signaling
• Conspicuous consumption, debutante balls, "Sweet 16" parties
• Initiation rituals of criminal enterprises. Military training programs with high attrition and death rates; SEAL BUD/s training
• The placebo effect
• The brain's dopamine pathways
• The nocebo effect; "Voodoo death"
• The impact of COVID 19
• The Burning Man festival
**********************
I enjoyed Ritual. The author did a good job putting this one together. If I had to find fault with the book, I would say that some of the writing dragged on a bit longer than it could have, leaving some parts of the book a bit dry and flat...
I would still recommend it to anyone interested in social psychology.
4 stars.
Ritual was an eye-opening look into the ubiquitous human habit of personal and social rituals. I enjoyed the writing here.
Author Dimitris Xygalatas is an anthropologist and cognitive scientist who runs the Experimental Anthropology Lab at the University of Connecticut. He has published over 100 articles across various disciplines, and has been interviewed about his groundbreaking work by the New York Times,The Guardian, PBS, the History Channel, National Geographic, and numerous other outlets.
Dimitris Xygalatas:
The book opens with a decent intro. Xygalatas mentions a few masochistic religious rituals, including snake handlers in the American south, the Shia Islamic Ashura ritual, Ramadan, and a few others.
He has a decent writing style, and this one shouldn't have trouble holding the reader's attention.
Xygalatas continues the quote above:
"...These behaviours, which we call rituals, either have no explicit purpose at all, or, even when they do, their stated goals are causally disconnected from the actions undertaken to achieve them. Performing a rain dance does not cause water to fall from the sky; stabbing a voodoo doll cannot harm people at a distance; and the only thing a Tarot card reader can reliably predict is that your wallet will be lighter after your consultation. It is this gap between means and goals that led the professor to infer that because an object which required hard labour to make had no obvious function, it probably served a ritual purpose."
He continues on:
"...Rituals are central to virtually all of our social institutions. Think of a judge waving a gavel or a new president taking an oath of office. They are held by militaries, governments and corporations, in initiation ceremonies, parades and costly displays of commitment. They are used by athletes who always wear the same socks in important games, and by gamblers who kiss the dice or cling on to lucky charms when the stakes are high. And in our everyday life they are practised by each and every one of us when we raise a glass to make a toast, attend a graduation ceremony or take part in a birthday celebration. The need for ritual is primeval, and, as we shall see, may have played a pivotal role in human civilisation."
As stated at the start of this review, the human habit of ritualization is endemic to all cultures and peoples of the world. Xygalatas says that there has never been a group of people whose culture did not include some (or many) forms of elaborate ritualization.
But not all features of life across different societies are subjected to ritualization. Interestingly, Xygalatas says:
"After surveying various other domains of life in the Trobriand Islands, Malinowski began to discern a clear pattern. In general, rituals were largely absent from domains that had predictable outcomes but abundant in areas associated with danger and uncontrollable circumstances such as warfare, illness, love and natural phenomena. They were, for example, indispensable when planting garden vegetables that were vulnerable to diseases or bad weather but unnecessary when tending to hardier plants such as fruit trees. ‘We find magic wherever the elements of chance and accident, and the emotional play between hope and fear, have a wide and extensive range,’ he wrote. ‘We do not find magic wherever the pursuit is certain, reliable, and well under control of rational methods and technological processes.’"
Some more of what is covered here by the author includes:
• Rituals in the animal kingdom
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Ubiquitous human rituals; deaths, births, marriages
• "Immutable essences"
• Tribalism; group membership. "phenotypic matching"
• Episodic vs semantic memories
• Abraham Maslow; his "Hierarchy of Needs"
• Firewalking
• Oxytocin; the hormone's role in rituals.
• Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's "flow" state
• The bullet ant ritual among the young men of Satere-Mawe tribe in Brazil
• Sexual selection; costly or "honest" signaling
• Conspicuous consumption, debutante balls, "Sweet 16" parties
• Initiation rituals of criminal enterprises. Military training programs with high attrition and death rates; SEAL BUD/s training
• The placebo effect
• The brain's dopamine pathways
• The nocebo effect; "Voodoo death"
• The impact of COVID 19
• The Burning Man festival
**********************
I enjoyed Ritual. The author did a good job putting this one together. If I had to find fault with the book, I would say that some of the writing dragged on a bit longer than it could have, leaving some parts of the book a bit dry and flat...
I would still recommend it to anyone interested in social psychology.
4 stars.
August 18, 2023
Reading the book was such a delight. As an atheist, I'm in love with the human ability to believe.
Simply beautiful. Human beings have always tried to make sense our of everything, not just about their surroundings, but also about the nature of their existence. We crave meaning, and we also crave order; we have always known that life was umpredictable, and we have to remember that life in ancient times was way more difficult than it is today. In modern times we do not only have antibiotics, science, and vaccines, we have a lot to explain: we can explain childbirth, and was lies beyond the starry skies; we can explain why we die, and why we believe. This science, that is a part of cognitive science of religion, is called cognitive anthropology, and "ritual" is a part of it.
I did not know that our society started their own rituals during the Covid pandemic, simply had no idea. But something that I felt, was that zoom meetings were not at all something natural, something that we were sort of "dying to do", we really wanted to feel each other, and that is no surprise: for millions of years contact was the rule, a webcam is something that we feel as unnatural. Rituals are part of our life, even if we are atheists, even if we mention that we hate god, or that we mock religious people; ritual is a human endeavour.
Another thing that I had no idea, was that some universities hold ceremonies (aka rituals) for the families of the people that donated their bodies to science. That's amazing. Really had no idea. But it is also not surprising: imagine watching a video of the "Institute of human anatomy" of someone holding your deceased mother's lungs, or heart. How would you feel? Human beings guard kin's bodies, even after they are no longer alive. What a thought!
Really, really recommended. There is a lot of extreme rituals and results from many studies that concern emotion, pain, cohesion at both the individual and communal level.
Simply beautiful. Human beings have always tried to make sense our of everything, not just about their surroundings, but also about the nature of their existence. We crave meaning, and we also crave order; we have always known that life was umpredictable, and we have to remember that life in ancient times was way more difficult than it is today. In modern times we do not only have antibiotics, science, and vaccines, we have a lot to explain: we can explain childbirth, and was lies beyond the starry skies; we can explain why we die, and why we believe. This science, that is a part of cognitive science of religion, is called cognitive anthropology, and "ritual" is a part of it.
I did not know that our society started their own rituals during the Covid pandemic, simply had no idea. But something that I felt, was that zoom meetings were not at all something natural, something that we were sort of "dying to do", we really wanted to feel each other, and that is no surprise: for millions of years contact was the rule, a webcam is something that we feel as unnatural. Rituals are part of our life, even if we are atheists, even if we mention that we hate god, or that we mock religious people; ritual is a human endeavour.
Another thing that I had no idea, was that some universities hold ceremonies (aka rituals) for the families of the people that donated their bodies to science. That's amazing. Really had no idea. But it is also not surprising: imagine watching a video of the "Institute of human anatomy" of someone holding your deceased mother's lungs, or heart. How would you feel? Human beings guard kin's bodies, even after they are no longer alive. What a thought!
Really, really recommended. There is a lot of extreme rituals and results from many studies that concern emotion, pain, cohesion at both the individual and communal level.
March 3, 2023
Dimitris Xygalatas: These seemingly meaningless rituals from all over the world actually have a measurable physiological effect and it's often positive!
Me who was raised Catholic: Nah it's still meaningless.
Me who was raised Catholic: Nah it's still meaningless.
January 3, 2023
الطقوس
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في الشرق الأوسط ، يجلد المسلمون الشيعة أجسادهم حتى تدمى ، حدادًا على استشهاد الإمام الحسين. في الفلبين ، يدق الكاثوليك المسامير في راحة أيديهم وأرجلهم تخليداً لذكرى معاناة يسوع المسيح. في تايلاند ، يحتفل التاويون بمهرجان الآلهة التسعة تكريمًا للآلهة الصينية من خلال إراقة الدماء وتطويق أجسادهم بأي شيء من السكاكين والأسياخ إلى القرون والأشواك . في أمريكا الوسطى ، أجرى المايا مراسم إراقة الدماء حيث قام الرجال بثقب قضبانهم بأشواك الراي اللاسعة. وفي ولايات الأبلاش الجنوبية بالولايات المتحدة اليوم ، ترقص مجموعات من الخمسينيين بنشوة في كنائسهم بينما يتعاملون مع الثعابين القاتلة. تتدلى من ذيولها ، وهي حرة لتلدغ في أي وقت - وغالبًا ما تفعل ذلك. كان هناك أكثر من مائة حالة وفاة موثقة بين المتعاملين مع الثعابين. ولكن نظرًا لأن هذه الممارسات غالبًا ما تكون سرية ، فقد تكون الأرقام الحقيقية أعلى من ذلك بكثير. وفقًا لعالم النفس الاجتماعي رالف هود ، الذي درس هذه المجتمعات ، "إذا ذهبت إلى أي كنيسة تتعامل مع الثعابين ، فسترى أشخاصًا بأيدٍ ضامرة وأصابع مفقودة. لقد عانت جميع العائلات التي تتعامل مع الثعابين من مثل هذه الأشياء.
في أجزاء أخرى من العالم ، ينخرط الناس في طقوس أقل إيلامًا ولكنها ليست أقل تكلفة. يقضي الرهبان التبتيون عقودًا في محاولة لإتقان ممارساتهم التأملية ، وإبعاد أنفسهم عن العالم من أجل حياة من التأمل الصامت. يحرم المسلمون في جميع أنحاء العالم أنفسهم من الطعام والماء من الفجر حتى الغسق خلال شهر رمضان .يمكن أن تستمر مراسم الزفاف الهندية أسبوعًا كاملاً ، حيث تستغرق الاستعدادات عدة أشهر ، ومئات أو حتى آلاف الضيوف مدعوون. يمكن أن تكون التكاليف معيقة بالنسبة للأسرة العادية. وفقًا لتقديرات مؤسسة القرية التقدمية ومعهد الرعاية الاجتماعية (منظمة غير حكومية محلية) ، يلجأ أكثر من 60 % من جميع الأسر الهندية إلى مقرضي الأموال لتمويل حفلات زفاف أطفالهم ، غالبًا بمعدلات ابتزازية. غالبًا ما يُجبر أولئك الذين ليس لديهم وسيلة أخرى لضمان هذه القروض على العبودية لسداد ديونهم.
حتى الآن لم أذكر سوى الاحتفالات الدينية. ومع ذلك ، تعتبر الطقوس أساسية لجميع مؤسساتنا الاجتماعية تقريبًا. فكر في قاضي يلوح بمطرقة أو رئيس جديد يؤدي القسم ، الجيوش والحكومات والشركات ، في احتفالات البدء ، والاستعراضات ، وعروض الالتزام المكلفة. يتم استخدام الطقوس أيضاً من قبل الرياضيين الذين يرتدون دائمًا نفس الجوارب في الألعاب المهمة ، ومن قبل المقامرين الذين يرمون النرد أو يتشبثون بسحر ��لحظ عندما تكون المخاطر كبيرة. وفي حياتنا اليومية يمارسها كل واحد منا عندما نرفع كأسًا لعمل نخب ، أو نحضر حفل تخرج أو نشارك في احتفال عيد ميلاد. الحاجة إلى الطقوس بدائية ، وربما لعبت دورًا محوريًا في الحضارة الإنسانية.
ولكن ما الذي يدفعنا جميعًا للانخراط في هذه السلوكيات التي لها تكاليف ملموسة دون أي فوائد واضحة مباشرة؟ ولماذا تعتبر هذه الأنشطة غالبًا ذات مغزى عميق ، حتى لو كان الغرض منها غامضًا في كثير من الأحيان؟
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Dimitris Xygalatas
Ritual
Translated By #Maher_Razouk
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في الشرق الأوسط ، يجلد المسلمون الشيعة أجسادهم حتى تدمى ، حدادًا على استشهاد الإمام الحسين. في الفلبين ، يدق الكاثوليك المسامير في راحة أيديهم وأرجلهم تخليداً لذكرى معاناة يسوع المسيح. في تايلاند ، يحتفل التاويون بمهرجان الآلهة التسعة تكريمًا للآلهة الصينية من خلال إراقة الدماء وتطويق أجسادهم بأي شيء من السكاكين والأسياخ إلى القرون والأشواك . في أمريكا الوسطى ، أجرى المايا مراسم إراقة الدماء حيث قام الرجال بثقب قضبانهم بأشواك الراي اللاسعة. وفي ولايات الأبلاش الجنوبية بالولايات المتحدة اليوم ، ترقص مجموعات من الخمسينيين بنشوة في كنائسهم بينما يتعاملون مع الثعابين القاتلة. تتدلى من ذيولها ، وهي حرة لتلدغ في أي وقت - وغالبًا ما تفعل ذلك. كان هناك أكثر من مائة حالة وفاة موثقة بين المتعاملين مع الثعابين. ولكن نظرًا لأن هذه الممارسات غالبًا ما تكون سرية ، فقد تكون الأرقام الحقيقية أعلى من ذلك بكثير. وفقًا لعالم النفس الاجتماعي رالف هود ، الذي درس هذه المجتمعات ، "إذا ذهبت إلى أي كنيسة تتعامل مع الثعابين ، فسترى أشخاصًا بأيدٍ ضامرة وأصابع مفقودة. لقد عانت جميع العائلات التي تتعامل مع الثعابين من مثل هذه الأشياء.
في أجزاء أخرى من العالم ، ينخرط الناس في طقوس أقل إيلامًا ولكنها ليست أقل تكلفة. يقضي الرهبان التبتيون عقودًا في محاولة لإتقان ممارساتهم التأملية ، وإبعاد أنفسهم عن العالم من أجل حياة من التأمل الصامت. يحرم المسلمون في جميع أنحاء العالم أنفسهم من الطعام والماء من الفجر حتى الغسق خلال شهر رمضان .يمكن أن تستمر مراسم الزفاف الهندية أسبوعًا كاملاً ، حيث تستغرق الاستعدادات عدة أشهر ، ومئات أو حتى آلاف الضيوف مدعوون. يمكن أن تكون التكاليف معيقة بالنسبة للأسرة العادية. وفقًا لتقديرات مؤسسة القرية التقدمية ومعهد الرعاية الاجتماعية (منظمة غير حكومية محلية) ، يلجأ أكثر من 60 % من جميع الأسر الهندية إلى مقرضي الأموال لتمويل حفلات زفاف أطفالهم ، غالبًا بمعدلات ابتزازية. غالبًا ما يُجبر أولئك الذين ليس لديهم وسيلة أخرى لضمان هذه القروض على العبودية لسداد ديونهم.
حتى الآن لم أذكر سوى الاحتفالات الدينية. ومع ذلك ، تعتبر الطقوس أساسية لجميع مؤسساتنا الاجتماعية تقريبًا. فكر في قاضي يلوح بمطرقة أو رئيس جديد يؤدي القسم ، الجيوش والحكومات والشركات ، في احتفالات البدء ، والاستعراضات ، وعروض الالتزام المكلفة. يتم استخدام الطقوس أيضاً من قبل الرياضيين الذين يرتدون دائمًا نفس الجوارب في الألعاب المهمة ، ومن قبل المقامرين الذين يرمون النرد أو يتشبثون بسحر ��لحظ عندما تكون المخاطر كبيرة. وفي حياتنا اليومية يمارسها كل واحد منا عندما نرفع كأسًا لعمل نخب ، أو نحضر حفل تخرج أو نشارك في احتفال عيد ميلاد. الحاجة إلى الطقوس بدائية ، وربما لعبت دورًا محوريًا في الحضارة الإنسانية.
ولكن ما الذي يدفعنا جميعًا للانخراط في هذه السلوكيات التي لها تكاليف ملموسة دون أي فوائد واضحة مباشرة؟ ولماذا تعتبر هذه الأنشطة غالبًا ذات مغزى عميق ، حتى لو كان الغرض منها غامضًا في كثير من الأحيان؟
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Dimitris Xygalatas
Ritual
Translated By #Maher_Razouk
March 3, 2023
A+ for accessible writing while still saying something. I appreciated all the citations/examples to back up his points. Sometimes it was too many …. *cough* last chapter *cough* I also appreciated how relatively well organized and structured this was.
Most of what he talks about I think we intuit. He just provides evidence for those intuitions. I was surprised that silly rituals that athletes use actually work! Just in a different way.
One of the major issues I have with the book is that he really doesn’t touch on the cons, the dangers. He mentions how connected ritual makes us with others of our group, and I kept expecting him to address the negatives of that, but it never happened. At one point he nods to Nazi rituals as bad, but that’s it. It really deserves its own chapter or something.
Most of what he talks about I think we intuit. He just provides evidence for those intuitions. I was surprised that silly rituals that athletes use actually work! Just in a different way.
One of the major issues I have with the book is that he really doesn’t touch on the cons, the dangers. He mentions how connected ritual makes us with others of our group, and I kept expecting him to address the negatives of that, but it never happened. At one point he nods to Nazi rituals as bad, but that’s it. It really deserves its own chapter or something.
Read
November 28, 2022Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas dives into the value and meaning of rituals. The book is full of thorough research and fascinating insight, revealing how and why ritualistic behavior can have such a powerful effect.
December 26, 2024
Spodziewałem się przykładów "powszechnych" rytuałów, aby na ich podstawie wyjaśnić znaczenie rytuału, ale otrzymałem ekstremalne wersje, które o wiele lepiej ukazują role, funkcje oraz znaczenie rytuałów, jako procesów dla jednostki i społeczeństwa.
Książka jest połączeniem antropologii i kognitywistyki, więc obejmuje szerokie spectrum zagadnienia, w znaczym przypadku je wyczerpując lub wyjaśniając, choć mocno odczułem nacisk biologii i ewolucji w postrzeganiu rytuału u autora.
Książka jest połączeniem antropologii i kognitywistyki, więc obejmuje szerokie spectrum zagadnienia, w znaczym przypadku je wyczerpując lub wyjaśniając, choć mocno odczułem nacisk biologii i ewolucji w postrzeganiu rytuału u autora.
December 24, 2023
Um livro muito interessante que nos transporta para o mundo dos rituais e para a sua importância na sobrevivência da espécie humana.
October 2, 2023
Review originally published 2 October 2023 at Falling Letters.
I’m not sure how this book came on my radar, as I added it to my TBR back in July 2022. I picked it up the other month hoping for something that would hone in on a topic that is touched upon throughout Joyful: that personal rituals can bring us joy. Ritual is actually about the social rather than personal implications of completing rituals. But the social value of ritual is, of course, still a valid and fascinating topic to read about!
Ritual focuses primarily on religious rituals, as they are the most commonly studied type of rituals. And you know religious rituals intrigue me, even though I don’t frequently engage in many myself. Author Dimitris Xygalatas’ background in anthropology and cognitive science allows him to provide great insight into the reasons why we engage in ritual. He doesn’t fall into the trap of focusing too much on himself. He does a good job at incorporating and balancing his own experiences studying religious rituals (in particular, fire walking in northern Greece) with other areas of study.
The Bottom Line 💭 Ritual lives up to its subtitle with a fascinating exploration of religious rituals and “how seemingly senseless acts make life worth living”. While I went in hoping for a more personal exploration of ritual, this book shows how socially signficiant the effects of ritual can be.
I’m not sure how this book came on my radar, as I added it to my TBR back in July 2022. I picked it up the other month hoping for something that would hone in on a topic that is touched upon throughout Joyful: that personal rituals can bring us joy. Ritual is actually about the social rather than personal implications of completing rituals. But the social value of ritual is, of course, still a valid and fascinating topic to read about!
Ritual focuses primarily on religious rituals, as they are the most commonly studied type of rituals. And you know religious rituals intrigue me, even though I don’t frequently engage in many myself. Author Dimitris Xygalatas’ background in anthropology and cognitive science allows him to provide great insight into the reasons why we engage in ritual. He doesn’t fall into the trap of focusing too much on himself. He does a good job at incorporating and balancing his own experiences studying religious rituals (in particular, fire walking in northern Greece) with other areas of study.
In my attempt to resolve the ritual paradox I embarked on a two-decade journey to study some of the world’s most extreme rituals, as well as many commonplace ones. […] Rather than taking practitioners out of context by placing them in a laboratory, I often decided to bring the laboratory into context by moving it into the field. […] Biometric sensors and hormonal sampling allowed me to explore the neuro-physiological effects of various rituals; behavioural measurements helped me study how these bodily processes affect the way people interact with one another; psychometric tests and surveys revealed some of the motivations behind ritual practices; and participant observation provided insights into how people experience these pracices and how they find meaning in them. (pg 16-17)It seems to me you can divide non-fiction books into two broad categories: the author became interested in a subject and decided to write a book exploring their learning process, or the author is already involved in the subject and decides to write a book about what they know. Both books could cover similar topics, but you’d end up with two distinct narrative approaches. It feels like it’s been some time since I read a book that falls into the later category (i.e. the author is already a subject matter expert), so I found this to be a refreshing read in that way.
[R]itual allows [highly intelligent organisms] to deal with some of the challenges that come with havin ga complex psychology, such as mating and pair-bonding, coping with loss and anxiety, and achieving cooperation and social organisation.(pg. 27)The first chapter, The Ritual Species, documents ritual behaviour in animals and humans. This chapter alone was already an eye opener for me: Humans engage in ritual because we can, because we have the ability, the capacity, to choose to do something ‘meaningless’. We can afford to engage in ritual. The look at Göbekli Tepe (a religious archaeologic site built about 12,000 years ago) was particularly compelling to me. I couldn’t believe that was the first I’d heard of it!
Across various areas in which our evolved mechanisms are somewhat ill fitted to the challenges of life, rituals serve as mental tools that help us to overcome those challenges by bpassing or recalibrating thoe mechanisms. (pg 49)While reading, I kept the Shikoku Henro in mind throughout. That is a substantial religious ritual (worshipping at 88 Buddhist temples around the Japanese island of Shikoku) which I have participated in myself (and am preparingto get back to in two or three years 👀). For myself, that ritual was undertaken primarily as a cultural pursuit, bolstered by my interest in religious studies. But I still enjoyed participating in many of the religious elements, such as burning incense and chanting the Heart Sutra. I am starting to brush up on my Japanese so I can better engage with folks next time. If there’s one key takeaway from this book, it’s that rituals are a key way that we connect with one another.
By using symbolic markers of group membership, evoking notions of continuity, coordinating ideas and actions and creating meaningful experiences, rituals generate feels of unity that can transform individauls into communities. (pg. 110)Lastly, there is one chapter in Ritual that directly mirrors a chapter in Joyful: “Effervescence”. I loved Xygalatas’ description of his experience at a huge football game he attended as a child, and the experiences of ‘collective effervescence’. There is a unique power in congregating. That is why I enjoy being in a crowd filled with positive energy, even if I don’t engage with anyone directly.
The Bottom Line 💭 Ritual lives up to its subtitle with a fascinating exploration of religious rituals and “how seemingly senseless acts make life worth living”. While I went in hoping for a more personal exploration of ritual, this book shows how socially signficiant the effects of ritual can be.
July 17, 2023
Bardzo przyjemnie napisana książka o rytuałach i obrzędach - interesująca w wymowie, podparta licznymi badaniami naukowymi i ciekawymi przykładami pokazującymi, że rytuały są wszędzie wokół nas.
September 13, 2022
Great book, highly entertaining and informative!
December 10, 2022
3.5 stars. Overall, makes you think about humans and our connections to ritual differently, or at least more closely. But I feel like this book spent too much time on some topics (Burning Man, fire walking rituals) and not enough time on others (marriage, work rituals). Still, an interesting read.
February 21, 2025
Rituals play an essential role in human life, whether they are private, everyday habits or grand, communal traditions that require intense commitment. Dimitris Xygalatas explores the significance of rituals and their deep psychological and social impact in his book "Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living." He argues that rituals, regardless of their perceived practicality, offer individuals and communities a sense of structure, identity, and emotional connection.
Rituals vary widely in form and intensity, from personal routines like tapping a pen before a meeting to more extreme acts like firewalking or body piercings performed in religious ceremonies. Despite their diversity, rituals share a common purpose: they help people navigate uncertainty, foster unity, and provide meaning. When people engage in these actions, they often feel a stronger sense of belonging and purpose, which enhances their emotional well-being and strengthens their bonds with others.
The book delves into how rituals contribute to identity formation. An example is the annual firewalking tradition in a Spanish village, where participants walk barefoot across burning embers while carrying another person on their back. This event is not just a daring spectacle; it represents the village’s heritage and binds its residents together. Those who partake in it see it as an affirmation of who they are as a community. This sense of collective identity is present in rituals worldwide, whether in religious observances, cultural festivals, or even secular group activities like sports chants.
Anthropologists refer to the shared emotional experience of rituals as "collective effervescence," a phenomenon where individuals feel deeply connected to those around them. This sensation is evident in various social settings, such as cheering for a favorite sports team or dancing at a concert. Rituals foster this unity by dissolving the boundaries between individuals, reinforcing the idea that people are part of something greater than themselves. Even intense and painful rituals serve this purpose, as the hardships endured create stronger bonds within a group. Scientific research supports this notion, revealing that synchronized movements, like clapping or marching together, enhance feelings of togetherness and social cohesion.
Beyond fostering unity, rituals can also influence behavior in unexpected ways. Xygalatas examines the Kavadi ritual in Mauritius, a physically demanding Hindu ceremony where devotees carry heavy bamboo structures and pierce their bodies to honor the deity Murugan. Studies indicate that those who endure significant pain during this ritual display increased generosity afterward, donating three times as much to charity as those who participated in less strenuous activities. Even spectators who merely observed the ritual became more generous. This suggests that extreme rituals do not only test endurance but also cultivate prosocial behaviors. Shared suffering fosters empathy, reminding individuals of their interconnectedness and responsibilities to one another.
Science helps explain the transformative power of rituals. Studies of firewalking rituals in Spain found that the heart rates of participants and spectators synchronized during the event, demonstrating a physiological connection. These shared emotional highs and challenges strengthen social bonds, making rituals effective tools for fostering trust and cooperation within groups.
Rituals are not only about creating connections; they also have profound psychological benefits. For example, in Mauritius, some rituals involve walking across knife edges or burning coals, acts that would seemingly cause distress. Yet, participants frequently report a sense of euphoria afterward. This can be attributed to the body’s natural response to extreme physical exertion, which releases endorphins—chemicals that reduce pain and enhance well-being. Much like the runner’s high experienced by marathoners, this biological mechanism helps explain why participants in physically demanding rituals often describe a deep sense of joy.
Research has tracked the longer-term effects of these rituals by monitoring participants' physiological markers such as stress levels, sleep quality, and heart rate variability. Results show that while stress spikes dramatically on the day of the ritual, it decreases significantly in the following days, leaving individuals in a more relaxed and resilient state. The intensity of the experience also correlates with greater benefits—those who endured the most physical hardship reported the highest improvements in emotional well-being.
Another crucial aspect of rituals is their role in stress reduction and performance enhancement, even in less extreme contexts. Everyday rituals, such as pre-game routines among athletes or superstitions among gamblers, provide a psychological advantage by fostering a sense of control in unpredictable situations. Historical observations support this idea. The anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski noted that fishermen in the Trobriand Islands performed elaborate rituals before venturing into dangerous open waters but skipped them when fishing in calm lagoons. This suggests that rituals serve as a coping mechanism during times of uncertainty.
Modern research confirms this by demonstrating that rituals reduce anxiety. In experiments where participants had to perform stress-inducing tasks, those who engaged in a simple ritual beforehand experienced lower heart rates and increased confidence. Rituals work by instilling predictability, helping individuals feel prepared and in control. Athletes who consistently perform pre-game rituals tend to achieve better results, not because the actions have inherent power, but because they create a focused and composed mental state.
Rituals, however, are not inherently good or bad. Their influence depends on how they are used. Xygalatas acknowledges that while rituals can foster unity and generosity, they can also reinforce exclusivity and division. Nationalistic rituals, initiation rites, and competitive traditions can strengthen in-group bonds while simultaneously alienating outsiders. The psychological power of rituals can be harnessed for either prosocial or antisocial purposes, amplifying tendencies toward cooperation or conflict.
An experiment illustrating this concept involved participants playing video games that primed them with either prosocial or aggressive cues. Following the game, they engaged in physically stimulating activities. Those exposed to positive messages displayed more compassion and helpfulness, whereas those exposed to negative stimuli became less inclined to assist others. This suggests that heightened emotional states triggered by rituals can magnify preexisting attitudes, making them a potent tool for shaping behavior, for better or worse.
Despite their potential for division, rituals remain a fundamental part of human experience. From religious ceremonies and military traditions to corporate team-building exercises and family customs, rituals help create a sense of identity, continuity, and belonging. They offer stability in chaotic times, provide comfort in moments of uncertainty, and remind individuals that they are part of a greater whole.
Even the most mundane rituals have profound effects. Simple acts such as a morning routine, raising a glass in a toast, or singing a song before a game can bring reassurance and structure to daily life. Rituals shape our emotions, relationships, and overall perception of the world. By understanding their function, we gain insight into one of the most deeply ingrained aspects of human behavior.
Xygalatas’ exploration of rituals ultimately highlights their extraordinary influence on individuals and societies. Rituals provide a psychological anchor, allowing people to navigate challenges with confidence and resilience. Whether in grand religious ceremonies or personal daily habits, they reinforce connections, inspire generosity, and help define human identity. In recognizing the power of rituals, we gain a greater appreciation for their role in shaping our lives and the societies we inhabit.
Rituals vary widely in form and intensity, from personal routines like tapping a pen before a meeting to more extreme acts like firewalking or body piercings performed in religious ceremonies. Despite their diversity, rituals share a common purpose: they help people navigate uncertainty, foster unity, and provide meaning. When people engage in these actions, they often feel a stronger sense of belonging and purpose, which enhances their emotional well-being and strengthens their bonds with others.
The book delves into how rituals contribute to identity formation. An example is the annual firewalking tradition in a Spanish village, where participants walk barefoot across burning embers while carrying another person on their back. This event is not just a daring spectacle; it represents the village’s heritage and binds its residents together. Those who partake in it see it as an affirmation of who they are as a community. This sense of collective identity is present in rituals worldwide, whether in religious observances, cultural festivals, or even secular group activities like sports chants.
Anthropologists refer to the shared emotional experience of rituals as "collective effervescence," a phenomenon where individuals feel deeply connected to those around them. This sensation is evident in various social settings, such as cheering for a favorite sports team or dancing at a concert. Rituals foster this unity by dissolving the boundaries between individuals, reinforcing the idea that people are part of something greater than themselves. Even intense and painful rituals serve this purpose, as the hardships endured create stronger bonds within a group. Scientific research supports this notion, revealing that synchronized movements, like clapping or marching together, enhance feelings of togetherness and social cohesion.
Beyond fostering unity, rituals can also influence behavior in unexpected ways. Xygalatas examines the Kavadi ritual in Mauritius, a physically demanding Hindu ceremony where devotees carry heavy bamboo structures and pierce their bodies to honor the deity Murugan. Studies indicate that those who endure significant pain during this ritual display increased generosity afterward, donating three times as much to charity as those who participated in less strenuous activities. Even spectators who merely observed the ritual became more generous. This suggests that extreme rituals do not only test endurance but also cultivate prosocial behaviors. Shared suffering fosters empathy, reminding individuals of their interconnectedness and responsibilities to one another.
Science helps explain the transformative power of rituals. Studies of firewalking rituals in Spain found that the heart rates of participants and spectators synchronized during the event, demonstrating a physiological connection. These shared emotional highs and challenges strengthen social bonds, making rituals effective tools for fostering trust and cooperation within groups.
Rituals are not only about creating connections; they also have profound psychological benefits. For example, in Mauritius, some rituals involve walking across knife edges or burning coals, acts that would seemingly cause distress. Yet, participants frequently report a sense of euphoria afterward. This can be attributed to the body’s natural response to extreme physical exertion, which releases endorphins—chemicals that reduce pain and enhance well-being. Much like the runner’s high experienced by marathoners, this biological mechanism helps explain why participants in physically demanding rituals often describe a deep sense of joy.
Research has tracked the longer-term effects of these rituals by monitoring participants' physiological markers such as stress levels, sleep quality, and heart rate variability. Results show that while stress spikes dramatically on the day of the ritual, it decreases significantly in the following days, leaving individuals in a more relaxed and resilient state. The intensity of the experience also correlates with greater benefits—those who endured the most physical hardship reported the highest improvements in emotional well-being.
Another crucial aspect of rituals is their role in stress reduction and performance enhancement, even in less extreme contexts. Everyday rituals, such as pre-game routines among athletes or superstitions among gamblers, provide a psychological advantage by fostering a sense of control in unpredictable situations. Historical observations support this idea. The anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski noted that fishermen in the Trobriand Islands performed elaborate rituals before venturing into dangerous open waters but skipped them when fishing in calm lagoons. This suggests that rituals serve as a coping mechanism during times of uncertainty.
Modern research confirms this by demonstrating that rituals reduce anxiety. In experiments where participants had to perform stress-inducing tasks, those who engaged in a simple ritual beforehand experienced lower heart rates and increased confidence. Rituals work by instilling predictability, helping individuals feel prepared and in control. Athletes who consistently perform pre-game rituals tend to achieve better results, not because the actions have inherent power, but because they create a focused and composed mental state.
Rituals, however, are not inherently good or bad. Their influence depends on how they are used. Xygalatas acknowledges that while rituals can foster unity and generosity, they can also reinforce exclusivity and division. Nationalistic rituals, initiation rites, and competitive traditions can strengthen in-group bonds while simultaneously alienating outsiders. The psychological power of rituals can be harnessed for either prosocial or antisocial purposes, amplifying tendencies toward cooperation or conflict.
An experiment illustrating this concept involved participants playing video games that primed them with either prosocial or aggressive cues. Following the game, they engaged in physically stimulating activities. Those exposed to positive messages displayed more compassion and helpfulness, whereas those exposed to negative stimuli became less inclined to assist others. This suggests that heightened emotional states triggered by rituals can magnify preexisting attitudes, making them a potent tool for shaping behavior, for better or worse.
Despite their potential for division, rituals remain a fundamental part of human experience. From religious ceremonies and military traditions to corporate team-building exercises and family customs, rituals help create a sense of identity, continuity, and belonging. They offer stability in chaotic times, provide comfort in moments of uncertainty, and remind individuals that they are part of a greater whole.
Even the most mundane rituals have profound effects. Simple acts such as a morning routine, raising a glass in a toast, or singing a song before a game can bring reassurance and structure to daily life. Rituals shape our emotions, relationships, and overall perception of the world. By understanding their function, we gain insight into one of the most deeply ingrained aspects of human behavior.
Xygalatas’ exploration of rituals ultimately highlights their extraordinary influence on individuals and societies. Rituals provide a psychological anchor, allowing people to navigate challenges with confidence and resilience. Whether in grand religious ceremonies or personal daily habits, they reinforce connections, inspire generosity, and help define human identity. In recognizing the power of rituals, we gain a greater appreciation for their role in shaping our lives and the societies we inhabit.
March 17, 2023
A great, fast and very accessible read on anthropological practices of rituals and an exploration of how they tie into forming critical supportive relationships in our society. The book opens with a critical distinction between habit and ritual, and how the causality-opaque process of ritual is required in order for ritual to function differently than habit. That is, the fact that rituals do contain actions which may be symbolic or mystical, is a requirement for rituals to be able to serve innate human needs on non-obvious causality, and creating a sense of certainty in an uncertain world.
I think the material on how cost of ritual (which can create meaning for the practitioner as well as signal non-obvious traits for participants) and how ritual contributes to well-being could have been compressed into the earlier chapters, as that part felt repetitive. But I also truly appreciated the author's personal anecdote of participating in the Thimithi ritual of a Hindu temple in Mauritius. It was interesting not just to analyze the data but to hear of the author's personal experiences first-hand.
I also found the author's notes on divorce interesting: it's the only major transition in the world without any form of ritual accompanying it, which itself has led to a sense of loss and absence. I think of how many other ways in which we are forced to create meaning when the emotional and community infrastructure to process those feelings don't exist, and how we can create them through ourselves and enact them through longevity.
The discussion around Burning Man and the distinction between the Sacred and the Profane in ritual spaces was also a great revision of how we have adapted ancient ritualistic practices to modern times. Perhaps describing the notes that are finally burned during the last night, I was struck by considering just how many people are going through how much, and that there are so many full lives that we can only, through our transitory relationships and community ties, experience in the sanitized manner of distance/community/protocol.
I think the final takeaway was also about how critical death rituals are to the functioning of our society, and how both ritual as well as concrete practical (causal-transparent) processes contribute to our comprehension of the world, loss and meaning-making. By specifically addressing the pandemic, the author really speaks to the space of loss that we were both able to adapt to and what we could not. And carrying forward the lesson of the dead as teachers, is something I hope to keep in perspective.
I think the material on how cost of ritual (which can create meaning for the practitioner as well as signal non-obvious traits for participants) and how ritual contributes to well-being could have been compressed into the earlier chapters, as that part felt repetitive. But I also truly appreciated the author's personal anecdote of participating in the Thimithi ritual of a Hindu temple in Mauritius. It was interesting not just to analyze the data but to hear of the author's personal experiences first-hand.
I also found the author's notes on divorce interesting: it's the only major transition in the world without any form of ritual accompanying it, which itself has led to a sense of loss and absence. I think of how many other ways in which we are forced to create meaning when the emotional and community infrastructure to process those feelings don't exist, and how we can create them through ourselves and enact them through longevity.
The discussion around Burning Man and the distinction between the Sacred and the Profane in ritual spaces was also a great revision of how we have adapted ancient ritualistic practices to modern times. Perhaps describing the notes that are finally burned during the last night, I was struck by considering just how many people are going through how much, and that there are so many full lives that we can only, through our transitory relationships and community ties, experience in the sanitized manner of distance/community/protocol.
I think the final takeaway was also about how critical death rituals are to the functioning of our society, and how both ritual as well as concrete practical (causal-transparent) processes contribute to our comprehension of the world, loss and meaning-making. By specifically addressing the pandemic, the author really speaks to the space of loss that we were both able to adapt to and what we could not. And carrying forward the lesson of the dead as teachers, is something I hope to keep in perspective.
Want to read
November 11, 2023DMPL AUDIBLE
NOT INFORMATION!!!
BIRTHDAY PARTIES FOR CAKE
RITUAL OF FAMILIES VISITING THE LIBRARY FOR WELL-BEING
Anthropology Book Forum SPOT ON REVIEW CAKE! "delves into the profound significance of rituals across diverse cultures, exploring their role in shaping human behaviour, fostering group cohesion, and influencing social dynamics" https://bit.ly/3G1D11P
Kirkus "Intriguing glimpses of how ritual provides the foundation stones of social structure and cultural evolution " https://bit.ly/3QVJAJV
Geographical [Book shows how] "they always have (and still do) play a crucial role in human society, serving as the glue that binds communities, boosting wellbeing and in doing so, ensuring the success of the group" https://bit.ly/47uYk7I
Evolutionary Psychological Science "poses an intriguing research question and provides insightful answers regarding the purpose and evolution of rituals" https://bit.ly/3FWXfd6
Spirituality & Practice "helps us make sense of why ritual is still important" https://bit.ly/40z7Cxg
Five of the Best Self-Help Books of 2022 / FIVE BOOKS "I found that reading this book helped me better understand various aspects of my life in ways I hadn’t expected, and I think that’s a big part of self-help" https://bit.ly/46aNrqN
ProQuest Slovensky Narodopis CHAPTER BY CHAPTER SUMMARY "systematically examining the basic characteristics, mechanisms and functions of ritual".
https://bit.ly/3QVi5A7
NPR Rituals are important to human life — even when they seem meaningless https://n.pr/46cuEvh
NOT INFORMATION!!!
BIRTHDAY PARTIES FOR CAKE
RITUAL OF FAMILIES VISITING THE LIBRARY FOR WELL-BEING
Anthropology Book Forum SPOT ON REVIEW CAKE! "delves into the profound significance of rituals across diverse cultures, exploring their role in shaping human behaviour, fostering group cohesion, and influencing social dynamics" https://bit.ly/3G1D11P
Kirkus "Intriguing glimpses of how ritual provides the foundation stones of social structure and cultural evolution " https://bit.ly/3QVJAJV
Geographical [Book shows how] "they always have (and still do) play a crucial role in human society, serving as the glue that binds communities, boosting wellbeing and in doing so, ensuring the success of the group" https://bit.ly/47uYk7I
Evolutionary Psychological Science "poses an intriguing research question and provides insightful answers regarding the purpose and evolution of rituals" https://bit.ly/3FWXfd6
Spirituality & Practice "helps us make sense of why ritual is still important" https://bit.ly/40z7Cxg
Five of the Best Self-Help Books of 2022 / FIVE BOOKS "I found that reading this book helped me better understand various aspects of my life in ways I hadn’t expected, and I think that’s a big part of self-help" https://bit.ly/46aNrqN
ProQuest Slovensky Narodopis CHAPTER BY CHAPTER SUMMARY "systematically examining the basic characteristics, mechanisms and functions of ritual".
https://bit.ly/3QVi5A7
NPR Rituals are important to human life — even when they seem meaningless https://n.pr/46cuEvh
February 3, 2024
It seems that this author did the rounds on BBC podcasts and radio to promote this book. Unfortunately those brief interviews were probably the best place for his insights. I found this book to be maddeningly shallow and written in stilted, sometimes condescending language. (There’s a line between accessible and unnecessarily simplistic and repetitive.) It’s like someone was off stage whispering to him to keep it light. There’s only two or three brief mentions of nefarious uses of ritual and I don’t belief he fully addresses grief until the final chapter, despite death rituals being such a strong presence everywhere in the world. In fact that last chapter, written in the shadow of COVID-19, is what I wanted the whole book to be. It actually addresses the modern feeling of yearning for some kind of meaning after so many of us feel that religion, government, and other institutions have failed us. The final 28 pages are the only part of the book I felt touched on the subtitle “How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living”. I guess I’m glad I pushed through for those end thoughts but I’m now on the search for a book that actually delivers on what was only briefly raised there.
July 8, 2024
2.5 stars. A very well researched book with a super interesting topic. However I felt a little underwhelmed as I was expecting more from the "How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living" quote on the book cover. The Author focussed a lot on some rather extreme and bizarre rituals, whilst I found the anthropology side of these interesting, a few of them (in particular fire-walking and Burning Man) were referred to repeatedly in a number of chapters, which made the book monotonous at times. I would have been interested to read about some rituals that have negative impacts on humans/society as this would have given the book some balance. I almost DNF this book but as it was a choice in my Book Group I decided to plod on. I am glad I did as I found the last 2 chapters on Wellbeing and Harnessing the Power of Ritual quite interesting. I enjoyed reading about the Danish work rituals and would have liked to have seen some more relatable things like this included in the book, along with what impact something Global like COVID or war has on societal rituals. It did make me think of the day to day rituals we all have in our lives and why these are important to us.
May 28, 2023
I picked up Dimitris Xygalatas's RITUAL after he was a guest on Hidden Brain. I found the book to be readable, clear, entertaining, and really insightful. I also really appreciated how he explains cultural processes so clearly that I could then turn towards rituals I personally practice in or which I observe in my close proximity and then see how they too affect the social milieu in which they occur. He kept me thinking even when I was away from the book. SO, SO GOOD, and highly recommended for anyone interested in anthropology, sociology, social psychology, or religion.
(Nitpick, one tiny detail was wrong--a brief mention of the Jewish practice of shiva seemed to assume the body of the deceased is present for the week, which is incorrect. Shiva is the week FOLLOWING burial. It also seemed to focus on the effect for the deceased, but most participants consider shiva's primary effect to be on the mourners themselves.)
(Nitpick, one tiny detail was wrong--a brief mention of the Jewish practice of shiva seemed to assume the body of the deceased is present for the week, which is incorrect. Shiva is the week FOLLOWING burial. It also seemed to focus on the effect for the deceased, but most participants consider shiva's primary effect to be on the mourners themselves.)
July 17, 2024
After so many 'eat my idea' books it's really refreshing to read a book that proposes new way of thinking about societies, rituals, religion, civilisation, culture, communication etc without overwhelming you with author's point of view. Main takeaway (for me) is that building on concepts picked up from Émile Durkheim, Bronisław Malinowski, Victor Turner and Paul Radin.
Dimitris Xygalatas mentions but doesn't tackle the 'colonial' attitudes and/or assumptions of these, seems to fail for same sort of Turner's romantic view of community and Malinowski's functionalism, nor does escape (albeit there is attempt to do so) static view of cultures (despite obvious change in quite a few cases the ritual is supposed to be unchanging, internal diversities are leveled and impact of external factors brushed off). Still that doesn't matter the mix of above views is interesting enough, especially served on hot coal walks reportage from personal experince.
Definitely worth a read.
Dimitris Xygalatas mentions but doesn't tackle the 'colonial' attitudes and/or assumptions of these, seems to fail for same sort of Turner's romantic view of community and Malinowski's functionalism, nor does escape (albeit there is attempt to do so) static view of cultures (despite obvious change in quite a few cases the ritual is supposed to be unchanging, internal diversities are leveled and impact of external factors brushed off). Still that doesn't matter the mix of above views is interesting enough, especially served on hot coal walks reportage from personal experince.
Definitely worth a read.
Read
November 12, 2022This book was probably the biggest surprise of 2022 for me. I’ve read over 200 books so far this year, and I didn’t expect much from this book, but it quickly became one of my favs. I’ve had this book for a couple of months but didn’t know if it’d be all that interesting, but I absolutely loved it. Dimitris has had a fascination with rituals since he was a child, and his curiosity about the topic drew me in because I’m equally as curious about human nature.
Dimitris has traveled the world observing various rituals and interviewing people to understand why they do it. What’s interesting is that a ton of people can’t explain why they do them. But in addition to these topics, Dimitris covers research that explains how we evolved for rituals and why we do them even if we can’t explain it.
Dimitris has traveled the world observing various rituals and interviewing people to understand why they do it. What’s interesting is that a ton of people can’t explain why they do them. But in addition to these topics, Dimitris covers research that explains how we evolved for rituals and why we do them even if we can’t explain it.
April 24, 2023
Does ritual serve a purpose? This book gives many examples of scientific quantification of ritualized behaviors that suggest ritual does serve important purposes in not just human life, but probably also animal life.
I found this very interesting, but I would have liked more information about how ritual participants characterized their actions while they were performing rituals. What they were doing and why. The author states on more than one occasion that people believed they were doing things because they were traditional, or how they were always done, and I'm sure that's very true, but it ended up giving me the impression that people performing these rituals had no insights into their own behavior at all, in any direction, for any reason, and it made the book seem less insightful too.
I found this very interesting, but I would have liked more information about how ritual participants characterized their actions while they were performing rituals. What they were doing and why. The author states on more than one occasion that people believed they were doing things because they were traditional, or how they were always done, and I'm sure that's very true, but it ended up giving me the impression that people performing these rituals had no insights into their own behavior at all, in any direction, for any reason, and it made the book seem less insightful too.
January 16, 2025
Interesting topic, with a rich collection of ritual examples from around the world. The author is an experimental anthropologist, running field experiments to prove his ideas. His effort to make his field of studies more quantitative and objective seems to have won him many research grants. But honestly, most of the experiments are not very interesting nor revelatory. Things like proving emotional participation in rituals by measuring the synchronization of people's heartbeats with smart watches, or the enhanced generosity of ritual participants measured through economic games, or using questionnaires to show their improved psychological well-being, seem to me weak experimental setups that try to prove points that are already quite obvious to start with. They might have some academic value but don't really deliver any additional insights.
March 4, 2023
I feel like the only thing I really got out of this was that a lot of things we do today as a society continue "because that's how we've always done it" etc. and we stick with what's familiar. Certain rites of passage, holidays, etc. continue because it's what we grew up doing, and it's comfortable. Some people get emotional satisfaction and reassurance from their habits and personal rituals which in a sense becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I kind of see it like fortune-telling, we get out of it what we want to.
There were a few insightful statements toward the beginning but it dragged as the book went on and I continually found it a struggle to get through, and I never felt inspired to keep reading. Probably would have been a DNF if not for book club.
I kind of see it like fortune-telling, we get out of it what we want to.
There were a few insightful statements toward the beginning but it dragged as the book went on and I continually found it a struggle to get through, and I never felt inspired to keep reading. Probably would have been a DNF if not for book club.
August 16, 2023
Un saggio ricco di spunti interessanti per un'analisi del rapporto tra la specie umana e i rituali che, dalle nostre origini ad oggi, in un modo o nell'altro permeano la nostra storia.
Fa riflettere come l'irrazionalità di molti dei rituali più o meno comuni che ci appartengono sia in effetti soltanto apparente, almeno nella misura in cui essi vanno a compensare o attivare parti più interne e a volte inconsce del nostro incontro col mondo, oltre quello che sarebbe il rapporto causale più convenzionale.
Ho trovato però la scrittura un pò ridondante e ripetitiva. Il frequente rimando alle esperienze sul campo dell'autore è fondamentale in un testo del genere, ma quando altrettanto frequentemente si persiste sulla stessa conclusione il rischio che la lettura diventi noiosa è concreto.
Fa riflettere come l'irrazionalità di molti dei rituali più o meno comuni che ci appartengono sia in effetti soltanto apparente, almeno nella misura in cui essi vanno a compensare o attivare parti più interne e a volte inconsce del nostro incontro col mondo, oltre quello che sarebbe il rapporto causale più convenzionale.
Ho trovato però la scrittura un pò ridondante e ripetitiva. Il frequente rimando alle esperienze sul campo dell'autore è fondamentale in un testo del genere, ma quando altrettanto frequentemente si persiste sulla stessa conclusione il rischio che la lettura diventi noiosa è concreto.
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