What is the purpose of rituals?

>>3139411
Group bonding.

Depends on what ritual, and who you ask; of course the original thought would be that it does what it purports to do. For instance, the eucharist is supposed to, quite literally, put a piece of the divine inside of you.

>>3139415 is probably the most well-accepted general answer, but probably can't be considered the be-all end-all answer; it is more accurate to say that group bonding is a significant aspect of rituals

The Confucian approach to rituals posits that the most important aspect of doing a ritual is not contact with the divine, or group bonding, but rather that they further the right mentality; sacrificing to your ancestors should not be done because they really need you to give them rice, but because the ritual teaches you respect for your elders.

>>3139411
Creation of an inculture rules/customs. Sorta like passwords or rather injokes or memes.

Basically to distinguish your group from other group.

>>3139411
There has been a few good answers already, but I'd like to add that ritual can also be important to the individual. Used as a form of meditation or a sort of philosophical masturbation, ritual can be very fulfilling.

>>3139411
Christian ritual: theosis
Non-Christian ritual: demon worship

Op here, thanks, I got all my answers, mods please mark the thread as resolved.

>>3139607
Also, the objective experience of of participating in something ancient, larger than yourself, with a group of like minded people would have long lasting and deep effects on the psyche.

>>3139411

Group bonding and as memory aides.

>>3139653
We're not done yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality#In_rituals
http://www2.fiu.edu/~ereserve/010010095-1.pdf

>le social bonding may may
>muh group cohesion
>muh spiritual feefees
bullshit, rituals are about exactly what the people who perform them say they are about...a rain dance is about making it fucking rain not strengthening muh group cohesion

>>3139691
But there is a good chance that people involved in the ritual don't believe in its spiritual/magical/whatever effect.

>>3139703
then they're modern day larpers, not people performing ritual in a traditional context. even catholics are supposed to believe in the ritual efficacy of the eucharist (although most probably just go to mass for the family fee fees)

>>3139703
Can confirm from my own anecdotal experience. I have a circular field that I plant winter wheat on as a cover crop, every spring I probably use about 10% of the field to build and burn a large effigy at the thaw. It's actually a negative because I lose out on a couple hundred lbs of green manure but I do it for the fee fees.

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>>3139691
>a rain dance is about making it fucking rain not strengthening muh group cohesion
kys pleb

>>3139815
>emile durrrrrrrkheim
you call me a pleb?

the sense that you are doing something about an event you have no power over

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>>3139873
>he thinks rituals have no efficacy
ahahhaaha get a load of this moron

>>3139411
When something is perceived to work people simply repeat it. Certain aspects of it can be conducive to the goal as in the case of physical healing but since it isn't done in a purely scientific manner the entire ritual process as a whole is taken as necessary for its achievement.

Everyone's a little bit autistic.