Origin of rituals

All rituals were born out of quite meaningful procedures. Handshake — showing that there is no knife in the hand, a demonstration of friendliness. Clinking glasses — earlier, the host and the guest knocked each other with goblets of wine, the wine overflowed from goblet to goblet, and this was a guarantee that the host presented the guest with good, not poisoned wine.

The ritual «On the road» (watch the video) — you need to cheer yourself up before a long journey.

The ritual “Sit in front of the road” is an opportunity to once again think through all the details of the upcoming path and business.

Later, from all these meaningful procedures, the original meaning disappeared, only one form remained, which now has only a symbolic meaning, the function of emotional adjustment and rapprochement of people practicing these rituals together.

Ritual in ethology

Chapter from the book by V.R. Dolnik «Such a long, misunderstood childhood»

Conservatives

Not everyone knows that animals are very conservative. They have some kind of idiotic need to live in an endlessly repeating world, where the established order reigns once and for all, sometimes uncomfortable and even ridiculous. My talking Jaco parrot does not tolerate any changes in the room. If wrapping paper is laid on the floor of the cage instead of a newspaper, he becomes extremely indignant. When he is sent to a cage, he demands that they first say: «Roma, in a cage!» Having passed part of the way, in a strictly defined place, he expects the word “Come on, come on quickly!”, Before entering the cage, he should be reminded why he is going there: in the afternoon — to swim, in the evening — to sleep. After he entered the cage, you need to say: “Ay, well done, Roma, ah well done!” It is worth missing something, and he prompts, saying it for you. If something is messed up, it returns to the starting point and repeats the whole procedure from the beginning.

This is not the result of living at home. Zoologists know that in a natural setting, animal behavior is just as conservative. They walk along the same road, inspect the same feeding places, rest in the same place, stop at the same objects. Among adults, an obsessive tendency to excessive order and strict adherence to ritual is manifested in morons. And in children. Remember how, at the age of 2-4, a child demands that everything be in a certain place, that feeding and dressing take place in the same order, that you hold the book in a certain way, read the same fairy tale a hundred times, play the same record, included the same cartoon, etc. That this is some kind of innate feature of behavior, I never doubted, but its meaning was obscure.

A brilliant solution was given by Konrad Lorenz. The brain, which is not able to accurately understand the cause-and-effect relationships between events, should not use the results of their analysis, because, mistaking the effect for the cause, you can pay a heavy price. It is better to perceive these events as a whole, remember the combinations that turned out to be successful or safe, and strive to repeat them. If berries grew under this tree yesterday, look for them there today. If you caught a hare in this clearing yesterday, look for it there today. If on the way to the hole you jumped over this branch, and crawled under this one and everything worked out, do it in the future. Who in childhood did not bind himself with a lot of such taboos? When walking on the slabs, do not step on the joints. As you walk down the dark corridor, don’t look back. Having safely passed it, jump up, etc. The behavior of a normal adult is also highly ritualized. And people who are superstitious and believe in omens are the majority. Rules of good manners, family and folk traditions — these are also rituals. Religion is not only highly ritualized, but also requires the flock not to question and analyze their dogmas. So we are all a little children and parrots.