Ceremony
A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual significance, performed on a certain occasion.
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Celebration of life
Traditionally, a ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a personal human career, marking the significance of (for example):
- birth
- initiation
- puberty (see bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah)
- social adulthood
- graduation
- marriage
- death
- burial
- baptism
Celebration of events
Other, society-wide ceremonies may mark annual or seasonal or recurrent events like:
- vernal equinox
- winter solstice
- weekly Sabbath day
- inauguration of an elected office-holder
- occasions in a liturgical year or "feasts" in a calendar of saints
Yet other ceremonies underscore the importance of irregular special occasions, such as:
- coronation of a monarch
- victory in battle
In Asian cultures, ceremonies also play an important role. In particular, the tea ceremony of several East Asian cultures is very well known.
Process
Often ceremonies have a physical display or theatrical component: dance, a procession, the laying on of hands. But even greater importance usually attaches to a declaratory verbal pronouncement which may explain or cap the occasion, for instance:
- I now pronounce you man and wife.
- Happy New Year!
- I swear to serve and defend the nation ...
Both physical and verbal components of a ceremony may become part of a liturgy.