This page groups rituals by whether they are performed by a community together or by a single person alone. Wikipedia distinguishes "communal rites, whether of worship, where a community comes together to worship" from "rites of personal devotion, where an individual worships, including prayer and pilgrimages." Browsing this way lets a visitor separate group ceremonies from solitary devotional acts.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingRites whose purpose is the honouring of a deity, ancestor or holy figure - offering, praise, procession, service - performed by a congregation or by an officiant on its behalf. The grouping cuts across traditions with very different accounts of what the act does, from a sacrament held to convey grace to a meal shared with the dead. 2 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA standard analytic category in the study of religion 2 Learn More
The devotional rituals
This group holds devotional rituals, the formal, repeated acts of worship and reverence directed toward the divine: liturgies, offerings, processions and the regular rites of the temple, church, mosque or home. Where devotional practices are the ongoing habit of piety, these are its structured ceremonial forms.
The browser will find devotional rituals from various traditions. The entries describe each rite's order, purpose and setting, noting the tradition that performs it.
Social Form
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Worship and Devotional LifeView the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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