issue207，那个ritual和ceremony

colin8741UID: 2835824

207:"Ritual and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are"
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With the development of science and technology, people from different regions show more and more in common and less differences. This result thanks to the global integration as well as the less attention on rituals and ceremonies. I agree with the statement above and without rituals and ceremonies, people have a diminished sense of who they are.

The sense of who they are is a sense of belonging to certain group or society. People in today's modern society emphasize too much on self-independence and the ability to achieve self goals while neglect the meaning of being one in a group due to the gradually disappeared rituals and ceremonies.

Rituals and ceremonies help the self-positioning of people in certain group. When one in a group, he\she must realize what he\she should do and can do after one kind of ceremony as well as the expectations of people in that group. There were many complex rituals in ancient China. For example, boys on age of six should attend a ritual as an announcement of attending schools. They dressed formerly, pointed a red spot on their forehead, and read some oath loudly. Hundreds of people, no matter old or young, male or female, gathered together to witness this ritual. The red point on their forehead means a willing to be a smart and modest person from then on. Although the boys might do not understand what the ritual meant, they can still feel the solemn and the adults’ expectations on them.

Certain kind of character will also be formed during a ritual. Spartans, famous of their audacities and strength, test their teenagers by exiling them one night in mount, if the boy can survive after the night fighting with beasts, he can be called a adult and pass the test. That special kind of ritual formed Spartans as brave people with no fear.

Rituals in religions united the believers together. Christians go to church every week, talking to the god father or praying as they believe that they are beloved. Christmas Day is celebrated every year as a remembering of Jesus Christ, ceremonies are held to reminded people that they are in one group, same as the others, and not alone.

Ceremonies also reminded people the sense of who they are. Take the wedding ceremony for example, couples, blessed by friends and relatives, vow to each other in front of the priest. The process seems simple but actually serious, when the vows are loudly spoken out and when the priest announced that they are husband and wife, that means neither of them are alone any more. People in China have the similar custom that they will not admit the couple to be husband and wife until a wedding feast even though they are already admitted legally.

Rituals and ceremonies not only define a culture but also offer a feeling, to the people who attending, of being protected and surrounded by other people who are similar with you. The sense of belonging is what we mean the sense of who they are. People in social life are too busy to think about where they belong to. The one works in a foreign country, celebrating a ceremony without knowing the origin of that. They may never forget their names, their relatives, their jobs; however, they may have a diminished feeling of where they belong to. The rituals and ceremonies' function is to reminding people the sense of who they are.