"Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are."

The issue of whether rituals and ceremonies help define a culture can be a contentious one. On one hand, rituals and ceremonies are an integral part of a society's or a group of people's identity. On the other hand, there are those who argue that there are far more important factors that help define a culture besides rituals and ceremonies. However, I am in agreement with the view that rituals and ceremonies help define a culture and without them, people lose a diminished sense of their identity.

First, let us take a look at what rituals and ceremonies of a culture are. Rituals and ceremonies can take on formal or informal forms, and they are a set of established behaviors that are symbolic of a certain group's culture. Formal or informal, rituals and ceremonies help provide a sense of identity to social groups. Each social group have their own sets or ritual and ceremonies, and this is what sets them apart from other groups and helps them gain a sense of collectiveness. Take for example the act of going to weekly Sunday masses at church. This act alone acts as the common bond between different individuals who hold similar beliefs. The rituals and ceremonies performed in church such as baptism, or Eucharistic ceremonies, is the tangible proof of their identities. In this sense, they affirm their identity as Christians. Moving away from religious rituals and ceremonies, let us take a look at rituals and ceremonies that affirm national identities. For example, the celebration of Thanksgiving in the United States November of every year. It is a national holiday that is recognized to remember and give thanks, and it is a celebration that has been passed down from the times the English settlers first set foot in America. It is also a holiday to celebrate the American spirit and bring families close together.

Rituals and ceremonies are the continuation of old traditions that were passed down from our ancestors or forefathers. They are what that keeps the memories of the past alive, and they retain all the collection of ideas, superstitions, beliefs and the stories of our forefathers. Without rituals and ceremonies, we have a lesser sense of our identity, for we do not know where we come from. This can be especially important for groups of people whose ancestors originated from a country different from the ones they were born in. This is something I can draw from personally. I am an ethnic Chinese born and raised in Malaysia, but my grandparents were from China. My grandparents were brought as part of the group of laborers that were imported to work the tin mines and eventually they settled down in Malaysia permanently. My grandparents were very traditional in the way they conducted their daily lives, which included daily rituals like burning joss sticks at certain times of the day to show respect for our ancestors. These rituals and ceremonies, which marks so much of the Chinese identity, gradually faded as we moved down the generations. There are many of the rituals and ceremonies that I do not know how to perform, and I cannot help but feel a sense of loss of my own culture and heritage, and a lesser sense of being “Chinese” as I assimilate into the dominant culture of the country.

Thus, it is my belief that rituals and ceremonies are important in helping to define a culture. Not only do they help provide social groups or societies with a sense of belongingness, it also acts as an affirmation of identity for all of the people who hold similar ideas or beliefs. Also, rituals and ceremonies help retain the memories, values and beliefs, ideas, superstitions which helps us to gain our sense of cultural identi