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A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual
Ritual

A ritual is a set of repeated actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions....
 significance, performed on a special occasion.

remony may mark a rite of passage
Rite of passage

A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social status. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
 in a human career
Career

Career is a term defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as an individual's "course or progress through life ". It usually is considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
, marking the significance of (for example):

times, a ceremony may only be performed by a person with certain authority.






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Ceremony
A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual
Ritual

A ritual is a set of repeated actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions....
 significance, performed on a special occasion.

Celebration of life

A ceremony may mark a rite of passage
Rite of passage

A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social status. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
 in a human career
Career

Career is a term defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as an individual's "course or progress through life ". It usually is considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
, marking the significance of (for example):
  • birth
    Childbirth

    Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the delivery of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and delivery of the infant, and delivery of the placenta.....
  • initiation
    Initiation

    Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components....
  • puberty
    Puberty

    Puberty refers to the process of physical changes by which a child's body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. Puberty is initiated by hormone signals from the brain to the gonads ....
  • social adult
    Adult

    The term adult has at least three distinct meanings. It can indicate a biologically grown or mature person. It may also mean a plant, animal, or person who has reached full growth or alternatively is capable of reproduction, or a person who has attained the legally fixed age of majority; as opposed to a minor....
    hood
  • graduation
    Graduation

    Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates....
  • marriage
    Marriage

    Marriage is a social, spirituality, or law union of individuals. This union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the married status created is sometimes called wedlock....
  • death
    Death

    Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
  • burial
    Burial

    Burial, also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over....


Government ceremonies

Sometimes, a ceremony may only be performed by a person with certain authority. For example, the opening of the United Kingdom Parliament
State Opening of Parliament

In the United Kingdom, the State Opening of Parliament is an annual event held usually in late October or November that marks the commencement of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
 is presided over by the Sovereign (Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II). The naming and launching of a warship will be under the supervision of its captain or a higher-ranked naval officer. A wedding will be performed by a priest or a Civil Celebrant, as in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
. The President of the United States
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
 is customarily sworn in by the Chief Justice of the United States
Chief Justice of the United States

The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal courts and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States....
, and the British sovereign is always crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the Episcopal see that churches must be in communion with in order to be a part of the Anglican Communion....
.

Celebration of events

Other, society-wide ceremonies may mark annual or seasonal or recurrent events like:
  • vernal equinox
    Equinox

    Equinoxes occur twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor toward the Sun, causing the Sun to be located vertically above a point on the equator....
  • winter solstice
    Winter solstice

    Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice* Winter Solstice *...
  • weekly Sabbath day
  • inauguration
    Inauguration

    An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the president of the United States officially takes the oath of office....
     of an elected office-holder
  • occasions in a liturgical year
    Liturgical year

    The liturgical year, also known as the Christian year, consists of the cycle of liturgy seasons in Christianity churches which determines when Calendar of saints, Memorial s, Commemoration s, and Solemnity are to be observed and which portions of Scripture are to be read....
     or "feasts" in a calendar of saints
    Calendar of saints

    The calendar of saints is a traditional Christianity method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as that saint's feast day....


Other ceremonies underscore the importance of irregular special occasions, such as:
  • coronation
    Coronation

    A coronation is a ceremony marking the investiture of a monarch with regal power, specifically involving the placement of a coronation crown upon his or her head, and the presentation of other items of regalia....
     of a monarch
  • victory in battle
    Battle

    Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, wherein each group will seek to defeat the others within the scope of a military campaign, and are well defined in duration, area and force commitment....


In some Asian cultures, ceremonies also play an important role, for example the tea ceremony
Tea ceremony

A tea ceremony is an Asian ritual form of making tea. The term generally refers to the Japanese tea ceremony. One can also refer to the whole set of rituals, tools, mudra, etc....
.

Process

Ceremonies may have a physical display or theatrical
Theatre

Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one or more actor, isolated in time and/or Theater , present themselves to Audience." By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for story telling....
 component: dance
Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to Motion of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of Emotional expression, social social interaction or presented in a spirituality or performance setting....
, a procession
Procession

A procession is, in general, an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner....
, the laying on of hands. A declaratory verbal pronouncement may explain or cap the occasion, for instance:

  • I now pronounce you man and wife.
  • I swear to serve and defend the nation ...
  • I declare open the games of ...
  • I/We dedicate this ... ... to ...


Both physical and verbal components of a ceremony may become part of a liturgy
Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
.

See also

  • Rite of passage
    Rite of passage

    A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social status. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
  • Gift
    Gift

    A gift or a present is the transfer of something, without the need for compensation that is involved in trade. A gift is a voluntary act which does not require anything in return....
  • Human condition
    Human condition

    The human condition encompasses all of the experience of being human. As mortal entities, there are a series of biology determined events that are common to most human lives, and some that are inevitable for all....
  • Tjurunga
    Tjurunga

    A Tjurunga or as it sometimes spelled, Churinga, is an object of religious significance by Central Australian Indigenous Australians people of the Arrernte groups....
  • Event planning
    Event planning

    Event planning is the process of planning a festival, ceremony, competition, party, or convention .Event planning includes budgeting, establishing dates and alternate dates, selecting and reserving the event site, acquiring permits, and coordinating transportation and parking....