About the importance of rituals
Growing up in the south of Austria, Easter was the time with the most lived rituals in my family. From dyeing eggs on Maundy Thursday, the meatless Good Friday, the consecration of the sponge and the smoking of the house with the glowing tree sponge in the morning of Easter Saturday, followed by the consecration of the meat at noon, and the communal Easter feast with Easter ham, egg horseradish and Reindling and in the evening the communal gathering around the Easter fire. And then there's the traditional Easter cleaning, the baking of Reindling and the special Easter soup with saffron for the extended family, which meets on Easter Sunday. Not forgetting the hiding and searching for Easter sweets for the children.
Rituals that do us good, promote community and strengthen cohesion. Rituals that create meaning. Rituals have the power to strengthen our roots. And to clear our heads. To give our life flow a certain recurring stability and support. If we had to think and plan every day from scratch, we would be filled with such thoughts and there would be no room for anything else. Especially in family life and in a community, rituals are important pillars and have great significance. They are even mentioned in the German government's latest family report: "Predictable routines and rituals are important for the quality of family life." Knowing what is coming, what you can rely on, prepare for and look forward to, not just as an individual but as a community, is a powerful force.
This is who we are. This is right. This is what we look forward to and who we will continue to be across generations.
This is how the American ritual researcher Barbara Fiese describes the great importance of rituals. In recent decades, the value system of many people has changed dramatically and traditional, sometimes religious, patterns of action in the annual cycle have declined sharply, leading to a loss of community and stability. New rituals and alternatives now have to be developed and found, which is no easy task. In volatile times like these, the safety and security of shared rituals, the bond between us and others, are particularly valuable and the awareness that we are not alone also helps.
Because I like it so much, I would like to end by quoting Harald Martenstein from GEO Germany:
Everything you need to know about rituals can be found in "Dinner for one": the joy of repetition, of knowing each other, the feeling of not being alone with your joy, a sense of spiritual home, of security and comfort, the very essence of family.
