RITE AND RITUAL (Latin, ritus, cus tom, connected with Sanskrit ri, and it is, therefore, from the same root as river, the thing that flows) ; in modern religious use any external sign or action employed as an expres sion of reverence or devotion, or as a means of exciting religious sentiments. The ancient re ligion of Judaism abounded in rites and cere monies, and the sect or school of the Pharisees appears to have laid more stress on compliance with those observances than on the weighty injunctions of the law. Jesus Christ repeatedly expressed contempt for the scruples of the Pharisees, and many of those who aim to walk strictly in his footprints repudiate everything like ceremonialism in divine worship. But the vast numerical majority of Christians demand a more is less stately and impressive ceremo nial. Rite s used also to express the sum of the ceremonial employed in the administration of the sacraments, as, the of baptism, the ri teD of confirmation, the last rites? The entire liturgical ceremonial of a particular branch of the Church is spoken of as a for example, Latin rite, Greek rite and Syrian rite. All these, however, are but modern man ifestations of very primitive communal cere monies which, in the beginning, were very little, if at all, religious in point of view, in senti ment or in ceremonial execution. Rites repre sent the organization of religious procedure, generally throughout long ages. They may, therefore, be said to be the outward manifesta tion of religion, the dress which distinguishes one religion or one faith from another. They are when they appear to be individual, for the nature of the ceremonial rites performed in his own home by the individual is exactly similar in form and intent to that of the rites per formed by all the members of the same tribe or primitive racial organization, under the same conditions and for the same ends. The indi vidual rite is, therefore, nothing more or less than the resolution of the congregational rite into its component parts. On the other hand, the congregational rites represent the common interests of the members of the community. Both pertain to the common life in its general and yet most intimate functions and vital in terests. In primitively organized society the rites were largely, if not altogether, intended to control or favorably influence those powers which, by common consent, were recognized as being greater than those possessed by man him self. But certain rites seem to have been intended to encourage certain beneficent beings, among them the gods of growth and fruition, to become even more favorable to man. Of such a nature were the great spring, summer and autumn festivals common to many races. To this category, too, belonged the ancient rites performed at birth, baptism, puberty, mar riage and death and other cere monies with their attendant, invariable rites.
Ritual and Myth march hand in hand down the long ages of time, extending mutual help to one another all along the way. Sometimes
an elaborate myth apparently grows out of a tribal ceremony; and sometimes elaborate and complicated rites are built up about a racial myth. These act and react upon one another and are subject to extraneous influences which tend to modify the form and the spirit of all ceremonies and their attendant rites. Ritual is a generally recognized form of performing cer tain ceremonies growing out of the past experi ences of a people of which they are commem orative. For this reason the origin of most rites must be sought in the long past, and the more primitive of them can be intelligently studied only in connection with their corresponding myths. The primitive belief in the animate nature of things animate and inanimate and in the magic power possessed by certain beings gave rise to the use of magic formulae, spells and charms. He who possessed the most powerful of these was believed to be able to conquer adverse powers through them. These assumed certain ritualistic definite forms which it was not permitted to vary. With these forms went stories or myths explaining their origin and sometimes their efficacy and mystic signification. Certain ceremonies com memorative of the popularly believed origin of the myth commemorated the myth itself, and the ritual laid down the exact form in which the commemorative ceremonies were to be ob served. These early ceremonies and rituals seem to have been all magical in form and intent. The efficacy of the magic or charm consisted in the performance of the ceremony in the exact manner and words prescribed by the ritual, by tradition and by custom. Hence the medicine men, myth guardians, instructors or by whatever name they were known in the various more or less primitive societies, spent years in becoming familiar not only with the ritual itself but with its attendant ceremony and its accompanying myth or myths. As society grew more complex and human interests more confederated, rituals became more complicated and their myths more involved. Thus the former 'became more difficult of performance and the latter required greater skill for their elucidation. The medicine men and myth guardians and elucidators were gradually forced to give all their time to this work. Thus a formal priesthood came into existence. The priests were the natural guardians of the tra ditions of the tribe or nation. As they were the magic workers they were looked upon with special reverence by the rest of the people, and they were feared on account of their supposed possession of powerful magic, charms and other mystic knowledge, all of which formed a com plicated and extensive tribal ritual. As the powerful beings feared by primitive man de veloped into gods the medicine men became the sacred depositories of celestial knowledge and their ancient ceremonies and rituals were at tributed to the revelation of the gods. In this connection they assumed an additional sacred ness which tended still more to stereotype them.