- Rössler The Emotional Meaning of Ritual

Do human beings need rituals? Have they become an obsolete “evolutionary appendix” in the modern world, or are they an indispensable part of the human condition? Right at the start, I wish to adopt a clear stance with regard to this repeatedly controversial discussion in ritual studies: From the perspective of cultural anthropology, I assume that human beings need rituals, that they are an anthropological necessity, and that their usefulness relates to specific bio-psychological stress-relieving processes. This basic assumption guides the following arguments. Because use of the term ritual is becoming increasingly inflationary not only in everyday language but also in an academic context, the first thing to do is to specify the subject. I shall follow Axel MICHAELS (2003) who defines rituals as standardized, set actions that can be distinguished clearly from everyday ritualizations (daily routines) through the criteria of intentio solemnis (the formal resolution), religio (the transcendent alignment that goes beyond the dimensions of daily life), and transformation. As actions, rituals are also always embodied, that is, they always include bodily aspects (sensory processes, motor processes, etc.), and this distinguishes them from “purely” mental or cognitive procedures. “One who is only thinking or feeling, is not engaging in a ritual” (MICHAELS 2010 translated by B. R.-R.; cf. BELL 2006). The following analyses are also based on this understanding of ritual. However, they focus particularly on the element of transformation, and thereby on a very specific type of ritual, namely, the so-called “rite de passage”, the transition ritual.