Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual significance, performed on a certain occasion. For example, the Japanese tea ceremony was frequently held as a ritual of hospitality at the arrival of a guest. Traditionally, a ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a personal human career, marking the significance of (for example): birth initiation puberty social adulthood marriage death burial Other, society-wide ceremonies may mark annual or seasonal or recurrent events like: vernal equinox winter solstice weekly Sabbath day inauguration of an elected office-holder occasions in a liturgical year or "feasts" in a calendar of saints Yet other ceremonies underscore the importance of irregular special occasions, such as: coronation of a monarch victory in battle Often ceremonies have a physical display or theatrical component: dance, a procession, the laying on of hands. But even greater importance usually attaches to a declaratory verbal pronouncement which may explain or cap the mummery, for instance: I now pronounce you man and wife. Happy New Year! I swear to serve and defend the nation ... Both physical and verbal components of a ceremony may become part of a liturgy. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.