Ritual & ceremony
35 related entries. Shared tags aid navigation; they do not imply identical beliefs or practices.
← All entries · Concept glossary
Vodun in Benin
Living religious traditions relating divinities, ancestors, communities, and the world around them.
Benin · Togo · 5 highlights↗Haitian Vodou
A distinct Caribbean religion formed through African continuities, Haitian history, and living communities.
Haiti · 5 highlights↗Gnawa
North African music and ritual traditions formed through long histories of exchange, displacement, and devotion.
Morocco · 5 highlights↗Sidama Fichee-Chambalaalla
A Sidama New Year tradition that brings together renewal, shared food, counsel, and reconciliation.
Ethiopia · 5 highlights↗Makishi and mukanda
Initiation and masquerade practices of several related communities, carrying teachings about adulthood and social life.
Zambia and neighbouring regions · 5 highlights↗Mijikenda Kaya traditions
Sacred Kaya forests link ancestral settlements, codes of conduct, governance, and care for place.
Coastal Kenya · 5 highlights↗Tumbuka Vimbuza
Vimbuza is a Tumbuka healing dance and communal ritual involving song, drumming, and responses to distress.
Northern Malawi · 5 highlights↗Shintō traditions
Japanese shrine traditions and practices relating kami, place, festivals, and community.
Japan · 5 highlights↗Jeju Yeongdeunggut
Jeju Chilmeoridang Yeongdeunggut is a named island ritual involving shamans, divers, ship owners, and hopes for safety and abundance.
Jeju Island · Korea · 5 highlights↗Bön traditions
Bön is a distinct living Tibetan religious tradition with its own texts, lineages, and monastic institutions.
Tibet · Himalayan communities · 5 highlights↗Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practice
Tibetan Buddhist traditions combine philosophical debate, ethics, monastic and lay life, devotion, and contemplative training.
Tibet · Himalayan communities · diaspora · 5 highlights↗Māori concepts and responsibilities
Interrelated ideas of genealogy, care, hospitality, and guardianship in Māori life.
Aotearoa New Zealand · 5 highlights↗Aṉangu Tjukurpa
Aṉangu understand Tjukurpa as living law, knowledge, and responsibility connecting people, ancestors, and Country.
Uluṟu–Kata Tjuṯa · Central Australia · 5 highlights↗Yolŋu law, art, and Country
Yolŋu communities express ancestral law, clan identity, and connection to Country through languages, art, and collective action.
Northeast Arnhem Land · Northern Australia · 5 highlights↗Torres Strait Islander knowledge
Island communities sustain distinct languages, Ailan Kastom, and relationships with sea, land, and sky.
Zenadth Kes · Torres Strait · 5 highlights↗Egyptian heka and protective practice
Heka was a powerful concept in ancient Egyptian religious life, associated with effective speech, protection, and divine action.
Ancient Egypt · 5 highlights↗Greco-Egyptian magical papyri
The magical papyri from Roman Egypt preserve hymns, invocations, and practical texts in a multilingual religious world.
Egypt · Mediterranean · 5 highlights↗Late antique theurgy
Theurgy in some late antique Neoplatonist settings linked ritual action with philosophical accounts of divine order.
Mediterranean · 5 highlights↗Solomonic ritual magic texts
Solomonic magic is a family of ritual texts that claim the authority of the biblical Solomon.
West Asia · Europe · 5 highlights↗Cuban Lukumí and Regla de Ocha
Lukumí or Regla de Ocha developed in Cuba through Yoruba continuities and Afro Cuban community life under slavery and freedom.
Cuba · 5 highlights↗Brazilian Candomblé
Candomblé is an Afro Brazilian religious family that developed through African continuities and Brazilian histories of enslavement, resistance, and community building.
Brazil · 5 highlights↗Serer Xooy
Xooy is a Serer gathering before the rainy season in west-central Senegal.
West-central Senegal · 6 highlights↗Manding Kankurang
Kankurang is a Manding initiatory tradition in parts of Senegal and The Gambia.
Senegal · Gambia · 6 highlights↗Jamaican Kumina
Kumina is a living Afro-Jamaican religious tradition with documented Central African connections.
Jamaica · 6 highlights↗African American Hoodoo and Conjure
Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork name overlapping African American traditions of practical spiritual knowledge.
United States · 6 highlights↗Obeah in Caribbean history
Obeah is a historically charged Caribbean term for varied spiritual, healing, and protective practices.
English-speaking Caribbean · 6 highlights↗Maya-Mam Nan Pa’ch
Nan Pa’ch is a Maya-Mam ceremony of thanks for maize harvests in San Pedro Sacatepéquez.
San Pedro Sacatepéquez · Guatemala · 6 highlights↗Mapuche ngillatun
Ngillatun names a Mapuche communal form of prayer and gathering.
Chile · Argentina · 6 highlights↗Hawaiian pono and hoʻoponopono
Pono has a range of Hawaiian meanings involving goodness, justice, wellbeing, and fitting relation.
Hawaiʻi · 6 highlights↗Mandaeism
Mandaeism is a living religion with its own scriptures, priesthood, and repeated rites in flowing water.
Iraq · Iran · diaspora · 6 highlights↗Oromo Waaqeffannaa
Waaqeffannaa names Oromo religious traditions oriented toward Waaqa.
Ethiopia · Oromo communities · 5 highlights↗Rabinal Achí dance drama
Rabinal Achí is a Rabinaleb’ Maya dance drama in which political conflict, ancestry, masks, and music meet.
Rabinal · Guatemala · 6 highlights↗Moore Town Maroon heritage
Moore Town Maroon heritage joins collective autonomy, ancestral ceremonies, language, and treaty land in Jamaica.
Blue and John Crow Mountains · Jamaica · 6 highlights↗Otomí-Chichimeca places of memory in Tolimán
Otomí-Chichimeca communities of Tolimán connect hills, water, ancestors, pilgrimages, and collective continuity in a semi-desert homeland.
Querétaro · Mexico · 6 highlights↗El Güegüense and colonial satire
El Güegüense is a Nicaraguan street drama that turns wit, masks, dance, and music against colonial power.
Diriamba · Nicaragua · 6 highlights↗