If a ritual helps to solve a problem — if it is good — it gets repeated and another seemingly irrational tradition is born. But is a ritual merely an attempt to control some crisis? Or, rather, is it an expression of something much more meaningful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked by the anthropologist Victor Turner to reveal the meanings of their symbols and rituals, different members of the Ndembu tribe gave different answers. None of them knew the \u201cright\u201d answer because there was no right answer, just as there is no right answer to \u201cthe meaning of Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Ritual,” wrote Susanne K. Langer, “is a symbolic transformation of experiences that no other medium can adequately express.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"