Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

Heaven knows there’s plenty to worry about. At this point there’s no need for me of the Furies to help us keep our outrage – the outrage is evident and overwhelming. What we need is information to help keep us from burning out. I’ve already alluded to, and shared some links to, some of the arts and music and books which are being made available free of charge by people and organizations, just to help us keep going. Then I found this article – about something I hadn’t even thought of.
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Why people need rituals, especially in times of uncertainty

Dimitris Xygalatas, University of Connecticut

Responding to the coronavirus pandemic, most American universities have suspended all campus activities. Like millions of people all around the world, the lives of students all over the U.S. has changed overnight.

When I met my students for what was going to be our last in-class meeting of the academic year, I explained the situation and asked whether there were any questions. The first thing my students wanted to know was: “Will we be able to have a graduation ceremony?”

The fact that the answer was no was the most disappointing news for them.

As an anthropologist who studies ritual, hearing that question from so many students did not come as a surprise. The most important moments of our lives – from birthdays and weddings to college graduations and holiday traditions are marked by ceremony.

Rituals provide meaning and make those experiences memorable.

Ritual as a response to anxiety

Anthropologists have long observed that people across cultures tend to perform more rituals in times of uncertainly. Stressful events such as warfare, environmental threat and material insecurity are often linked with spikes in ritual activity.

In a laboratory study in 2015, my colleagues and I found that under conditions of stress people’s behavior tends to become more rigid and repetitive – in other words, more ritualized.

The reason behind this propensity lies in our cognitive makeup. Our brain is wired to make predictions about the state of the world. It uses past knowledge to make sense of current situations. But when everything around us is changing, the ability to make predictions is limited. This causes many of us to experience anxiety.

That is where ritual comes in.

Rituals are highly structured. They require rigidity, and must always be performed the “right” way. And they involve repetitition: The same actions are done again and again. In other words, they are predictable.

So even if they have no direct influence over the physical world, rituals provide a sense of control by imposing order on the chaos of everyday life.

It is of little importance whether this sense of control is illusory. What matters is that it is an efficient way of relieving anxiety.

This is what we found in two soon-to-be-published studies. In Mauritius, we saw that Hindus experienced lower anxiety after they performed temple rituals, which we measured using heart rate monitors. And in the U.S., we found that Jewish students who attended more group rituals had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Rituals provide connection

Collective rituals require coordination. When people come together to perform a group ceremony, they may dress alike, move in synchrony or chant in unison. And by acting as one, they feel as one.

Indeed, my colleagues and I found that coordinated movement makes people trust each other more, and even increases the release of neurotransmitters associated with bonding.

By aligning behavior and creating shared experiences, rituals forge a sense of belonging and common identity which transforms individuals into cohesive communities. As field experiments show, participating in collective rituals increases generosity and even makes people’s heart rates synchronize.

Tools for resilience

It is not surprising then that people around the world are responding to the coronavirus crisis by creating new rituals.

Some of those rituals are meant to provide a sense of structure and reclaim the sense of control. For example, comedian Jimmy Kimmel and his wife encouraged those in quarantine to hold formal Fridays, dressing up for dinner even if they were alone.

Others have found new ways of celebrating age-old rituals. When the New York City Marriage Bureau shut down due to the pandemic, a Manhattan couple decided to tie the knot under the fourth-floor window of their ordained friend, who officiated the ceremony from a safe distance.

While some rituals celebrate new beginnings, others serve to provide closure. To avoid spreading the disease, families of coronavirus victims are holding virtual funerals. In other cases, pastors have administered the last rites over the phone.

People are coming up with a host of rituals to maintain a broader sense of human connection. In various European cities, people have started to go to their balconies at the same time every day to applaud health care workers for their tireless service.

In Mallorca, Spain, local policemen gathered to sing and dance in the streets for the people in lockdown. And in San Bernardino, California, a group of high school students synchronized their voices remotely to form a virtual choir.

Ritual is an ancient and inextricable part of human nature. And while it may take many forms, it remains a powerful tool for promoting resilience and solidarity. In a world full of ever-changing variables, ritual is a much-needed constant.

[You’re too busy to read everything. We get it. That’s why we’ve got a weekly newsletter. Sign up for good Sunday reading. ]

Dimitris Xygalatas, Assistant Professor in Anthropology, University of Connecticut

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Considering the extent to which most ritual involves being with other people, it is truly impressive how may people are finding ways to have ritual in spite of out public-health-imposed isolation. Maybe some of our readers can think of more examples of people developing new ritual that they have read about or seen – please feel free to share in comments. Maybe you have even devised some kind of ritual for yourself – if so, tell us about that too.

One thing I am doing is terribly obvious to me and probably to anyone who knows me – but until reading this, I didn’t realize how much about it was actually ritual. Up until a couple of years ago, I made a ritual of watching the Met’s filmed operas on public television. Then my local station stopped carrying them. But now that the Met is streaming them, I am making rituals of them – checking the calendar in advance, deciding which ones to watch at what time of day, getting all set in from of the screen, and then lovingly watching. And it does feel like in that way some ritual has returned to me.

Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, you were born in a culture in which ritual was important and respected. The annual plays in honor of the gods (particularly Dionysus IIRC) were so important that laborers were compensated by the state for their day’s wages so they could attend – which makes attendance at least as societally important as jury duty is today. So you know all about it. Help us get the hang of it too.

The Furies and I will be back.