Readership: Students and scholars of ritual studies, religious studies, anthropology

While family life has conspicuously changed in the past fifty years, it would be a mistake to conclude that family routines and rituals have lost their meaning.

Most ritual participants claim that their rituals have been the same since time immemorial. Citing recent research in ritual studies, this book illustrates how,

This volume investigates the implications of breaking ritual rules, of failed performances and of the extinction of ritual systems. The essays thus break new gr