This ritual takes place on the eighth day after birth and the ceremony itself involves both religious and surgical elements and may be performed by a surgeon of a specially-trained Mohel who has both surgical and religious knowledge. After the circumcision is performed, a festive meal almost always follows as a symbol of thanks to God and to the prophet Abraham.
One of the most complicated religious rituals of Judaism is the Bar Mitzvah for boys and less frequently, the Bat Mitzvah for girls. These words mean "the son or the daughter of the commandment and mark the coming of age of a male or female child" (Harvey, 325) who is then seen as an adult and is responsible for observing the commandments set down by Moses and to fill adult roles in the congregation of the synagogue. This ritual traditionally occurs on the Sabbath following the child's thirteenth birthday and is preceded by intensive study of the Torah and other religious books and documents. One other important Jewish ritual is marriage which traditionally is the next life cycle ritual in the lives of most Jewish women and men after becoming an adult. The Ketubah or marriage contract which "spells out the responsibilities of both partners is signed during the ceremony" of marriage and is a legally valid document as well as a religious one, similar in nature to a conventional marriage license or pre-nuptial agreement (Hall, 215).
A more contemporary form of ritual takes place in what is now referred to as the New Age Movement, a "phenomenon of cultural and cosmic consciousness made up of a clear set of cosmological ideas and spiritual practices" that are widely shared by diverse groups and individuals around the world (Grissom, 245). There are several key ritualistic practices shared by those within the New Age Movement. For instance, being on a spiritual path is important to most "New Agers" which means choosing a path and adhering to it for one's entire lifetime or trying out a variety of spiritual practices to see which one fits more closely with a person's individual religious makeup. The most important religious acts for "New Agers" is becoming in touch with the so-called life force through ritual...
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