Rituals use signs, symbols, and dramatic and personal action to invoke and promote feelings of belonging, transition and commitment, and enable the participants to experience things that are larger than life because they make meaning of the abstract and make tangible the intangible. Rituals also enact belief through celebration, sharing, obedience, submission and purification as well as bridge the movement between belief and practice.

Rituals generally communicate on two levels: between people and their god or higher being, and between the individual and fellow believers. Some rituals, such as those once practised by Aryan Indians, are closely linked to cultural practices because they required a sacrifice to be made to the gods in the hope of controlling the natural world. Christian rituals tend to emphasise community, particularly Eucharistic rituals, which include sharing and belonging. Many rituals in Judaism mark significant moments in the lifecycle of adherents, from birth through to death. Buddhists, on other hand, identify meditation as an important ritual and Muslims have a specific focus on rituals of purification, particularly prior to prayer or pilgrimage.