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of confusion. It dilutes the effect of a negative moral evaluation in one sphere in those situations where an individual does not perform as expected in a specific role. Furthermore, it dampens the effect of conflict. A disturbance in one institutional encounter would spill over were it not for the isolating qualities of ritual. Ritual is less important in our world because relationships are distinctive, played out in different physical surroundings with different sets of performers. Roles and judgments are segregated. Disputes are compartmentalize-.. Conflict is contained within institutional boundaries. Fortes discusses the importance of passage rites in traditional society. Ceremonial participation teaches and reminds the individual of the responsibilities he is to be charged with. he learns to act in accordance with norms and sanctions that legitimize the role. Ritual binds the holder to his new office. It invests him with legitimate authority. It confers citizenship on the individual. If ritual is less important in modern society, it is because of the availability of alternative channels of access to new social positions. In traditional society, an individual has to undergo ritual passage in preparation for a new social role. Today an individual moves ahead by gaining credentials, by meeting universal criteria set by schools and colleges, and by birth, marriage and death registries. Wallace does not see deritualization, but rather a transformation of ritual away from the sacred. Ritual continues an integral element of a secularizing religion. It is not ritual that weakens, but supernaturalism. "...belief in supernatural powers is doomed to die out ... as a result of the increasing adequacy and diffusion of s21entific knowledge and of the realization ... that supernatural belief is not necessary to the effective use of ritual" (Wallace: 265). Whether ritual is diminished in importance today, or whether it is being transformed, it nevertheless continues to capture the energies and emotions of many Americans in sacred and secular circumstances. On Christmas Eve, in churches across the land, millions celebrate the birth of Christ. It is a special time for non-Christians too. We speak of the holiday season, of the Christmas spirit, of peace and good will. We renew relationships as we mail our Christmas cards, some to people we may riot have seen for months or even years. Shoppers jam stores in December buying sprees, and families and friends reunite for the traditional dinners and gift giving. On New Year's Eve, in clubs, hotels, restaurants, and at home, people congregate to welcome the new year. They wear party hats and carry noisemakers as they revel and make merry. It is an evening of laughter and letting-go. Hundreds of thousands jam Times Square in New York, and as midnight approaches, they raise their eyes upward, eyes fixed on a symbolic lighted apple. Millions more join in the excitement on television. As the apple begins its descent, they begin to chant in unison: ten, 9, 8, 7....... Happy .few Year, Happy New Year. Champagne corks pop, people hug and kiss, and all intone "health, happiness, and prosperity." Sports events also provide a focal point for collective ritual. Football fans filled with excitement plant themselves in front of their television sets in mid-January, on Super Bowl Sunday4 . Friends visit and share a meal or a six pack of beer as they wait kickoff time. It is a day of enormous anticipation. On the whole, ceremonies involving the individual have declined in importance in modern life. Birth, naming, and puberty, when they are celebrated, do not command the energy and commitment they once did. 1, 1arriage and death, however, continue to summon ritual participation. 1, 1ost Americans still are married by a clergyman, for sacramental or other reasons. The bride and groom wear special clothing as do members of the wedding party. Especially the bridal gown and veil are treated as if sacred. After the ceremony, the couple exit to a shower of rice, an ancient fertility rite. At a reception, guests eat, drink, sing, dance and give gifts. Solemn moments are swept away in laughter and happiness. The couple holds center stage as surrounded by family and friends; they join in their first dance as man and wife. Then members of the wedding party move onto the floor in prescribed order. The bride dances with her father as the band plays "Daddy's Little Girl," and the groom dances with his mother to the strains of "Mr. Wonderful." At a signal, usually before the main course, all rise to join in a toast to the newlyweds by the best man. During the meal, a collective glass tinkling directs the couple to kiss. Each kiss is a profession of love, but it is also an expression of the acquiescence to the public wills, a union of two individuals, but also a commitment to community. By this tinkling, too, the guests acknowledge the new status of the pair. The couple, hands together, cut the wedding cake and feed each other. Each guest eats a slice of communion with the new husband and wife. Following the dinner, the bridegroom removes his wife's garter in a public display and tosses this over his shoulder to a group of single men, gathered in a cluster, who leap for the prize. The counterpart of this male ceremony is the tossing of the bridal bouquet by the bride to a line of unmarried females. The lucky woman who catches it is supposed to become the next bride.
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