about Ritual & Supestition (by: Ulvia Z.)

Ritual can be defined as a set of actions which contain values and usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. A ritual may be performed by an individual or a community in private or public places. Rituals have purposes, it can be personal purposes or public purposes and sometimes ritual is held just for the pleasure. Rituals also have various kind, rituals include not only the various worship rites but also include coronations, club meetings, etc. There are some rituals that load the occultists or magic, for example the ritual which performed with sacrifice and murder or suicide.

The most simply rituals are hand-shaking and saying hello. In Islam communities, the greeting is by saying ‘Assalamu’alaikum’ and there’s an obligation to answer it by saying ‘Wa alaikum salam.’ In Korea, we can say ‘Annyeonghaseyo,’ these are the simply form of ritual actions. Rituals in religion include worship, pray, cult. Rituals in customs and traditions include marriages, funerals, birthdays, parties, parades, ceremonies, etc. For example, in Indonesia there is a ceremony which held to celebrate the Indonesia’s freedom. In Korea there is a ritual that held to celebrate a baby’s first birthday called ‘Dol janci’. In Indonesia there are some special rituals which combine the religion and customs such as Grebeg Mulud which is held to celebrate the birth of Prophet of Muhammad, this ritual combines the Islam doctrine and Javanese custom.

Superstition is a belief or notion which not based on reason or knowledge. Superstition is different from ritual, ritual is an action, but superstition is only a belief or notion. Although superstition isn’t based on knowledge, the purpose of superstition is good, and sometimes superstition is really happened. For example, in Javanese communities there is superstition that sitting on broom will suffocate having many children and for the girls sitting in the door will suffocate difficulties of having husband. Those superstitions didn’t base on reason but have good purpose that sitting on a broom can break the broom. In Korea, there is a superstition that leaving a fan on in a closed room will suffocate the occupants.