As an adjective, ritual simply means “in compliance to religious rites,” which are the sacrosanct habitual ways of acclaiming a religion or culture. Different societies have different ritual practices, like meditation in Buddhism or baptism in Christianity. We also call the ceremony itself a ritual. Although it comes from religious ceremonies, ritual can also be used for any time-honored tradition like the Super Bowl or Mardi Gras, or Sunday morning breakfast (www.vocabulary.com). According to Cultural Anthropology, A Perspective on the Human Condition by the authors Emily Shultz and Robert Lavenda, a ritual must fit into four categories. These four categories are that it mu social practice, it must be set off from the routines
