ABSTRACT
Rituals may be a bewildering and confusing mixture of traditional practices and practices borrowed from an eclectic assortment of traditions and may be combined with newly devised actions developed specifically to contribute to new rituals. Families, religions and cultures vary as to which life events they wish to mark with ritual celebrations and how these are to occur, but it is hard to imagine life without any rituals to mark at least some special events. Initiation ceremonies mark the entrance of new members into a group, formalise what has already happened, or recognise a new life stage. In Australia, in the year 2000, when the government refused to apologise to the indigenous peoples for the unjust treatment they had endured since European settlement in 1788, many people in Australia took part in silent street marches. The modern era has not dealt kindly with any rituals, but this is especially the case with those rituals which surround death.
