ABSTRACT
Social rituals are more than simple ‘mirrors’ of social life, which means that it is necessary to consider them as powerful media to maintain and reinforce traditions and institutions, and also as instruments of change and innovation. 1 Rites and myths strengthen the links between individuals and the community; they establish and legitimize hierarchies; and defi ne forms and modes of use of properties, as well as standards of social order. The ritual performance is based on values, beliefs and worldviews that are naturalized and experienced in various media . Similarly, rites and myths – that together constitute a specifi c religious system – also constitute a body of knowledge and traditions that guide and govern the social life of human communities. They determine the appropriate actors, actions deemed necessary, appropriate places, imagery, gestural and verbal forms required, all the aspects by which collective life is, in one way or another, ruled. Religious systems, lato sensu , refer to social groups, being one of the main factors that establish, maintain and/or transform the system of values, cohesion and social order. In short, the study of religions, of the practices and beliefs related to them, contributes to the understanding of the cognitive and intellectual frameworks through which human beings perceive and interpret their experience of the world.
