Il rituale sacro. Culture arcaiche e nuove forme della spiritualità: un’analisi sociologica

In this article, I analyze sacred rituals, highlighting similarities and differences between celebrations in archaic communities on the one hand and in contemporary Western society on the other. Regarding the latter, I will give special attention to new forms of spirituality. I will discuss the power of ritual, starting from the Otherness from which it emanates. Through a comparative and contrastive analysis, I will seek to demonstrate how the weakening of authority witnessed in postmodern Western society impacts the transformation of the relationship with the sacred domain and with related practices, especially ritual ones. I will focus on the changes that have affected the symbolic dimension, especially attempting to define sacred ritual. The thesis in summary is this: in archaic cultures, rituals summon the community; in new forms of spirituality, it is individuals who summon the rituals.