Hieros gamos, hieros (ἱερός) meaning "holy" or "sacred" and gamos (γάμος) meaning "marriage," or Hierogamy, is a sacred marriage that plays out between gods, especially when enacted in a symbolic ritual where human participants represent the deities.
Maithuna at Khajuraho
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or revered objects. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, but not defined, by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance.
A Śrauta yajna or fire ritual in Kerala, India.
The use of Latin in a Tridentine Catholic Mass is an example of a "restricted code".
The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil on canvas by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930). The painting shows common misconceptions about the event that persist to modern times: Pilgrims did not wear such outfits, and the Wampanoag are dressed in the style of Plains Indians.
Ritual practitioner on Inwangsan Mountain, Seoul South Korea