Rites and social structure. Social networks and mourning : a complimentary approach ; Unofficial memorial rites in an army unit -- Rites and civil religion : invention of tradition. Ethnic civil religion : a case study of immigrants from Rumania in Israel ; Death customs in a non-religious kibbutz : the use of sacred symbols in a secular society ; Personal bereavement in a collective environment : mourning in the kibbutz -- Personal definition rites : changing one's identity. From fat to thin : informal rituals of identity change ; Formal and informal retirement rites in the Israeli Army
Summary
Rituals provide public solutions to some types of life crises. There are crises which beset individuals in modern and post-modern society which are not easily addressed by traditional rituals. However, rites have not disappeared in contemporary society, but have merely changed their guise. New Rituals - Old Societies examines rituals which were invented by individuals and communities in order to celebrate important turning points. In contemporary Israel a process of innovation of new rituals was introduced, either by the adoption of ritual elements from outside sources or by the transformation of existing Jewish symbols through the infusion of new contents originating in secular ideology. The term "personal definitional rites" coined here refers to rites carried out by individuals undergoing a change in identity. Structural analysis supplies an additional dimension to this collection of studies
