So too, in the case of celebrities, the post-death excavation of secrets — for instance in the case of Michael Jackson — has become a gleeful shared ritual.
His space became a marriage of a few personal objects — a flea market blanket on the bed, fresh produce from his farmers' market gig, a kettle for the shared ritual of tea or coffee, his tools, camera, books (including a copy of Gaston Bachelard's "Poetics of Space") and a record player and LPs for music — with the architecture.
The women banded together through shared ritual.
The punishment for American diversity is that we are denied the warmth of shared ritual.
There are also hundreds of shared ritual spaces, called dargahs (literally, "doorway" or "threshold"), for Hindus and Muslims.
We enjoy the simple intimacy of this shared ritual.
Of course, it does also feature religious aspects – it has plenty to say about what may happen during and after death, makes suggestions about how to live an ethical life, and lays importance on shared rituals and practice among a community of members.
In the simplest of terms, religion feeds our appetite for hope – whether it be building communities around shared rituals and beliefs, creating an ultimate dispenser of justice, or just imagining life after life.
In showing how family traits are passed down generation to generation, in showing how shared rituals, celebrations and crises create a communal history, she demonstrates the talents that galvanized so many of her earlier books and that help redeem this very flawed novel.
Their shared rituals, of talk and tea and mutual complaint, give Maria a feeling of comfort and belonging.
