ritualscreates

Ritualscreates is a term used to describe a family of practices in which participants deliberately design, perform, and document rituals as a form of creative production and social bonding. The term blends ritual and creation and is used in online communities, art collectives, and some academic discussions to emphasize intentional design of ritual acts rather than inherited or spontaneous ones.

Origin and scope: The phrase emerged in 21st-century digital culture, with early appearances on forums and blogs. It has since appeared in participatory art projects, zines, and writings on performance and cultural production. There is no single formal definition, and usage varies by community.

Practice: Core elements typically include planning and choreographing actions, selecting symbolic elements and rituals, establishing a setting and participant roles, repeating core actions, and documenting outcomes through journals, video, or photography. Ritualscreates are often shared within a group or publicly to invite feedback, reinterpretation, or replication. Examples range from reimagined community ceremonies as art projects to daily routines framed as creative processes, to online rituals coordinated around dates, hashtags, or media posting.

Purposes and implications: The approach aims to foster belonging, explore personal or collective identity, preserve memory, and experiment with form. It can be secular or spiritual and is commonly iterative, with participants refining the ritual through repeated practice.

Reception: Critics and scholars note potential for innovative expression and social connection, but caution about performative self-presentation, commodification, or cultural appropriation. The term remains informal and its boundaries are contested across disciplines. Related fields include ritual theory, performance studies, and participatory art.