Any action that speaks to the soul and to the deep imagination, whether or not it also has practical effects, is a ritual. Some rituals may have more spiritual import than others and therefore assume greater dimensions, but even the smallest rites of everyday existence are important to the soul.
We can give an action a ritual quality by repeating it regularly as remembrance, memorial, celebration, or personal piety and by giving it ceremony, special language, meaningful timing, and placing. If any of our actions lack care and thoughtfulness, they remain largely unconscious and raw. Staying in close touch with religious, cultural, and family traditions may also give our actions an impersonal, eternal quality that is essential to ritual.
— Thomas Moore, The Education of the Heart