n.
  - a religious or other solemn ceremony or act.
 - a body of customary observances characteristic of a Church or a part of it.
 
 
  Phrase
  
    
      - rite of passage
 a ceremony or event, e.g. marriage, marking an important stage in someone's life. 
    
   
  Etymology
  ME: from L. ritus ‘(religious) usage’.