The Surprising Power of Daily Rituals
23rd February 2026
BBC, a Voice of the Crust.
Rituals come in many different forms and are practised in cultures the world over, but why have they become such an important part of our lives?
Because they reduce uncertainty. If you’ve done something once and it worked out well, you’d be stupid not to do it the same way that worked before. Duh.
When the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski visited the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea in the early 20th Century, he noted the elaborate preparations fishermen would make before setting out to sea. They would carefully paint their canoes with black, red and white paint, chanting spells as they did so. The vessel would be struck with wooden sticks, the bows stained with red ochre and crew members would adorn their arms with shells.
Malinowski recorded a long list of ceremonies and rituals the islanders would perform before venturing out onto the open sea. But when the fishermen went out into the nearby calm lagoon, they did not use these rites. Malinowski concluded that the “magic” rituals performed by the islanders were a response to help them cope with the unpredictable might of the Pacific Ocean.
Sometimes the old ways are best.