The Importance of Religious Rituals:

For many people religious rituals are held, I believe, in order for people to display their affection and support for their religion in a physical way.  Catholics, for example, use communion as a physical demonstration of their devotion to their religion.  Religious rituals are also important for followers to feel connected and involved with their religion.  These rituals, and religion in general, gives people a sense of security and, often times, a meaning.  The shaman in the BBC article, for example, felt that by performing rituals to "send good vibes" to the presidential candidates was helping in their own way.  It gave them a sense of self-reliance and that they were in one way or another helping the outcome of the election.  Religion is important in this aspect.  It is important for people to feel secure and to have something to believe in.  It shouldn't matter how different beliefs are, what's important is the fact that religion gives many people something to be happy about.  Religious rituals help people to portray their religions and allow people to feel that they are physically making a difference in some way, whether that be by blessing the American presidential candidates, or by making themselves happy by being involved with something they feel very strongly about.