Although love rituals vary by time and culture, they help people make sense of their persistent inclination for togetherness with ideal lovers. To understand the symbolic importance of rituals while making sense of human experiences of realities that are not always tangible, such as love, this entry offers a brief history of their original uses and further reviews rituals associated with human experiences of love.

Historical Perspectives on Love Rituals

Rites, also known as rituals, originated in ancient times as prescribed behaviors to relate to the supernatural. Anthropologists, historians, and sociologists have contributed to the psychological understanding of rituals. These disciplines have uncovered evidence of rites from ancient societies including the Egyptians, Etruscans, Romans, Celts, and the Nordic peoples. For example, in ancient Rome, haruspices performed ...

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