In a non-compulsive group context, rituals are sometimes simple, sometimes boggling complex sequences of actions often performed for some kind of religious, spiritual, tribal, or ideological purpose.
All known human societies have or have had rituals of some kind woven into the fabric of their communities.
Saluting a flag and chanting an anthem, shaking hands, dancing in lockstep, attending ceremonies meant to celebrate a person's ascendence from one age or stage of life into another age or stage—these are all performances that symbolize things considered to be important within the context in which they are performed.
A society in which academic performance is important, then, might have more or stricter rituals surrounding one's move from grade to grade or one's passing of a particularly arduous test. The taking of the test itself might also be ritualized, as might aspects of the month in which said tests are taken.
Religions and other belief-oriented groups are big on rituals, some of which are considered to be sacred—passed on from generation to generation from earlier worshippers, or some kind of prophet—while others are symbols of adherence to a collection of beliefs (or the desire to better adhere to those beliefs). Still others are meant to unify people behind a collection of beliefs by triggering the psychological high that can emerge from collectively working through a set of gestures, words, and movements (a similar "high" sensation that people sometimes get while at a big concert or participating in a highly structured dance with a bunch of other perceptually in-group people).
On a personal level, rituals can enforce and perpetuate habits, locking in certain behaviors so we don't have to think about them as much while continuing to perform their associated actions.
A morning routine that includes the grinding of coffee beans and heating of water, a 15-minute workout, drinking coffee while reading the news, doing a crossword puzzle, and then getting to work, contains a sequence of ritualistic movements that make it easier to fit a decent workout into one's day before everything else starts cluttering up one's attention and focus.
The inclusion of a crossword puzzle might be calming, but also exercises one's mind, and a short bout of news-reading while consuming the first coffee of the day—itself prepared ritualistically, the beans ground, the coffee heated before all else—ensures one isn't ignorant about what's happening in the world.
Such a routine can formalize these sorts of habits in a way that makes them more sustainable and consistently attainable.
There's evidence that stringing habits together can make sticking with them easier because we only need the force of will to stick with one: the habits bundled along with it catch a psychological free ride.
Self-control and self-moderation, then, can sometimes become more attainable (and enjoyable) through the use of rituals.
And just as rituals performed with other people can help form and solidify group-identity, a ritual performed independently can do the same for a single person, internally reinforcing one's sense of oneself as, for instance, a person who works out every day, or a person who knows a bit about what's happening in the world.
The downside of rituals, for both groups and individuals, is that they can also reinforce and incentivize the perpetuation of outdated priorities and ideas.
In the communal context, this might mean a group continues to integrate religion with nation through rituals and words, even after divisions between church and state have been established. It seems somehow wrong to change a long-performed, ritualized anthem, even if there might be good arguments for doing so (and attempting to make such a change may, in some cases, result in outrage and even violence).
In the personal context, this might mean it’s particularly difficult to quit drinking coffee because it’s a foundational component of one’s morning ritual—which, added to the existing friction of caffeine withdrawal, can make such a dietary decision all but impossible to implement.
Rituals can be changed, then, but the attributes which make them powerful also make them resilient and thus, trickier to adjust or break (to be replaced with something else) than otherwise equivalent gestures, words, and actions.
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