Changing Lives, Changing Rites: Women Creating Rituals of Transition

This article looks at rituals which women create to mark transitions in their lives, arguing that ritual making is an intentional process of constructing identity and theology. Rituals function as enacted narrative, helping the women who perform them to construct identity, and gain a sense of agency and empowerment. Through the rituals, meanings are shared and the political dimensions of private experience explored. The article concludes by considering the implications of women's practice of ritual making for practical theology.