Birth, puberty, marriage, death - how do we celebrate these and other primal events in our lives? Down the centuries civilizations have used the power and vitality of ritual to mark the value and significance of such occasions, but in today's material world we pay them little more than lip-service. We have no ritual for puberty, for pregnancy, and for other important rites of passage. In this book, the theatre director and writer James Roose-Evans argues that everyday rituals are a vital part of a balanced, meaningful life. He sets out to show readers that, whatever their culture, religion or spiritual leanings, they can rediscover the rituals of the past and create new ones appropriate to present-day life.