People call almost anything a "ritual" these days. Here are five everyday things. For each, decide: is it just a habit, or a real ritual? Then see how it scores on what actually separates the two.
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A ritual is a habit plus four things: a set form, special objects, other people to share it, and meaning beyond what the act physically does. Miss the meaning and the witnesses and you have repetition, however many badges you bolt on.
That is why calling any routine a "ritual" is a claim, not a fact (Bell, 1992), and why the manufactured kind, the streak, the forced chant, tends to be seen through.
When the charge is real, rituals genuinely do things: they ease grief (Norton and Gino, 2014), make experiences more enjoyable (Vohs et al., 2013), and bond people to a group (Xygalatas et al., 2013). Which is exactly why the hollow imitations disappoint.