Tag: social rituals

3 articles

The Lottery Everyone Talks About But Few Understand

You have probably seen the headlines. A couple from a small coastal town in Portugal wins €144 million. A syndicate of office workers in Belgium splits a nine-figure jackpot. Someo

The Seat Reserved for the Mourner

At a funeral, everyone knows where to look but no one knows where to stand. The mourner sits in the front row, the seat reserved by custom and by pain, while the rest of the room a

Why We Need to Stop Performing Our Birthdays

When you are seven years old, your birthday is a gravitational event. It pulls the entire week into its orbit, bending time and reality until the day finally arrives, complete with