RITUALISM
ritualism
(noun) exaggerated emphasis on the importance of rites or ritualistic forms in worship
ritualism
(noun) the study of religious or magical rites and ceremonies
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
ritualism (countable and uncountable, plural ritualisms)
The belief that it is necessary for rites or repeated sets of actions to be carried out.
Source: Wiktionary
Rit"u*al*ism, n. Etym: [Cf. F. ritualisme.]
1. A system founded upon a ritual or prescribed form of religious
worship; adherence to, or observance of, a ritual.
2. Specifically :(a) The principles and practices of those in the
Church of England, who in the development of the Oxford movement, so-
called, have insisted upon a return to the use in church services of
the symbolic ornaments (altar cloths, encharistic vestments, candles,
etc.) that were sanctioned in the second year of Edward VI., and
never, as they maintain, forbidden by competennt authority, although
generally disused. Schaff-Herzog Encyc. (b) Also, the principles and
practices of those in the Protestant Episcopal Church who sympathize
with this party in the Church of England.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition