Rituals in Grief: Why Meaning Matters More than Numbers

The COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted social interactions and ritual practices, deeply affecting mourning rituals. This longitudinal study investigates how prevented and performed rituals influence grief reactions evolution among bereaved individuals in the province of Quebec (Canada). Data were gathered via online surveys conducted five times (every six months) from March 2021 to May 2023. With 529 participants at baseline, we assessed their experiences with pre- and postmortem rituals, satisfaction levels, and grief reactions using the Traumatic Grief Inventory Self Report (TGI-SR). At the start, 32% of participants with a loss occurring ≥ 6 months showed probable Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), which decreased to 13.9% by the second data collection. Participants had an average of 2.9 out of eight traditional rituals prevented by the pandemic. Those with probable PGD reported significantly lower satisfaction with performed rituals compared to those with fewer grief reactions. Mixed models analysis indicated that the number of prevented rituals did not predict TGI-SR scores, but satisfaction with performed rituals significantly predicted grief trajectories. Higher satisfaction was associated with lower grief reactions over time. These results suggest that meaningful ritual experiences can help reduce grief intensity even when the number of rituals is limited. The study demonstrates the adaptability of bereaved individuals during the pandemic and emphasizes that the quality, rather than the quantity, of rituals is crucial in the grieving process. This underscores the need to support the facilitation of meaningful rituals to aid those grieving.