ABSTRACT
This chapter explores first the definition of ritual in anthropology and whether this can be found in nursing. In particular those rituals that have been defined by researchers to exist in nursing practice, such as those related to death and dying, nursing observations and nursing care activities such as bathing the patient are included. Other aspects of ritual such as ceremonies are explored in the context, for example, of the annual service of remembrance for Florence Nightingale. The symbolic lamp that is part of her history is carried as part of the ceremony in Westminster Abbey.
