The word ritual is orthogonal to how much is known about the usage. "Ritual" is just a way to describe objects that have some higher purpose, beyond any mundane

The word ritual is orthogonal to how much is known about the usage. "Ritual" is just a way to describe objects that have some higher purpose, beyond any mundane and utilitarian purposes their basic form might serve. The textbook example is a thurible, the censer on a chain used in churches. They're not used because anyone specifically wants a lot of smoke in the air (a fog machine would do just fine) or because swinging them is fun, but rather because there's a higher ritual purpose being served by those particular objects being used in those particular ways. It's like calling an object rugged or utilitarian. It's not a statement on what you know about the object's specific purpose, but rather an adjective describing something else entirely.