C is for Community; the FIFA World Cup and the Ritual Economy
- Jul 20
- 5 min read
Approaching the end of July, The C Word set out to discuss the cost of the ritual economy.
This realisation of the ritual economy came about during a conversation with my driver in Indonesia, who was sharing details about his family’s upcoming traditional celebrations. I hadn't realised just how expensive these mandatory customs could become. In many parts of Asia, milestones like child birth, graduations, tooth-filing, weddings, and cremations - alongside recurring annual temple festivals - are non-negotiable community affairs.
I decided to run the numbers to see what ritual economy and trends actually costs an average household, what this means for the future economy consideration of Generation Z and Alpha in Asia who have been surrounded by the commodification of rituals since childhood;
Overview of Household Ritual Expenses ( Indonesia case study)
Event / Ritual | Frequency | Estimated Cost (IDR) | Primary Expense Items |
Family Temple Anniversary | Every 210 days | Rp 750,000 – Rp 1,500,000 | Ritual offerings , priest honoraria, communal feasts |
Annual Ceremony | Every 210 days | Rp 500,000 – Rp 1,000,000 | Daily offerings (rice), formal attire, decorative bamboo poles |
New Year | Annually | Rp 300,000 – Rp 500,000 | Neighbourhood contributions, cleansing rituals, effigy construction |
Full Moon & New Moon | Monthly | Rp 100,000 – Rp 200,000 | Standard household offerings and recurring family compound, prayers |
In this ritual economy, households manage a continuous cycle of religious expenditure driven by both lunar and 210 - day calendar systems. Financial obligations range from small, predictable monthly costs of Rp 100,000- 200,000 for regular full/new moon prayers to significant periodic expenses reaching up to Rp 1,500,000 for temple anniversaries. Beyond private household ceremonies, these costs include mandatory neighbourhood contributions for community-wide rituals and artistic preparation, highlighting how spiritual duties function as a major recurring line item in daily financial planning. Additionally has been widely noted that recent everyday costs, including fuel, school fees, and household groceries, have steadily risen.
The Social Safety Net
While these rituals carry a real financial cost, there is a deep cultural safety net in place. To offset other social life-cycle events like weddings or cremations, families rely on a reciprocal system where the community pools labour, food, and financial resources.
This explains why many people hold a standard job for financial income while simultaneously dedicating significant time to local community service.
3. Capitalism: How Western Rituals Became Secular Commodities
Interestingly, despite maintaining a wide acquaintance network, post-pandemic social dynamics have rarely translated into personal invitations to major traditional rituals, like weddings, christenings, baptisms, or funerals, whether Western or Eastern.
We often assume that as societies modernise, rituals fade away. Globally, an estimated 1.1 to 1.9 billion people identify as religiously unaffiliated (atheists, agnostics, or 'nones'), representing roughly 24% of the global population. Younger demographics are less interested in organised religion more than ever. ( Pew Research Centre, 2025).
Yet, we seem to have more rituals now than ever before. The difference is that in the West, corporations have commercialised the modern sacred experience:
Sports as a Secular Religion: The last time I was in Los Angeles (2024), I looked for tickets to a baseball game. Upper-tier seats far up with the gods were roughly £250 each - complete with embedded financing options if you wanted to borrow money to follow your team. Football in Europe operates the same way; fans bet heavily and spend thousands, treating their sports club like a devout faith.
Music & Festivals: Companies in 2026 sell 'social status' through tiered VIP access, festival wristbands, and limited-edition merchandise treated like sacred relics.
Commercialised Holidays: Events like Black Friday shopping, seasonal coffee or snacks, or paid meditation app subscriptions package our inner emotional and spiritual needs into monthly recurring revenues.
The Western ritual economy proves that even as church attendance declines, corporations step in to fill the void - packaging rituals into billion-dollar markets.
4. Ritual Disruptions and Modern Life
The word 'ritual' can give people the chills when viewed as a rigid, tribal expectation. Yet, we all maintain daily personal rituals - whether it is our morning coffee, day-planning routines, or wellness habits.
When these patterns are disrupted, it impacts us deeply. Take the 2010 movie The A-Team, where Bradley Cooper's character, Lt. Templeton 'Face' Peck, states the three keys to victory: Distraction, Diversion, and Division.
In modern life, systematic disruption of our routines - via algorithms, constant social media feeds, and changing work environments - mirrors this exact concept. Such algorithms illustrate how It fragments our sleep, thought, and memory patterns.
5. Summary Comparison & Takeaway for the Next Generation
Major events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw world politicians, pop stars, and top athletes straight into cities like New York. But beyond the spectacle, comparing these two economic models forces us to ask a critical question: what kind of financial and social expectations are we passing down to the next generation in both the East and the West?
East & West Ritual Economy Comparative Overview
Dimension | Indonesian Ritual Economy | Western Ritual Economy (US) |
Primary Driver | Spiritual values, tradition, and communal social bonds. | Corporate profit, personal satisfaction, and social status. |
Spending Focus | Mutual aid , offerings, shared meals, and community pooling. | Ticket sales, official merchandise, travel accommodation, and sponsored goods. |
Nature of Relationships | Both Vertical & Horizontal: • Vertical: Sacred devotion between humans, ancestors, and the divine. • Horizontal: Reciprocal, egalitarian ties among living community members. | Consumer Vertical: • Vertical: One-way commercial relationship between consumers (fans/clients) and producers (brands/corporations). • Horizontal: Often fragmented or indirect among individual consumers. |
Across generations and cultures, ritual participation remains a lifelong cost that families budget for. However, these expenditures are far from passive economic burdens. Social economists (Surtiari, Wannewitz, Prasetyoputra, Siagian (2024) find that ritual spending acts as informal insurance: by contributing heavily to communal and religious ceremonies, a family secures their place in a social safety net - ensuring that neighbours and relatives will step in during times of crisis, job loss, or illness. Ultimately, what appears on the surface as a religious expense, in reality, can be a vital long-term investment in community resilience and mutual survival.
Ultimately, whether driven by ancient village structures or modern corporate marketing, human beings in 2026 seem to be sold an innate need for structured rituals to feel connected, build social ties, and affirm their identity.
As we are encouraged to pass these lifelong economics onto our children, we continue to observe how Rituals represent a significant lifetime financial addition, creating a recurring economic obligation that our future generations globally must account for.
Appendix:
Pew Research Centre. (2025, June 9). How the global religious landscape changed from 2010 to 2020. Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project.
Surtiari, Wannewitz, Prasetyoputra, Siagian (2024). Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 21(1)
Fifa World Cup 2026
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