procedure vs ritual

procedure

noun
  • The steps taken in an action or other legal proceeding. 

  • A particular method for performing a task. 

  • A series of small tasks or steps taken to accomplish an end. 

  • A subroutine or function coded to perform a specific task, but does not return a value. 

  • A surgical operation. 

  • The set of established forms or methods of an organized body for accomplishing a certain task or tasks. 

ritual

noun
  • A rite; a repeated set of actions. 

adj
  • Related to a rite or repeated set of actions. 

How often have the words procedure and ritual occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )