I am all for holding on to traditions and rituals. It can help us, as a people, identify with ideas that can be bigger than ourselves. These ideas are what we should hold on to and strive to understand better. The meaning of the ritual is the sacred ingredient, not the behavior itself.

When the physical ritual kills the sacred followers, isn’t it (past the) time to search for the meaning again and adjust the physical ritual?

Another unfortunate disaster occurred during the Hajj. Deadly occurrences have continued during the Hajj for decades. Once again, this stampede occurred near the ritual of the “stoning of the devil”.

Shared from the New York Times:

Phot Credit: Mosa’Ab Elshamy/Associated Press, published by New York Times

Stampede Near Mecca During Hajj Leaves at Least 717 Dead

BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 717 people were killed, and 863 were injured, in a stampede near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday morning…

…The accident, in which 863 were also injured, occurred on the first day of Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest holidays in the Muslim calendar…

…It appeared to be the deadliest accident during the hajj since 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims perished in a stampede in a tunnel linking Mecca and Mina. And it occurred less than two weeks after a large construction crane toppled and crashed into the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing at least 111 people and injuring 394 others…

Source: Stampede Near Mecca During Hajj Leaves at Least 717 Dead – The New York Times