Ritual and dying: a cultural analysis of social support for caregivers. This study examines the role of social support in the process of caring for someone dying at home. Based on data from in-depth ethnographic interviews with 16 caregivers, it employs a cultural analysis to draw parallels with rituals of transition. Ritual provides a broad context of meanings and routines for securing the doubts and unknowns of individual experience. The way social support is provided plays a key role in the caregiver's transition to bereavement. 