In Sacraments of Simple Folk, Marett explores sacraments anthropologically and defines them ‘as any rite which by way of sanction or positive blessing invests a natural function with a supernatural authority of its own’. He further says that by ‘ritual’, an anthropologist understands an organized technique, approved by the society concerned, for dealing with the incalculable element in any critical situation of human life. Having situated his text within an anthropological framework, in the remainder of his work, Marett examines particular natural rituals—eating, fighting, mating, educating, ruling, judging, covenanting, healing and dying—and argues for their religious significance.