Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the general tendency of family/kin ritual transition and to find out related variables. For this purpose, 593 subjects of rural family were interviewed with questionnaires. The major results of the study were summarized as follows: 1. It was discovered that the characteristics of the ritual transition among the rural families is same as the urban families, i.e. westernization, commercialization, and socialization. But the speed of rural area was relatively slow. 2. In contemporary family/kin rites, traditional structure coexisted with external westernized aspects by the group who were elderly, lowly educated, lowly earned and Buddhist. 3. The family/kin rites were more significantly different depending on the age than gender, and the religion was the significant variable to the family/kin rites. So the family/kin ritual management education programs were needed.