Abstract: The ritual is an effective carrier of patriotic education in colleges and universities. Patriotic education ritual in colleges and universities has four basic features： symbolic and performative ritual symbols， infectious and sympathetic ritual time and space， orienting and educative ritual discourse， and normative and repetitive ritual performance. Ritual symbols are used to build national cognition， ritual time and space to generate patriotic feelings， ritual discourse to strengthen patriotic beliefs， and ritual drills to cast patriotic behavior. Colleges and universities can optimize the patriotism education ceremony and enhance its effectiveness by exploring the resources of ceremony symbols， creating the atmosphere of ceremony time and space， enriching the ceremony discourse system， and innovating the form of ceremony drills.