Banal start to traditional ceremony (5)
I believe the answer is:
trite
'banal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'start to traditional ceremony' is the wordplay.
'start to' indicates taking the first letters.
'ceremony' becomes 'rite' (rite is a kind of ceremony).
The initial letter of 'traditional' is 't'.
't'+'rite'='TRITE'
(Other definitions for trite that I've seen before include "Banal, commonplace" , "all vigour is gone" , "Stock" , "Overfamiliar through overuse" , "used till novelty's worn off" .)