The first ceremony is dull (5)
I believe the answer is:
trite
'dull' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the first ceremony' is the wordplay.
'the first' becomes 't' (1st letter of 'the').
'ceremony' becomes 'rite' (rite is a kind of ceremony).
't'+'rite'='TRITE'
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for trite that I've seen before include "(Of an idea) lacking in originality" , "repeated too often" , "Commonplace, hackneyed" , "Banal, commonplace" , "Dull, unoriginal" .)