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