The start of this strange ritual is nominal (7)
I believe the answer is:
titular
'nominal' is the definition.
('titular' can be a synonym of 'nominal')
'the start of this strange ritual' is the wordplay.
'start of' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'start' mean this).
'this strange' is an anagram indicator.
The initial letter of 'the' is 't'.
'ritual' anagrammed gives 'itular'.
't'+'itular'='TITULAR'
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for titular that I've seen before include "as figureheads" , "Relating to a name" , "Like certain churches" , "as a figurehead" , "Having title but not authority" .)