This is a commentary on the special issue articles on rituals and exploration in mathematics teaching and learning. It explores the question of whether and how we can learn from research on rituals and ritualization, when these are typically associated with poor or even no learning of mathematics. The papers in the special issue show there is indeed much to learn, and the commentary reflects on this learning together with the quandaries that arise from such engagement, in particular the quandaries of understanding and deficit discourses.