I apologize for being unable resist thinking of a counterexample any time someone makes a generalization. Would household utensils found in a sealed burial chamber be a clear case of ritual use for real, or did dead people in ancient times put them to some practical use we haven't identified?
However, people still regularly get buried with their wedding rings or similar such items. Do you consider that behavior ritualistic, or just sentimental?
If you squint a little is a bit of overlap in the definitions of those words. I think that’s where the practice lies.
Sentimental: A: marked or governed by feeling, sensibility, or emotional idealism
B: resulting from feeling rather than reason or thought
Ritual: 1: the established form for a ceremony specifically : the order of words prescribed for a religious ceremony
2A: ritual observance specifically : a system of rites
B: a ceremonial act or action
C: an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner
I can’t help but point out that “if you squint a little” is grounds for a great deal of debate. It’s exactly the kind of thinking that makes some sort of “ritual object (for real)” hard to distinguish even when actually living in the culture in question.