This is the takeaway, in my opinion :

Previous research has supported the idea that children like to replicate irrelevant actions, especially when the goal of the action becomes increasingly obscure. A 2018 study by Nielsen and colleagues showed that, when children 3-6 years old watch an adult perform unnecessary actions while opening a box, the children are more likely to repeat these behaviors when there is no clear goal to the behavior (i.e., the box is empty) than when there is (i.e., the adult retrieves a sticker from the box). This finding is in line with the precautionary approach aforementioned, as it shows that the more uncertain we are about why an action was performed, the more likely we are to repeat it, just to be safe.

All cultures share traditions of ritualistic practices that, in one way or another, relate to things that were for thousands of years beyond humanity's understanding or control - fertility, the weather, the harvest, etc.

Early communities found that doing Thing X seemed to bring about a favorable outcome so they kept doing it even though they had no idea how or why their actions had an effect.