Religion
Religion is Notoriuosly
difficult to define.
But we have no difficulty in
deciding whether something
is Religious or not
Or do we
A Luba diviner
and her client,
performing a
divination ritual,
jointly hold a
friction oracle
known as a
kakishi on a
woven mat on
the ground
between them..
(John Pemberton)
Albrecht
Durer 1504
What makes these religious?
The Major Features of Religion
• Texts
• Belief in the supernatural
• Symbolic
• Moral code
• Sacred vs. profane
• Emotional Experience
• Group membership/identity
• A means of explanation
• Stress/Anxiety Relief
• Body of myth
• Rituals
• Magic and witchcraft
• System
• supernatural Beings and
powers
• A philosophy
• Specially skilled individuals
Defining Religion
Religion
can be defined as any set of attitudes,
beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural
power, whether that power be forces, gods,
spirits, ghosts, or demons.
What
is considered the supernatural varies
from one society to the next.
Many
societies don’t have a separate word for
religion--it is so integrated into politics, or
cultural identity
Explanations for the Universality of Religion
Functional
Psychological
Intellectual
Interpretative
Sociological
Emotional
Intellectual approach
primitive
E. B. Tylor
man was a rationalist
and a scientific philosopher
the notion of spirits was not the
outcome of irrational thinking
preliterate religious beliefs and
practices were not “ridiculous” or
a “rubbish heap of miscellaneous
folly”
they were essentially consistent
and logical, based on rational
thinking and empirical
knowledge.
Animism
the
idea that the world
and everything in it is
filled with souls or spirits.
These
spirits can be
communicated with.
Spirits
“feel” and
therefore, can be harmed,
flattered, offended and can
also hurt or help.
Psychological Approach
 Reduces anxiety
 provides comfort
 Gives meaning to life – Yes there is life after death
 a means for dealing with crises death and illness,
famine, flood, failure
 helps people cope with reality.
 Tells them how to behave
 Removes burden of responsibility
 Participation in religious ceremonies provides
reassurance security, and even ecstasy, closeness etc
Sociological Approach
religion stems from society and societal needs and provides
for them
religions validate the social: they posit controlling forces in
the universe that sustain the moral and social order of a
people
sanction human conduct by providing notions of right and
wrong
setting precedents for acceptable behaviour, group norms
provides moral sanctions for individual conduct
education function through ritual used to learn oral
traditions
eg. puberty rites provide information about tribal lore.
Interpretative
Sees religion as a set of symbols and stresses the meaning of those
symbols, as referents and creators of meaningful life.
"a religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish
powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations by
formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and
clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the
moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic." “Clifford Geertz”
Claude Levi-Strauss structuralism -- Analysis of symbolic forms
of mythic
Through the work of Douglas and Victor Turner, as well as
performance theory, a new emphasis on ritual was established.
Concerned with the act
Coping with
Uncertainty
Magic, divination,
oracles, and witchcraft
MAGIC

Nature is understood to be
controlled by forces which
can be manipulated
 Magic is a way of
controlling the natural
elements.
 Magicians attempt to
control the elements for
the benefit of their society
or for the detriment of
their enemies.
Contagious Magic
Sympathetic Magic
Cave art used for rituals of this sort?
Standing Bison, Altamira
(Spain) c. 15,000-10,000 B.C
What is divination?
" the practice of foreseeing
future events or acquiring
hidden knowledge through
supernatural means"
Examples?
Ordeals
Omens
Oracles
An Azande diviner
uses a friction
oracle (iwa), holding
his foot against the
lower part to keep
the instrument in
place and rubbing
the upper part
against it.
Witchcraft
‘the inherent power to harm other persons by supernatural
means’ Evans-Pritchard
Bewitched
Sabrina
Charmed
Worst witch ever
Practical
Magic
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
shell currency is used to purchase the services of sorcerers
© Dorothy and David Counts
Rituals
Bathing in the Ganges
“a ritual is a stereotyped sequence of
activities involving gestures, words, or
objects, performed in a sequestered place
and designed to influence preternatural
[magical] entities or forces on behalf of
the actor’s goals or interests”
Victor Turner
Rituals





rites and ceremonies
Sometimes ritual reenact
myths and stories.
sometimes involve
particular kind of attire,
or a specific location.
They could be the reliving
of an important event.
a patterned form of
behavior, generally
communal and consisting
of prescribed actions and
words
Carnival
Ten characteristics of rituals
1. They are by definition religious –involve magic, the supernatural
2. They are highly formalized or structured patterns of behaviour
3. rituals are belief in action
4. Out of the ordinary actions i.e. sacred
5. usually performed in a sequestered place
6. They have a goal or aim
7. They serve a function for the people concerned
8. They serve to provide a sense of solidarity
9. symbolic
10. multivocalic
Types of Rituals
•Calendrical rites
•concerned with the natural world
•seasonal
•should guarantee success and wealth
•raindance
•Rites of transition or passage, life cycle
•concerned with the social world
•changes in the individual’s status, role or position
•Critical or life-crisis rites
•Curing and magic
•Concerned with the individual
•Ritual For Group Welfare
1. Mass
2. Communion
3. Feast Days
Role and Function of Rituals
Contact
the Ultimate Reality
Communicate with the Ultimate Reality
Communicate to others (public vs. private)
Help to develop relationship with the Ultimate
Reality
Effect human transformation
Rituals
“(E)veryday religious
activity and practice are
significant because their
primary purpose often to
place individuals,
families, and groups in
‘right relationships’ with
gods, ancestors, other
human beings, and
nature.”
 Rituals are ways in which
these relationships can be
insured.

What is a rite of passage?
Solomon Grundy
Solomon Grundy,
Born on Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday:
This is the end
Of Solomon Grundy
Rites of passage are the
mileposts or landmarks
that guide travelers
through the life cycle.
Quinceanera
The Rites of Passage (1908)
1. separation
2. transition
3. incorporation
Arnold van Gennep
(1873 - 1957)
Young boys from
Numbulwar with small
spears; they will try to hit
the men, who will then
have to dance for them at
their circumcision
ceremony.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services
Young initiates are carried to their elders on the ceremonial ground and will stay
with them during the all-night "Mandiwala" dance before their circumcision.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services
Initiates during their ceremony in Borroloola; they are
looking at a long line of dancers that will dance closely
around them and take them to the ceremony ground.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services
A boy is painted with red
ochre for his "Mandiwala"
initiation ceremony. He
wears a belt of human hair
that was put on him at the
start of his initiation.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services
Boys are painted up for their
"Mandiwala" initiation
cermony, where the whole
night the men will dance for
them; their circumcision takes
place early in the morning.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services
"Daru" initiates in Borroloola. They are carrying small bark
boomerangs with which they try to hit men who should later dance
for them in their "Mandiwala" ceremony.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services
Young initiates during a "Djapi" circumcision ceremony in
Numbulwar, south eastern Arnhem Land, in which the boys are
painted with their clan totemic designs.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services
An initiate during a southern Arnhem Land circumcision
ceremony; the boy is decorated with white clay and strings of
feathers.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services
A man's dance during an initiation ceremony in the early
morning in Beswick, in the southern part of Arnhem Land.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers © OzOutback Internet Services