Anti-Therapy Rituals
• Meant to bring about
harm
– Ex: The Fore (from Ch. 1)
• Cause of Kuru – Sorcery
ritual.
– Steal something of the
victim’s, mix with
leaves/bark/stones,
bind into a package.
Recite a harmful spell,
bury into the cold,
muddy ground. Victim
then develops
uncontrollable shaking
of Kuru.
– Ex: Australian Aboriginee
Cursing Ritual “Bone
Pointing”
Ideological Rituals
•
Meant to maintain social order, norms, values, morals. Assist community in times of
change and crisis, reasserting social order.
• Ex: GHOST DANCE
– Associated with the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 where 153 Lakota Sioux were killed
during its performance. Started by Wovoka, a Paiute Native American who received a message
from God that if this dance was performed, impending doom from the “Manifest Destiny” of
settlers could be avoided, and harmony and peace would prevail.
Social Rite of
Intensification
A Prescribed and
Periodic Ideological
Ritual.
Ideological Rituals cont.
• Rite of Passage: purpose is to change the
status of an individual within a community
and to imprint this new status to collective
memory.
– Status: refers to social position (i.e. brother,
mother, husband, Instructor, student, policeman)
not to rank
– Rank: Hierarchical placement of an individual
within society (i.e. Employee, Supervisor, Middle
Manager, Vice President, President, CEO)
• Ex: Chimpanzee politics in relation to human social
groups.
Ideological Rituals cont.
• Rite of Passage stages:
– Separation: an individual is separated from
previous status
– Transition: undergoes rituals (can involve
initiation and/or pain ceremonies)
• Often a time of mystery and metamorphosis. An
individual is in a state of
Liminality: ambiguous social marginality occurring in
this transition phase.
– Incorporation: Individual reenters society w/ new
status
Rite of Passage Coming of Age Rituals: Boys vs.
Girls
• Coming of Age Ritual: Marks transition
from childhood to adulthood.
– Girls:
• Menarche usually marks the beginning.
• Since time of menstruation is different for each
girl, the Coming of Age Ritual is usually an
individual event.
– Ex: Yanomamö women: onset of menarche, girl is
cloistered in a specific area of the home (separation).
She sits here for 3 days, shaves her head, eats little
and wears no adornments (transition). At the end,
she cleans herself and re-enters society as an adult
(incorporation).
Rite of Passage Coming of Age Rituals: Boys vs.
Girls
• Coming of Age Ritual: Marks transition from
childhood to adulthood.
– Boys:
• Usually initiated as an Age Set (a group of people
around the same age), instead of individually like girls.
– Ex: Gururumba men: group of boys are taken from their
respective women/children homes (separation) to the men’s
house. Here they must wipe off the polluting sweat obtained
from the women’s hut, are psychologically and physically
hazed to test their fortitude and learn secret knowledge meant
only for men, including flute-playing (transition). Once they
have accomplished this, they are then presented to the
community as men (incorporation).
• Since boys often go through Coming of Age Rituals
together, communitas, or a sense of community and
camaraderie, develops.
Alterations of the Human Body
•
Some rituals require alteration of the body/certain body
part(s) in the liminal state (Transition phase). Can be
permanent and indicate completion of the ritual.
– Clothing and body paint
• Ex: Wedding Gown, Tuxedo (Wedding), Uniforms/Haircuts
(Law Enforcement/Military)
– Tattooing/Piercing
• Ex: piercing/cutting the skin, inserting ink/pigment
• Ex: Earrings/plugs/weights
• Ex: Cicatrization (Scarification)
–
In West Africa, used in initiation and as a sign of bravery. Usually done
with razor blades.
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countriesplaces/benin/benin-scarification-dest.html
• Ex: Stretching of the Neck/Lower Lip/Neck
–
Paduang tribe from Thailand. Girls begin to wear coils right before
puberty (Coming of Age Ritual).
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countriesplaces/thailand/thailand_brassshackles.html
• Ex: Piercing: nose, eyebrow, lips, tongue, nipples, genitalia
–
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countriesplaces/indonesia/indonesia_teethchiseling.html (teeth chiseling)
Genital Alterations
• Sometimes performed as a Right of Passage
– Male Circumcision
• Cutting of the Foreskin. In Judaism termed “Berit Mila”. May also include
official naming of the child. For girls, only the naming ceremony and not
circumcision is performed.
• Subincision: Underside of penis (and sometimes part of the urethra) is
cut.
– Female Circumcision
• 3 major types:
– Clitoridectomy: Clitoris/part of clitoris and sometimes part/all of labia minora.
– Infibulation: Clitoris, labia minora and majora.
– Pharaonic Infibulation: entire clitoris, labia minora, majora and remnants
sewn together to form small openings for bodily functions. Wound reopened
for sexual intercourse.
• Not as widely accepted as Male Circumcision, considered by many outside
cultures as a breach of Universal Human Rights:
– (Google news broadcast): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sBhTYEE030
» Themes: Attempting to observe and understand, but not to judge.
Question, how to balance Cultural Relativism with Human Rights?
Salvation Rituals, Revitalization Rituals and
Pilgrimages
•
Salvation Ritual: in which an individual is
changed in some way
–
•
Revitalization Rituals: Elimination of
foreign/recently introduced customs in
order to return to a more traditional way
of life.
–
•
Ex: Spirit possession (temporary), initiation
of a Shaman (permanent), Altered States
of Consciousness Rituals (next chapter).
Ex: The Amish
Pilgrimages: Journey to a sacred place, or
a series of rituals that are associated with
a sequence of religious sites.
–
–
Ex: Muslim (Kaaba in Mecca, the Hajj).
Ex: Navaho, Aborigine sacred landscape.
Physical features of the environment
(boulders/rivers/lakes) part of mythology
that is still tangible (i.e. touched/seen).
Tabu!
• Not quite Ritual, but they are still
Religious Obligations
• Tabu: objects/people/actions that are
off limits. Dishonor, bad luck or
something else negative would result for
the one who breaks Tabu.
– Ex: Judaism (Uzzah steadies the ark to
prevent it from capsizing but is smote
dead by God for touching this most
sacred of objects).
– Ex: Mana (Polynesia) an impersonal
supernatural force found concentrated
in people, objects and the landscape
(like “The Force”). Chief has so much
Mana that he may pose a threat to
others. Tabus are put in place to protect
others (i.e. cannot touch the chief/use
his items).
– Tabu in our culture?