Ritual

1
Ritual

• Religious Rituals
• Involves religious paraphernalia/symbols like
  prayers, offerings, sacred literature
  recitations, etc.

• Patterned, recurring sequence of events
• Morning, bedtime, workout, TV, Homework rituals.
• These ritual activities are secular
  (non-religious)

2
Ritual and Myth

• They are interrelated and form the basis of
  religious practices
• A Ritual may derive its methods and directives
  from Myth. A ritual can reenact mythology,
  therefore bringing the sacred to the present for
  participants.
• Ex Heb Sed ritual
• Myths provide the basis for a societys morals
  and values. Rituals are the vehicle with which
  these values are imparted to the group.
• Myth Egyptian creation story Egypt balance
• Ritual Pharaoh creates/maintains balance.

3
General Classifications of Ritual

• Perscriptive vs. Situational/Crisis Rituals
• Perscriptive Ritual Required to be performed
  either by a religious text, a deity/religious
  authority or dictated by tradition
• Ex Prayers/recitations/communion in Catholic
  Mass
• Ex Yom Habikkurim (Shavuot) the Day of the
  First Fruits to celebrate the giving of the 10
  Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai. Also marks
  beginning of wheat harvest.
• Ex Offering to spirit of ancestors, ancient
  Egypt
• Situational/Crisis Rituals Arise as needed,
  usually in times of crisis
• Ex Sept. 11th, Jessica Stephens

4
General Classifications of Ritual cont.

• Periodic vs. Occasional Rituals
• Periodic (also called Calendrical) rituals are
  performed on a regular basis as part of a
  religious calendar
• Ex Daily prayers of Islam One of the 5 pillars
  of faith mentioned earlier in connection with the
  Pentacle. Prayers must be performed at dawn,
  midday, midafternoon, sunset and nightfall as
  commanded by the prophet Mohammad.
• Ex Diwali Hindu festival of lights. Performed
  on the darkest night of the month of Kartik. A
  reenactment of Myth in which Rama, Sita and
  Lakshmana return to their kingdom of Ayodhya
  after a 14-year exile. The lights represent a
  celebration of the return and cleansing of
  spiritual darkness. May also relate to the
  harvest season.
• Many Periodic Rituals are associated with the
  Agricultural Calendar (i.e. when crops are
  planted/harvested)
• Ex Samhain (Loreena McKennitts All Souls Night)
• Means November in Gaelic. Marks the end of
  the Harvest season and regarded as the
  traditional Irish New Year. A time to gather and
  take inventory of crops, animals and supplies for
  Winter. Large, central bonfire created to bring
  community together. Divination used to foresee
  future spouse, children, agricultural success.
  Related to Catholic All Souls Night/Day
  (remembrance of the faithfully departed), Dia De
  Los Muertos and our Halloween.
• Occasional Rituals performed when a particular
  need arises as in marriage and death or to bring
  about change, or to ensure survival
• Ex Ghost Dance

5
More Specific Ritual Classification

• Technological Rituals
• Hunting Gathering Rites of Intensification
• Protective Rituals
• Therapy Rituals
• Ethnobotany, Anti-Therapy Rituals
• Ideological Rituals
• Rites of Passage
• Coming-of-Age Rituals
• Alterations of the Human Body
• Tattooing and Piercing
• Other Modifications
• Genital Alterations
• Salvation Rituals
• Revitalization Rituals
• Pilgrimages
• The Huichol Pilgrimage

6
Technological Rituals Rituals that attempt to
influence/control nature

• Hunting and Gathering Rites of Intensification
  goal is to influence nature in the quest for
  food. Includes hunting, gathering, fishing,
  herding, farming.
• Ex Inuit seal hunt
• Placing fresh water into the mouth of the
  deceased seal would mollify its spirit and might
  encourage its return (reincarnation), thereby
  providing additional resources. Seals have souls
  and are part of a creation myth involving the
  Mother of the Sea (Sedna).
• Protective Rituals Performed in anticipation of
  dangerous activities or in response to threats.
• Ex Making boats seaworthy

7
Therapy Rituals

• Meant to cure/rehabilitate upon accident/illness
• Ex Traditional, plant-derived medicines and
  ethnobotany Anthropologically based study of
  plants, especially in healing.
• Ex Sekhmet and the destruction of Humanity
• Offerings to Sekhmet if hurt/sick (a type of
  Crisis/Situational Ritual)

8
Anti-Therapy Rituals

• Meant to bring about harm
• Ex The Fore (from Ch. 1)
• Cause of Kuru Sorcery ritual.
• Steal something of the victims, 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

9
Ideological Rituals

• Meant to maintain social order, norms, values,
  morals. Assist community in times of change and
  crisis, reasserting social order.
• Ex Ghost Dance mentioned previously under the
  major classification of Occasional Ritual
• 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.
• Can also be a Social Rite of Intensification
  Same definition as above, but usually a
  Prescribed and Periodic ritual.
• Ex Sunday morning church/Jewish Sabbath/Islamic
  daily prayers/Major annual religious festivals
  and holidays.

10
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.
• 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