Ritual, Rites of Passage and Rites of Intensification

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Ritual, Rites of Passage and Rites of
Intensification
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• Ritual and Myth
• The Basic of Ritual Performance
• Prescriptive and Situational Rituals
• Periodic and Occasional Rituals
• A Classification of Rituals
• Technological Rituals
• H/G Rites of Intensification
• Protective Rituals
• Therapy Rituals
• Anti-Therapy Rituals
• Ideological Rituals

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• Rites of Passage
• The Structure of Rite of Passage
• Coming-of-Age Rituals
• American Secular Rites of Passage

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Ritual and Myth

• In some ways a ritual resembles a play.
• A play consists of actors, words, sets, and props
  presented in a set way according to a script.
• And a play is a reflection of the culture of a
  society and that societys worldview.

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• A public religious ritual also consists of actors
  (shamans and priests)
• Sets (such as an alter)
• And props (such as candles, religious books, or
  masks)
• And many contain music and dance as well.
• Two of the most basic elements in religious
  practices are ritual and myth (closely connected).

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• Ritual is often based on myth in that the
  instruction to perform the ritual may lie within
  the myth.
• The myth provides the elements for the
  development of the ritual
• There is some debate over which came first.
• Myth is reflected in ritual, and ritual often
  gives rise to myth.

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The Basics of Rituals Performance

• There is much diversity
• Prescriptive Rituals
• Rituals that are required to be preformed.
• The requirement may be set forth in a religious
  text. (Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
  holy)
• May be required by a deity or religious
  authority, or may be based on traditions.

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• Other rituals are preformed because of a
  particular need of an individual or community.
• Situational Rituals (Crisis Rituals).
• These often rise spontaneously, frequently in
  time of crisis.
• EX BaMbuti Pygmies of the Congo The Song of the
  Forest (Molimo)
• EX September 11th 2001

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• Periodic and Occasional Rites
• Another way of describing rituals is to identify
  them as being based as part of a religious
  calendar or being performed when a particular
  need arises, such as marriage or a death.
• These are referred to as periodic rituals
  (calendrical rituals) and occasional rituals
• Periodic rituals may be performed daily or
  several times a day
• Daily prayers (salaht) of Islam.
• Passover

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• Occasional ritual are rituals that are performed
  for a specific purpose when a situation arises
  that requires the ritual to be performed.
• Many occasional rituals are associated with
  nature and the impact of nature on the
  agricultural cycle
• These include rituals to control an infestation
  of insects or pests
• Rain
• Occasional rituals are also associated with
  important events in the life of an individual.
• These include rituals marking birth, marriage,
  and death.

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A Classification of Rituals

• Technological Rituals
• Rituals that attempt to influence or control
  nature, especially in activities that affect
  human activities and well-being.
• Success and failure in hunting etc is influenced
  by nature.
• Because these events affects the very survival of
  people, all societies attempt to influence or
  even to control nature.
• Examples of these rituals include rites of
  intensification, protective rituals, and
  divination.

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Rites of Intensification

• The function of this rite is to influence nature
  in the quest for food.
• These include periodic rituals that follow the
  seasonal cycle and occasional rituals performed
  in the response to some crisis such as lack of
  rain.
• Rituals accompany the preparation of the soil,
  the planting of seeds, the protection of the
  growing crops from the elements and wild animals,
  and the harvest.

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• Among H/Gs the commencement of the time when
  particular wild foods are available is often
  marked by ritual.
• The Inuit, who live on the Artic coast, depend on
  seals for their survival.
• The myths and rituals on the Inuit reflect this
  connection.
• The creation of seals is the subject of an
  important creation myth (read).

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Protective Rituals

• These rituals are routinely performed at the
  start of a dangerous activity or occasionally in
  response to a gathering storm.
• These are rituals designed to protect the safety
  of the people who are involved in dangerous
  tasks.
• They are also performed in response to some
  unexpected threat to the success of an economic
  endeavor.
• EX Trobriand Islanders
• EX Vikings blooding the keel

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Therapy Rituals

• Of all tragedies that may befall a people,
  perhaps the most disturbing and disruptive are
  illnesses and accidents that led to incapacity or
  death.
• All peoples have theories about the cause of
  illness and accident, and these are associated
  with techniques, including rituals, for dealing
  with them.
• Rituals that focus on curing are called therapy
  rituals.
• They are among the most important rituals found
  in many societies.

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• They type of ritual will depend on the cause of
  illness with the cause frequently being
  discovered by means of divination
• Cause of Illness Therapy Ritual
• Object intrusion Massage and sucking to
  remove the object
• Sprit intrusion Exorcism
• Soul loss Soul retrieval
• Breach of taboo Confession
• Witchcraft Anti-witchcraft rituals
• spirits and gods sacrifices and offerings

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Anti-therapy Rituals

• Rituals that bring about illness, accident, or
  death.
• When directed towards a member of ones own
  community, the behavior is clearly anti-social.
• The person responsible needs to be identified,
  usually through divination, stopped, and
  punished.
• EX Yanomamö
• Bone Pointing
• Australian Aborigines
• Fore of New Guinea

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Ideological Rituals

• These rituals serve to maintain the normal
  functioning of a community.
• They delineate codes of proper behavior
• Define good and evil
• Moral and immoral
• Articulate the community's worldview
• They assist people and the community in getting
  through time of change and times of crisis.
• They facilitate the orderly running of the
  society.
• They tend to be conservative, sanctioning the
  social order.

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• An important type of ideological ritual is the
  social rite of intensification.
• They are usually prescribed and periodic and
  include the weekly Sunday morning church service
  found in most Christian churches, Jewish Sabbath
  rituals, and the daily prayers of Muslims.
• Some rituals have aspects that can be classified
  in more than one category.
• EX funeral is a rite of passage for the
  individual that died and a rite of
  intensification for those that remain.

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Rites of Passage

• These types of rituals mark the changes of people
  go though throughout their lifetimes.
• Rites of Passage imprint the change in a persons
  social status on the minds of the participants
  and grant community approval of legitimacy for
  the change.
• Some rites of passage are very familiar.
• These include rites marking a persons
  progression through life.
• Which ones can you name?

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• Birth Rituals
• Baptism in Catholicism
• Jewish bris.
• Childhood to Adulthood
• Confirmations
• Quinceaneras
• Bar mitzvahs and Bat mitzvahs
• Other important life-cycles
• Marriage
• death

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The Structure of a Rite of Passage

• Anthropologists identify three phases in the
  typical rite of passage.
• Separation the individual is removed from his or
  her former status.
• Transition here, several activities take place
  that bring about change in status.
• Incorporation here, individuals re-enters the
  normal society.
• EX marriage

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Coming-of-Age Rituals

• This marks the transition from childhood into
  adult hood.
• EX Menarche First menstruation
• Yanomamö
• American Secular Rites of Passage