Rituals

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Rituals

• Chapter 4

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Part I
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Introduction

• Ritual can be defined as patterned, recurring
  sequence of events
• When these acts involve religious symbols,
  prayers, reading or saying sacred words, etc. it
  is a religious ritual

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The Basics

• Religious rituals are a lot like plays. They
  have
• Actors (shamans or priests)
• Words (prayers, spells, sacred text)
• Sets (altar, church, mosque)
• Props (incense, masks, robes)
• They also have music and dancing

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The Basics

• So what makes a play not a religious ritual?
• It is not to entertain
• The audience actively participates

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The Basics

• Religious practices most commonly have ritual and
  myth
• These are tied to worldview
• Audience participates and rituals help stabilize
  society and unify the group

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The Basics

• What are some familiar religious rituals?

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The Basics
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Types of Rituals

• Prescriptive rituals required to be performed
• ex. Command to keep Sabbath holy
• Situational rituals spontaneous, can be during
  times of crisis
• Sept. 11th

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Types of Rituals

• Periodic/Calendrical rituals performed on a
  regular basis
• ex. Sunday church, Passover, Ramadan
• Occasional rituals performed when the need
  arises
• Marriage ceremonies, funerals

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Classification of Rituals

• Anthony Wallace created categories of types of
  rituals
• Pg. 79
• Include rituals that try to
• Control nature
• Heal the sick
• Maintain peace in a community
• Rites of passage (stages in life cycle)

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Technological Rituals

• Attempt to control or influence nature
• Used with hunter/gatherers or people who rely on
  nature for survival
• Common among Native American groups
• Ex. Thanking an animal that you have hunted for
  its meat and skin

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Technological Rituals

• Read the Inuit creation myth (pg. 81)

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Technological Rituals

• Seal hunts are part of their survival
• Success depends on Mother of the Sea
• Seals have souls and rituals pay respect to seals
  they hunt
• Creation myths, world views influence rituals

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Lakota buffalo ritual
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Protective Rituals

• Are used before dangerous activities
• May be done before each activity or when an
  unexpected event occurs
• Ex. The Vikings blooded the keel of a new ship
  (human sacrifice)
• Today we break a bottle of champagne on a new ship

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Social Rites of Intensification

• These maintain normal functioning of society
• Teach good/evil moral/immoral how to act/how
  not to act
• Ex. Sabbath, Easter, Rosh Hashanah (rituals can
  belong to more than 1 category)
• Ex. Jewish practice of reciting kaddish at
  someones funeral
• Reaffirms their faith

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Offerings and Sacrifices

• Many rituals try to communicate with deities
• People give gifts, bribes, money, etc. in the
  hopes the gods will return the favor
• The difference is that in a sacrifice blood is
  shed and in an offering gifts are exchanged

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Offerings and Sacrifices

• Human sacrifices have been common through history
• Aztecs fed human blood to the Sun so the world
  would not end
• Those sacrificed believed they would become gods
• Would cut open the chest and remove victims
  still-beating heart
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vmk2E1CoGe98

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Assignment

• Read and discuss handout on sacrifices in your
  groups.

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Healing Rituals

• Cultures have different explanations for what
  makes people sick
• Ethnobotany is using medical plants to help cure
  people
• We have made many common drugs out of medicinal
  plant knowledge

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Healing Rituals

• Therapy rituals focus on curing those who are
  sick
• Anti-therapy rituals are those that try to bring
  illness, accident, or death to others
• Ex. Fore of New Guinea take a something
  associated with an enemy, recites a spell and
  buries it. They believe this will cause person to
  develop kuru

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Video

• Taboo Healing Rituals
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v2R_5Hkm4AR8
• What types of healing rituals are in the videos?
• What elements from lecture are demonstrated?
• Do these rituals work? Explain your answer

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Part II
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Salvation and Revitalization

• Salvation rituals involve a person changing in
  some way, usually being possessed or having
  altered state of consciousness
• Revitalization rituals aim to return to the
  traditional way of doing things

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Rites of Passage

• These are rituals that mark a certain life stage
  or the transition of status
• Ex are birth, naming rites, puberty, marriage,
  death
• In some societies naming rites are delayed
  because of high infant mortality
• Other examples circumcision, bat mitzvahs,
  quinceaneras,

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Rites of Passage

• These can also be coming-of-age rituals,
  especially to mark puberty
• Also called initiations
• Girls are usually separated from the group
• Initiations are usually more complex for boys
  than for girls
• Rituals involve separation, modifying body,
  wearing different clothes, getting a different
  name, etc.

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Rites of Passage

• Initiations has an important phases
• Liminality ambiguous phase during the change
• Usually there is communitas, or the bonding of
  everyone going through the same phase
• Rites are very difficult and show that the person
  can be an adult (pain, separation)
• In the US, military initiation is a rite of
  passage. Describe why

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Initiation with Pain

• Taboo Initiation
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vd2GmB5sNZeQ
• Questions
• What is the purpose of the initiation ceremony?
• What aspects from lecture are demonstrated?

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Altering the Body

• Can be temporary or permanent
• Often during rites of passage
• Includes tattooing, piercing, and scarification

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Permanent Altering

• Tattooing, branding, stretching, circumcision
• Tattoo is Tahitian for to mark or strike
• What are social implications in the US about
  tattoos?
• They can mark social identity

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Horimono tattoo Some African tribes use
Scarification Pay homage to ancestors stretching
to show wealth as initiation
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Video

• Taboo Marks of Identity
• Questions
• How do the neck rings and tattoos mark these
  groups cultural identities?
• How are these considered rituals?

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Genital Cutting

• Circumcision is very common and also accepted in
  Western cultures
• What is the reason for doing it?
• Male circumcision is a common rite of passage
• Though much older and no anesthesia or scalpels
• Initiations should show pain tolerance

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Genital Cutting

• There is one practice that is almost universally
  condemned
• Female circumcision or clitoridectomy in which
  the clitoris and/or labia are removed
• Vaginal opening can be sewn almost shut
• Keeps a woman pure until her husband has sex
  with her
• Female domination, health issue, human rites
  issue

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In-Class Assignment

• ICA 3 Article on FGM

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Pilgrimages

• Sacred places occur in creation myths and these
  become places worshipers visit
• Muslims ? Mecca
• Jews and Christians ? Jerusalem
• Hindus ? River Ganges
• May also be sites of miracles

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Religious Obligations

• Actions performed by a group or individual
• Saying grace, kissing a mezuzah (on doorway),
  lighting a candle
• We know of behaviors that are appropriate for
  religious rites, but how do we know what is
  inappropriate?

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Tabu or Taboo

• Tabu means things that are restricted, forbidden,
  or off limits
• In marriage, incest is usually a tabu
• In a Polynesian chiefdom, the chief is sacred
  because he was given power by the gods.
  Everything he touches is sacred, so he is carried
  everywhere
• Jewish tradition of keeping kosher
• Prohibits pork
• Rules for slaughter and preparation

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Discussion

• 1. What are rituals performed in your own culture
  (at school, work, at sporting events, religious
  ceremonies, etc.)?
• 2. Discuss a rite of passage you have had or have
  attended. Identify the phases.
• 3. How do we identify adulthood in the US? Is
  there a specific rite of passage for this? Is
  there a formal marker of adulthood?