Rituals

1. Rituals Chapter 4

2. Part I

3. 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

4. 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

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

6. 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

7. The Basics • What are some familiar religious rituals?

8. The Basics

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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)

12. 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

13. Technological Rituals • Read the Inuit creation myth (pg. 81)

14. 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

15. Lakota buffalo ritual

16. 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

17. 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 someone’s funeral • Reaffirms their faith

18. 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

19. 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 victim’s still-beating heart • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk2E1CoGe98

20. Assignment • Read and discuss handout on sacrifices in your groups.

21. 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

22. 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

23. Video • Taboo: Healing Rituals • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R_5Hkm4AR8 • What types of healing rituals are in the videos? • What elements from lecture are demonstrated? • Do these rituals ‘work’? Explain your answer

24. Part II

25. 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

26. 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,

27. 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.

28. 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

30. Initiation with Pain • Taboo: Initiation • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2GmB5sNZeQ • Questions: • What is the purpose of the initiation ceremony? • What aspects from lecture are demonstrated?

31. Altering the Body • Can be temporary or permanent • Often during rites of passage • Includes tattooing, piercing, and scarification

32. 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

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

34. Video • Taboo: “Marks of Identity” • Questions: • How do the neck rings and tattoos mark these groups’ cultural identities? • How are these considered rituals?

35. 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

36. 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

37. In-Class Assignment • ICA #3: Article on FGM

38. 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

39. 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?

40. 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

41. 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?