Rituals Assignment
Objective:To consider the ritual elements in the community and/or family setting.
Instructions:
Your goal is to choose a ritual that you participate in your community (the community can be your family or your broader community not something that you do by yourself) that illustrates the elements typically found in rituals. Again, you will have to become familiar with the elements of rituals as explained in the module and specifically identify them as you write about the ritual. Be careful that you do not write about a habit. Be sure to also explain the significance of this ritual in yours or your familys life.
Writing Directions:
Your paper should be organized and written according to academic standards.
Your paper should be approximately one to two pages in length, typed, double-spaced.
Your paper needs to be formatted according to MLA style. Some of this includes using a 12pt. font and setting 1 margins all the way around. There aremany good onlineresources for formatting papers according to MLA (seemodule for the some good writing resources).
Be sure to submit the paper before the deadline (see syllabus policy).
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Thanksgiving
Ill start with my second-favorite holiday: Thanksgiving! Its a day when various
factions of human clans unite and have a feast. This is to remember when some old
Caucasian men had a feast with the people who were already on this land, whom they
subsequently slaughtered. Thanksgiving is only my second favorite because of all the
slaughtering.
Shouts & Murmurs November 26, 2018 Issue
Explaining U.S. Holidays to
Extraterrestrials
By Alexis Wilkinson November 19, 2018
Illustration by Luci Gutirrez
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Fourth of July
This day commemorates when a bunch of Caucasian men in wigs told some other,
fancier Caucasian men in fancier wigs that they wanted to do their own thing from
now on. People eat processed meat while wearing the colors of this new things ag,
which, coincidentally, are the same as the colors of the old things ag. But watch out
there are bombs!
Valentines Day
Humans pair up periodically, originally for procreation and now mostly for sport. This
is the day to get your chosen person a piece of thick, folded paper, some food, or a very
old rock. A mutant ying baby also shoots people, but just metaphorically.
Veterans Day and Memorial Day
These days are different, but both are about people whom we send to murder other,
theoretically worse, people. We all agree that murder is bad, but somehow we have not
gured out a way to avoid it. Processed meats are eaten on these days as well. On
Memorial Day, people often stand in the street and watch more famous people go by
on a platform and scream at them.
New Years Eve
Human life is terribly short, so on this day we celebrate staving off death for another
revolution around the sun. Lots of people smash their mouths together and drink
poison. Our nations largest clump of people drops a big, shiny ball that costs more than
a million dollarsand its not even a bomb!
Labor Day
This one celebrates labor unions, which are when workers get together to convince the
humans in charge of them that, though they deserve to work until they die, they
shouldnt be required to die at work. Most people do not have to work on this day,
except the ones who hold absolutely crucial positions, like police officers, nurses, ice-
cream-truck drivers, and lifeguards.
St. Patricks Day
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This is another day for drinking poison, but this time its because a missionary in
Ireland died. A lot of people wear green on this day because Ireland has grass. Oh, and
there are tiny men who have gold and grant wishes, but this is also a metaphor.
Christmas
Ill end here, on the holiday that I enjoy the most. To prepare our homes for this day,
we put small, colorful offerings underneath a large tree not native to this region. We tell
children that an old man who has been watching us all year is responsible for these
packages. The day is ostensibly to honor a baby with superpowers, but its rude to ask
too many follow-up questions about the baby, because he died.
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https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/alexis-wilkinson What Does Ritual Have to
Do With Mythology?
In the context of religion, the
connection is clear: myths are the
stories told by those who
participate in the group, while
rituals are the actions performed
by members of the group.
However, we often study myths
outside of their religious context,
as literary works, as cultural
objects, or just as entertaining
stories. Nonetheless, there is a great deal to be learned about myths by considering
them in the context of rituals. Take, for example, the story of the kidnapping of
Persephone. In it, Demeters daughter Persephone is seized by Hades and taken as his
bride to live in the underworld. Demeter, who is the goddess of grain, wanders the earth
and refuses to let the crops grow until Zeus arranges a compromise which returns
Persephone to her mother for part of each year.
We can appreciate this by itself as an example of a good story that represents the
relationship between mother and daughter. We can ponder the themes it
emphasizes: sexuality and death, perseverance and regeneration. However, our view of
the myth is expanded and enriched by recognizing that it was told as part of
the ceremonies conducted at the temple of Demeter in Eleusis. In this context, the story
is no longer about the efforts of individuals; it is also a public communication
recounting the traditions and struggles of a society. We can then see the myth as a
representation of marriage customs in a society where a daughters consent was not
required before she was given in marriage, and we can notice that it emphasizes the
personal longing to survive death and return from the land of the dead, as Persephone
did.
Because ritual deals with human activities rather than stories, its study brings us into
some areas that may seem unexpected. Religious ceremonies, parades, festivals, even
sporting events like the Balinese cockfight or American football, and childrens activities
like trick or treating all come into consideration when we look for activities related to
beliefs and values expressed in mythological stories.
What is the Purpose of Rituals?
Remember that all mythologies are attempts to provide answers to the fundamental
questions of human existence: Who are we? Where have we come from? Where are we
going? Why are we here?
The twentieth century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche described the process of myth
formation as having originated in a time when the conception of natural laws (i.e.,
scientific explanation) was not yet clear. The whole of nature is, in the conception of the
religious man, a sum of actions by conscious and volitional beings, a tremendous
complex of arbitrariness.
Such a concept led to the recognition that there must be some suprahuman existence,
which, in turn, gave rise to a belief in gods or a god. According to Nietzsche, individuals
assume that their existence, happiness, and the
happiness of family, tribe or state depends on this
arbitrary concept visible in Nature. Certain natural
events occur with regularity, such as the seasons,
while others are random, like rainfall. Mankind is
determined to exert some influence over these
unknown powers through the very things that
regulate each individuals actions: tradition and
law. As humans reflect upon ways to impose controls upon nature, to find order in the
apparent chaos of the universe, religion and myth are born.
Laws and traditions were passed on through the generations by a combination of ritual,
the dramatic expression of the cultures ideas, and story, the narrative account. Origin
stories, for example, are concerned with explaining why life is the way it appears.
Whether story arose before or after ritual is a matter that scholars have debated for
generations, but we do know that both arise from the same needa need for assurance
that life will continue and that the continuance will be favorable for the family of man.
Rituals and Habits
In the earlier discussion of the four functions of myth, we mentioned that with the
cosmological function a culture gave physical shape to the abstract mystical ideas
formed in its consciousness. The stories were one product and the rituals were another.
(Whether the myth or the ritual arose first is a topic long debated by scholars.) Both
form an integral part of the culture and its living myth. A basic dictionary definition of
ritual is a form for a ceremony or a system of ceremonies, but rituals possess a
deeper meaning and purpose for any culture. Unlike the simple telling of a story, in
which there is usually one teller and option in the story. Thus, the ritual serves not only
to reinforce the story but also to unify the community.
One important difference that needs to be established is that rituals are not the same as
habits, which are patterns of behavior acquired by frequent repetition. With a habit there
is no real deeper meaning; it is the way one does something because that is the way it
has always been done. Rituals are repeated, they carry with them in their symbolic
objects, dress and ceremony, deeper ideas that relate to the cultures understanding of
the universe and its perceived place within that design.
Rituals also utilize two elements that are not a part of habits. Firstly, they make use of
symbolic objects and colors, such as bread, wine, rings or specifically colored clothing.
Secondly, they often use some form of dancing, music or chanting, which helps to bring
all the participants onto the same emotional plane. Examples of this are evident today
both in churches that have pre-service music and in concerts that use warm-up bands
to set the mood. Kinds of Rituals
There are two basic kinds of rituals: religious rituals and status rituals. Religious
rituals are often dramatic versions of stories in the cultures myth and are of two
varieties; veneration rituals, which celebrate or petition a deity and healing rituals which
relate to the well-being of the individual.
Status rituals, in comparison, serve to move a community member from one stage of life
to the next while reinforcing the cultures mythology. Important moments such as birth,
maturity, marriage and death are the focus of status rituals. Both kinds of rituals may
become petrified when they lose their deeper symbolic meanings.
Religious Rituals
The Story of the Last Supper and the Communion Ritual of Christianity
Adherents to the religion of Christianity believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was
born to Mary, a mortal virgin. When he reached maturity and began his mission, his
teachings and miraculous healings so inflamed the unstable political leadership of
Judea that he was eventually arrested, tried and crucified, the standard method of
execution in the Roman Empire. His dead body was taken from the cross and placed in
a tomb. After three days, he rose from the dead. Following a post-resurrection blessing
of his followers Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. Christians believe that having
suffered for the sins of man and triumphed over death, Jesus Christ will someday return
to earth to judge the living and the dead.
The New Testament writers tell us that during the last supper, Jesus ate with His
disciples before he was arrested.
Mark 14: 12-26
And on the first day of the Unleavened Bread (Passover), when they
sacrificed the passover lamb, his disciples said to him, Where will you
have us go and prepare for you to eat the passover?
And he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, Go into the city, and a man carrying
a jar of water will meet you; follow him; and wherever he enters, say to the householder,
The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I am to eat the passover with my
disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare
for us. And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them;
and they prepared the passover.
And when it was evening he came with the twelve. And as they
were at the table eating, Jesus said, Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one
who is eating with me.
They began to be sorrowful, and say to him one after another, Is it I?
He said to them, It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread in the same dish with
me. For the Son of man goes as it is written to him, but woe to that man by whom the
Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.
And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them,
and said, Take; this is my body.
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank
of it. And he said unto them, this is my blood
of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again
of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in
the kingdom of God.
And when they had sung
a hymn, they went out to
the Mount of Olives. At
this point, Judas points
Jesus out to the
authorities; Jesus is
arrested and the whole
process that leads to his
death by crucifixion
unfolds. This simple story
captures the essence of
the Christian faith in a
few lines.
The ritual of Communion, which is based on this story, allows the participants to
experience the story as it is being told by also consuming the blessed bread and wine.
During the ritual, the leader of the service retells the last supper story and distributes the
bread and wine to the participants who together partake of them as did Christs
disciples. To an unbeliever, the ritual appears as nothing more than a reenactment of a
story with a leading narrator, the vital props and the receptive, interactive audience. But
we know that religious rituals reflect a deeper meaning, a more important belief.
The bread and wine are used symbolically, just as they are in the story, to represent the
flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. What this means is that the individual is symbolically
ingesting the flesh and blood of Jesus, believing that it is the source of eternal and
everlasting life. In doing this ritual in communion with other believers, each member
shares not only in the essence of Jesus Christ but each also shares in a spiritual union
of the community of believers.
The Rituals of Dionysus
Rituals such as the
Christian Communion
celebrate simply but
profoundly eternal life
through the flesh and blood
of a divine figure via bread,
wine and group experience.
The Dionysian rituals,
however, celebrate the
essence of the deity very
differently, though using
some of the same elements.
Consider the following description of Dionysian rituals by Maria Leach in Funk and
Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend. Dionysus was the
god of the vine as well as the god of fertility in Greek mythology.
The ecstatic female devotees of the cult of Dionysus, celebrated most anciently in the
orga; also, the nymphs in the Dionysian train. In ecstatic devotion to the god, troupes of
mnads wandered in wild bands in the mountains, dismembering wild beasts and
devouring them, in the fervent illusion that they were devouring the god and thus
communing with him. Later, 5th century B.C., the Attic and Delphic mnads were
trained in more disciplined expressions of these ecstatic trances. They are immortalized
on vase paintings in these whirling dance moments. At times they are shown eluding
the aroused male followers in the Dionysiac train-the Satyrs and Silenes. The cult
deteriorated into the Roman Bacchanalia and Lupercalia, and to its lowest point in the
modern Carnival celebrations of urban Europe and America. The theater of today
attempts to emulate both the mystic trances of the mnads and the abandoned
inebriation of the bacchantes.
Status Rituals
Status rituals serve to help a community member move from one stage of life to
another. These rituals involve some segmentif not allof the community. Change of
status occurs a number of times in a persons life, including:
Birth: the introduction of new life in the community
Maturity: the recognition of an individual as a mature person equal with other adults
Marriage: the joining of two (or more) individuals as a single family unit
Death: the departure from the community
While these events are common to all cultures and all people, the method of
expression, like the mythology in which it is based, varies
from culture to culture. Unlike religious rituals of veneration
and healing, these sociologically based rituals do not
usually have accompanying stories within a mythology.
Instead, status rituals serve to reinforce the beliefs and
morals of the community and bind its members together.
Birth
The arrival of a new life in the community has long been a
joyous occasion. In a newborn child a culture sees the
promise of its continued existence, a particularly important
concern in ages past when an entire community could
perish from the plague or be seriously decimated through
warfare or high infant mortality. In fact, early civilizations
placed heavy emphasis on fertility and childbirth, for without new life to replace the old
the culture would die. Bear in mind that the scientific vision of microscopic egg and
sperm had no meaning to people who did not have a microscope! Thus, each new life
was truly a wondrous gift from the gods. To commemorate this gift, birth rituals were
developed.
Birth ceremonies typically include parents and relatives. Sometimes they take vows
before the shaman, priest or similar leader/holy figure, to raise the child in accordance
with the standards and beliefs of the community or religion. In many cultures, however,
the naming of the child marks his or her initiation into the community and the first stage
of life. For example, in Native American Eastern Cherokee tribes, the child was officially
named four to seven days after birth. The fathers family (usually the fathers sister)
selected the name.
In Mayan culture, however, the process was more complex. The newborn was washed
as soon as it had exited the mothers womb. Soon after the parents met with the priest,
who, through astrological readings, told the destiny of the offspring and the most
favorable day for naming the child. As with the Egyptians, names had magical
significance and the Maya believed names could become worn from use. Thus, had
both public and private names (among others). The former was used in social settings,
and the latter was reserved for the closest relatives. The private name indicates that
the naming ritual was probably attended solely by family members, perhaps only the
parents. Once the name was received, it was a badge of community membership for
the newborn, and from that time on the parents constantly reminded the children of
their destiny, duties, morals and ethics.
Whatever the basis of the ritual, its intent is to
welcome children to the community, recognize them
as legitimate members and thereby, through the
guidance of parents and elders, impress upon the
children their duty to the community and the
observance and maintenance of its myth and morals.
Once accomplished, the child enters the next phase of
life: adulthood.
Maturity
The passage from childhood to adulthood is usually a much clearer process for women
than for men. The start of a girls menstrual cycle is usually the indicator. Some
societies take no particular notice of this, nor do they emphasize this occasion, while
others have rituals from simple to elaborate to commemorate this event of female
fertility. The Fox Indians, for example, take a newly menstruating girl and throw her in
water (water is a symbol of purity and of renewal). Afterwards, she is segregated for 1O
days before she is considered to be a woman. Another tribe, the Chiricahua Apache,
has an elaborate four-day ceremony in which the entire community participates. This
fertility celebration is complete with food cooked by the extended family who also help
finance the feast and the acceptance of gifts from those who attend. The celebration
also serves as an announcement that the young woman is now suitable for marriage
and the production of offspring.
Male maturity rituals involve physical maturity in a different way. For example, young
men in several African tribes must pass through an initiation process to join a special
tribal society of male leadership called the Poro. As part of a grueling initiation ordeal,
the boys spend time alone in the forest with the older men who prepare them for an
encounter with namu, a beast which will devour the child but spew forth a young adult.
When the initiates return to the village, scars on their backs from the teeth of the beast
are evidence the process has occurred.
Sometimes both genders are initiated
together. A ceremony for Mayan boys and
girls took place around the age of puberty.
Children between the ages of 12 and 14 were
gathered together in front of the temple and
were placed inside a square created by four
men holding a cord. These four were dressed
as the four Chacs, the rain gods, of Mayan
myth. Within the square, the shaman (called the Chilam) purified the children with
incense from copal, a tree resin, and smoke from tobacco. The Chilam then spoke to
the children about their responsibilities and duties to the community. At the conclusion
of the speech, the priests donned robes and headdresses decorated with feathers and
anointed each child with virgin water. Boys were then able to remove a white bead
which at birth had been stuck to the top of their heads. Mothers removed the shell,
symbolizing purity, which covered their daughters pubic area, making the girls eligible
for marriage.
In some societies, such as the Kiowa-Apache, there was no formal ceremony marking
the change from child to young adult. In this culture, the children were actively involved
in the community from a young age and they learned much about their cultures
mythology and customs from watching, listening and participating. Special recognition
was often given at a regular social gathering to an individual child when he or she had
successfully completed a task related to the adult responsibilities the child would bear.
For the boy, this was usually after he had made his first successful kill on a hunt, while
for the girl, when she had tanned her first hide or made her first pair of moccasins.
Though no formal ceremony was observed, the recognition of maturity still relied upon
the completion of tasks requiring skill and/or courage.
In the present scientific age, these rituals are neither clear cut nor universally practiced.
For many, graduation from high school or college-an exercise called commencement or
beginningmarks the transition. For some the attainment of a drivers license marks
the passage to adulthood. The eighteenth birthday often is significant because in most
communities the person is now considered an adult. Presently a maturity ritual that has
caused concern and controversy in American cities has been a young persons initiation
into street gangs, often composed of warring tribes of teenagers and young adults.
No matter the process of the ritual, the purpose is to recognize the childs transition and
to be sure that the new adult recognizes the responsibilities of maintaining community
standards, contributing to the welfare of all, and perpetuating the membership by
procreation.
Marriage
Many know marriage as the joining of adults
to function as a single family unit within the
community. In the modern Western
community this activity is often accompanied
by romantic love, but in many cultures,
romantic love is of little or no concern.
Marriages are arranged by the family as is
still the case in many Eastern and Middle-Eastern communities
who believe that the purpose of marriage is to assure the survival of the community
through the welfare of the participants and by organized production of offspring.
Remember, the birth ritual was to initiate the newborn as a legitimate member of the
community. This legitimacy is based on the parents standing as married; that is a
union recognized and accepted as valid by the community. Thus, legitimacy breeds
legitimacy. Children not produced under these lawful proceedings would be branded as
illegitimate children, a source of shame to the people involved. Such an approach
would, in theory, prevent large numbers of illegitimate children from being born to single
mothers unable to provide for themselves or their offspring. A situation of this kind, left
unchecked could overwhelm a community not prepared to provide additional food,
clothing, shelter and above all, guidance to the scores of children lacking one or both of
the adults responsible for their creation.
In addition to producing offspring that have clear parentage, marriage provides a
manageable division of labor for those involved. One member is able to provide food
and protection for the family, while the other is able to nurture the infant through its long
period of dependency and begin to initiate the child into the culture. In this way, the
cohesion of the family units and the community they constitute is maintained. The
marriage ritual itself reinforces this cohesion within the context of the cultures myth: by
approval from the gods before the community. While this much is fairly universal, the
rules and rituals of cohabitation come in a diversity that can only be hinted at here.
In Muslim communities, heavy emphasis is placed on the vitality of the family. The
marriage contract between the bride and groom was designed in accordance with the
laws of the Koran (the revelation from Allah to the prophet Muhammad), taking the need
of the husband, wife, family and community into account. With the family present, the
contract was signed at the mosque or within one of the participants homes. At that time,
the opening surah of the Koran, which praised Allah and asked for His divine guidance
was read. The day after the signing, a festival was held at the home of the grooms
parents. There was food and drink for everyone and
gifts for the new couple. This is a general description
of the traditional form of Muslim marriage, but within
Islamic countries, there are wide variations on the
format of this ritual.
The same variance is true of modern Jewish
weddings. In the time of the Roman Empire before the
Diaspora, however, the Jewish wedding was more uniform. It usually took place in the
upper room of a private dwelling. A canopy was raised and the ceremony took place
under it. The components of the wedding were symbolic and some of them had direct
reference in the Torah. The crown, for example, was found in the Song of Solomon,
though it was used by many other cultures. The bride was veiled and bride and groom
wore crowns, which were exchanged. An elder or rabbi was present to bless the
married couple. He then presented them with a wine-filled cup of blessing, from which
the couple drank. The marriage contract was read and attested by the drinking of a cup
of wine by each person present. Friends of the couple walked around the canopy
chanting psalms and throwing rice. The elder then invoked the seven blessings and all
present drank from the loving cup. Once night had fallen, a procession of lamps
followed the couple to their home and a feast was held.
The symbols may not seem to be directly connected to the community or the religious
myth but if studied on a metaphoric level, the relationships become clear. The canopy,
for example, may be a reference to a passage from the romantic Song of Solomon that
his (the grooms) banner over me [the bride] is love. The circular crown has always
represented achievement and nobility; it indicates a new and exalted position for the
wearers. The circle is used to represent closure, unity and eternity. Drinking from a
single cup illustrates the couples unity and allegiance to each other while the cups
contents, wine, being red like blood, symbolize fertility and vitality, as does being
showered with rice which is also a symbol of fertility.
Death
The end of life marks the passage of the individual from the community into the afterlife.
Death rituals are closely associated with the religious belief of the culture. Cultures that
strongly believe in a continuance of life after death create complex rituals for this
passage. Often the afterlife is believed to resemble a more pleasant version of what
was experienced in mortal life. This final ritual not only assures that the individual is
prepared for the next life, but also serves as the official farewell from the community. At
this time, family and friends of the deceased gather together to remember the
deceased, pay their respects and see the deceased to a final resting place. After this
ceremony, most people return to their routines within the community and carry on the
business of life. Burial rites range
from the simple to the elaborate to
the strange. Unlike other status
rituals, death rituals are more closely
allied with mythic stories as they
reflect the cultures conception of the
afterlife.
Many of the oldest beliefs concerning
the afterlife are attested to by archaeological artifacts as well as literary documents.
When an archaeologist uncovers a tomb filled with furnishings-often valuable,
expensive items as well as offerings of food and drink-an insight into the beliefs of the
people is gained. Obviously, the objects in the tomb were expected to provide some
comfort for the deceased in another world.
As with many ancient peoples, we find in Egypt a belief that materials of this life will be
needed in the next one, even the body. Thus, the body was ceremoniously prepared for
survival beyond mortal life. Internal organs were removed, but the heart remained
behind in the body cavity as its owner needed it for the next lifes trials. If nothing else
the preservation was needed so ba part of the soul could f
