Prescriptive Ritual?
Are rituals that are required to be performed
Situational rituals?
A ritual that arises as needed, frequently in times of crisis.
Crisis Ritual?
A ritual that arises spontaneously, frequently in times of crisis.
Periodic Ritual?
Performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar. Performed daily, several times a day, weekly, yearly. Sunday mass, Easter, Passover, Ramadan.
Calendrical ritual?
Performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar. Same as periodic ritual.
Occasional Ritual?
A ritual that is performed when a particular need arises. Associated with nature to bring rain, associated with important events in a persons life.. Birth, marriage and death.
Technological ritual?
Attempts to influence or control nature, especially in those situations that effect human activities and well being.
Hunting and gathering- rite of intensification?
Function is to influence nature in quest for food. Include periodic rituals that follow seasons and occasional rituals performed in response to crisis such as lack of rain. - preparation of soil for planting- protection from elements & for harvest- to appease gods- belief that animals have souls and must be honored for gifts and sacrifices.
Protective ritual?
A ritual that is performed at the start of or during a dangerous activity to protect the participants or the community against a disaster. - may be prescriptive
Divination ritual?
Seek information, best time to plant or the best place to locate game or fish.
Ideological ritual
A ritual that delineates codes of proper behavior, promotes community solidarity, articulates world view and assists in managing crisis. Facilitate orderly running of a society.
Ethnobotany?
The anthropological study of medicinal plants. Use of plant material for healing.
Therapy ritual?
Focuses on curing. Frequently discovered by means of divination.
Anti-therapy ritual?
Bring about illness, accident, or death. Person responsible must be identified (through divination), stopped and punished. Can support community if directed toward an enemy.
Cursing ritual?
An anti therapy ritual that involves reciting a curse to bring about illness & death. - voodoo - a sorcerer takes something connected to the victim, places it in a bundle, recites a spell, casts bundle into something else.. Mud, etc
Salvation ritual?
Focus on religious experience of an individual. A ritual in which one is changed in some way, temporarily or permanently. - spirit possession
Revitalization ritual?
Associated with revitalization movements. Focus on elimination of alien customs and a return to the native way of life. - involve participation of a divine savior in human flesh.
Rites of passage?
Occurs when an individual changes status, serving to legitimize the new status and to imprint it on the community’s collective memory- ideological ritual - progression through life cycle -birth -coming of age -marriage -death -initiations into social groups( fraternity, religious or political)
Status?
A social position that is defined in terms of appropriate behavior, rights & obligations, and its relationship to other statuses.- social position
Rank?
The relative placement of a status in a society.
Circumcision?
Procedure in which the foreskin is removed from the penis
Structure of rite of passage?
SeparationTransitionIncorporation
Separation?
The first phase of a rite of passage in which an individual is removed from his or her former status. - can be abrupt- sometimes happens over long period of time.
Transition phase?
The second phase of a rite of passage during which a person is in a limited state & is moved from one status to another.
Incorporation phase?
Final stage of a rite of passage in which the individual is reintroduced to the community in his or her new status.
Liminality
A state of ambiguous marginality during which the metamorphosis takes place.
Communitas?
A state characterized by a sense of equality, community & camaraderie by participating in a ritual as a group.
Coming of age ritual?
Marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. - girls usually individual marked by getting period- boys are initiated as a group
Female and male initiation ritual?
Girls marked by menarche(first period).Boys introduced as a group as an age set.
Apache rite of passage?
-Periodic ritual held every July-Lasts 4 days, 4 days of creation-Girls are reincarnations of white painted woman-White painted woman, cycle of women’s lives.-girls wear costumes, sing, dance
Secular rotes in U.S?
Basic military training has related coming- of-age rites characteristics as tribal societies. However, individuals return to the status they occupied before induction & undergo a period of readjustment during which they discard their military identity. Patient entering a hospital.
Tattooing?
Serves as a mark of identity. To express dissatisfaction w/ social order & as a way to distance itself from mainstream society. Also have religios purpose when religious symbol or memorial are placed.
Piercing?
Society matron pierces ears to wear fashionable jewelry. Rebellious child does a nose or eyebrow as symbolic act of rebellion. Youth from Amazon as part of coming of age ritual.
Circumcision?
Removal of foreskin of the penis.
Subincision
Underside of penis is cut and urethra slit open. Length of slit varies.
Infibulation?
Extreme form of female genital cutting including excision of the clitoris, labia minora and most of the labia majora.
Pharaonic infibulation?
Entire removal of clitoris, labia minora & majora. The remnants are sewed together leaving a small opening for urination and passing of menstrual blood.
Pilgrimages?
A journey to a sacred place or a sequence of sacred spaces at which rituals are performed. Purpose of a pilgrimage may be to seek a supernatural cure for an illness. Can be seen as a rite of passage. May include the three phases.. Separation, Liminal and transition .
Tabu?
Something that’s off limits.Objects & persons that are supernaturally prohibited. May also refer to certain behaviors that would bring about negative consequences through supernatural means.
Mana?
An impersonal supernatural force found in the landscape, particular objects and in certain people. Can be used for some purpose.
Ritual
A patterned, recurring sequence of events or behaviors.