Rituals Are A Set Of Actions Performed By Individuals Across Time And Cultures

The rituals of a society must be analyzed as well to further understand the actions of the society and its people. Huxley writes about two religious ceremonies, one celebrated by the `civilized' society and the other by the `savage' society. The `civilized' people hold a Solidarity Service where twelve people get together and chant and shout out songs about topics such as the promiscuous idea of "orgy porgy" (84) and the idea that "I am you and you are I." (82) In order to continue ingraining the ideas of a stability and community as an adult, these services are held to continue conditioning the people. In this case, religion is used more as a tool than as a way to grow spiritually. For this society, we can understand that stability and community are very important to them and this ceremony shows this aspect.

Karen Armstrong, author of “Homo Religiosus,” claimed that without the physical rituals and traditions, religion morphed into a belief. Simply put, Armstrong argued that religion requires not only blind faith but also customs and practices that affect one’s physical and mental behaviors. It is through these rituals and taboos that the religions grows and forms, and yet also changes when deemed necessary. Additionally, Armstrong constantly compares religion to different art forms. She does this to convey the message that much like art, one must focus and study religion for lengthy periods of time to be properly understood. However, this connection also suggests that art and religion can perform an analogous role to humankind when required, as they both evolve and change when a society 's infrastructure does. Throughout her essay “Homo Religiosus,” Armstrong focuses on the similar role that both art and religion play in society to discuss her claim that religion is not just a belief, but rather has to do with changes in physical and mental behaviors that in return create change in society and the religion one needs.

The article then describes the community temple believed to help the extremely sick, which an individual can only enter after offering a rich gift to the custodian. Once inside of the temple, an individual undergoes a series of painful and humiliating rituals believed to cure human sickness and possession. According to the article, if an individual survives the temple ritual, he or she then must offer another great gift before return home. Finally, the article detail taboo associations with sex, pregnancy, and human excrement, and describes how individuals hide these taboos from the community.

Every Culture has a set of rituals that they partake in, that are often constructed over a long period of time. Simple Actions, and special moments contain so much meaning and make everlasting memories. All rituals despite the locations they originate from, or the location they are carried out in contain the same components, they are repetitive, symbolic, remind a certain group of people about their values and beliefs, and these rituals commemorate a significant moment. For example christians commemorate the birth of christ by attending mass, and many other cultures celebrate this moment in many different ways that have in depth symbolic meaning. In the book “Guests of the Sheik” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea rituals play a major role. Fernea’s husband Bob is an anthropologist studying the occupants of a small village named El Nahra and their culture. Fernea has documented her experiences, and adventures, and her perspective of the many rituals that the townspeople participate in such as, Ramadan, Muharram, weddings, and pilgrimages. In Muslim culture pilgrimages are immensely important and can even lead to an elevated status. Such as the pilgrimage to Mecca. Fernea is able to participate in a pilgrimage to Karbala with a couple of the towns women she had befriended. The Pilgrimage to Karbala is a symbolic, and cultural ritual in the aspect that it is reenacted every year, and is full of symbolic meaning, commemorates an important occasion and reminds a culture about their

“Christianity has developed into a highly ritual-filled tradition and many of its significant practices are acts of public worship associated with the sacraments.” – Living Religion, 4th edition pg. 266.

The American society tends to feel very high and superior to other cultures in the world. The Unites States is the home to multiple revolutionary technological, medical, and numerous advances. The country is in a developed state that other countries tend to look at in order to know how to grow and advance. However, when looked at from the outside, things that are done everyday, “rituals”, can seem strange. Horace Miner wrote the essay “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” in order to highlight actions people do everyday in a way that opens the eyes of the reader. Although the rituals seem strange out of place, Miner had a specific purpose to give a new perspective and to leave a lasting effect of thought and change on the reader.

Describe the purpose of the rite of passage from three perspectives: anthropologist, sociologist and psychologist

According to the novel, Paradigms for Anthropology Edited (An Ethnographic Reader) by E. Paul Durrenberger and Suzan Erem explained people consider their religious rituals as being their most creative expressions in indication of their cultural values as well as perspective. To study a religious belief including a ritual practice in another culture than one's own creates a series of difficulties. With such religious rituals cause their to be a search for attention and an explanation. Oftentimes, such beliefs cause there to be drama amongst others. Then all of a sudden, the people who were once considered reasonable become unsure if their beliefs when it's examined closely.

The authors point out a huge problem that is alive and well in the church. Due to personal preferences, the church has separated itself from one another. Not only are different cultures separate but the age differences within the church are separated amongst themselves. The leaders of worship within the church whether they are pastors or worship band leaders must not

In much the same way, religious behavior is also a “costly signaling theory of ritual”.[6] In an article called “Discipline and the Arts of Domination: Rituals of Respect in Chimborazo, Ecuador" written by Barry Lyons he examination shows potential associations between connections symbols crosswise over ritual works on, proposing a promising heading for future thought. Lyons takes after the association of whipping traditions in both works and religious, battling that the corporal routine of whipping over the way of life was entwined with social and typical importance. To make a "respect complex" that followed up on people's bodies and additionally upon their minds. Since participation is vital to a collective's survival, people utilized community

Individual accounts of psychology in the readings, despite negligible difference, are evidence that an individual’s behavior or experience can be reflective of a greater societal trend. Karen Armstrong’s work “Homo Religiosus” analyzes the transformation of the religious institution over time and the various practices performed by individuals and groups. Armstrong describes a spiritual Palaeolithic hunter tradition to transition a boy into manhood:

Rituals have life cycles; they decline and gain in popularity, and new cultural rituals emerge as other ones fade. One by-product of the globalization of marketing is the emergence of global consumption rituals. Christmas and the World Cup soccer championship provide examples of the few ritualized celebrations that are

According to author Randall Collins, Emile Durkheim has been deemed sociologies most famous representative (Collins, The Durkheimian Tradition, 211.) The Durkeimian Tradition is “sociology’s most original and unusual set of ideas but revolutionary in the same sense ” (Collins, 211). Durkheim contributed an insightful view on the role of religion and how “God is the symbol of the society and its moral power over individuals” (Collins, 211.) By proving that “religion is the moral foundation of society” simply shows the dire need of religion in order to live. As a result of following any religion comes a consistent ritual, no matter what steps it consists of and a link to social interaction. According to Durkheim, rituals are instrumental in the process of providing concepts or ideas that directly echo the structure of society (Collins, 212.) Durkeim’s original beliefs still apply to the structure of society today. Though it may not be solely focused on religion, people identify themselves within other social groups. I myself identify to be apart of a social group with my involvement in the women’s basketball team at Hofstra. Like other student-athletes, there is an obvious distinction of athletes around campus and noticeable segregation between athletes and regular students. Durkheim discussed rituals that took place amongst those who followed a religion, and like that social group; my team performs

Culture is transformed one life at a time. For the church to transform culture or community through Christ, the church must understand were the community is, to best formulate its approach for change

About halfway through reading Pierre Bourdieu’s The Logic of Practice, I realized I had an important question regarding this assignment: What does any of this have to do with religion? Not once was religion or any explicit religious theme specifically discussed, besides for a brief segment regarding myths and rites, which he actually structures within a heavily economic framework. In fact, this booked seemed more appropriate for a discussion regarding economic semiotics and socialization through the human body as opposed to theories of religion. Nevertheless, I highly doubt this book would be completely devoid of religion theory relevance. This essay will then be an attempt to answer my own question.