Essay on What role do rituals play in affirming community?

In Purity and Danger, Mary Douglas weaves her analysis of religion and society around a very simple topic, one of which I honestly took for granted: dirt. Dirt, Douglas argues, plays a massive role in the formation of society and how societies understand their worldviews and conceptions of sacredness. With this constant pushing and pulling of purity and impurity, meanings can be assigned to all patterns inside and outside the symbolic classification system of a society. Unity of the sacred and the filthy is then achieved through these purity and impurity rituals (3). In this essay, I will discuss the paradoxes of her book, modern approaches with understanding ritual, and my insecurities over the “Primitive Worlds” chapter.

Rituals and rites are required in almost all religions because they hold meanings spiritually and emotionally. Reaffirming faith and practicing traditions are important parts of adherents' personal and religious life. Christian sacrament and Jewish rituals are derived from their religious stories and histories that represent symbolic stories of the origin and their sacred destiny (Esposito, 18) yet Judaism hold means of obedience to and gratitude for God, whereas Christianity is accepts "divine grace or aid through the incarnation of God" (Esposito, 23). Christians and Jews have religious expressions that have a beginning and an end (Esposito, 22) which corresponds with their rituals and rites providing the "assistance through every stage of life, from birth to death" (Esposito, 180).

It is clear that cultural tradition delivers set foundations into a person’s lifetime, giving identity and sense of belonging to a person and their social group. It allows individuals to feel part of something and understand their ancestral values and customs. Several people believe that it is very important to preserve cultural traditions because they feel as if tradition is the main enabler to a shared identity and to a construction of social consistency and unity. People also believe that conservancy of cultural traditions forms exclusive bonds within members of the community, holding people with the same background together to pass on cultural values, and excluding those who aren’t part of the culture. They think that the actual preservation of traditions means not to change the customs and traditions, to not grow from our culture, for example not learning another language because you already know your mother tongue. It is a way to group up and tag everyone in a form of an alliance, and to have better organization and awareness of where everyone comes from.

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

Rituals play a significant role in all cultures. A ritual ‘is the practice or embodiment of beliefs expressed in structured action or prescribed procedures that often link to the sacred.’ Rituals are created by taking events from everyday life and giving them some sort of symbolic meaning. As one of the founding concepts of our discipline, ritual has long been a cornerstone of anthropological thought: from the works of Emile Durkheim through Arnold van Gennep, Victor Turner and Terry Lovat. Within this presentation I will be outlining the similarities and differences between Bar Mitzvah and Confirmation, and I will also explain the impact which the ritual has on the individual and society

With the cultural differences, it is hard to understand why the Nacirema make these rituals a huge importance. Ethnocentrism plays a role, and is very present because it is very easy to judge one group’s behaviours and beliefs from the perspective of our own. It may be because it is something that we are not accustomed to or may find odd and unethical. If we were to put ourselves in their shoes, it is certain the cultures around the world may find our own “rituals and traditions” to be odd as well.

The Aztecs were very serious about their religion and it affected every Aztec’s daily life. Their religion revolved heavily around human sacrifices in order to please the gods. Sacrifices to the sun were essential to them because they did not want the sun to burn out on them. They do this because in their religion there was believed to be four other suns which had burned out before the sun we have now. Other than that it united its people and was what shaped the magnificent Aztec empire to what it was.

Focusing on religious practices in this paper have demonstrated that both selfless and selfish society's all contribute in order to obtain a higher good. The determination that our ancestors had in order to achieve peace in the afterlife, is something that we should all look upon with envy. Through sun worshipping we see that although we may not have proof that something exists, it does not mean that the prayer and work that we put in will be in vain. It teaches us Hope. Studying both human and animal sacrifices, we can see that although it may seem extreme, the selflessness that is demonstrated in the act is something we lack in society today. The pyramids and burials in Egyptian society can truly paint a picture to someone who is not appreciative for what they have. Seeing innocent slaves put to death for their masters may show someone how lucky they are just to be able to say that they are free. In conclusion, I believe that although some of the things ancient civilizations have portrayed may be extreme, I believe that whether good or bad there is still a lesson to be learned from every

The point of entry into the world of Catholic ritual is the Mass, the main worship ceremony of the Church. Rituals such as Mass generally include singing, prayer and sermon. The seven sacraments are very important in the Catholic Church. They are ceremonies that point to what is sacred, significant and important for Catholics. They consist of three different categories, which are: the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist), the sacraments of healing (Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick), and the sacraments of vocation (Marriage, Holy

By definition a ritual is a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions preformed according to a prescribed order. In the short story “The Lottery”, on June 27th each year, all of the citizens in this village are ordered to meet. Usually the father of every family would walk up to a black box they had sitting on a stool in the center of the citizens and pull out a folded slip of paper. If the father of the family was not able to attend, either the mother or a son who is of age would walk up when their last name is called to pick up the slip of paper. They were not allowed to look at their slip of paper until every family had gotten one and after that, they all opened them. Every single slip was blank except for one, which

Religion is a major foundation for many cultures. It is present all over the world in many different shapes and forms. But all religions have one thing in common, communality. Naturally, with rituals such as congregation people of religion are brought together. This community worships together, but this relationship extends further than the confines of a church. Members of the same church, or religion, have the same core values, and these commonalities result in a community that would not have otherwise existed. When there is a disregard for religion, there is a loss of community and thus a step

The purpose of this research paper will be to examine how Judaism rituals have helped the religion remained amongst the most prominent in the world. The use of tradition and rituals has been at the very core of its existence. Birth, adolescent, marriage and death rituals will be used to highlight how the Judaism way of life is not dependent on the written word but rather the actions of those who follow this historic Hebrew religion. The paper will begin with a brief outline of Judaism and its relationship with God and then continue with how the written word of the Torah has laid the basis for the many traditions still practiced in Judaism.

Ritual is a religious ceremony that involves a series of activities performed in a particular order by those who subscribe to the religion. Sacrifice is the act of giving something to a supernatural being to please it. The word sacrifice also means the offering given to the supernatural human being. The essay is going to discuss rituals and sacrifices in Confucianism, which is one the largest religion in China.

Rituals reduce anxiety by providing confidence and a feeling of control. Malinowski argues that religion promotes social solidarity by dealing with situations of emotional stress that threaten

Similarity, the medival church did this to catch people's attention and to teach them the gospel. Another main difference between modern day theater and ritual is actors method in becoming the character. Modern actors submerge themselves psychologically and emotionally into the characters, while in this time period psychology did not exist so this sort of submergence into character did not exist. Another main difference between ritual and a theatrical performance is the belief from audience. In a play, the audience knows what is happening is an act of fiction and they understand that it might seem real but it is not. On the other hand an audience at a religious ritual believes that the ritual did happen and it is just a reenactment of a true biblical story. But like any performances, rituals do change as outside work influences the playwright of these rituals and causes small changes to the original biblical story or they create new stories that show religious morals and