Ceremony Essay

Air Sacrifice – Mongolia Photo by Viacheslav Smilyk Lamas direct the entire ceremony, with their number determined by the social standing of the deceased. They decide the direction the entourage will travel with the body, to the specific day and time the ceremony can happen. Mongolians believe in the return of the soul. Therefore the lamas pray and offer food to keep evil spirits away and to protect the remaining family. They also place blue stones in the dead persons bed to prevent evil spirits

the Kwakiutl tribe mastered the art of creating special ceremonial masks that are not only beautiful and aesthetically interesting to the eye, but also mechanically intriguing in which the masks serve a specific purpose to a theme during different ceremonies that are conducted by tribal specialists during certain times throughout the year. Kwakiutl

Perhaps the most important rite of passage in my life was my high school graduation. This moment in my life, like many other rites of passage, can be separated into Van Gennep’s three different stages: separation, liminal, and incorporation. The first stage of my rite of passage, separation, was being cut away from my parents for eight hours a day and sent off to learn about the world. This started when I was five years old when my mother let my hand go when I went into my kindergarten classroom

is whispered in his or her ear to welcome the baby into the world. Ten to twelve days after the birth, the priest announces the baby's name and prayers are said. Within the initial years of her life, a Hindu girl has to go through an ear-piercing ceremony, which is considered to be a significant event. Both boys and girls receive a ‘Mundan’, which is a ritual where the baby’s head is shaved when he or she turns 1 year old. Buddhism is different from other religions because it does not have a God.

A penny for the dead? The definition of ritual, as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, “done as a part of a ceremony or ritual; always done in a particular situation and in the same way each time.” The relevance of rituals have played part in history including rituals with the dead, Indian ceremony rituals, and religious rituals. In the 21st century America, the roles of rituals have lessened and have become less of a common practice than of olden times. In The Lottery, the ritual of stoning the

African Music: Uses in Rituals, Celebrations, and Healing Africa is a vast and complex content that is home to over 200 different languages being spoken. Just as the people of Africa are diverse, so is their music, but they are still used for the same reasons. The music they perform is tediously learned and artfully performed. They have songs specifically for one person, like “Magonde” which is a song for the chief played and sung in the Zimbabwe culture (Sinyoro, n.d.). It is an old, traditional

CONTENTS 1. FIGURE LIST 3 2. INTRODUCTION 4 2.1 Historical background and information 4 3. CONTEXT OF CEREMONIAL AFRICAN MASKING AND THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS THEROF 6 3.1 The Makishi Masquerades among the Chokwe and related people 6 3.2 Pwo Mask 7 3.3 The Ngidi and Makanda initiation Rites 8 3.4 Holo Mask 9 3.5 The Bambara tribe of Mali and the Chi Wara antelope Mask 9 4. CONCLUSION 11 5. BIBLIOGROPHY

summers. Across the landscape are large herds of buffalo, bears, deer, antelope and coyotes. The plains people were separated by patriarchal bands - groups of 50 to 100 individuals, connected by marriage or kinship. The men hunted, led religious ceremonies and were the medical experts. Each band was lead by a single man, the headman who exemplified the behavior the plains people wished to have. Each band had around 40 tipis made of animal hide, that were portable and easily constructed. The diet

those around.. Each of the acts in the ritual is representative of the transitional life crisis being faced by the one who has chosen to have these rights bestowed upon them whether by their choosing or not. With completion of each of these three ceremonies, the individual has entered a new life and gained new status within the perspective community. (van Gennep, 1960) The pre-liminary phase is one of separation,” the ritual removal of the individual from society”.(5). The initiate, often times, is

The rites of passage is the way of life for many cultures. These rites of passage are the beginning and endings of a particular stage of your life such as, birth, adulthood, marriage and death. One of the most important rites of passage that many of us experience and will always remember vividly is the rite of passage to adulthood. Different cultures have different ways to celebrate the transitioning process; the age range varies as well as different the events to overcome in order to complete the