Ritual Essays

Explore the ways in which these characteristics interact to create a dynamic, living religion A religion or religious system is a dynamic, living reality. While it can be identified and studied through characteristics such as rituals and sacred texts, it is in essence a living thing, which is given expression …

The play ’Happy Days’ is a humorously dark and ambiguous play. The play is primarily a one-woman show. It is an interesting play that wrestles with themes of loneliness and extreme optimism in the face of utter hopelessness. The play unfolds rather loosely as we are introduced to Winnie, a …

The origin of the Hopi people is one of spiritual beginning. According to the article Ang Kuktota—Hopi Ancestral Sites and Cultural Landscapes written by Leigh Kuwanwisiwma and T.J. Ferguson, ”When the Hopi people climbed out of the Sipaapuni (place of emergence)…they entered into a spiritual covenant with the deity Maasaw …

I. Rationale The Philippines were colonized by the Spaniards for more than three centuries. It started 1565 when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived in Cebu. They brought their culture and integrate it in the Philippines. After several years, the country gained its freedom yet Filipinos’ culture and tradition remained colonized. …

We as human beings naturally strive to participate and be active members of a “society” or a culture in order to feel incorporated into some kind of structure. Within a structured “society” there must be an in-between or “threshold people” (1 pg. 95), which is depicted by Victor W. Turner …

Originally developed by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in the early 20th century in his book Rites de Passage, the term liminality refers to the concept in which participants are in the threshold stage of disorientation and suspension from the previous social norm that they were used to. When an individual …

Professor Emma Linton of the Martian Institute of Interplanetary Cultural Anthropology might have come up with her unexpected conclusions regarding to the body rituals of the Nacirema people. Linton’s report was wildly inaccurate written due to the facts that she does not have any qualitative previous knowledge about the culture …

This magnificent painting dates back to Lascaux, France 15,000-13,000 B.C.E. It was found on cave walls and it is said to represent one of the earliest examples of artistic expression. We can see that this piece was created during the Paleolithic period because; they are images walls using paint on …

In the article, “Body Ritual among the Nacirema,” author Horace Miner talks in detail about the culture of a North American clan, the Nacirema. Horace Miner seems to be particularly interested in the magical beliefs, practices, and rituals of the Nacirema clan. The “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” article shows …