The more elaborate ceremonies required to treat very sick patients can only be performed at this temple. These ceremonies involve not only the thaumaturge but a permanent group of vestal maidens who move sedately about the temple chambers in distinctive costume and headdress.
The latipso ceremonies are so harsh that it is phenomenal that a fair pro- portion of the really sick natives who enter the temple ever recover. Small children whose indoctrination is still incomplete have been known to resist attempts to take them to the temple because "that is where you go to die.
No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. Even after one has gained admission and survived the ceremonies, the guardians will not permit the neophyte to leave until he makes still another gift.
The supplicant entering the temple is first stripped of all his or her clothes. In every-day life the Nacirema avoids exposure of his body and its natural functions.
Bathing and excretory acts are performed only in the secrecy of the household shrine, where they are ritualized as part of the body-rites. Psycho- logical shock results from the fact that body secrecy is suddenly lost upon entry into the latipso.
A man, whose own wife has never seen him in an excre- This content downloaded from This sort of ceremonial treatment is necessitated by the fact that the excreta are used by a diviner to ascertain the course and nature of the client's sickness. Female clients, on the other hand, find their naked bodies are subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men. Few supplicants in the temple are well enough to do anything but lie on their hard beds.
The daily ceremonies, like the rites of the holy-mouth-men, involve discomfort and torture. With ritual precision, the vestals awaken their miserable charges each dawn and roll them about on their beds of pain while performing ablutions, in the formal movements of which the maidens are highly trained. At other times they insert magic wands in the supplicant's mouth or force him to eat substances which are supposed to be healing.
From time to time the medicine men come to their clients and jab magically treated needles into their flesh. The fact that these temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the neophyte, in no way decreases the people's faith in the medicine men.
There remains one other kind of practitioner, known as a "listener. The Nacirema believe that parents bewitch their own children. Mothers are particularly suspected of putting a curse on children while teaching them the secret body rituals. The counter-magic of the witch-doctor is unusual in its lack of ritual. The patient simply tells the "lis- tener" all his troubles and fears, beginning with the earliest difficulties he can remember.
The memory displayed by the Nacirema in these exorcism sessions is truly remarkable. It is not uncommon for the patient to bemoan the rejec- tion he felt upon being weaned as a babe, and a few individuals even see their troubles going back to the traumatic effects of their own birth. In conclusion, mention must be made of certain practices which have their base in native esthetics but which depend upon the pervasive aversion to the natural body and its functions.
There are ritual fasts to make fat people thin and ceremonial feasts to make thin people fat. Still other rites are used to make women's breasts larger if they are small, and smaller if they are large. General dissatisfaction with breast shape is symbolized in the fact that the ideal form is virtually outside the range of human variation. A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hypermammary development are so idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee.
Reference has already been made to the fact that excretory functions are ritualized, routinized, and relegated to secrecy.
Natural reproductive functions are similarly distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to certain phases of the moon. Conception is actually very infrequent.
When pregnant, women dress so as to hide their condition. Parturi- This content downloaded from Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden people. Save to Library Save. Create Alert Alert. Share This Paper. Background Citations. Methods Citations. Citation Type.
Has PDF. Publication Type. More Filters. The peculiar health beliefs of the Nacirema. Postgraduate Medical Journal. The Foot in Japanese Culture. While much of the people's time is devoted to economic persuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this … Expand. An anthropological exploration of discipline and ritual practices among the Royal Marines.
Despite the ever-growing number of publications on Military matters, in-depth studies of its unique cultural practices are still scarce due to their well-kept high perimeter fences.
Learn today and receive the value you want. This preparation is guaranteed by many different specialists. The magical ingredients are inserted into these holes. It is not possible to have anything in your ears if not a hearing aid, if necessary. Obviously, we are discussing George Washington. Nacirema looks for a holy mouth once or twice a year. In addition to personal oral rituals, people seek out holy persons several times a year.
Print shop of the commercial program. Study your program for instructions on how to access these files. By : www. Today, people organize different types of ceremonies to reduce their illnesses. Still other rituals are used to create the breasts of older women if they are smaller and smaller if they are taller.
Therefore, there are particular rituals that make up American society. The words, so people refer to the ritual of the body in them. Still other rituals are used to create the larger female breast if they are smaller and smaller if they are fat. There was another rite of the mouth explained that made it more intense.
If you help people who sell eBooks, you should be sure to work with different men and women who are scammers. The culture of Nacirema is characterized by an extremely developed market economy that has evolved into a rich and completely natural habitat.
Given the exact situation, it is surprising how people in other communities would behave differently. Conclusion Based on the previous test, it is very clear that there is a great diversity of cultures.
It is very intriguing and useful for those who love anthropology. Cultural relativism is quite obvious in this article.
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