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Features of African traditional religious
Traditional African religion and culture
Features of African traditional religious
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A Study of Candomble Sacrifice Rituals
In Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functions, Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss describe the rites and rituals usually surrounding sacrifice in a religious context. They attempt to create a method for studying sacrifice according to the consecrating rituals that surround the act itself. According to Hubert and Mauss, it is these rituals which define the sacrifice; a sacrifice without these rituals would indeed be meaningless and empty. These rituals shape the sacrifice into what it is.
Hubert and Mauss list several distinguishing factors that a sacrificial ritual should carry; the sacrifice is only as important as the rituals that surround it. These rituals, whatever they may be, need to be precise. Anything less than exactly what the ritual traditionally consists of is simply asking for trouble and reprimanding from the deities. As these rituals all have to do with higher spiritual beings, these punishments could indeed lead to death. [1] These rituals include a sacred space, correct timing, separating the sacred from the profane and consecrating what is profane. According to Hubert and Mauss, sacrifice must also do two things: it must have an expiatory function and it must create some form of a union with the deity.
By focusing on the rituals, they are allowing for leeway as to what exactly the sacrifice is. Sacrifice does not have to be pigeonholed into the age-old misconceptions of throwing virgins into active volcanoes or binding goats to a stake. In this paper, I intend to look carefully at the public ceremonies of an Afro-Brazilian Candomblé and determine if they fit the model given by Hubert and Mauss. While there is no “typical” sacrifice, like the ones mentioned above...
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[1] Hubert and Mauss 23
[2] Walker 121
[3] Walker 118
[4] ibid
[5] Murphy 52-53
[6] Murphy 54, 59
[7] Candomblé 16- 17
[8] Calhoun 4/20/02
[9] Pai-de-santo Leopoldo, 4/23/02
[10] Walker 109
[11] Murphy 59
[12] Walker 119
[13] Murphy 60
[14] Walker 119
[15] Murphy 60
[16] Murphy 60-61
[17] Murphy 62
[18] ibid
[19] Murphy 78
[20] Hubert and Mauss 29
[21] Hubert and Mauss 27
[22] Murphy 75
[23] Murphy 68-69
[24] Hubert and Mauss 20
[25] Walker 119
[26] Calhoun 4/20/02
[27] Murphy 68
[28] Mãe-de-santo Ana
[29] Calhoun 4/20/02
[30] Murphy 73
[31] Hubert and Mauss 45
[32] Walker 121
[33] Murphy 61
[34] Hubert and Mauss 6
[35] Candomblé 16
[36] Murphy 67
[37] Candomblé 21