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The body ritual of nacirema
The body ritual of nacirema
The body ritual of nacirema
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Body Ritual among the Nacirema This article discusses how different society around the world have a particular style that is only unique to them and valuable. Nacireman society is one of those societies who has some unique style when it comes to body ritual. Nacireman, which are a group in North America are known for their body ritual activities. The society, in general, believes that ritual and ceremony are the only way to prevent weakness and disease of the society since they believe that human body is ugly. For the purpose of the ceremony, every household devoted one or more shrines and some wealthy individuals have a number of shrines in their house. The ceremony associated with rituals are private and secret and only discussed with children when they introduced into the ceremony. The shrine room is walled either with stone or wattle, depends on their wealth and the central point of the shrine is a box which kept the charms and magical medicines. The medicine men assist with the ingredients and write them down using an ancient and secret language that the medicine men only understand. The medicine men rewarded with gifts for his assistance. The household keeps the charm even after it has served its purpose and put them in the charm box. Every family member of a household bows his head into this small font under the charm box when entering the shrine room before the charm box. The family practices some spiritual activities such as mixing different kinds of holy water and it follows by the ablution. The holy -mouth men in Nacirema society are much respected next to the medicine men. The holy-mouth-men opens and enlarges any holes …show more content…
No matter how a culture looks odd or different from ours, we should always respect others cultures and
We should accept everyone no matter the race, religion, culture or anything down to how they dress. Since we do, though, I want to give a few examples on how that is the case in the word more than how it is not. For example, the “The lonely death of Chanie Wenjack” story is about a boy who ran away from school but didn't make it home and died alone. Within that text, one part of a paragraph stated, “Even before Charlie ran away he was already running hard just to keep pace with the bewildering white world he had suddenly been thrust into.” This shows that culture has a huge impact on how people judge each other because for the boy to run away from school and have it at the time be a very racial environment was hard for him. People still judge now, but nothing where kids run away because of enforcement into a school like that. Another example would be, “And perhaps because they are Indians, no one seems to care very much. So this, then, is the story of how a little boy met a terrible and lonely death, of the handful of people who became involved, and of a town that hardly noticed.” This shows that culture has a huge impact on how people judge each other because white people disliked the Natives just because of their traditions and what they do. They wanted all activities to be American and American only. Even now do people not like something because of it being
In the article “Body Ritual Among the Nacerima” by Horace Miner wee see the framework for social construction of the Nacerima culture. The Nacerima fundamental belief is to avert their bodies debilitating characteristics with powerful
In the paper “Body Rituals Among the Nacrima,” written by Horace Miner, we learn of the unique cultural practices of the Nacrima – a North American group. The group has complicated social institutions, hierarchies and cultural practices much like other societies in the world but the practices of this particular group are unique. However, once the reader critically analyzes the passage, they realize that Miner is actually describing the American culture and he does so from the lens of an outsider and demonstrates how strange societies are to an outsider looking in.
In Body Rituals of the Nacirema, Horace Miner demonstrates through his study of the North American tribe Nacirema that “attitudes about the body” have a significant influence of human behavior within the people and can give a glimpse into some of the most extreme behaviours humans can reach. He argues that the beliefs and practices of the Nacirema, which have a sort of magical connotation, are so bizarre that members assume an extreme in human behavior is very easily within their community. The Nacirema, a North American tribe of people whose origins are ambiguously tracked to some place within the continent, are a people who practice rituals incessantly on the basis of the human body, perceived negative aspects of the body, and countering
How do you view opposing culture that is different from your own? I am mostly open minded and, in fact, greatly interested in other cultures on a personal and academic level. Something that I believe many Americans take for granted is our rich mixed cultural heritage and our proximity to some of the oldest cultures on the planet.
The reading, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, shows the strange and torturous culture traits of the Nacirema of North America. This people are extremely barbaric in their practices, and often torture themselves just to look good. In our modern society, it seems nearly impossible to us to understand, or even partake in these horrific actions. But there is something hidden within the Nacirema culture that would shock the modern American world.
In the article, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, by Horace M. Miner, some of these same problems are faced.
The article, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, spoke of the many ritualistic activities a native people known as the Nacirema undergo on a daily basis. As described by Horace Miner, the Nacirema’s daily life involved rituals that focused on the appearance and health of the human body. According to Miner, the Nacirema people believe that the human body is ugly therefore; they try to diverge from this fate by engaging in different rituals and ceremonies. For example, the Nacirema have special shrines where private ceremonies are held that involve a charm box. The charm box is filled with potions and charms given to them by herbalists and medicine men. These charms and potions are said to cure ills and the Nacirema natives believe that they cannot live without them.
In his essay titled "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema," Horace Miner introduces us to a mysterious tribe of people and their strange daily rituals. According to the author, the Nacirema tribe members subject themselves to various daily tortures and ritualistic behaviors in hopes of achieving the ‘perfect' body. The article mentions several comparisons of the Nacirema tribe habits to the actions of today's society. One of the easily recognizable elements is the extreme mouth rituals referring to today's obsession with oral hygiene. Another example is the fixation with medicine men; a reference to today's fascination with doctors, psychiatrists, and the use of various medications. One of the aspects of today's culture that is similar to the ones
The author discusses the layout of how the rituals were and what type of activities that they do for the rituals.
In life, we come across all varieties of people with different beliefs and customs. It is inevitable. Therefore,
The first archetype we will discuss is the ideal maiden or unmarried woman. In ancient Greece, the ideal maiden was a beautiful, but modest figure who had ample amounts of both strength and meekness. As you can see, the ideal Greek maiden was a little bit of an oxymoron. She had to be both strong and meek; seductive and modest. Nausicaa is the ideal maidenly figure because she exemplifies the qualities of beauty, modesty, and strength without possessing the negative qualities of excessive vanity or “unwomanly” authority. Nausicaa beauty and modesty is obvious, after all the first time she appears she is described as “”. However, her strength is harder
Lehmann A. C. & Myers J. E. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion – An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural (Fourth Edition) (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997). Miner, H. Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist 58 (1956). Tambiah, S. J. & Co., Ltd. Magic, Science, Religion and the scope of Rationality (Cambridge University Press, 1990). Taylor, C. Rationality.
Traditions in many cultures is what defines and warps cultures into what they are. The importance of tradition differs in each region of the world and individual traditions have major differences. Traditions may come from a long line of generations that continue practicing or rituals. Furthermore, there are traditions that are slowly being discontinued and possibly forgotten. More importantly, people should protect and honor traditions rather than abandon them. The absence of tradition will make it difficult to distinguish the difference between each’s own tradition. The characteristics that make up Asian cultures and European cultures are very distinctly different. With the fading of defining traditions, it is critical that the new generation
The portrayal of different cultures is a vast spectrum, from cultural appropriation to multiculturalism. Using a culture for profits or misinterpreting a culture without knowing the significance of that culture is an easy way to end up culturally appropriating. This is simply distasteful and abuse of a different culture. We must check ourselves in order to not commit this act and to remain respectful of different cultures. On the other end of the spectrum, multiculturalism is the proper way of bringing cultures together and helps to unify