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Ritual: Rites of Passage

Ritual: Rites of Passage. 2.16.17. Functions of Ritual. Orients participants to space and time C onnects participants to the divine Connects participants to a larger community Includes the body as an instrument for religion. O Brother Where Ar’t Thou Delmar’s Baptism.

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Ritual: Rites of Passage

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  1. Ritual: Rites of Passage 2.16.17

  2. Functions of Ritual • Orients participants to space and time • Connects participants to the divine • Connects participants to a larger community • Includes the body as an instrument for religion O Brother Where Ar’t Thou Delmar’s Baptism

  3. Calendar Rituals Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Kinds of Rituals • Life Cycle Rituals • Birth • Coming of age • Marriage • Death • Special Occasion Rituals • Ordination • Exorcism Eucharist

  4. What kind of ritual is the brit milah?

  5. Pyres of varanasi

  6. What happens to the brother of the deceased person in Heinz’s description of the hindu cremation ritual in nepal?

  7. Hindu Cremation ritual in nepal • How does this text connect to the four functions of ritual? • Orients participants to space and time • Connects participants to the divine • Connects participants to larger community • Includes the body as an instrument for religion Ganges River (axis mundi)

  8. Name one substance considered holy / pure in the garuda purana…

  9. Puranas: ancient oral histories about the gods, sages, kings and kingdoms (written down between 200-500 CE) Garuda (bird god) asking Lord Vishnu to tell him of “rites of the dying” What to do when they are dying? What to do after they have died? Garuda Purana: An Account of the rites for the dying

  10. Death Rituals: Cremation Ritual (Hindu) • How do the following themes show up in these texts? • gender • purity • caste • dharma • moksha

  11. Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) • Rites of passage • “rites which accompany every change of place, state, social position and age” • Three stages of initiation rites (rites of passage) • Separation - the initiate is removed from the rest of the community • Transition (or limen / “threshold”) - the initiate leaves the community until the rites are complete • Re-Aggregation - the initiate rejoins the community

  12. Victor turner (1920 - 1983) • Expands upon van Gennep’s theory, specifically focusing on liminality • also related to Eliade and phenomenology • Focused on the “potential” available in liminal state; especially in relation to deconstructing social systems • where cultural and ritual creativity are incubated • Genuine ritual is transformative; ceremony confirms the status quo

  13. Liminality and communitas • Liminality • Betwixt and Between • No clear social status • unclear status makes liminality dangerous to community and social system • Why? Hazing of fraternity pledges as depicted on Law & Order SVU

  14. Liminality and communitas • Communitas • group of people who are in the same liminal state • “common generic bond” • (Majority) Anti-structure • Social distinctions fall away Selma to Montgomery March, 1965

  15. significance of rites of passage • “Social life is a dialectical process that involved successive experience of high and low” • All cultures have successive moments of highs/lows marked by ritual • Rituals help in process that humans go through anyway

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