ritual

Examples of ritual in the following topics:

• Rituals

  • A ritual is a set of actions performed mainly for their symbolic value.
  • The purposes of rituals are varied.
  • The social function of rituals has often been exploited for political ends.
  • Rituals can help create a firm sense of group identity.
  • Ritual actions are not only characteristic of human cultures; animal rituals exist as well.

• The Elements of Religion

  • A conventional social scientific view understands religion as a group's collective beliefs and rituals relating to the supernatural.
  • A third social scientific perspective views religion as the collective beliefs and rituals of a group relating to the supernatural.
  • However, when belief and rituals of a group relating to the supernatural are coupled together, the scope seems appropriately narrowed.

• Rituals

  • Issues regarding the non-preservation of ritual objects became widespread in the expansion of museums in the 19th century.
  • There are numerous ways in which non-preservation of ritual or spiritual objects can occur.
  • A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, often prescribed by the traditions or religions of a particular community.
  • When removed from their ritual setting, or rightful environment, significant objects or artifacts lose their imbued symbolic and magical values, and take on very different meanings.
  • Compare and contrast the non-preservation of ritual and cultural art as perceived by Native American, Buddhist, and Islamic culture.

• The Southwest

  • Southwestern indigenous cultures have produced a variety of architectural, artisinal, and ritual art forms for centuries.
  • Hopi communities created ollas, dough bowls and food bowls of different sizes for daily use, but they also made more elaborate ceremonial mugs, jugs, ladles, seed jars and vessels for ritual use.
  • Among Hopi ritual art is the kachina figure, which is to instruct young girls and new brides about katsinas or katsinam, the immortal beings that bring rain, control other aspects of the natural world and society, and act as messengers between humans and the spirit world.
  • Men, seen as static in nature, create sand paintings for healing rituals.
  • Because sand paintings must be destroyed at the end of the ritual, tradition dictates that the designs not be photographed or otherwise documented.

• Aztec Religion

  • They practiced ritual sacrifice, ball games, and bloodletting in order to renew the sun each day.
  • Losers of the game were often ritually sacrificed as an homage to the gods.
  • Death and ritual blood sacrifice ensured the sun would rise again and crops would continue to grow.
  • They performed these rituals from special temples and religious houses.
  • This depiction of the war and sun god shows him in all of his warrior and ritual garb.

• Dogon

  • Due to the expense, the traditional funeral rituals (or damas) are becoming very rare.
  • Each Dogon village may differ in the designs of the masks used in the dama ritual.
  • Every village may have their own way of performing the dama rituals.
  • Davis, a particular ritual incorporates the elements of the yingim and the danyim.
  • The yingim and the danyim rituals each last a few days.

• Tombs

  • Tombs were built of permanent materials and the interior walls of the tombs were decorated with scenes of daily life and funerary rituals.
  • There is evidence of this ritual from the Old Kingdom to the Roman Period.
  • Special tools were used to perform the ceremony, such as a ritual adze, an arm shaped ritual censer, a spooned blade known as a peseshkaf, a serpent-head blade, and a variety of other amulets.
  • The opening of the mouth ritual was thus performed so that the person who died could eat and drink again in the afterlife.
  • Differentiate between mastabas and pyramids in ancient Egypt and discuss the rituals performed for the deceased

• The Rite of Passage

  • While many rituals and ceremonies are still practiced today, many Africans - especially those in more urban areas - no longer practice them.
  • For the Xhosa, each stage is marked by a specific ritual, such as the imbeleko performed at birth to introduce a newborn to its ancestors or the umphumo in which a boy becomes a man.
  • One traditional ritual that is still regularly practiced by the Xhosa is the secret rite of Ulwaluko, which marks the transition from boyhood to manhood with ritual circumcision and weeks of isolation.
  • Zulus historically performed the ritual circumcision of boys as well, but the ritual was stopped by King Shaka in the war of 1810.
  • Clothing is an important marker of the tradition; the initiate wears a bright red hat to show that he has completed the Fanado ritual.

• Bronze under the Zhou Dynasty

  • The majority of surviving Chinese ancient bronze artifacts are ritual forms rather than their equivalents made for practical use, either as tools or weapons.
  • Examples of ritual bronze vessels are the numerous large sacrificial tripods known as dings, along with many other distinct shapes such as gui and zun.
  • They were often used for cooking, storage, and ritual offerings to the gods or to ancestors.
  • Gui are a type of bowl-shaped ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessel used to hold offerings of food and for ancestral tombs.
  • The ritual books of China during the Zhou Dynasty describe who was allowed to use what kinds of sacrificial vessels.

• Transitional Adulthood

  • It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a larger ritual.
  • Coming of age initiation rituals can occur in various professional organizations.
  • Universities in Chile follow an annual ritual called "Mechoneo" (the act of pulling somebody's hair).
  • In the United States, these sorts of initiation rituals are most commonly found in fraternities and sororities.
  • Discuss how a young person "comes of age", particularly in the context of religion or rituals