Anthro Study Guide
Chapter 12 Religion and Ritual
religion “to tie to bind”- belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces; bodies of people who gather together regularly for worship; a relationship between the individual and divinity
supernatural- gods, goddesses, ghosts, and souls, not of the material world
effervescence- bubbling up of collective emotional intensity generated by worship
communitas- intense community spirit, feeling of social solidarity, equality, togetherness
origins
animism- tylor (founder of the anthropology of religion) as people tried to understand conditions and events they could not explain by reference to daily experience (death, dreams and trances), 2 entities in the body one during the day and one during sleep or trance(soul), soul=anima, leaves when you die, animism=belief in spiritual things
polytheism- belief in multiple gods
monotheism- belief in single, all powerful deity
mana- melanesians believed in this sacred impersonal force existing in the universe, can reside in people, animals, plants and objects (like a lucky object)
taboo- so charged with mana were the highest chiefs that their possessions were taboo and set aside as sacred and off limits to ordinary people
magic- refers to supernatural techniques intended to accomplish specific aims
imitative magic- produces a desired effect by imitating it, voodoo
contagious magic- whatever is done to an object is believed to affect a person who once had contact with it, hair/nails in a spell/potion
function- reduce stress and anxiety, help people face death and crisis, in situations where people lack control (Trobrianders boating in a storm, pitchers in baseball)
rituals- social acts, formal, stylized, repetitive, and stereotyped, performed in special, sacred places
-liturgical orders- sequences of words and actions
-convey information about the participants and their traditions
rites of passage- customs associated with the transition from one place or stage of life to another, ex: moving from boyhood to manhood
3 phases: separation, liminality, and incorporation
liminality: people who occupy ambiguous social positions, exist apart from ordinary distinctions and expectations, cut off from normal social contacts, ex
