Ritual and BeliefRitual and Belief

Ritual (Practice) and Belief: GeertzRitual (Practice) and Belief: Geertz

belief & practice - "a group's ethos is rendered intellectually reasonable by being shown to represent a way of life ... rendered emotionally convincing by being presented as an image of the actual state of affairs...”

What is What is BeliefBelief??

powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in people

conceptions of a general order of existence

auras of factuality

moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic

What is religion?

a set of beliefs and practices (ritual) aimed at ordering the relation of human beings to the supernaturalsupernatural - powers believed to be not human or not subject to the laws of nature– not all societies clear distinction

religion - belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers, and forces (Anthony Wallace)a basic congruence between a particular style of life and a specific metaphysic/cosmology (the nature of being & the universe as an orderly system)

Clifford Geertz on ReligionClifford Geertz on Religion

a religion is: "(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in people by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic." (Geertz:90)

explaining religions

anthropological perspective on religion: religion exists in all societies

anthropology a place where all religions are equally accepted – and equally subjected to analysis

rejection that magic is somehow an inferior and prior belief system before religion

What is Magic? What is Magic?

The The “laws of sympathetic magic”“laws of sympathetic magic” (Sir James George Frazer 1890)(Sir James George Frazer 1890)Law of Law of contagioncontagion– Things that have once been in contact, but have Things that have once been in contact, but have

ceased to be so, continue to act on each other as if ceased to be so, continue to act on each other as if the contact still persisted the contact still persisted

Law of Law of similaritysimilarity– Like produces like, an effect resembles its cause Like produces like, an effect resembles its cause

““From the first of these principles the savage From the first of these principles the savage infers that he can produce any desired effect infers that he can produce any desired effect merely by imitating it; from the second he merely by imitating it; from the second he concludes that he can influence at pleasure and concludes that he can influence at pleasure and at any distance any person of whom, or any at any distance any person of whom, or any thing of which, he possesses a particle.” thing of which, he possesses a particle.”

religion and science

systems of information: science and technology

systems of meaning: religion and magic– religion = explanation– magic = manipulation/control

intervention to compel supernatural beings to do something

useful when the situation is unknown, uncontrollable, dangerous

baseball magic

What does religion do?

psychological explanations

psychological explanation -how ritual & belief satisfy cognitive & affective/emotional demands for a stable, comprehensible, and coercible world for the individual

provides an orderly model of the universe

explains the unknown

reduces anxiety and fear

enabling the individual to maintain an inner security in the face of natural contingency

social explanations

sets precedents for appropriate behavior

sanctions conduct

a form of social control

justifies perpetuates a social order

maintains social solidarity

educates believers in social knowledge

provides a sense of control and a source of solace – alleviation of grief

social role of witchcraft accusations

accusations provide a socially proscribed way to deal with these problems

allows for public hearing

entire complex of social relationships investigated

effects for the community of witchcraft accusations– evil outsider community solidarity– evil insider necessary societal realignment

religion and worldview

sacred symbols function to synthesize a people's ethos– the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral

nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, institution

– a basic congruence between a particular style of life and a specific metaphysic/cosmology

encompassing pictures of reality based on a set of shared assumptions about how the world works

Religion and society

belief & ritual reinforce social ties between people

religion (ritual & spirituality) represents one form of collective consciousness

Durkheim: shared representations that form the basis for religion

Religion and social structureReligion and social structureGeertz: "the way in which the social structure of a group is strengthened & perpetuated through the ritualistic or mythic symbolization of the underlying social values upon which it rests."

Religion and social structureReligion and social structure

ancestor worship supports the jural authority of elders

initiation rites establish sexual identity & adult status

ritual groupings reflect political oppositions

myths provide charters for social institutions & rationalizations of social privilege

Ritual specialists

Priests and priestesses– Full-time religious experts

Shaman– Part-time religious experts

Other practitioners: witches, sorcerers, spirit mediums– complex societies have more than one type

Supernatural beings and powers

gods and goddesses– pantheon: a collection of such beings

animating spirits– souls– spirits of the dead

ancestor spirits

ghosts

nature spirits

– impersonal forcesmana

Ashanti PriestAshanti Priest

Balinese BalianBalinese Balian

Balinese GrandmotherBalinese Grandmother

Ritual

in western thought - ritual as a mark of all that separates rational modernity from cultures of tradition– the opposite of practical reason

ritual is a vital element in the processes that make and remake social facts and collective identities everywhere (Comaroff & Comaroff)

the symbolic behavior through which religion comes alive

ritual is repetitive, sequential, non-ordinary, and “powerful”

repetitive: innovation not tolerated

sequential: amen is at the end

non-ordinary: marked in time or space

“powerful”: power to change the world– by intervention of supernatural entities– transformation of the participant

Functions of ritual

Reinforce social bonds

Relieve social tension

Deal with life crises

Celebrate life cycle events

ritual is also a way a society remembers – through habit– through bodily practices

Types of ritual

Rites of Passage

Van Gennep and Victor Turner

rites include three stages– Separation– marginality or liminality

Communitas and anti-structure

– incorporation or re-aggregation

Other Types of Ritual

Rites of intensification – cyclical rituals that reinforce the solidarity of the group

ritual inversionDivination rituals– predict future & gain hidden info

Technological rituals– designed to control nature for the purpose of human

exploitation

Protective rites– aimed at coping with uncertainty of nature, seas, floods,

crop diseases

More TypesMore Types

therapy & anti-therapy rituals– designed to control human health; curative, witchcraft,

sorcery

ideological rituals– intended to control the behavior, mood, sentiments &

values of groups for the sake of community as a whole

salvation rituals– aimed at repairing self esteem & other forms of

impaired identity

Possession and salvation

individual's identity altered by the presence of an alien spirit

ritual encouragement to accept another identity

mystic experience or loss of personal identity by abandoning the old self & achieving salvation by identifying with a sacred being

Geertz's def.- religion maintains social order– but also instrument of change

religion & resistance

Religious revitalization movements & resistance– efforts to save a culture by infusing it with new

purpose and new life– invention of tradition