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The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and
Witchcraft

This concise and accessible textbook introduces students to the
anthropological study of religion. Stein and Stein examine religious expression
from a cross-cultural perspective and expose students to the varying
complexity of world religions. The chapters incorporate key theoretical
concepts and a rich range of ethnographic material.

The fourth edition of The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft
offers:

increased coverage of new religious movements, fundamentalism, and
religion and conflict/violence;
fresh case study material with examples drawn from around the globe;
further resources via a comprehensive companion website.

This is an essential guide for students encountering anthropology of religion
for the first time.

Rebecca L. Stein is Professor of Anthropology and Department Chair at Los
Angeles Valley College, USA.

Philip L. Stein is Professor of Anthropology (Emeritus) at Los Angeles Pierce
College, USA. He is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and
a past president of the Society for Anthropology in Community Colleges.

The Anthropology of Religion, Magic,
and Witchcraft

Fourth Edition

Rebecca L. Stein and Philip L. Stein

Fourth edition published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2017 Rebecca L. Stein and Philip L. Stein

The right of Rebecca L. Stein and Philip L. Stein to be identified as authors of this work has
been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First published 2005 by Prentice Hall
Third edition published 2011 by Prentice Hall

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Stein, Rebecca L., 1970- author. | Stein, Philip L., author.
Title: The anthropology of religion, magic, and witchcraft / Rebecca L.
Stein, Philip L. Stein.
Description: Fourth edition. | Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY :
Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016050966 (print) | LCCN 2017007888 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138719972 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138692527
(pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315532172 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Religion. | Anthropology of religion. | Religion and
culture.
Classification: LCC GN470. S73 2017 (print) | LCC GN470 (ebook) |
DDC 306.6—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016050966

ISBN: 978-1-138-71997-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-69252-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-53217-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by Keystroke, Neville Lodge, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton

Visit the companion website:
www.routledge.com/cw/stein

For Elijah

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

1 The anthropological study of religion

The anthropological perspective

The holistic approach

The study of human societies

The Fore of New Guinea: an ethnographic example

Two ways of viewing culture

Cultural relativism

Box 1.1 Karen McCarthy Brown and Vodou

The concept of culture

The study of religion

Attempts at defining religion

The domain of religion

Theoretical approaches to the study of religion

Box 1.2 Malinowski and the Trobriand Islands

Box 1.3 Evans-Pritchard and the Azande

The biological basis of religious behavior

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

2 Mythology

The nature of myths

Worldview

Stories of the supernatural

The nature of oral texts

Box 2.1 Genesis

Box 2.2 The gender-neutral Christian Bible

Understanding myths

Approaches to the analysis of myths

Box 2.3 The Gururumba creation story

Common themes in myths

Box 2.4 The power of storytelling

Box 2.5 The Navaho creation story: Diné Bahane’

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

3 Religious symbols

What is a symbol?

Religious symbols

Box 3.1 Religious toys and games

Sacred art

The sarcophagus of Lord Pakal

The meaning of color

Sacred time and sacred space

The meaning of time

Box 3.2 The end of time

Sacred time and space in Australia

The symbolism of music and dance

The symbolism of music

The symbolism of dance

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

4 Ritual

The basics of ritual performance

Prescriptive and situational rituals

Periodic and occasional rituals

A classification of rituals

A survey of rituals

Technological rituals

Social rites of intensification

Therapy rituals and healing

Revitalization rituals

Rites of passage

Alterations of the human body

Pilgrimages

Box 4.1 The Hajj

The Huichol pilgrimage

Religious obligations

Tabu

Jewish food laws

Box 4.2 Menstrual tabus

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

5 Altered states of consciousness

The nature of altered states of consciousness

Entering an altered state of consciousness

The biological basis of altered states of consciousness

Box 5.1 Altered states in Upper Paleolithic art

Ethnographic examples of altered states of consciousness

San healing rituals

The Sun Dance of the Cheyenne

The Holiness Churches

Drug-induced altered states of consciousness

Hallucinogenic snuff among the Yanomamö

Tobacco in South America

Peyote in the Native American Church

Marijuana among the Rastafarians

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

6 Religious specialists

Shamans

Defining shamanism

Siberian shamanism

Korean shamanism

Pentecostal healers as shamans

Box 6.1 Clown doctors as shamans

Neoshamanism

Priests

Zuni priests

Okinawan priestesses

Eastern Orthodox priests

Other specialists

Healers and diviners

Box 6.2 African healers meet Western medicine

Prophets

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

7 Magic and divination

The nature of magic

Magic and religion

Rules of magic

Magic in society

Magic in the Trobriand Islands

Magic among the Azande

Sorcery among the Fore

Wiccan magic

Divination

Forms of divination

A survey of divination techniques

Box 7.1 I Ching: The Book of Changes

Box 7.2 Spiritualism and séances

Astrology

Fore divination

Oracles of the Azande

Divination in Ancient Greece: the oracle at Delphi

Magical behavior and the human mind

Magical thinking

Why magic works

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

8 Souls, ghosts, and death

Souls and ancestors

Variation in the concept of the soul

Box 8.1 How do you get to heaven?

Souls, death, and the afterlife

Examples of concepts of the soul

Ancestors

Box 8.2 Determining death

Bodies and souls

Ghosts

The living dead: vampires and zombies

Death rituals

Funeral rituals

Disposal of the body

U.S. death rituals in the nineteenth century

U.S. funeral rituals today

Days of death

Box 8.3 Roadside memorials

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

9 Gods and spirits

Spirits

The Dani view of the supernatural

Guardian spirits and the Native American vision quest

Jinn

Christian angels and demons

Box 9.1 Christian demonic exorcism in the United States

Gods

Types of gods

Gods and society

Box 9.2 Games and gods

The gods of the Yoruba

The gods of the Ifugao

Goddesses

Monotheism: conceptions of god in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Atheism

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

10 Witchcraft

The concept of witchcraft in small-scale societies

Witchcraft among the Azande

Witchcraft among the Navaho

Witchcraft reflects human culture

Witchcraft and AIDS

Euro-American witchcraft beliefs

The connection with pagan religions

The Witchcraze in Europe

The Witchcraze in England and the United States

Box 10.1: The evil eye

Modern-day witch hunts

Box 10.2 Satanism

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

11 The search for new meaning

Adaptation and change

Mechanisms of culture change

Haitian Vodou

Santeria

Revitalization movements

The origins of revitalization movements

Types of revitalization movements

Cargo cults

Box 11.1 The John Frum cult

The Ghost Dance of 1890

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism)

Neo-Paganism and revival

The Wiccan movement

High demand religions

The “cult” question

Characteristics of high demand religions

Examples of high demand religions

UFO religions

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

12 Religion, conflict, and peace

Religion and conflict

Role of religion in conflict and violence

Box 12.1 Nationalism as religion

Fundamentalism

Characteristics of fundamentalist groups

Case studies of religion and conflict

The Iranian Revolution

Box 12.2 The veil in Islam

The Arab Spring

The Hobby Lobby case in the United States

Religion, terrorism, and peace

Religious conflict and terrorism

Religion and peace

Conclusion

Summary

Study questions

Suggested readings

Suggested websites

Notes

Glossary

Index

Illustrations

Maps

1 Map showing location of societies discussed in text: Western Hemisphere
2 Map showing location of societies discussed in text: Eastern Hemisphere

Figures

1.1 Holism
1.2 Brain scans. Courtesy of Andrew Newberg
3.1 Navaho blanket with swastika. Arizona State Museum, University of

Arizona, Helga Teiwes, photographer
3.2 The pentagram
3.3 Some Christian symbols
3.4 The mayan cosmos. D. Donne BryantDDB Stock Photography, LLC
3.5 Yin-yang
4.1 Alterations of the human body. 4.1a © Bettman/CORBIS All Rights

Reserved; 4.1b © Westend61 GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo; 4.1c © Robert
Estall photo agency / Alamy Stock Photo

4.2 Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Granger Collection, New York
5.1 Mayan carving. 5.1a © The Trustees of the British Museum; 5.1b © The

Trustees of the British Museum
5.2 San healing ceremony. © Peter Johnson/CORBIS All Rights Reserved
6.1 Shaman. Photo by Tao Zhang/Nur Photo. Sipa USA via AP

6.2 Okinawan priestesses. © Chris Willson / Alamy Stock Photo
7.1 Divination. © Earl and Nazima Kowall/CORBIS All Rights Reserved
7.2 Painting of the Pythia. Bpk, Berlin/Antikensammlung, Staatliche

Museen/Johannes Laurentius/Art Resource, NY
8.1 The Wheel of Life. © Getty Images/Time Life Pictures
8.2 Vampire burial. Courtesy of the Slavia Project and the Slavia Field School

in Mortuary Archaeology, Drawsko, Poland
8.3 The Day of the Dead. © Danny Lehman/CORBIS All Rights Reserved
9.1 The Greek pantheon
9.2 Venus of Willendorf. INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
9.3 The Hindu goddess Kali. © Earl and Nazima Kowall/CORBIS All Rights

Reserved
10.1 Execution of English witches. The Granger Collection, New York
11.1 Vodou altar. AP Photo/Lynsey Addiaro
11.2 Wiccan ritual. © Jim Cartier/Science Photo Library
11.3 Mass wedding of the Unification Church. CORBIS-NY
12.1 Hobby Lobby. Mark Wilson/Getty Images
12.2 Terrorist attacks in Paris. Patrick Kovarik/Getty Images

Tables

1.1 Culture areas of the world
1.2 Food-getting strategies
2.1 Forms of narrative
2.2 The monomyth in cinema: a sampling of common features
4.1 A classification of rituals
4.2 Causes and treatment of supernatural illnesses
4.3 Characteristics of liminality
5.1 Characteristics of altered states of consciousness
5.2 Factors bringing about an altered state of consciousness
5.3 Drugs that produce an altered state of consciousness
7.1 A classification of methods of divination with examples
9.1 The supernatural world of the Dani

9.2 The Roman gods and goddesses of agriculture
9.3 Some of the Yoruba orisha
11.1 The lwa of Haitian Vodou

Preface

Although courses in the anthropology of religion are usually upper-division
courses taught at four-year institutions to anthropology majors, the course is
increasingly being taught at the lower-division level, especially at community
colleges. Here the emphasis is not on the training of majors, of whom there
are few, but on meeting a general education requirement in the social sciences
or humanities. Most significantly, this course is probably the only
anthropology course that such students will take. Therefore the instructor has
the obligation not only to discuss the topics of religion, but also to teach the
student about the nature of anthropology and to present its basic principles.

We had great difficulty in finding a textbook that is appropriate for this
type of course. Three types of books exist. First is the reader, which often
includes articles that are too advanced for the introductory student. A major
problem is the inconsistency of terminology and concepts as the student
moves from article to article. The second is the general textbook on the
anthropology of religion; but these appear to be written for upper-division
students who have already been introduced to the field and often heavily
emphasize theory. Third, there are abundant books on the more familiar
world religions but few that discuss religions in small-scale societies, where
much of the anthropological studies have been conducted. Our goal in writing
this text has been to introduce the beginning student to the basic concepts
involved in the anthropological study of religion, including an introduction to
ethnographical information from a wide range of societies and a basic
introduction to the field of anthropology.

One of the most difficult decisions we have had to make in writing this text
is the organization and order of presentation of topics. The range of topics is
large, and they overlap in myriad ways—everyone has his or her own
approach. We have attempted to present the material beginning with basic
concepts and proceeding to the more complex. For example, we begin with

myth, symbolism, and ritual before moving on to magic and witchcraft later
in the text.

We have attempted to include a number of ethnographic examples with a
good geographical distribution. Societies discussed in the text are included in
Table 1.1, “Culture areas of the world,” and the locations of many of these are
shown on the maps at the front of the book. Of course, many topics are
associated with classic ethnographic studies, which have been included. We
have also attempted to balance the presentation of a wide variety of cultures
with the inclusion of certain key societies that reappear as examples of several
topics throughout the text, to give students some continuity and a deeper
understanding of a small group of societies. These societies include the
Navaho of North America, the Yanomamö of South America, the Azande and
Yoruba of Africa, the Murngin of Australia, and the Trobriand Islanders off
the coast of New Guinea.

The writing of a manuscript is a major and complex undertaking. It is a
thrill to see the book in print, but when reading it in book form and using it in
class, the authors often see things that could have been done a little
differently, as well as having ideas for new avenues to explore. We have
continued to make a number of changes in this fourth edition. Some of these
changes are minor: a little reorganization, an expansion or contraction of a
particular topic, the introduction of a new example or elimination of an old
one, and a little rewording to make the point a little clearer. Other changes are
more substantial. For example, we have added a new Chapter 12 in which we
discuss fundamentalism, formerly in Chapter 11, and new material on religion
and conflict, violence and peace. We have added small sections on apotropaic
features found in archaeological context, vampire beliefs in New English, big
gods, and witchcraft in Soweto, South Africa. We have also added four new
boxes on “The Power of Storytelling,” “Spiritualism and Séances,”
“Nationalism as Religion,” and “The Veil in Islam.”

To assist the student in learning the material, we have divided each chapter
into several sections with different levels of headings. Terms that appear in
the Glossary have been set in bold. Each chapter concludes with a summary,
study questions, suggested reading, and suggested websites. Additional
materials for students and instructors are available on the companion website
www.routledge.com/cw/stein

Acknowledgements

We want to take this opportunity to thank the many faculty members who
have aided us in the writing of this text by reviewing the manuscript and
offering advice and suggestions.

Katherine Bradford, Los Angeles Mission College
Nicola Denzey, Bowdoin College
Charles O. Ellenbaum, College of DuPage
Karen Fjelstad, Cabrillo College
Wendy Fonarow, Glendale College
Arthur Gribben, Los Angeles Mission College
Amy Harper, Central Oregon Community College
Barbara Hornum, Drexel University
William Jankowiak, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Theresa Kintz, Wilkes University
Debra L. Klein, Gavilan College
Christopher Kovats-Bernat, Muhlenberg College
Lilly M. Langer, Florida International University
Phillip Naftaly, Adirondack Community College
Lesley Northup, Florida International University
Robin O’Brian, Elmira College
Lisa Raskind, Los Angeles Valley College
Cheryle Ross, Rio Hondo College
Terry N. Simmons, Paradise Valley Community College

As well as the many anonymous reviewers for both Prentice Hall and
Routledge.

We would like to thank everyone at Routledge for their assistance and
support in the writing of this book. We also want to thank our students for

their assistance. After all, this book was written for them. The text was
originally based on our lecture notes for an anthropology of religion course
which developed over many years with student dialogue. The manuscript was
then used as a textbook, which provided an opportunity for student feedback.

Finally, we wish to thank our respective spouses, Robert Frankle and Carol
Stein, for their patience and support, and assistance.

Map 1 Map showing location of societies discussed in text: Western Hemisphere

Map 2 Map showing location of societies discussed in text: Eastern Hemisphere

Chapter 1
The anthropological study of religion

Human beings pose questions about nearly everything in the world, including
themselves. The most fundamental of these questions are answered by a
people’s religious beliefs and practices, which are the subject of this book. We
will examine the religious lives of a broad range of human communities from
an anthropological perspective.

The term anthropological perspective means many things. It is a theoretical
orientation that will be discussed later in the chapter. It is also an approach
that compares human societies throughout the world—contemporary and
historical, industrial and tribal. Many college courses and textbooks focus on
the best-known religions, those that are practiced by millions upon millions of
people and are often referred to as the “world’s great religions”—Judaism,
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, among others. This book will
expand the subject matter to include and focus on lesser-known religious
systems, especially those that are found in small-scale, traditional
communities. As we do this, we want to look for commonalities as well as to
celebrate diversity.

This book will not simply describe a series of religious systems. We will
approach the study of religion by looking at particular topics that are usually
included in the anthropological definition of religion and providing examples
to illustrate these topics from the anthropological literature. We obviously are
unable to present the thousands of religious systems that exist or have existed
in the world, but we can provide a sample.

The anthropological perspective

The subject of this book is religion as seen from an anthropological
perspective. What does this mean? The term anthropology refers to the study
of humanity. However, anthropology shares this subject matter with many
other disciplines—sociology, psychology, history, and political science, to
name a few. So how is anthropology different from these other disciplines?

One way in which anthropology differs from other subjects is that
anthropology is an integrated study of humanity. Anthropologists study
human societies as systematic sums of their parts, as integrated wholes. We
call this approach holism. For example, many disciplines study marriage. The
anthropologist believes that a true understanding of marriage requires an
understanding of all aspects of the society. Marriage is profoundly influenced
by politics and law, economics, ethics, and theology; in turn, marriage
influences history, literature, art, and music. The same is true of religious
practices and beliefs.

The holistic nature of anthropology is seen in the various divisions of the
field. Traditional anthropologists speak of four-fields anthropology. These four
fields are physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and
cultural anthropology. Today, with the rapid increase and complexity of
anthropological studies, anthropologists are becoming more and more
specialized and focused on particular topics. The often-simplistic concept of
anthropology as being composed of the integrated study of these four fields is
rapidly breaking down, but a review of these four fields will acquaint those
who are studying anthropology for the first time with the essential nature of
the discipline.

Physical anthropology is the study of human biology and evolution.
Physical anthropologists are interested in genetics and genomics; evolutionary
theory; the biology and behavior of the primates, the group of animals that
includes monkeys, apes, and humans; and paleontology, the study of the fossil
record. Anthropologists with a biological orientation discuss the evolutionary
origins and the neurobiology of religious experience.

Archaeology is the study of people who are known only from their
physical and cultural remains; it gives us insight into the lives of now extinct
societies. Evidence of religious expression can be seen in the ruins of ancient

temples and in the art and writings of people who lived in societies that have
faded into history.

The field of linguistic anthropology is devoted to the study of language,
which, according to many anthropologists, is a unique feature of humans.
Much of religious practice is linguistic in nature, involving the recitation of
words, and the religious beliefs of a people are expressed in their myths and
literature.

Cultural anthropology is the study of contemporary human societies and
makes up the largest area of anthropological study. Cultural anthropologists
study a people’s social organization, economics and technology, political
organization, marriage and family life, child-rearing practices, and so forth.
The study of religion is a subject within the general field of cultural
anthropology. However, we will be drawing on all four subfields in our
examination of religion.

The holistic approach

Studying a society holistically is a very daunting task. It requires a great deal
of time—time to observe human behavior and time to interview members of a
society. Because of the necessity of having to limit the scope of a research
project, anthropologists are noted for their long-term studies of small, remote
communities. However, as isolated small communities become increasingly
incorporated into larger political units, anthropologists are turning more and
more to the study of larger, more complex societies. Yet even within a more
complex society, anthropologists maintain a limited focus. For example,
within an urban setting, anthropologists study specific companies, hospitals,
neighborhoods, gangs, clubs, and churches. Anthropological studies take place
over long periods of time and usually require the anthropologist to live within
the community and to participate to a degree in the lives of the people under
study, while at the same time making objective observations. This technique
of study is referred to as participant observation.

Students of anthropology are initially introduced to small communities
such as foraging bands, small horticultural villages, and groups of pastoral
nomads. They become familiar with the lives of the Trobriand Islanders off

the coast of New Guinea, the Navaho of the American Southwest, the
Yanomamö of northern South America, the Murngin of northern Australia,
and the San of southern Africa. Some people refer to these societies as being
“primitive,” but primitive is a pejorative term, one laden with negative
connotations such as inferior and “less than.” A better term is small-scale.
When we say small-scale, we refer to relatively small communities, villages,
and bands that practice foraging, herding, or technologically simple
horticulture.

We will also be examining aspects of what are often referred to as the
“world’s great religions.” Like the term primitive, the term great involves a
value judgment. These familiar religions include Judaism, Christianity, Islam,
and Buddhism. They are similar in that the origins of these religions are based
on the lives of a particular individual or founder, such as Moses, Christ,
Mohammad, and the Buddha. These religions have spread into thousands of
different societies, and their adherents number in the millions. The small-scale
societies that are more traditionally studied by anthropologists, by contrast,
are usually not based on the lives of particular prophets or founders. They
tend to be limited to one or a few societies, and their adherents might number
only a few hundred or a few thousand.

If they involve only a very small number of people, then why study these
small-scale religions? Among the many questions that anthropologists ask
about humanity are the following: Are there characteristics that are found in
all human societies, what we might call human universals? And when we
look at universals, or at least at very widespread features, what are the ranges
of variation? Returning to the example of marriage, we could ask the
following questions: Is marriage found in all human societies? And what are
the various forms that marriage takes? We might ask similar questions about
religion. To answer these questions, anthropologists go out into the field,
study particular communities, and write reports describing these
communities. Questions of universality and variability can be answered on
the basis of descriptions of hundreds of human societies.

In addition, the goal of anthropology is to study the broad range of human
beliefs and behaviors, to discover what it means to be human. This is best
accomplished by examining religious and other cultural phenomena in a wide
variety of cultures of different sizes and structures, including our own. It is
often said that the aim of anthropology is to make the strange familiar and the

familiar strange. Only through cross-cultural comparisons is this possible.

The study of human societies

Ethnography is the descriptive study of human societies. People who study
human societies and write ethnographies about them are cultural
anthropologists; they are sometimes referred to as ethnographers.

However, not all descriptions of human societies are written by
ethnographers. For example, an archaeologist is someone who studies the
physical and cultural remains of societies that existed in the past and are
known today only from their ruins, burials, and garbage. Yet archaeologists
can, to a limited degree, reconstruct the lives of people who lived in ancient
societies. Sometimes the only descriptions we have of people’s lives are those
written in diaries and reports by explorers and colonial administrators.
Although these descriptions are far from complete and objective, they do
provide us with some information.

Although we will visit a few societies that are known solely from their
archaeological remains, most of the examples in this book are from societies
that exist today or have existed in the recent past. Many of the societies we
will discuss were first visited and described by anthropologists in the early to
mid-1900s. Although these societies have changed over time, as all groups do,
and although many of these societies have passed out of existence,
anthropologists speak of them in the ethnographic present; that is, we
discuss these groups in the present tense as they were first described by
ethnographers.

Throughout this book we will be presenting examples from the
ethnographic literature. These communities are found throughout the world,
including some very remote areas. To better understand their nature and
distribution, we can organize these societies into culture areas. A culture area
is a geographical area in which societies tend to share many cultural traits.
This happens because these groups face similar challenges from the
environment and often come up with similar solutions and because cultural
traits that develop in one group easily spread to other nearby groups.

Each human society—and even subgroups within the society—exhibits

unique characteristics. The common traits that define a culture area tend to lie
in the realm of subsistence activities and technology, a common response to
the challenges from the environment, although some similarity in other facets
of the society, including religion, may also be found. For example, the
California culture area, whose boundaries are somewhat different from the
present-day political unit, includes a group of communities that exploit
acorns. Acorns require processing that involves many steps and much
equipment, but they provide a food resource that is plentiful and nutritious
and that can be stored. These features permit the development of permanent
and semipermanent communities, unlike those developed by most
foragers.1Table 1.1 lists the major culture areas of the world along with the
names of representative groups. All of the groups used as examples in this
book are included. Many are located on the maps at the front of this book.

Table 1.1 Culture areas of the world

Culture area
Societies discussed

in text
Features

North America

Arctic Coast Inuit, Yup’ik

Hunting of sea mammals and caribou,
fishing; shelters made of snow blocks,

semisubterranean sod houses, summer tents
made of skins; dog-drawn sledges, tailored
skin clothing; settlement in small family

groups.

Northern
Subarctic

Chipewyan,
Winnebago

Hunting caribou, fishing; conical skin tents,
bark or skin canoes, snowshoes, toboggans;

highly nomadic bands with chiefs.

Great Basin-
Plateau

Paiute, Shoshoni
Acorn collecting, fishing, hunting of small
game; small brush windbreaks, elaborate

basketry; band organization.

California
Cahuilla,

Acorn collecting, fishing, hunting of small
game; simple brush dwellings,

semisubterranean lodges; basketry;

Chumash, Pomo multiplicity of small contrasting tribes,
semipermanent villages.

Northwest
Coast

Haida,
Kwakwaka’wakw,

Tlingit

Salmon and deep-sea fishing, hunting and
collecting; large rectangular plank

dwellings with gabled roofs, large canoes,
lack pottery, elaborate development of

decorative art; permanent villages, chiefs,
elaborate system of rank.

Plains

Arapaho,
Blackfeet,

Cheyenne, Crow,
Kiowa, Lakota,

Ojibwa

Hunting of bison, some horticulture; tipi
dwellings; transport by dog, later horse;
absence of basketry and pottery, hide

utensils; large bands, competitive military
and social societies, warfare important.

Eastern
Woodland

Iroquois, Seneca
Horticulture, hunting; multiple-family

dwellings of bark (longhouses); matrilineal
clans, village chiefs.

Southeast
Cherokee,
Natchez

Similar to Eastern Woodland with
Mesoamerican influence.

Southwest

Apache, Hopi,
Navaho, Akimel
O’odham, Tewa

Yaqui, Zuni

Intensive cultivation of beans, maize, and
squash; pueblos consisting of great

multifamily terraced apartments, single-
family dwellings with more nomadic

groups; highly developed pottery and loom
weaving; village as largest political unit.

Mesoamerica
Aztec, Huichol,

Maya

Intensive agriculture; state societies with
developed technology including

monumental stone architecture, stone
sculpture, system of writing, woven
textiles, metallurgy; fully developed

dynastic empires, social classes.

South America

Marginal Siriono, Yahgan Hunting, fishing, and gathering; family as
basic social unit.

Tropical Forest
Jivaro, Mehinaku,

Pirahãs
Yanomamö

Slash-and-burn horticulture; villages often
consist of one communal dwelling located
on rivers; bark canoes and dugouts, clubs
and shields, bows and arrows, blow guns,

bark cloth, hammock, tobacco; village
settlements under chiefs, warfare strongly

developed with cannibalism present.

Circum-
Caribbean

Arawak, Carib

Intensive farming, hunting and fishing; pole
and thatch houses arranged in streets and

around plazas surrounded by palisade;
hammocks, poisoned arrows, loom weaving

of domesticated cotton, highly developed
ceramics, gold and copper worked; large
villages, social classes, chiefs, extreme

development of warfare.

Andean Araucanian, Inca

Intensive irrigation agriculture; paved
roads, monumental architecture, highly

developed ceramics, weaving, and
metallurgy; large cities, divine ruler over

large empires.

Africa

Mediterranean Berbers
Agriculture and sheep herding; marginal
Near Eastern culture, towns and cities;

Islam.

Desert Tuareg

Livestock herding (horse and camel) and
tent shelters; intensive fruit and cereal

cultivation, camels, sheep, goat herding,
stone and plaster dwellings; Islam.

Egypt
Egyptians,
Nubians

Flood-irrigated agriculture (wheat and
barley); early civilization.

Western
Sudan

Fulani, Hausa
Agriculture and cattle herding; urban

centers, dynastic rule and empires; Islam
and animism.

Eastern Sudan Dinka, Nuer Cattle herders and scattered agriculturalists;
Islam and animism.

East Horn
Abyssinians,

Somali
Agriculture and cattle herding; Coptic

Christianity.

East African
Cattle

Bunyoro, Maasai,
Swazi, Zulu

Cattle herding, dairying, hoe agriculture;
iron work, age grades, warfare, ancestor

worship.

Madagascar Tanala
Marginal Indonesian culture; wet rice

irrigation agriculture.

Khoisan Ju/’hoansi San
Hunting and gathering; nomadic bands,

brush shelters.

Guinea Coast
Beng, Bushongo,

Dogon, Fon,
Kpelle, Yoruba

Hoe agriculture, root crops and maize; large
dynastic kingdoms, city and towns, market

centers, judicial systems, craft guilds,
artistic development.

Congo
Azande, Kongo,

Mangbetu,
Pygmies

Yam and banana cultivation; double-court
kingdoms, markets, native courts; iron and

brass work; Pygmies: hunting and
gathering, trade with agriculturalists.

Eurasia

Southwest
Asia

Bedouin
Cereal irrigation agriculture, plow, herding;

Islam.

Central Asian
Steppe

Mongols
Horse domesticated for transportation,

milk, hides; Islam.

Siberian
Tungus, Tuva,

Yakut

Fishing, hunting, reindeer domestication;
conical skin dwellings; tailored skin

clothing.

East Asian
civilizations

Chinese, Japanese,
Korean,

Okinawan

Intensive agriculture including wet rice and
animal husbandry; ancient civilizations;

urban centers and industrialization; several
religious systems including Shinto and

Buddhism.

Wet and dry rice agriculture, water buffalo;

Southeast Asia Balinese, Hmong,
Javanese

bamboo houses; Hinduism, Buddhism,
Islam.

India Nayar, Toda
Plow agriculture, wheat and barley; caste

system.

European Basques, Viking
Mixed agriculture and animal husbandry;
urbanization and industrialization; mainly

Christian.

Oceania

Indonesia-
Philippine

Berawan, Dyaks,
Ifugao, Tana

Toraja

Irrigation and terracing, wet rice
agriculture, water buffalo; large

multifamily dwellings on piles, betel
chewing, elaborate textiles, blow guns;
Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, animism.

Australia
Murngin, Yir

Yoront

Hunting and gathering economy; simple
windbreaks, spears and spear-throwers,

bark containers; independent bands, highly
elaborate kin organization; totemism.

Melanesia

Asmat, Buka,
Dani, Fore,

Gururumba,
Trobriand
Islanders

Yams and taro horticulture, fishing;
elaborate ceremonial houses, high

development of wood carving, canoes,
bows and arrows; isolated hamlets under

local chief, regional specialization in
economic production, trading voyages;

chronic petty warfare.

Micronesia Palau, Truk

Yams and taro horticulture, fishing,
collection of breadfruit and coconut; expert

navigation in sailing canoes; intertribal
warfare.

Polynesia
Maori, Samoan,

Tikopia

Taro, yams, coconut, breadfruit cultivation,
fishing; large thatched dwellings, tapa

cloth, kava, tattooing, sculpture in wood
and stone, outrigger canoes with sails;

hereditary social classes and divine chiefs;

mana, tabu.

Table 1.2 Food-getting strategies

Foragers Pastoralists Horticulturalists
Intensive

agriculturalists

Examples
San,

Murngin,
Shoshoni

Nuer, Maasai
Gururumba,
Yanomamö,

Azande

Aztec, Korean,
Amish

Food getting

Food
collectors:
gathering,
hunting,
fishing

Animal
husbandry

Farming with
simple hand

tools

Farming with
advanced

technology (e.g.,
irrigation,

fertilization,
plows)

Community
variables

Low
population

density,
small

community
size

Low
population

density, small
to medium
community

size

Moderate
population

density, medium
community size

High population
density, large

community size

Settlement
patterns

Nomadic or
seminomadic

Nomadic or
semi-nomadic

Basically
sedentary, may

move after
several years

Permanent
settlements

Specialization

No full-time
specialists,
some part-

time

Few full-time
specialists,

some part-time

Few full-time
specialists, some

part-time

Many full-time
specialists

Social
stratification

Generally
none

Some Some Significant

Besides geographical distribution, there are other ways in which

anthropologists organize societies. One commonly used scheme is to organize
societies in terms of their subsistence strategy, focusing on how they make a
living (Table 1.2). Commonly used categories are foragers, horticulturalists,
pastoralists, and agriculturalists. Of course, these are not precisely delineated
categories but divisions of a continuum. Foragers are peoples without any
form of plant or animal domestication. They tend to live in small, isolated
groups that are found today primarily in areas that are difficult to farm.
Horticulturalists are peoples who garden in the absence of fertilization,
irrigation, and other advanced technologies. Pastoralists are peoples whose
primary livelihood comes from the herding of domesticated animals. Peoples
who plow, fertilize, and irrigate their crops are termed agriculturalists. The
latter develop relatively large communities with more complex technologies.
Societies that have the same subsistence strategy generally have other features
in common, such as settlement patterns, population density, and the presence
of specialists.

The Fore of New Guinea: an ethnographic example

In the preceding sections of this chapter we learned about some basic concepts
of anthropology, such as holism, and we were introduced to the concept of
ethnography. Now let us turn our attention to a particular example to
illustrate these ideas.

The holistic approach sees human behavior as a complex set of interacting
behaviors and ideas. In examining a society, we might begin with a particular
problem that interests us, but we soon realize that to truly understand this
problem, we have to look at many other aspects of the society.

An example of this was a study of the Fore, a group of about 14,000
horticulturalists living in the eastern highlands of New Guinea (Melanesia
culture area). The problem that brought the Fore to the attention of the
Western world was a medical one. The solution to the problem brought the
Nobel Prize in Medicine to one of the investigators.

When the Australian government first contacted the Fore in the 1950s, a
significant number of individuals were found to be suffering from a particular
illness. The illness was having a major impact on the population: about 200

people were dying of the illness each year, the victims being primarily women
and children.

This illness is characterized by a variety of symptoms, but the most obvious
ones are jerking movements and shaking, which make planned motor activity
difficult. The course of the illness is about nine months. At the end the victim
can no longer stand or sit up and can no longer eat or drink water and soon
dies. The Fore call this illness kuru, which means “to tremble with fear” in the
Fore language.

The medical team that was sent in to deal with the disease sought the cause.
Because it appeared to be largely confined to the Fore, the team thought it
might be genetic or due to a toxin in the environment. However, kuru was
finally determined to be the result of an infectious agent called a prion. The
major question was how the kuru prion was passed from one person to
another. Was it passed on through contaminated water, through the air, or
through sexual activity? The answer to the puzzle was proposed by
anthropologists: cannibalism.

It was the custom of the Fore to eat the body as part of the funeral rituals—
one aspect of their religious practices. The body of the deceased was carried
down to an abandoned field, where kin dismembered and cooked it. Close
relatives then consumed the pieces. Because cooking does not destroy the
prions, some of them entered the bloodstream through cuts and open sores
and eventually entered the brain, where, many years later, the person began
to show symptoms of the disease. Because women and children, who have
lower social status, were more likely to eat the brain, they were the most
likely to develop the disease.

The modern medical community now had an explanation for what caused
the disease and knew how it was transmitted from one individual to another.
The government had a “cure” to the epidemic: eliminate the practice of
cannibalism. As a result, cannibalism stopped, and kuru eventually
disappeared, although this took some time because the disease has a long
incubation period. However, the Fore themselves did not understand this
explanation and stopped eating the bodies of their dead only because not to do
so would mean spending time in jail. The Fore did not accept the scientific
explanation of the disease. Think about how difficult it would be for the
doctors to convince the Fore that kuru was caused by tiny prions that no one
could see. One might as well be talking about tiny evil spirits that also cannot

be seen.
The Fore knew the cause of kuru, at least in their world. It was the result of

sorcery. Sorcery is the evil form of magic, which we will discuss in Chapter 7.
The sorcerer, the person who practices sorcery, would steal something that
was once a part of or in contact with the victim, such as a piece of clothing or
a lock of hair. The material was then made into a bundle along with some
leaves, bark, and stones and was bound up into a package. After reciting a
spell, the sorcerer would place the bundle into muddy ground, and as the
bundle rotted, the victim would develop the symptoms of the disease. This
belief influenced everyday behavior, as individuals were careful to hide things
that could be retrieved and used by a sorcerer.

In spite of this caution, people still developed kuru. In this case, a
divination ritual was used to reveal the identity of the sorcerer causing the
illness. As we will see in Chapter 7, many people use such techniques to reveal
things that are difficult or impossible to discover by other means. Once the
sorcerer was identified, the Fore had many options to counter the activity of
the evildoer. A person with kuru might also have consulted a healer.

The fact that kuru struck primarily women had significant social
consequences. Many men lost wives through kuru, and the shortage of
women meant that many men were unable to find wives. In addition, men
with children who had lost their wives had to perform many domestic chores
normally reserved for women, including farming.

Figure 1.1 Holism. A complete understanding of the disease kuru among the Fore of New
Guinea requires an understanding of the relationship of kuru to other aspects of Fore
culture, some of which are shown in this diagram.

The ethnography of the Fore and the description of kuru illustrate the
concept of holism (Figure 1.1). From the Western point of view, we begin with
a medical problem: a disease. Then we see how this fatal disease affects
various aspects of the society because of the death of women of childbearing
age. This includes marriage, the family, the raising of children, farming, and
so forth. Also, we see how the society attempts to explain and deal with the
disease through religion. A description of kuru among the Fore as only a
medical problem fails to provide us with a complete understanding of that
disease.

Two ways of viewing culture

We can ask the question: What causes kuru among the Fore? From our
viewpoint a complete answer to that question includes both biological factors
(the disease-causing organism) and cultural factors (the practice of
cannibalism). However, the Fore themselves would give another answer to
this question: Kuru is caused by sorcery. Another aspect to the holistic
approach is to consider both insider and outsider perspectives.

An anthropologist—or any scholar, for that matter—cannot be completely
neutral and objective when describing a culture. Observation, recording, and
analysis involve processing data in one’s mind. One’s own cultural
background, education, training, and other factors will act as a filter or lens
that colors what are thought of as objective observations. Physicians, using a
medical model, searched for the cause of kuru through techniques learned in
medical school that are based on a set of postulates developed through the
scientific method. Although the physicians were able to discover the
biological cause of kuru, the disease-causing protein, they were unable to
discover the mode of transmission. Medical science identifies a series of
transmission pathways, and none of them offered a valid explanation. It took
anthropologists, viewing the situation from a holistic, anthropological
viewpoint, to make the connection between kuru and cannibalism, although
this had to be confirmed through a set of procedures mandated by the
scientific method.

The physician and the anthropologist are outsiders looking in. They see
Fore culture in terms of Western philosophy and theory. They speak of the
Fore using words that categorize experience in a particular way. This is
referred to as an etic perspective. There are advantages to an etic perspective.
Just as a friend or therapist might see patterns to a person’s life that the
person might overlook, an outside analyst might see patterns of behaviors or
beliefs in a culture that the members of that group might be unaware of.
Another advantage is that the anthropologist can apply a consistent form of
analysis to many different societies that are being studied. This permits
anthropologists to make comparisons between societies and perhaps to
discover some universal principles about human behavior.

Yet the Fore see their world from an altogether different perspective, using

linguistic categories and basic assumptions about their world that differ
profoundly from ours. To the Fore, sorcery is the ultimate cause of kuru, and
this makes sense in their culture. An emic perspective is one that attempts to
see the world through the eyes of the people being studied. Of course, the big
question is, how successful can we really be at this?

Cultural relativism

How do you feel about the Fore practice of cannibalism? In the course of
looking at different societies, anthropologists often observe behaviors that
seem strange and sometimes disturbing. We have grown up in a particular
society, and the behaviors and ideas of our own society seem to us to be
natural and correct. It is also natural to use our own society as the basis for
interpreting and judging other societies. This tendency is called
ethnocentrism.

Anthropologists realize, however, that a true understanding of other
peoples cannot develop through ethnocentric interpretations. Thinking of
other people as primitive, superstitious, and immoral only colors our
observations and prevents us from reaching any kind of true understanding
about human behavior and thought. Anthropologists attempt to remain
neutral and to accept the ways of life of other communities as appropriate for
those who live in these communities. Anthropologists attempt to describe and
understand people’s customs and ideas but do not judge them. This approach
is known as cultural relativism. The goal is to study what people believe, not
whether or not what they believe is true.

For example, funeral rituals differ from other rituals in one major respect:
there is a dead body. All societies have ways of disposing of the corpse in one
way or another. Burial is quite common, but there are a number of variables
such as where the grave is located, what the body is buried in, what objects
are buried with the body, and so on. Bodies can also be placed in trees to
decay, and later the bones may be cleaned and buried. Bodies can be
cremated, and the remains kept in a container, buried, or scattered at sea.
Among the Yanomamö of Venezuela and Brazil, the cremated remains are
ground into a powder. At various times after a person’s death, the family

gathers together and prepares a banana stew into which some of the cremated
ashes are mixed. Then they drink the mixture. And, of course, as we saw with
the Fore, there is the custom of eating the body.

The practice of drinking cremated remains or eating human flesh would
probably horrify most North Americans, and its practice in U.S. society would
probably lead to some type of reaction on the part of the society—most likely
psychiatric confinement. On the other hand, the Yanomamö are horrified by
the U.S. practice of burial because it leads to the decay of the body in the
ground. They believe that the finest expression of love is for close relatives to
provide a final resting place for their loved ones within their own bodies. Is
this practice wrong, immoral, or dangerous? The answer to this question, of
course, lies within the cultural practices of the group and how that group
defines correct and appropriate behaviors.

Postmodernism

We may wonder if it is at all possible for someone from one society to truly
get to know and understand people living in another society. Beginning with
the Renaissance, scholars based their knowledge on the ideals of rationality,
objectivity, and reason. Science was seen as the means for the discovery of
knowledge, truth, and progress. This way of approaching an understanding of
the world is termed modernity. It was thought that through modernity order
could be created out of chaos. Based on the principles of modernity, scholars
believed that it was possible to gain a true understanding of all peoples and all
societies.

Beginning in the 1980s, the postmodern movement had a broad academic
impact across many disciplines. In stark contrast to the ideas of modernity,
postmodernism denies the possibility of acquiring, or even the existence of
“true” knowledge about the world. All knowledge is seen as being a human
“construction” that we must try to “deconstruct.” The postmodern movement
emphasizes the limitations of science, that the whole is more than the sum of
the parts, that there are multiple viewpoints and truths, and the importance of
being aware of our own viewpoints and biases. In contrast to modernity’s
emphasis on order, postmodernism sees contradictions and instabilities as

being inherent in any social group or practice.
The value of postmodernism for anthropology has been to reinforce the

idea of multiple ways of seeing the world—that there is no one right way to
think or to do things. This is an extension of the concept of cultural relativism.
Postmodernism serves as a reminder of how the ethnographer herself can
influence the fieldwork situation. As a result, ethnographers are more self-
conscious and more aware of their own positions and biases (Box 1.1). Every
person sees the world through the lens of his or her own culture. We cannot
remove the lens, but we can become more aware of it.

Postmodernism, taken to its logical extreme, says that it is impossible for a
person from one culture to understand someone from another culture. Perhaps
it is even impossible for any one person to truly understand any other person.
Given all this, could anthropology as a discipline even exist? Most
anthropologists have taken a middle ground approach—appreciating the
lessons of postmodernism while attempting to avoid this extreme point of
view.

Box 1.1 Karen McCarthy Brown and Vodou

Karen McCarthy Brown first met Mama Lola in 1978. On the basis of a
dozen years of research and writing, Brown would write the classic
ethnography Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn.2 This book was
at the forefront of many important trends in anthropology. It was
centered on the experiences of a single individual and was influenced by
feminist and postmodern ideologies. In the book, Brown speaks candidly
of her own experiences doing participant observation research and how
she became involved in the religion of Vodou to a degree that perhaps
even goes beyond that standard—becoming a Vodou priestess herself.
(The Vodou religion will be discussed in Chapter 11.)

The book focuses on the life and practices of Mama Lola, a Haitian
immigrant living in New York City. Among the themes of the book is the
persecution experienced by Haitians in the United States and the
difficulties they face in trying to practice their religion. Brown continues
to focus on religious practices that take place outside of standard

religious institutions. This kind of activity has become a major part of
religious life in modern urban cultures. This is especially true in the
United States, where religious pluralism is on the rise, partly owing to
recent immigration patterns.

Universal human rights

Some anthropologists, however, question the approach of complete neutrality
represented by cultural relativism and the approach of complete subjectivity
of postmodernism and ask: Are there any basic human rights and universal
standards of behavior? This is an area of debate, one that often focuses on the
religious practices of other peoples that may include such customs as physical
alterations of the genitalia or cannibalism.

Cultural relativism is one of the basic concepts necessary to anthropology,
and it should not be put aside lightly. Our first approach to any cultural
practice should be to try to understand it in context—to understand the
meaning it has for people in that culture. After doing so, however, is it
possible to say, “I understand this practice and why this culture does it, but it
is still wrong”? The difficulty in this is knowing where to draw the line, and
strict criteria must be used. One such set of criteria was proposed by Robert
Edgerton:

I shall first define [maladaptation] as the failure of a population or its culture to survive
because of the inadequacy or harmfulness of one or more of its beliefs or institutions.
Second, maladaptation will be said to exist when enough members of a population are
sufficiently dissatisfied with one or more of their social institutions or cultural beliefs
that the viability of their society is threatened. Finally, it will be considered to be
maladaptive when a population maintains beliefs or practices that so seriously impair
the physical or mental health of its members that they cannot adequately meet their
own needs or maintain their social and cultural system.3

It is important to note that the criteria are based on the survival of the society
and its ability to function—not on an outsider’s perception of morality.
Edgerton includes as an example the high levels of stress and fear related to
witchcraft beliefs in some cultures, a topic to which we will return in Chapter

10.
The Aztec practice of cannibalism is another example. The prehistoric

Aztecs were an agricultural society located in the Mesoamerica culture area.
In Aztec society a small elite used religious and military power to conquer
neighboring groups. They took tribute in the form of gold and other valuables
from the people they conquered. Both slaves and captured prisoners of war
were sacrificed and eaten. The benefits of the conquest went almost
exclusively to the elite. One analytical approach to the practice of cannibalism
by the Aztecs argues that it was an adaptation to a protein-poor environment.
A culturally relativistic approach would also point out that the sacrifices were
done to please the Aztec gods. Edgerton argues against both of these
interpretations.

Edgerton points out that sacrifice and cannibalism were conducted with
very little ritual preparation—bodies were rolled down steeply sloped temple
steps to be butchered below. The bodies were dealt with in much the same
way as a side of beef might be. Human flesh was considered a delicacy and
greatly desired, to such an extent that wars were fought with the primary goal
of gaining human captives for sacrifice.

The negative impacts were not only on the neighboring groups. The Aztec
elite did not share the wealth with the commoners. Even commoners who
served in the army did not do so as equals. While the nobles wore helmets,
armor, and shields, the commoners had none of this equipment. As Edgerton
writes, “The splendors of Aztec culture cannot be denied, but they were
achieved at great cost by the many largely for the benefit of the ruling few.”4

Despite this questioning, cultural relativism remains of utmost importance
to anthropologists. Our first approach should always be to try to understand a
culture’s beliefs and behaviors in context, to learn what meaning the world
has through their eyes.

The concept of culture

In the previous examples of the Aztec and the Fore, we observed a number of
specific behaviors and beliefs. For example, an anthropologist living among
the Fore for a period of time would, of course, record descriptions of Fore life

in much more detail and cover many other aspects of their lives—marriage
and family, child rearing, hunting and farming, trade, technology, political
organization, folklore, and so on. It is obvious that the body of behaviors and
beliefs of the Fore are quite different from ours. These behaviors and beliefs
make up Fore culture.

In anthropology the term culture is used as a technical term. It does not
refer to the arts or the “finer things of life.” Although the term is widely used
and discussed, finding a definition that is acceptable to all anthropologists is a
difficult task.

The British anthropologist Edward B. Tylor (1832–1917) first used the term
culture in its anthropological sense. In 1871, Tylor wrote, “Culture … is that
complex whole, which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs,
and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of
society.”5 In this definition Tylor recognized that culture is a “complex
whole,” which is a reference to the holistic concept. And he noted that culture
includes customs that people acquire by growing up in a particular society;
that is, culture is learned.

When we look at a group of social insects, such as ants, we see a society in
which individuals behave in certain stereotypic ways. When we look at a
group of humans, we also see certain behaviors that appear to be stereotyped,
repetitive, or customary. Yet besides the much greater complexity of human
behavior, there is a major difference between ant and human behavior. Ant
behavior is innate; that is, it is coded in the genes—it is a part of the ant’s
biological heredity. Although some aspects of human behavior are likely to be
innate, the preponderance of human behavior is learned, handed down from
one generation to the next, and is shared by a group of people. Culture is seen
in the way people dress, how they greet one another, how they go about their
chores, and how they worship their gods. For example, the actions that are
performed in a ritual are actions that are learned from someone else, perhaps
a parent or a priest, and thus they are passed down from one generation to the
next.

One of the consequences of the social transmission of culture is that human
behavior is complex and variable. Unlike biological inheritance, in which
change occurs slowly through the mechanisms of biological evolution, learned
behavioral patterns can change very rapidly in response to changing

conditions. Also, the human species, which is very homogenous biologically,
exhibits a great many different cultures.

Another important feature of culture is that it is based on the use of
symbols. Symbols are shared understandings about the meaning of certain
words, attributes, or objects, such as the color red symbolizing stop in traffic
signals. The connection between the two is arbitrary; there is no obvious,
natural, or necessary connection. For example, in most Western societies black
is the color associated with mourning. However in other cultures, the color
associated with mourning may be white, red, or even green.

Culture is learned primarily through symbols. Language can be thought of
as a string of symbols, and we learn, communicate, and even think through
the use of these symbols. Symbols are obviously an important area of
discussion for the study of religion. The Christian cross, for example,
symbolizes not just the religion itself, but a particular philosophy and history.
Chapter 3 discusses the nature of symbols and their role in religious practice.

Viewing the world

The idea of culture involves much more than describing human activity.
People also have different belief systems and different perceptions and
understandings of their world and their lives.

Culture gives meaning to reality. We live in a real, physical world, yet this
world is translated through the human mind onto a different plane. We look
out a window and see a mountain rising above us. To the geologist the
mountain is a structure made of rock formed through natural processes. To
the hydrologist concerned with bringing water to a desert town, the mountain
is the place where snowfields are found. To the biologist it is the home of a
great many plants and animals, many of them perhaps endangered.

To many people, however, a mountain is much more than a physical thing.
The mountain might be the home of the gods or the place where the souls of
the dead congregate after death. Mountains figure prominently in many
Biblical stories; for example, Mount Sinai was where Moses received the Ten
Commandments, and Mount Ararat was where Noah’s ark came to rest.
Psalm 121 reads: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh

my help.”6 Other sacred mountains include Mount Olympus, where the gods
of ancient Greece lived, and the four sacred mountains of the Navaho world.
We may label these images as being part of the imagination of a people, yet to
the people the sacredness of a mountaintop may be as real as the presence of
rocks, snow, or plants.

The study of religion

The beginning point of any discourse is to define the object of study—in this
instance, religion. Yet the task of defining this term is a challenging one
indeed. We must avoid using a definition that is too narrow or one that is too
vague. Many definitions that have been proposed have been so narrow that
they apply only to some cultures and only to some of the phenomena that
anthropologists traditionally place within the domain of religion. Such
definitions often are ethnocentric, including only those ideas that are
considered “religious” for that culture. In such definitions many topics, such
as magic and witchcraft, are often excluded. On the other hand, a definition
that is too inclusive and vague loses much of its meaning and usefulness.

In spite of the difficulties of defining religion, anthropology is a social
science, and the methodology of science requires that we define our terms. We
need to use an operant definition. This is one in which we define our terms
so that they are observable and measurable and therefore can be studied. So
what would a good operant definition of religion be? We can start by looking
at the various ways in which scholars have attempted to define the term.

Attempts at defining religion

Many definitions of religion share many of the elements that we included in
our definition of culture. Perhaps we can define a religion as a system of
beliefs and behaviors, based on a system of symbols. But how can we
distinguish religious beliefs and behaviors from other aspects of culture? After

all, we can recognize, for example, particular beliefs, behaviors, and symbols
that define political or economic processes.

Analytic definitions focus on the way religion manifests itself or is
expressed in a culture. An example would be defining religions by stating that
religious practices generally include rituals.

Ninian Smart, for example, stated what he felt were the six dimensions of
religion.7 These comprise the following:

the institutional dimension (organization and leadership);
the narrative dimension (myths, creation stories, worldview);
the ritual dimension (rites of passage and other important ritual
activities);
the social dimension (religion being a group activity that binds people
together);
the ethical dimension (customs, moral rules);
the experiential dimension (religion involving experiences of a sacred
reality that is beyond ordinary experience).

Functional definitions focus on what religion does either socially or
psychologically. For example, rituals would be seen as a means to bring a
group together and bring individuals comfort. Theorists who have used a
more functional definition of religion include Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and
anthropologists Émile Durkheim and Clifford Geertz. Geertz wrote:

A religion is: (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and
long-lasting moods and motivations in men 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.8

One of the problems with functional definitions is that they could apply
equally well to beliefs and behaviors that are not religious in nature. Others
feel that functional approaches are reductionist, reducing religion to a few
feelings and behaviors that are not, in and of themselves, religious. For both
these reasons, it can be difficult to separate religious and nonreligious systems
using a functional definition. This does not mean that the social and
psychological functions are not important. They are, and functionalism as a
theoretical approach to studying religion (discussed further below) has much

to offer. As a definition, however, it alone is not sufficient.
An essentialist definition of religion looks at what is the essential nature

of religion. It emphasizes the fact that religion is the domain of the
extraordinary—things beyond the commonplace and the natural. On the basis
of this idea we would say that a religion is a system of beliefs and behaviors
that deals with the relationship between humans and the sacred supernatural.

The term supernatural refers to things that are “above the natural.”
Supernatural entities and actions transcend the normal world of cause and
effect as we know it. In the supernatural world, wondrous things occur.
Supernatural beings defy the basic laws of nature. In the supernatural world,
objects move faster than light, heavy objects fly, and creatures become
invisible.

However, not all supernatural phenomena are thought to be religious.
Consider the folktale in which the handsome prince is turned into a frog. This
is surely a supernatural occurrence—handsome princes do not turn into frogs
in the natural world—but this occurrence is hardly a religious one. To address
this problem, we add the term sacred to the definition of religion. Sacred
denotes an attitude wherein the subject is entitled to reverence and respect.

Many theorists have defined religion in terms of the supernatural as the
core religious beliefs of any religious system. In 1871, Edward Burnett Tylor
defined religion as animism, a belief in spirit beings (gods, souls, ghosts,
demons, etc.). Much later, Melford Spiro defined religion as an “institution
consisting of culturally patterned interactions with culturally postulated
superhuman beings.”9

The problem with an essentialist definition is that such definitions often
become too specific, focusing narrowly on spirit beings for example, or risk
being too vague if they only reference the supernatural. As with other
definitions we have looked at, essentialist definitions by themselves may not
be enough but do point to areas of great importance in religion.

A true understanding of the breadth of religious practices among the
world’s societies will become clear as you progress through this text. We
encourage you to keep an open mind and settle on your own definition as you
gain more knowledge and understanding. However, as was discussed
previously, as an endeavor in the social sciences, this text needs an operant
definition in order to proceed.

One would like to have a simple definition of the term religion. However,
the search for a simple, yet useful definition remains elusive. Religion is a
concept constructed by the human mind that includes a particular set of
human beliefs and practices. As a cultural construct it is strongly influenced
by culture and by philosophical and theoretical backgrounds. The practices
that are included under the rubric of religion vary from scholar to scholar, and
definitions that focus upon religious systems found in large, urban societies
differ considerably from those found in small-scale societies. Each definition
previously explored offers clues to important elements of religion, but each by
itself is incomplete.

Perhaps it is best to think of religion as a set of cultural beliefs and practices
that usually include some or all of a basic set of characteristics. While not an
exhaustive list, it will provide us with an operant definition as we move ahead
with our studies of religious systems. These characteristics are as follows:

a belief in anthropomorphic supernatural beings, such as spirits and
gods;
a focus on the sacred supernatural, where sacred refers to a feeling of
reverence and awe;
the presence of supernatural power or energy that is found in
supernatural beings as well as physical beings and objects;
the performance of ritual activities that involve the manipulation of
sacred objects to communicate with supernatural beings and/or to
influence or control events;
an articulation of a worldview and moral code through narratives and
other means;
provides for the creation and maintenance of social bonds and
mechanisms of social control within a community;
provides explanations for the unknown and a sense of control for the
individual.

The domain of religion

The discussion of definitions highlights the contrasting concepts of etic and

emic. The very concept of religion as a separate cultural category is a Western
one. Western cultures are divided into very distinct cultural domains, such as
economics, politics, technology, and, of course, religion. As we move through
our day, we move from one domain to another, yet the domains do not
overlap, or they overlap to a small degree. For example, when we go to work,
we might punch a clock or sign in, for “work” is a distinct segment of our life,
which we can define in terms of location, activity, relationships to coworkers,
and so forth. Religion as a domain may be restricted to very specific activities
held in special places during specific times—a Sunday morning church service,
for example. When we use the term religion, we might immediately picture
such things as special buildings dedicated to religious activities (churches,
temples, and mosques) and full-time specialists who perform religious rituals
(priests and rabbis).

Our analysis of religion becomes more difficult when we turn our attention
to more traditional societies. If we analyzed small-scale religious systems by
applying the definitions and concepts that have been developed in Western
cultures, we would likely find that certain elements that we consider to be
vital parts of our religious systems simply do not exist—in our terms. For some
people it follows from this that other religious systems are “defective,”
“incomplete,” “primitive,” “false,” or “full of superstitions.” Clearly, this leads
us into highly ethnocentric conclusions that cloud our ability to understand
the religious systems of other peoples.

When we study traditional societies using an emic (insider) approach, there
might be no equivalent term to our concept of religion. Religion is not
separated out from other dimensions of life but is fully integrated into the
fabric of beliefs and behavior. As Wilfred Cantwell Smith wrote, “To the
believer, they are parts of the universe; to the observer, they are parts of a
religion.”10

Theoretical approaches to the study of religion

Just as there are many definitions of religion, there are also many approaches
to the study of religious phenomena. Here we will describe five approaches
that anthropologists have used to study religion: evolutionary, Marxist,

functional, interpretive, and psychosocial.

The evolutionary approach

The evolutionary approach was centered on the questions of when and how
religion began. This viewpoint developed in the late 1800s when the focus was
on the concepts of science, logic, and monotheism as the pinnacles of human
achievement. Scholars of the time emphasized empiricism, or observing and
measuring, saying that the only real knowledge is scientific knowledge; any
knowledge beyond that is impossible.

The latter half of the nineteenth century saw the rise of the concept of a
general evolution of culture. It was thought that religion naturally evolved
from the simple to the complex and that this evolution was a natural
consequence of human nature. An interest in the religion of “primitive”
peoples arose from the supposition that “primitive” peoples represented an
early stage of cultural evolution and that one could learn about and
understand the historical roots of the religion of “civilized” societies by
studying living “primitive” peoples.

Edward B. Tylor used this approach in his book Primitive Culture (1871).11

He concluded that all religions had a belief in spiritual beings. Whereas the
religions of “civilized” peoples included beliefs in gods and souls, those of
“primitive” peoples focused on the belief in spirits and ghosts. He termed this
early belief system animism.

Tylor thought that the belief in spirit beings was the natural and universal
conclusion reached by all peoples through the observation of sleep and
dreams, possession, and death, during which the soul is thought to leave the
body, temporarily or permanently. Because other animals are also living, they
must also have souls that leave the body when the animal dies. All living
things are animated by souls, as are nonliving things such as waterfalls and
mountains.

In attempting to find a common thread in all religious systems, Tylor failed
to discover the great variability among the world’s religious systems. This was
in part because Tylor did not go into the field to become immersed in the
complexity of a particular culture. Instead, he relied on reports of explorers,

missionaries, and colonial administrators who described, often in simplistic
and biased ways, the peoples they encountered in their travels.

Robert R. Marett developed the concept of a simpler, more basic, and more
ancient supernatural force that he labeled animatism.12 Marett thought that
the idea of animatism simply grew out of human emotional reaction to the
power of nature. This belief in an impersonal supernatural power is well
articulated in the religions of Polynesia and Melanesia, where it is referred to
as mana. In Chapter 7 we will discuss the ideas of another scholar from the
evolutionary school, James Frazer, who wrote extensively about magic, a
category that he considered to be separate from religion. Frazer saw a natural
progression in cultures from magic to religion to science.13

The evolutionary approach has many critics. Many of the ideas found in
this school of thought are ethnocentric—for example, Tylor’s idea that the
religion of “primitive” peoples focused on spirits and ghosts while more
“civilized” peoples focused on gods. In addition, any ideas about the origin of
a cultural practice are, of course, highly speculative. Although the idea of
cultural progression, with Western societies being more “evolved” than
smaller-scale traditional ones, is no longer used in anthropology, the general
question of the origins of religion has remained a concern.

However, many contemporary anthropologists use an evolutionary
approach. After all, the history of human society has witnessed progressive
changes through time from foraging to horticultural to agricultural and,
finally, industrial societies. Scholars look for correlations between these
changes and various aspects of a society, including religious system. For
example, foraging societies are often characterized by shamanic practices with
part-time religious practitioners while on the other hand, state societies are
characterized by full-time religious specialists who may be members of a
highly organized priesthood.

The Marxist approach

Another influential theorist of the 1800s was Karl Marx. Like many of this era,
Marx was critical of religion. However, Marx did not criticize the logic of
religion as others had done. He felt that religion reflected society so that any

criticism of religion must therefore also be a criticism of society. Indeed the
Marxist approach to religion cannot be understood without the framework of
his approach to society. He saw religion as a human construction, more
specifically as a construction of those in power.

Marx felt that religion did not reflect the true consciousness of people but a
false consciousness designed to divert people’s attention from the miseries of
their lives. This misery was seen as being the result of exploitation of the
masses by those in power under the capitalist system. Of course, religion
existed before capitalism. Marx’s basic view is that religion is a natural
consequence of the human experience of distress. In the past, this may have
arisen as a result of the human struggle with nature. However, Marx’s focus is
on the capitalist system in which this struggle has shifted to human conflict
with other humans. Religion is seen both as a means of compensation and as a
way of getting people to go along with a capitalist culture that is not in their
best interests. For example, he felt that religion teaches people to be obedient
to authority as a condition for achieving future happiness through salvation:

Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest
against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a
heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the
people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for
their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the
demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.14

Critics of Marx point out that there usually is no single, dominant ideology in
a society; instead, there are different ideologies that correspond to different
subcultures and different classes.

The functional approach

In contrast to the evolutionary and Marxist schools, the functional approach
asks the question: What does religion do? What role do religions play in a
society? For example, a religion might enforce social cohesion by bringing
members together for rituals and providing a foundation for shared beliefs.
Religions might also function on the individual level to relieve individual
anxiety by providing explanations and meaning.

Émile Durkheim, for example, saw society as problematic.15 Although
sanctions exist to keep people in line, Durkheim thought that these were not
enough. He believed that the key lies in the collective conscious, a system of
beliefs that act to contain natural selfishness of individuals and to promote
social cooperation. Collective representations, or symbols, are a reflection of
the collective conscious. During rituals, these collective representations are
displayed, resulting in a reattachment to the value system of the group.

Both Durkheim and Alfred R. Radcliffe-Brown saw society as being like an
organism in which the parts act to maintain the whole.16 Radcliffe-Brown also
thought that for society to survive, certain feelings need to be encouraged in
people’s minds. He thought that anything of great social value is seen as
possessing supernatural power; the greater the value, the more powerful it is.
Rituals, then, function to express the basic sentiments of a society and to pass
these ideas down from generation to generation. Religion, in general, is seen
as an integrative force in society.

Box 1.2 Malinowski and the Trobriand Islands

Bronislaw Malinowski was born into the nobility in Krakow, Poland, in
1884. He studied mathematics and physical sciences and received his
Ph.D. from the University of Krakow in 1908. However, illness prevented
him from continuing his research, and while recovering, he read The
Golden Bough by James Frazer, a classic anthropological work that
describes magical beliefs in cultures around the world. Malinowski later
wrote in 1926, “no sooner had I begun to read this great work than I
became immersed in it and enslaved by it.”17 Reading this book changed
his life. From then on, Malinowski devoted himself to the study of
anthropology, and he traveled to England to study at the London School
of Economics.

In 1914, Malinowski joined an expedition to the Pacific. He would not
return to Europe until 1920 because, being a Polish subject, he was
considered to be an enemy alien by the British during World War I.
However, during the war he was allowed to continue his research in the
Pacific and to spend the time between expeditions in Australia. Because

of these circumstances, Malinowski spent a greater amount of time
conducting field research than had ever been done before. This included
a total of twenty-six months spent in the Trobriand Islands, located off
the coast of New Guinea.

During his stay in the Trobriand Islands, Malinowski completed the
most detailed anthropological study that had been done up to that time,
and the Trobriand Islands remains one of the most fully described of any
small-scale society. Unlike other anthropologists of his day, Malinowski
participated in the life of the society he was studying. He pitched his tent
in the middle of the village and learned the language. Malinowski was a
pioneer of the participant observation method that became a hallmark of
the field of anthropology.

Malinowski became a major figure in the development of British
anthropology and influenced nearly everyone who trained in the field
during the 1920s and 1930s. Among his pioneering contributions was the
concept of functionalism. He thought that culture does something—that
social institutions exist to fulfill the needs of, and serve the interests of,
members of a society.

Radcliffe-Brown’s approach to function was in terms of a part contributing
to the maintenance of the whole society. Another important theorist in the
functional school, Bronislaw Malinowski, had a different approach (Box 1.2).
Malinowski looked at religion and other features of a society in terms of their
purpose in meeting basic human needs. For example, in his analysis of magic,
Malinowski stressed that magic is a logical system that people turn to in times
of uncertainty or emotional stress. Magic functions to provide control and
certainty in an otherwise uncertain world.

The functional approach is still used today and will be referred to in future
chapters. Researchers have recognized many phenomena that we will address
as contributing to the health and maintenance of the society or the individuals
in that group. In general, religious phenomena function to provide answers
and explanations and to provide a course of action.

The functional school is not without its critics. Some see functionalism as
committing the error of reification (treating something abstract as if it were
concrete and alive). Can we really talk about social institutions having needs

and purposes in the same way that humans do? Functionalism is also seen by
some as being tautological (a circular argument) because it argues that we
know that something must be functional because it exists; it exists because it
is functional. Does every institution and cultural practice have a function?
Historians of religion argue that analyzing religion in terms of functionality
implies that religion is purely illusory, existing only to fulfill those functions.
For instance, some functionalists see religion as just a crutch for the masses or
a power play by the ruling class. Instead, historians of religion emphasize a
powerful and lived experience of a sacred reality.

Others argue that while the functional approach is useful, more care needs
to be taken in terms of which possible functions are logically valid. For
example, Melford Spiro states that when arguing that a certain function is the
cause of a religious behavior, it is necessary for individuals to both recognize
and seek to satisfy that functional requirement. He argues that an unintended
functional consequence (recognized only by outsiders) could not possibly be
its cause.

The interpretive approach

Clifford Geertz was an American anthropologist who popularized the
metaphor that culture is a text to be read and in which anthropologists can
read meaning.18 Part of his inspiration for this interpretive approach was the
work of the sociologist Max Weber and his concept of verstehen (i.e.,
understanding the other’s point of view).19 This Weberian approach was
opposed to the more popular functionalist approach of the time. Geertz
emphasized that the task of anthropologists was not to discover laws or study
origins and causes but instead to make sense of cultural systems by studying
meaning. Anthropologists need to seek to interpret the culturally specific
“webs of significance” that people both create and are caught up in.
Interpretive anthropology can discover and interpret these webs of meaning
through detailed ethnographic descriptions.

Religion specifically is described as a cluster of symbols that together make
up a whole and provides a charter for a culture’s ideas, values, and way of life.
The set of symbols provides ways to interpret the world. Geertz described

symbols as playing a double role. They are both “models of” and “models for”
in that they both represent the way things are while also directing human
activity. Geertz argued that religious symbols establish very powerful moods
and feelings and help explain human existence by giving it an ultimate
meaning. These symbols claim to connect humans to a reality that in some
ways is “more real” than everyday life, thus giving religion a special status
above and beyond regular life.

Geertz felt that the study of religion needed to take place in two stages. The
first stage is an analysis of the systems of meaning that are embodied within
religious symbols. The second stage involves relating these systems to social
structures and psychological processes. Critics point out that in reality he
devoted much more time to the first stage than to the second.

The psychosocial approach

The psychosocial approach to the study of religion is concerned with the
relationship between culture and personality and the connection between the
society and the individual. One example is the work of Sigmund Freud.20

Freud’s model of the mind and his concept of defense mechanisms have been
used both by Freud himself and by his followers to explain religious
phenomena. For example, defense mechanisms are psychological maneuvers
by which we distort reality in ways that help us to avoid conflict and reduce
anxiety. The most important of these for our discussion is projection, in which
the subject is transposed and the emotion is projected. So “I hate X” becomes
“You hate X.” Psychosocial anthropologists believe that individual emotions
also get projected at the cultural level.

The best example of this is studies that look cross-culturally for correlations
between various beliefs and behaviors. One example of this approach uses this
methodology to hypothesize a connection between the characteristics of
parents and the characteristics of supernatural beings. Childhood experiences
are dominated by powerful figures—parents. Children build up parental
images that stay with them throughout life. In adult life these parental images
are projected onto spirit beings. For example, if parents are generally
nurturing, the expectation is that the gods would be considered to be

nurturing as well. However, correlation does not equal causation, and this and
several other issues challenge the correlational approach.

Box 1.3 Evans-Pritchard and the Azande

E. E. Evans-Pritchard was born in Sussex, England, in 1902. After
receiving his master’s degree in Anthropology from Oxford University,
he went on to study at the University of London, where he became one
of Malinowski’s first students. He conducted several field expeditions to
Central, East, and North Africa from 1926 until the beginning of World
War II. During the war he left teaching and research to join the military.
After the war he returned to academia and ultimately held the position
of chair of Social Anthropology at Oxford University.

Evans-Pritchard is best known for his work with the Azande of
southern Sudan, which was then the British colony of Anglo-Egyptian
Sudan. Between 1926 and 1930 he made three different visits and spent a
total of twenty months among the Azande. Following his work with the
Azande, he went on to study the Nuer. He had found the Azande to be
friendly, but his work with the Nuer was much more difficult. In the
early days of his research in particular, they were hostile and
uncommunicative, and he was frequently ill.

The Azande are known today as the classic anthropological example
of witchcraft in a small-scale society. Evans-Pritchard’s early articles on
the subject were greatly influenced by the functional perspective of his
teacher, Malinowski. For example, Evans-Pritchard believed that
witchcraft beliefs provided explanations for events and helped to uphold
moral standards (see Chapter 10). Ultimately, however, he was not
satisfied with this type of explanation alone. He emphasized the
importance of looking at beliefs and behaviors from an insider
perspective and wanted to show how even seemingly irrational beliefs
were in fact logical and coherent from the emic perspective.

E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande (Oxford,
England: Clarendon, 1937).

The biological basis of religious behavior

What we perceive and think of as our reality is actually a creation of our
brain. Our awareness of what is “out there” is based upon input from a series
of receptors such as our eyes, nose, and tongue. The stimuli that are picked up
by these receptors enter the brain, where they undergo processing before they
enter our consciousness. For example, the clear, detailed, three-dimensional,
colored world revealed through sight is an illusion created by our brain from a
hodgepodge of electrical impulses produced by the photoreceptors in the
retina of our eyes. Color is a complete illusion of something that does not exist
in the real world, but is our brain’s way of representing differences in the
wavelength of electromagnetic energy.

And not all of the information that enters our brain from the outside enters
our consciousness. For example, there was a patient who was blind because of
a series of strokes that completely destroyed the visual cortex of his brain; his
eyes and optic nerves, however, remained healthy. Information entering the
brain from his eyes was used by his brain to permit him to walk down a
hallway full of objects on the floor without stepping on them. His brain knew
where the objects were even though his consciousness did not.21

This then brings up the question: Does our brain create realities that are
indistinguishable from “reality,” whatever that means? An important part of
religion is religious experiences, which range from feeling good to
hallucinations and revelations. Could, for example, seeing a ghost, having an
out-of-body experience, or being visited by an angel be examples of brain-
created realities? The answer is yes.

Figure 1.2 shows a pair of brain scans that compare brains at rest with
brains of individuals in deep meditation. The bright areas are regions that are
active during particular mental activities. In the meditating brain, we see an
increase in activity in the frontal lobe, indicative of increased concentration,
and a decrease in activity in the parietal lobe. This latter area is in the region
associated with people’s orientation of their bodies in time and space.
Changes in activity in this area may be related to the development of out-of-
body experiences or to a sense of blurring of the boundaries between self and
other. In another interesting area of research, it has been found that patients
suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy, when the functioning of the brain goes

haywire, report their seizures as intense religious experiences.

Figure 1.2 Brain scans. Single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT) images of the
brain of a Tibetan Buddhist showing baseline image at rest and in deep meditation. Top
images show increased activity in frontal lobe in area associated with focusing attention and
concentration. Bottom images show decreased activity in parietal lobe in area responsible
for sense of orientation in space and time.

It is tempting to associate religious feelings and experiences with a
particular point within the structure of the brain—a God module perhaps.
However, most neuro-scientists who are interested in these issues see religious
experiences as more complex, involving changes in many different regions of
the brain.

Considering biological influences is a part of anthropology’s holistic

approach. It is something we will consider as we discuss phenomena such as
altered states of consciousness and near-death experiences.

Beliefs in spirit beings

Another aspect of the biological basis for religion is the impact of the way the
human mind works. An interesting application of this is a phenomenon that
appears to be common to all human religious systems, concepts of
supernatural anthropomorphic causal agents within their environment. (The
term anthropomorphic refers to things that are not human but have
humanlike characteristics and behave in humanlike ways.) This is the core of
the concept of animism, the belief in spirit beings, which was introduced
earlier in this chapter.

One explanation for the development of a belief in spirit beings is based on
the concept of theory of mind. Theory of mind refers to the idea that people
know, or think they know, what is going on in other people’s minds. People
recognize and often identify with perceived feelings, desires, fears, and other
emotions in other human beings. The presence of a theory of mind is thought
to be what makes us human, although evidence suggests that there may be
some development of theory of mind in other animals, albeit on a very limited
scale. This is what allows people to explain other peoples’ behavior and to
predict what others will do in a particular situation. Thus a theory of mind is
essential for the development of complex social patterns.

Many scholars believe that the human brain actually extends the theory of
mind into the minds of animals and other living and nonliving entities. It is
this extension that leads to anthropomorphism and attribution of humanlike
qualities to animals. The idea that nonhuman entities and forces possess
“minds,” that they have intensions, emotions, and interact with the human
world, is the basis for the development of a belief in spirit beings.

If anthropomorphic supernatural beings interact with the human world,
then things do not happen simply because they follow the rules of nature. This
explains why things occur that lie outside rational analysis. And this also
provides the means, through ritual, to influence and perhaps to control nature.

The evolution of religion

With the emerging interest in biology and religion, new explanations for the
origin of religion have been proposed that look at the question from the
perspective of biological evolution. If humans have a biological mechanism for
religion, why did it evolve?

Evolutionary explanations are actually not all that different from the
functional, needs-fulfillment explanations we discussed earlier. Some
evolutionary scientists have suggested that religion evolved as a way to fulfill
social needs such as encouraging cooperation between individuals, reinforcing
kinship ties, and imposing order and stability on society. Others have focused
on emotional needs and have argued that as humans became more intelligent
and self-aware, anxiety would have been a natural response. Once we are
aware that we exist, we become aware that we will die and therefore begin to
worry about dying. The evolution of greater awareness and consciousness
would create a dysfunctional, anxiety-ridden species if religion had not
evolved as an adaptation to cope with this by providing explanations of and
meanings for both life and death.

Other theorists have focused on the nature of human cognition as an
explanation for the origin of religious beliefs and experiences. (Cognition is a
general term for processes of the human brain that include perception,
learning, memory, concept formation, and problem solving.) Religion is seen
not as existing to serve a purpose but rather as an accidental by-product of the
way the human brain works.

The human brain appears to have two different and innate ways of
interpreting the world. One has to do with physical things like rocks, the other
with psychological things, such as people. We interpret a rock moving
through space and a person moving through space very differently. To a
person we attribute such things as intentions, beliefs, goals, and morality or
lack thereof. These two systems seem to be biological adaptations that help us
to deal with objects and with people. However, these systems go awry in ways
that provide the foundation for religion.

For example, we are dualists; we see mind and body as two separate and
distinct entities. Despite what psychologists know about how the brain works,
we intuitively feel that we merely occupy our bodies, not that we actually are

our bodies. This provides the foundation for a belief in both bodies without
souls and souls without bodies. A dead body is seen as lacking its soul. The
soul without the body is often believed to survive and have another, separate
existence after death. A further extension of souls without bodies would also
include other supernatural beings, such as gods.

The second way in which cognition feeds into the evolution of religion is
the human tendency to overextend our system of social understanding and
infer purpose, goals, intention, and design even where there is none. We
attribute human characteristics to an amazing range of inanimate objects as,
for example, the computer that seems to purposely break down at the most
crucial moment. Humans seek and find patterns in random arrays—what
looks like a face in a stucco ceiling or the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese
sandwich.

Pascal Boyer has pointed out that although religious concepts do violate
some expectations about the world, they do preserve other expectations. He
focuses in particular on the social nature of human beings and the inferences
that the human brain draws that regulate social interaction. For example,
Boyer points out that gods and other supernatural agents are seen as being
very human-like in cultures around the world. Yet there are obviously crucial
differences. Boyer points out that gods differ from human in that they have
access to all the possible information that is relevant to the issue at hand in a
social interaction.

However, gods are rarely omniscient cross-culturally. For example, the idea
that “God knows you are lying” seems more natural than “God knows the
content of every refrigerator in the world”—unless in your refrigerator is
something that you stole. The main point of Boyer’s discussion is that
supernatural concepts are just extensions of everyday cognitive categories and
the way that the human brain processes information. As he writes, “People do
not invent gods and spirits; they receive information that leads them to build
such concepts.”22

Conclusion

As we have seen in our discussion of the definition of religion and different
approaches to the study of religion, ethnocentrism can be and has been a
major impediment to developing a true understanding of religious beliefs and
practices in other societies. The goal of anthropology is to move past
ethnocentrism toward an approach of cultural relativism. This is especially
true in the study of religion. The anthropological approach—and the central
way of looking at the religious world in this book—is to study what people
believe and do in regard to a sacred supernatural, not to judge whether these
beliefs and actions are based in an objective truth or not. The anthropological
study of religion calls for a methodological agnosticism.

Although agnosticism has taken on the connotation of not having made up
one’s mind, the original meaning of the word is different. Agnostics say that
the nature of the supernatural is unknowable, that it is as impossible to prove
the nonexistence of the supernatural as it is to prove its existence. In this book
we will be seeking neither to prove nor to disprove but merely to observe. In
the words of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, writing in the seventeenth
century, “I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to
scorn human actions, but to understand them.”

Summary

Anthropology is the study of humanity. Anthropologists study human
societies as integrated wholes, an approach that is termed holism. This
approach is seen in the broad scope of anthropology, which is often divided
into the fields of physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and cultural
anthropology. This approach requires that societies be studied over long
periods of time, during which the investigator lives within the community and
participates in the lives of the people under study, a technique known as
participant observation. The final product is an ethnography, a descriptive
study of a human society.

An outside observer of a community usually imposes his or her system of
analysis on the group under study (etic perspective). It is natural to use one’s
own society as the basis for interpreting and judging other societies, a

tendency called ethnocentrism. Many anthropologists attempt to see the world
through the eyes of the people being studied (emic perspective) and describe
and understand people’s customs and ideas but do not judge them, an
approach called cultural relativism. The goal is to study what people believe,
not whether or not what they believe is true.

A central concept in anthropology is culture. In 1871, Tylor wrote, “Culture
… is that complex whole, which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society.” Culture includes all aspects of the human experience that are
passed down from generation to generation. Culture gives meaning to reality;
we live in a real, physical world, but our minds interpret this world through a
cultural lens and even create new realities.

Religion is a difficult concept to define when we try to include all human
societies. An analytic definition focuses on the way in which religion
manifests itself or is expressed in a culture. A functional definition is
concerned with the role that religion plays in a society. Finally, an essentialist
definition looks at what the essential nature of religion is and emphasizes the
fact that religion is the domain of the extraordinary. Our definition looks at
religion as a set of cultural beliefs and practices that usually include a basic set
of characteristics and draws on elements of all three of these approaches.

There have been many theoretical approaches to the study of religion. The
evolutionary approach, developed in the late 1800s, focused on the questions
of when and how religions began and how they evolved from the simple to
the complex. This evolution was seen as a natural consequence of human
nature, and the religions of “primitive” peoples were remnants of an earlier,
simpler evolutionary stage. Early religions included animism, the belief in
spirits and ghosts, and animatism, the belief in a generalized supernatural
force.

The Marxist approach is based on the writings of Karl Marx, who saw
religion as being a construction of those in power, designed to divert people’s
attention from the miseries of their lives. This misery was seen as being the
result of exploitation of the masses by those in power under the capitalist
system. He saw religion both as a means of compensation and as a way of
getting people to go along with a capitalist culture that is not in their best
interests.

The functional approach asks the question: What does religion do? For

example, Malinowski concluded that magic functions to provide control and
certainty in an otherwise uncertain situation. The interpretive approach is
associated with Clifford Geertz who believed that the task of anthropologists
was to make sense of cultural systems by studying meaning. He described
religion as a cluster of symbols that provides a charter for a culture’s ideas,
values, and way of life. Religious symbols help explain human existence by
giving it an ultimate meaning. The psychosocial approach is concerned with
the relationship between culture and personality and the connection between
the society and the individual.

Many theorists have suggested that religion is a by-product of the
functioning and evolution of the human brain. The brain is capable of creating
new realities. The theory of mind is the idea that one knows what is going on
in another person’s mind. This leads to the attribution of humanlike qualities
to nonhuman entities and forces, the basis for the development of a belief in
spirit beings. Thus we infer purpose, goals, intention, and design throughout
the universe.

Study questions

1. How does one go about conducting a holistic study of a society? How
would this be different from a study on a specific topic?

2. We can examine human societies from an etic or an emic perspective.
Do you think it is possible to really understand a society other than
your own from an emic perspective?

3. How would you balance cultural relativism and universal human
rights? Do you think that you could remain neutral in your judgment
of all of the behaviors you might see in a small-scale society?

4. What is the basic difference between a society and a culture? Can
these two terms be used interchangeably?

5. Think back to a ritual that you have attended—a wedding ceremony,
for example. Write three brief descriptions from each of the following
viewpoints: analytic, functional, and essentialist.

6. One of the major debates in studies of human behavior is that

between nature (biology) and nurture (culture). Do you think that
there is any biological basis for the development of religion in human
societies? Do you think that someday someone might discover a
society that has no religious practices?

7. Some scholars have argued that religion is not definable in any real
sense. Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote: “We sometimes demand
definitions for the sake not of their content, but of their form. Our
requirement is an architectural one; the definition a kind of
ornamental coping that supports nothing.”23 Discuss.

Suggested readings

Pascal Boyer, Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious
Thought (New York: Basic Books, 2007).

[A cognitive anthropologist explains religion in terms of everyday thought
processes.]

David J. Linden, The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us
Love, Memory, Dreams, and God (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2008).

[A neuroscientist discusses the functioning of the human brain and its
relationship to religion, among other things.]

William Paden, Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion (2nd edn)
(Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2004).

[An overview of theoretical approaches to religion.]

Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New
York: Ballantine Books, 2000).

[A skeptical look at supernatural beliefs and phenomena.]

Michael Winkelman and John R. Baker, Supernatural as Natural: A
Biocultural Approach to Religion (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,
2008).

[An introduction to the study of religion with an emphasis on evolution and
neurology.]

Suggested websites

www.aaanet.org
Website of the American Anthropological Association.

http://sar.americananthro.org/
The Society for the Anthropology of Religion of the American
Anthropological Association.

www.religioustolerance.org
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.

Notes

1 Note that we are using the ethnographic present in describing these cultures. Members
of the California tribes no longer gather and process acorns, and their way of life is very
similar to non-Native American peoples among whom they live.

2 M. M. Brown, Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2001).

3 R. B. Edgerton, Sick Societies: Challenging the Myth of Primitive Harmony (New York:
The Free Press, 1992.)

4 Ibid., p. 93.

5 E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology,
Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art and Custom (London: J. Murray, 1871), p. 1.

6 All Bible quotations in this text are taken from The King James Bible, except where
otherwise noted.

7 N. Smart, Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs (3rd edn) (Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999), pp. 8–10.

8 C. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books, 1973),
p. 90.

9 M. E. Spiro, “Religion: Problems of Definitions and Explanations,” in M. Banton (Ed.),
Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion (London: Tavistock Publications,

1966), p. 96.

10 W. C. Smith et al., The Meaning and End of Religion (San Francisco: Harper, 1978).

11 E. B. Tylor, op. cit.

12 R. R. Marett, The Threshold of Religions (London: Elibron Classics, 2005), first published
in 1909.

13 J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (New York: MacMillan,
1922).

14 K. Marx, “Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” Deutsch-
Französische Jahrbücher (February, 1844).

15 É. Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (New York: Collier Books,
1961), first published in 1913.

16 A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, “Religion and Society,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Society, 75 (1945), pp. 33–43.

17 B. Malinowski, Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays (Garden City, NY: Anchor
Books, 1948), p. 94.

18 C. J. Geertz, The Interpretation of Culture (New York: Basic Books, 2000), first published
in 1973.

19 M. Weber, The Sociology of Religion (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964).

20 S. Freud, The Future of an Illusion (New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1953).

21 A. Abbott, “Blind Man Walking,” Nature News, December 22, 2008.
www.nature.com/news/2008/081222/full/news.2008.1328.html.

22 P. Boyer, Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought (New York:
Basic Books, 2001), p. 161.

23 L. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe (Oxford,
England: Blackwell, 1953), #217.

Chapter 2
Mythology

A good place to begin our study of religion is by looking at myths. Myths are
religious narratives or stories that provide the basis for religious beliefs and
practices. Myths tell of the origins and history of the world and the creation of
the first human beings. They also prescribe the rules of proper conduct and
articulate the ethical and moral principles of society. Some myths exist as
written texts, whereas in nonliterate societies they exist as oral narratives.
Religious stories also can be told in art, music, and dance. In this chapter, we
will discuss the nature of myths and provide several examples of myths from
various religious systems.

The nature of myths

As we learned in Chapter 1, the lives and experiences of a people are seen
through a cultural lens that imposes meaning on their world. Within this
world all people have a body of knowledge within which many things are
understood and controlled. However, all people also experience things that
they cannot comprehend and cannot control. They ponder the origin of their
world. They seek to understand the interconnectedness between humanity
and the world around them, including the physical landscape, the plants and
animals that dwell in this landscape, and other human beings and societies.
And they question the existence and meaning of disaster, illness, and death.

Worldview

The way in which societies perceive and interpret their reality is known as
their worldview. Their worldview provides them with an understanding of
how their world works; it forms the template for thought and behavior; and it
provides them with a basic understanding of the origin and nature of
humankind and their relationship to the world around them.

To better understand the concept of worldview, we can compare the
worldviews of two cultures, Navaho and Judeo-Christian. The Navaho today
are the largest Native American group in the United States. They occupy a
large reservation in Arizona and New Mexico, although today many Navaho
have left the reservation and live elsewhere.

To the Navaho, nature exists and humans are a part of nature. The Navaho
see their world in terms of the relationships and connections that bind the
various elements that make up the world. All of these elements—the land, the
plants, the animals, people, and the gods—are bound together into a
systematic and balanced whole. All of the elements within the universe affect
one another, existing in a state of harmony.

For the universe to function—to maintain its harmonious state—people must
behave properly as defined by Navaho culture. Failure to behave properly
brings about disharmony in the universe, and this disharmony can lead to
natural disaster, illness, and even death. The goal of a Navaho is to remain in
harmony with the universe or, as they like to put it, to “walk in beauty.”

Whereas Navaho culture sees humans as one cog in the natural world,
Judeo-Christians see their world quite differently. Here humans occupy a very
special place in the universe. The following is from the Eighth Psalm:

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with

glory and honor.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all

things under his feet:
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths

of the seas.

It is clear here that the world was created for the benefit of humankind and

that humankind has the authority, the right, to exploit the natural world. This
active relationship with nature is seen in attempts to control nature—through
dams and irrigation projects, for example. Whereas the Navaho sees illness as
a manifestation of disharmony and attempts to bring resolution of the illness
through ritual designed to reestablish harmony, the Judeo-Christian seeks the
observed cause and then, through medical technology, proceeds to “fix it.”

Stories of the supernatural

People describe their world and express their worldview in stories and other
creative expressions. This includes modes as diverse as art, drama, jokes,
writing on the walls of public bathrooms, folk music, and festivals. Here we
will focus on stories that are told about the supernatural world.

The following is a story that is European in origin and was first published
in 1823, written down from oral presentations. It has been told and retold
countless times and is probably familiar to the reader in some form. It is the
story of Snow White.1

The story of Snow White involves an evil queen who flies into a jealous rage whenever
she learns that someone in the kingdom is more beautiful than she. She keeps tabs on
her status in the beauty arena by using a talking mirror. This is a type of divination
instrument (see Chapter 7) that can be used to gather information about things and
events in ways that are supernatural. (Certainly, one would have to agree that talking
mirrors do not exist in our empirical, natural world.)

Snow White is the evil queen’s stepdaughter. As Snow White matures, she eventually
becomes more beautiful than the queen, who sees Snow White as a threat that must be
eliminated. The queen orders Snow White killed, but the huntsman who is ordered to do
the killing takes pity on Snow White and lets her escape into the forest. The huntsman
then kills a wild boar and presents its lungs and liver to the queen as being Snow
White’s. The evil queen cooks and eats the lungs and liver, thinking them to be those of
her dead stepdaughter. This is an example of ritual cannibalism. Perhaps the queen
believes that by eating the remains of her rival, the elements of beauty in Snow White
will pass to her.

Thus Snow White escapes and moves in with seven dwarfs. The evil queen, learning
through her magic mirror that Snow White is still alive, finally kills her with a poison
apple. After many years Snow White is discovered by a prince who, on kissing her,
brings her back to life.

When we read the story of Snow White, it is clearly a story told for
entertainment, primarily for children. However, like many such stories, it also
provides a moral lesson. In this case we are told of the evils of envy and
jealousy and what can happen to someone who exhibits these attributes. (In
one early version of the story the evil queen is invited to the wedding
celebration of Snow White and the Prince. Her evil deeds are revealed and she
is made to put on a pair of red-hot iron slippers. She dances until she dies.)

Yet although this story talks about moral issues and contains many
supernatural elements (the magic mirror, for example), no one would classify
it as a religious story. The dwarfs are not sacred; the mirror is not holy; the
resurrection of the beautiful maiden does not elevate her to the status of deity.
The story does not relate the actions of any gods; it is not the basis for
religious rituals; there are no churches or temples dedicated to Snow White.
Adults do not believe the story of Snow White to be true.

Stories such as Snow White are meant to entertain; these are called
folktales. Folktales take place in a fictional world. They include supernatural
elements and frequently contain a moral. Folktales usually exist independent
of time and space. (Where was the kingdom in which Snow White lived
located? How long ago did the story take place?)

In contrast to folktales, legends are seen by members of the culture as
representing events that have actually taken place, although some
embellishment often occurs. Legends take place in the comparatively recent
past and tell not only of such things as migrations, wars, heroes, and kings but
also of local stories about buried treasure, ghosts, and saints. They may or
may not include supernatural elements and may or may not be considered
sacred. Legends you may be familiar with include the cities of Atlantis and El
Dorado, the heroes Robin Hood and King Arthur, George Washington
chopping down the cherry tree, and the story of the Holy Grail.

Legends are commonplace in our contemporary world, although people
seldom see them as such. Known as urban legends, these stories are
recounted as having really happened, primarily on the Internet or in tabloids.
Some commonly circulated urban legends are the story of the woman who
dried her dog in a microwave, crocodiles living in the sewers of New York
City, and strangers giving out poisonous candy at Halloween.

Myths

Myths are sacred stories. They tell of the origin of the world and humankind,
the existence and activities of gods and spirits, the creation of order in the
universe, and the nature of illness and death. Myths relate the origins of
human traditions and articulate a society’s values and norms. They tell how to
behave and distinguish good from evil.

Myths are thought by the people who tell them to recount real events that
took place in the remote past in a world different from the one we live in now.
Myths, however, are believed to be relevant to modern life and are often
recounted in religious rituals. Lauri Honko writes:

The reenactment of a creative event, for example, the healing wrought by a god in the
beginning of time, is the common aim of myth and ritual. In this way the event is
transferred to the present and its result, i.e. the healing of a sick person, can be achieved
once more here and now. In this way, too, the world order, which was created in the
primeval era and which is reflected in myths, preserves its value as an exemplar and
model for the people of today.2

Although the term myth is frequently used in our society in a negative sense
to mean stories that are false or only told by primitive peoples, that is not the
sense in which we use the term here. Anthropologists and folklorists use the
term to refer to sacred religious stories that are believed by the people who tell
them to be true. In this sense, the stories of the Bible are myths, as are the
writings of the Qur’an.

This analytic distinction between different types of narratives is one that is
also made by many cultural groups. For example, Trobriand Islanders
distinguish between kukwanebu (fairy tales, fictional stories told after dark for
amusement), libwogwo (legends, stories told to impart knowledge and believed
to be true), and liliu (sacred stories told during the preparation for religious
rituals). Many societies distinguish between true stories (myths and legends)
and stories that are a lie or a joke (a folktale). The distinctions between
folktales, legends, and myths are summarized in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Forms of narrative

Folktales Legends Myths

Regarded as fiction;
not considered to be

sacred; meant to
entertain

Based on real people,
places, or events and
are considered to be

factual

Regarded as fact; accepted on
faith; source of authority on

moral and ethical issues

Include supernatural
elements, yet are

secular

Include few if any
supernatural elements;

can be sacred or
secular

Include a great many
supernatural elements; are

considered to be sacred

Characters are human
and/or nonhuman

Characters are
generally human

Characters are human and
nonhuman

Exist independent of
time and place

Take place in the
present or recent past;
in the modern world

Take place in the remote past
in another world or in an

earlier manifestation of today’s
world

The nature of oral texts

Myths can be oral or written. In literate societies, written texts may form the
basis of scholarly discourse and analysis as well as ritual. In nonliterate
societies and in many literate societies as well, texts are recited. Recitation is
much more than a simple rote presentation of the text—recitation is
performance. In reciting the text, a person might speak in a manner that is not
found in everyday speech. Costumes, facial expressions, body postures, and
changes in the quality of the voice, all serve to create an experience. In some
societies we find specialists—actors and storytellers—who memorize and recite
texts.

Oral texts are frequently very long and complex. They are not always
recited as a single, complete narrative and might not even be seen as a single
entity. Particular segments might be recited at certain times in particular
circumstances.

One of the consequences of the oral transmission of stories is that they are
frequently unconsciously altered with each generation. As a result of this
learning process, different versions of the same myth can exist in different

families or groups within a society. For example, there are several versions of
the Navaho creation story. Each was collected by a different anthropologist
working with a different elder. Although they have much in common, there
are major differences.

Raymond Firth studied the Tikopia (Polynesia culture areas). He recorded
different versions of a myth about the building of the Rasofiroki Temple, a
building that was thought to exist on both a material and spiritual plane.3 The
actual building that could be seen by humans was believed to have a
prototype in the heavens that was built by a group of sibling gods. In a
version recorded by Firth in 1929, the Great God, the oldest of the siblings,
asks his brothers to hand up iron nails for the building of the temple.
However, the brothers only hand up coconut husk and cord. When they are
done, the Great God came down, took the iron, and went off to the land of the
white man. In a second version, the temple was built in England and the
senior brother calls out in English for his brothers to hand up the iron. His
brothers cannot understand this foreign language, so they keep handing up
coconut-based materials. When the building is done, the senior brother drives
them away in disgust and they go to Tikopia in a canoe. Iron was a relatively
recent introduction to Tikopia and the myth of the building of the temple
appears to have changed not only to accommodate this new material but also
to account for why the Europeans had this material but the Tikopians did not.

If myths are written, however, the narratives that are transmitted from
generation to generation tend to be very stable through time, especially if they
are not translated into other languages. An example of a written text is the
Qur’an, which forms the foundation of Islam. Muslims believe that the Qur’an
represents the word of God as revealed to Mohammad by the archangel
Gabriel in the early seventh century. It was spoken to Mohammad and was
initially handed down orally but was soon set down in written form. As the
spoken word of God, verses from the Qur’an are recited and memorized by
devout Muslims. Because the Qur’an was revealed to Mohammad in Arabic, it
is learned and memorized in Arabic throughout the Islamic world. (Of course,
translations of the Qur’an do exist, but they are not used in ritual.
Commentaries on the Qur’an are made in the local language.) Because
printing presses produce millions of copies of this text, all identical in content,
the exact text not only is found throughout the world, but also is transmitted

unchanged generation after generation. For Muslims, this lack of change is
particularly important. Muslims believe that the true text exists in heaven and
was given to Mohammad through revelations, which he memorized perfectly
word for word. Thus the Qur’an (the word actually means “recitation”)
represents a perfect transcription of God’s vision and should not change.

Genesis

Many written texts have their origins in oral narratives. For example, the Old
Testament probably had its origins in oral narratives that were eventually
written down. Folklorist Alan Dundes points out that written texts that are
derived from oral narratives frequently incorporate more than one version of
a particular story.4 For example, the Old Testament opens with two creation
stories (Box 2.1).

Box 2.1 Genesis

Genesis (1:1–2:3)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of

the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the

darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the

evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it

divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the

firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were

the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one

place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters

called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the

fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it
was so.

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb, yielding seed after his kind, and
the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it
was good.

And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the

day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and
years:

And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth: and it was so.

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and lesser
light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the

darkness: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that

hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which

the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after
his kind: and God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in
the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle,

and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind,

and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it
was good.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them.

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon
the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed; to you it shall be for meat.

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb
for meat: and it was so.

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested

on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had

rested from all his work which God created and made.

Genesis (2:4–2:10, 2:15–2:23)

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created,
in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the
field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and
there was not a man to till the ground.

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the
ground.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the
man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to
the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and
the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was
parted, and became into four heads.

…

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress
it and to keep it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden
thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make
him a help meet for him.

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every
fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and
whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every
beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he
took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and
brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

The first story is recounted in Genesis 1:1 through 2:3. The story begins with
the world covered with water (“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters”). God shapes the world over a period of six days, resting on the
seventh. The order of creation of living things is plants, followed by animals,
followed by male and female human beings together (“male and female
created he them”). This story is from what biblical scholars call the P or
priestly document. It was probably written before 586 BCE. It contains many
parallels with the Enuma elish, a Mesopotamian myth, and establishes the
origin and sacred importance of the Sabbath.

The second story is found in Genesis 2:4–2:10 and 2:15–2:23. At the
beginning of the story, the world was a desert (“for the Lord God had not
caused it to rain upon the earth”). God first “formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” He places a man,
called Adam, in the Garden of Eden. God then forms all the animals and
brings them to Adam one at a time to be named. Finally, God creates woman,
called Eve, from Adam’s rib. This story comes from what is referred to as the J
document. It was likely written earlier than the first story, sometime between
960 and 915 BCE.

The stories of Genesis are reflections of the Judeo-Christian worldview.
They are very patriarchal in many ways. For example, woman (Eve) is derived
from man (Adam). In many Western societies, men dominate woman, and
many positions of authority, such as the priesthood, are restricted to men.

Here the religious text is acting as a social charter that explains that culture’s
view of the proper organization of human relationships.

Genesis also expresses the Judeo-Christian worldview with respect to
nature. This worldview appears to be based on two assumptions. The first is
that the universe is mechanistic and humans are its master. The second is that
humans are a categorically different form of creature than all other forms of
life.

Changes do occur in written texts, but they are usually deliberate changes
that are the consequences of translation or scholarly discourse over the
meaning of particular words and passages. In some religious traditions, such
as Christianity, the text—in this case, the Bible—is usually found in a
translated form to be read by any literate member of the community. This was
not always true. It was in the Middle Ages (roughly 500–1500 CE) that
Catholicism as we know it today truly emerged. In the absence of a strong
central government following the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Church
became both a religious and a secular power. During this time the Church was
seen as the intermediary between humankind and God—God’s message for
people came to them through the Church. Very few people were literate, and
the Bible was available only in Latin. This was not seen as a problem, because
the Church existed to interpret God’s word. Later, the Protestant Reformation
would emphasize the Bible, and not the Church, as the source for true
Christianity. Among the central beliefs of Martin Luther, who began the
Reformation, was that laypeople should read the Bible for themselves. This
meant not only that everyone needed to learn to read, but also that the Bible
had to be translated into the local languages.

Perhaps one of the most famous translations of the Bible was that ordered
by King James I of England and published in 1611. The King James Bible is
still widely used today. Many Bible scholars, however, note what they
consider to be inaccurate translations of certain words and passages, resulting
from the knowledge and political atmosphere of the early seventeenth
century.

The King James Version is written in what is now an older form of English.
Language changes over time, and written religious texts that do not change
will, over time, appear to use words and phrases that are no longer a part of
the spoken language. Religious texts are often written in a “religious” form of

a language, using words and phrases that are not used in everyday speech.
Some societies even have distinctive dialects or languages that are reserved for
recitation of religious narratives. For example, consider the following excerpt
from the Eighth Psalm: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art
mindful of him?” Forms such as thy, hast, and thou were once commonly used
words in English, but no longer. Today their presence in a narrative often
labels that narrative as being religious.

Many modern versions of the Bible exist today. These are attempts to create
what are considered to be more accurate translations of the earliest extant
versions of the Bible, written in modern language that is easier to read and
understand by people today. Yet many people are uncomfortable with modern
translations and retain the King James Version because it sounds more
“religious.” This resembles the special religious language forms reserved for
religious narrative that are found in many societies. Interestingly, there are
versions of the King James Bible that attempt to modernize the language yet
retain the use of religious linguistic forms. (See Box 2.2 for a discussion of
gender-neutral translations of the Bible.)

Box 2.2 The gender-neutral Christian Bible

Written texts often exist in multiple versions. Zondervan, the world’s
largest publisher of Bibles, has published over a dozen different
translations. Some of the translations preserve more traditional language,
such as thou, and others attempt to translate the Bible into more modern
language. One area of debate with regard to modern translations is the
issue of gender. The language used in most Christian Bibles not only
refers to God as male but also uses the masculine generic (e.g., saying
man to mean both men and women). Some argue that this language is
not inconsequential and actually both reflects and shapes the way that
people think. Changing this language is seen as a way to address the
outdated gender roles portrayed in the Bible and help achieve gender
equality.

When Zondervan updated its Revised Standard Version (RSV) in 1990

as the New Revised Standard Version, it was met with much opposition
from Christians who felt the changes not only were unnecessary, but in
some cases changed the meaning of the text. For example, compare the
Revised Standard Version (RSV) and New Revised Standard Version
(NRSV) translations of John 14:23:

Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father
will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

(RSV)

“Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them and we
will come to them and make our home with them.”

(NRSV)

Critics argue that the new translation obscures the original meaning that
Jesus and his Father would come to dwell with individual believers.

Another example comes from Acts, when Cornelius fell down and
began to worship Peter. In the Revised Standard Version, Peter lifted him
up and said, “Stand up; I too am a man” (Acts 10:26, RSV). In the New
Revised Standard Version Peter says, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.”
Again, it is argued that this is an important shift in meaning from an
emphasis on one’s humanity (“I too am a man”) to an emphasis on one’s
mortality (“I too am mortal”).

In other cases, critics argue that the changes are unnecessary and do
not make sense—for example, making the army of Israel gender-neutral
(using the term “warriors” instead of “men of war”) when it is
historically accurate that the army was composed only of males.
Similarly, they see changing Paul’s statement in Corinthians (1 Cor.
13:11) from “When I became a man, I gave up childish ways” to “When I
became an adult” as unnecessary because Paul is in fact a man.

Further controversy erupted in the late 1990s when Zondervan
announced that it was going to publish a new, more modern translation
of the company’s New International Version, which is second in sales
only to the King James Version, still very similar to its original 1611
form. The New International Version (NIV) is popular with evangelical
Christians. The new version, called Today’s New International Version

(TNIV), also uses gender-neutral language. However, the changes made
in Today’s New International Version were made only in regard to
human beings. Some felt that the changes did not go far enough because
God is still referred to as masculine (e.g., Father) and not with neutral
terms (e.g., parent). In September 2009, Zondervan announced that they
would publish a new version of the NIV in 2011 and at that point
discontinue the TNIV version.5 However, when the new NIV was
published, Southern Baptists voted at their convention to reject the
translation. Randy Stinson, president of the Council on Biblical Manhood
and Womanhood is quoted as saying:

Our main concern is that in hundreds of places, meaning in the Bible is eroded
because of the translators’ decisions to remove words like he, him, his, father,
brother, son, and man. God’s word is the product of his infinite wisdom and all
the details of meaning are there for a purpose.6

Obviously, there are many issues that shape this controversy. They
include the degree to which language shapes thought and society,
whether the masculine emphasis of the Bible was intended and should be
preserved, and how accurately translations must reflect the original text.
The debate is not merely about language but about the Christian
worldview regarding gender issues in general.

Understanding myths

Myths exist in all human societies. They have been collected and analyzed by
countless anthropologists, folklorists, and other scholars. Many different
theoretical orientations have developed as tools to study and explain myths.
While myths show an astonishing degree of variability, certainly common
themes occur that have become the focus of scholarly study. In this section,
we will look at some of the approaches to the study of myths and survey some
of the common themes that are found.

Approaches to the analysis of myths

The analysis of myths can be approached from many different perspectives.
Are myths literal or symbolic? If they are symbolic, how should these symbols
be interpreted? How are myths tied to the rest of culture? Do myths serve
functions, and if so, which ones? Do myths reflect the way that the human
mind works, the way a specific culture works, or both? Many of the different
ways of analyzing religious narratives are based on the different theoretical
approaches to the study of religion discussed in Chapter 1.

Searching for myth origins in the nineteenth century

The evolutionary school in anthropology saw a unilinear progression from
more “primitive” societies to more “civilized” ones. Accompanying this
progression was a similar proposed progression from magic to religion to
science. Myths were seen as belonging to the “primitive” period, with sacred
myths being replaced by secular folktales until finally dying out altogether in
“civilized” societies. (It is important to remember that anthropologists no
longer believe in such an evolutionary progression or that cultures can be
classified as “primitive” or “civilized.”)

Theorists from the evolutionary school assumed that modern people living
in small-scale societies lived and thought the same way that earlier European
societies had. They compared myths found in many different cultures, looking
for common elements from which they could reconstruct an assumed
“original form” of myth from which all others had derived. It was believed
that doing this could help explain puzzling aspects of modern European
society.

The work of James George Frazer (1854–1941) is a good example of this
approach. He collected as many examples of myths and magical practices
from around the world as possible and published them as a thirteen-volume
work entitled The Golden Bough. Although modern anthropologists criticize
the information in The Golden Bough as taken out of its cultural context, the
book is still widely read. As an example of the comparative approach, Frazer
analyzed the story of the fall of man in Genesis by looking at other origin-of-

death myths cross-culturally:

The story of the Fall of Man in the third chapter of Genesis appears to be an abridged
version of this savage myth. Little is wanted to complete its resemblance to the similar
myths still told by savages in many parts of the world. The principal, almost the only,
omission is the silence of the narrator as to the eating of the fruit of the tree of life by
the serpent, and the consequent attainment of immortality by the reptile … If my
interpretation of the story is right, it has been left for the comparative method, after
thousands of years, to supply the blank in the ancient canvas, and to restore, in all their
primitive crudity, the gay barbaric colours which the skilful hand of the Hebrew artist
had softened or effaced.7

Since Frazer’s time, further studies of myths have found that no single myth
exists cross-culturally, but characteristic versions of a story may be found in
specific areas. For example, in Africa, origin-of-death myths revolve around a
failure to deliver a message, whereas among Native Americans the story
centers on a debate on the subject of death.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, a new approach to the study of
myth was popular. This approach argued that myth is derived from earlier
ritual practices. Based on this idea, theorists tried to reconstruct these rituals.
Of course, this approach is not a complete answer to the question of origins,
because if myth came from ritual, where did ritual come from?

This approach to myth encouraged looking beyond the text and seeing the
connection that myths have to the cultures in which they are found. Although
it is now more accepted that myth and ritual are closely related, this is seen
more as myth and ritual being parallel expressions than that one is derived
from the other.

Fieldwork and functional analysis

Early studies of myth and religion, such as those of Frazer, were undertaken
by people who read myths collected by missionaries, travelers, and others
from the comfort of their own libraries. This changed in the early twentieth
century with a new emphasis on ethnographic fieldwork and participant
observation, by anthropologists such as Franz Boas and Bronislaw
Malinowski.

Many consider Franz Boas to be the founder of the academic study of
anthropology in the United States. He felt that mythology could be read
almost like an autobiography written by the culture itself. As such, he used
myths as sources of ethnographic data about such things as kinship systems,
housing types, division of labor, and hunting techniques.8 Some of his
students later challenged this approach; they felt that myths are more than
just a literal reflection of what goes on in a culture. For example, Ruth
Benedict, in her study of Zuni mythology, noted that myths are often
idealized descriptions of things that do not happen in real life.9 However, Boas
brought to the anthropological study of myth the importance of recording full
texts and of relating myths to the rest of culture.

Like Boas, Malinowski favored a literal interpretation of myth; neither
favored the idea that myths could be symbolic. Both also emphasized in-depth
study of one culture at a time as opposed to comparing myths cross-culturally.
Malinowski was a founder of the functional approach in anthropology,
previously discussed in Chapter 1, which turned from the nineteenth-century
interest in the origins of myth to a focus on how myths function in a culture.
Malinowski wrote that myths are seen as a force to help maintain the society:

Studied alive, myth, as we shall see, is not symbolic but a direct expression of its subject
matter; it is not an explanation in satisfaction of a scientific interest, but a narrative
resurrection of a primeval reality, told in satisfaction of deep religious wants, moral
cravings, social submissions, assertions, even practical requirements. Myth fulfills in
primitive cultures an indispensable function; it expresses, enhances, and codifies belief;
it safeguards and enforces morality; it vouches for the efficacy of ritual and contains
practical rules for the guidance of man. Myth is thus a vital ingredient of human
civilization; it is not an idle tale, but a hard-worked active force; it is not an intellectual
explanation or an artistic imagery, but a pragmatic charter of primitive faith and
wisdom.10

Malinowski conducted fieldwork in the Trobriand Islands and described how
the islanders themselves distinguish between folktales, legends, and myths.
Myths are not told for entertainment or to impart historical information, but
are used to justify and explain religious rituals as well as social and moral
rules. For example, before the Trobriand annual feast of the return of the
dead, myths are told that explain why humans die, why the spirits of the dead
have to leave the village, and why they return once a year. Trobriand
Islanders also engage in extensive ceremonial trading; the rules for such trade,

the magic used to prepare canoes for the voyage, and even the geographical
routes taken are all related to specific mythology.

Critics of the functional approach point out that it focuses only on benefits,
not on institutions or practices that may be oppressive or exploitative.
Functionalism also focuses on consensus building, not, for example, the
potential conflict caused by competing versions of a myth. Because of this
emphasis on consensus and function, the approach does not deal well with
cultural change.

Structural analysis

Structural analysis, as the name implies, focuses on the underlying structure
of the myth. This approach is based on the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss, who
pointed out that humans tend to think and categorize the world in terms of
binary opposites, such as black and white.11 The division of the world into
binary opposites can be seen cross-culturally in myths, as in the analysis done
by Edmund Leach of the structure of the story of Genesis.12 Examples of
binary opposites contained in Genesis are light/dark, day/night, heaven/earth,
man/animal, and man/woman. Leach also points out that these opposites are
frequently mediated by a third, anomalous category, such as life and death
being mediated by the third category of life after death.

In the following portion of Genesis, the binary opposites of light and dark
as well as heaven and earth are established (Genesis 1:4–8):

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and

the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide

the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the

firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the

second day.

Structural analysis focuses on the structure, not content, of religious
narratives. It demonstrates that stories that seem very different on the surface

may have a similar underlying structure. We can also apply structural
analysis to a story from the Gururumba of New Guinea (Melanesia culture
area). The primary binary opposition in Gururumba culture is that of nature
and culture. We can see this opposition being expressed in several ways in the
Gururumba myth of the origin of women, told in Box 2.3.

Box 2.3 The Gururumba creation story

The story begins in the distant past when things were not as they are
today. There were no villages, no pigs, and no women. One day two
brothers go into the forest to look for food. They come upon an eagle’s
nest in which they find eggs and food that the eagle parents have left.
The brothers take the food for themselves. They return several times to
do this until one time when one of the eggs hatches and the first woman
emerges. The boys take the woman back to their home and feed her and
she grows up.

Then one day the younger brother decides to try to have sex with the
woman. However, he is unable to do so because she does not have a
vagina. He asks his older brother what to do. His older brother takes a
sugarcane (a symbolically male plant for the Gururumba) and hurls it at
the woman to make an opening, but she runs away. The younger brother
chases her, but every time he catches on to her arm or leg she turns into
an animal and slips away. Finally he is able to catch hold of her thumb
and have sex with her.

The woman gives birth to a son and several daughters. Later when the
son is grown he asks his father if he can accompany him into the forest,
but the father says no. The boy becomes very upset and jumps into the
river and becomes a fish. The father does not know what to do but the
brothers see smoke coming from the forest (which means a wise old man
lives there). This man comes and uses magic to change the fish back into
a boy. The father is so happy that he builds the first men’s house and
puts his son inside to make him a man. When the son emerges from the
men’s house, pigs spring from the ground. The boy later notices smoke
coming from the grasslands and realizes that there are other men out

there who have no women and no pigs. So he gives each of his sisters a
pig and sends them to the other men, beginning an exchange
relationship.

Source: As told by Philip Newman, lecture in the Anthropology of
Religion at the University of California at Los Angeles, 1990.

From this story, we can see that the nature versus culture dichotomy is
related to the differences between the sexes. Women are part of nature,
whereas men are associated with culture. The origin of the first woman from
an egg and her various reversions to animal forms when she is pursued clearly
associate women with nature. The wild female is only culturally transformed
through human (male) agency. The sugarcane is a symbolically male plant
used to change the biologically nonuseful woman into a culturally useful wife.
Her son is the first male born of a female, and thus not fully cultural, as can
be seen when he turns into a fish. He is not a complete adult, both biologically
and socially, until his final transformation in the men’s house. The boy
himself then becomes a transformer, changing his sisters into wives and other
men into social allies.

Critics of structuralism argue that it is a very sterile approach to the study
of religious narrative and that it is ultimately dehumanizing. Structural
analysis can also be very complicated, leaving mythical analysis only to those
who are well versed in this approach.

Psychological symbols in myth

Another approach to the analysis of myths interprets them as being symbolic
and sees this symbolism as being rooted in human psychology. This approach
is based on the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

Freud described various psychological defense mechanisms, such as
projection, in which one’s own unconscious attribute is perceived and reacted
to in some other person or some other thing.13 For example, Freud saw
individual dreams as symbolically expressing unconscious wishes and a

similar process occurring with myths for groups. Myths are therefore a type of
“shared dream.” Freud also emphasized the importance of early childhood
experiences, such as the nature of the parent–child relationship. He then
proposed a relationship between early experiences and adult projection
systems such as myth. Although such processes as projection and symbolism
were considered universal, the actual symbolic content would be expected to
vary as childhood conditions varied.

The narrative most associated with the psychoanalytic approach is the
Greek story of Oedipus, the man who unknowingly kills his father and
marries his mother. Freud argued that this story represents a deep
psychological conflict experienced by all boys. Because he considered this case
reflective of universal developmental issues, he expected similar stories to be
found cross-culturally. In fact, Allen Johnson and Douglas Price-Williams in
their research have found Oedipus-type stories from cultures around the
world.14

Similar to Freud in its emphasis on human psychological processes is the
work of Carl Jung.15 In contrast to Freud, Jung felt that myths stemmed from
something beyond the individual unconscious. Just as individuals have an
unconscious mind, Jung believed that humans as a group share a collective
unconscious, or inborn elements of the unconscious that are manifested in
dreams and myths. The main characters of these dreams and myths are
termed archetypes. Oedipus is just one example of an archetype; other
archetypal characters that have been suggested include the Trickster, the
Hero, the Orphan, the Seeker, the Destroyer, the Creator, the Sage, and the
Fool. Another example is the Phoenix, taken from the Greek story of the bird
that rises from its own ashes. The Phoenix is a story of rebirth. A familiar
telling of the Phoenix archetype is found in Christianity’s death and rebirth of
Jesus Christ.

In part because Jung’s archetypes are alleged to be universal and
precultural, he has received less attention in anthropological circles than
Freud, whose theories are more amenable to cultural relativism.
Anthropologists have also criticized Jungian analysis for rarely using data
from non-Western sources.

Common themes in myths

As we can see from the preceding discussion, underlying the diversity of
narratives found cross-culturally are some common elements and themes.
These similarities have been explained in various ways. Diffusion, or the
spread of cultural traits from one group to another, is always a possible
explanation. Others focus on the shared nature of human cognition and
psychology. The ideas of Freud and Jung are good examples of this approach,
although Freud saw the similarities stemming from shared individual
experiences, whereas Jung focused on a universally shared collective
unconscious. In this section we will explore some of the common stories that
are found in religious narratives around the world.

Origin myths

Origin myths answer some of the most basic questions that humans have:
Who are we? Why are we here? What is our relationship to the world? Origin
stories address the most basic questions of identity, both personal and
communal. Creation myths are generally the most sacred of the religious
narratives. All other narratives ultimately build on the groundwork laid down
in origin myths.

Box 2.4 The power of storytelling

Humans have been called “storytelling animals.” We are constantly
surrounded by stories from more obvious sources like books, movies, and
television shows to less obvious ones like daydreams, songs, gossip, and
commercials. Politics and jury trials are often about who can tell the
better story.

We have discussed in this chapter how sacred stories shape meaning
for cultures. In the same way the stories we tell about ourselves and our
lives shape our personal worldviews and the way we see ourselves in
that world. Can you explain your actions and tell a coherent story about

them? What does it mean if you cannot?
New research is exploring if we can reframe our lives by changing

how we tell our own stories. For example, an intervention with Duke
University students who were struggling academically focused on getting
them to reframe their stories from not being cut out for college to just
needing time to adjust. Students who received this intervention raised
their overall grade point averages and were less likely to drop out than a
control group.16

As you move through this class reflect on your own story, especially
as it relates to education. How did the family you grew up in feel about
education? What were your early experiences in school like and what
impact did that have on you? What characterizes you as a student? What
are your educational goals and why? How does learning about religion
fit into your overall story?

A common element in origin stories is the birth metaphor. When the
supernatural power doing the creating is female, this is generally a
spontaneous and independent birth. When the supernatural power is male, the
birth is more symbolic: the god vomits or excretes the world or perhaps
sacrifices part of his own body to make the world. In the following origin
story from the Bushongo, a Bantu people from Zaire (Guinea Coast culture
area), the male deity vomits the world.

In the beginning, in the dark, there was nothing but water. And Bumba was alone. One
day Bumba was in terrible pain. He retched and strained and vomited up the sun. After
that light spread over everything. The heat of the sun dried up the water until the black
edges of the world began to show. Black sandbanks and reefs could be seen. But there
were no living things. Bumba vomited up the moon and then the stars, and after that
the night had its own light also. Still Bumba was in pain. He strained again and nine
living creatures came forth [a leopard, crested eagle, crocodile, fish, tortoise, lightning,
white heron, beetle, and a goat]. Last of all came forth men.17

Many origin myths begin with creation out of chaos, darkness, or the void.
The following story is from the Yoruba, a society in West Africa (Guinea
Coast culture area):

In the beginning the world was a watery, formless Chaos that was neither sea nor land,
but a marshy waste. Above it, in the sky, lived the Supreme Being, Olorun, attended to

by other gods, including Orisha Nla, called the Great God. Olorun called Orisha Nla into
his presence and ordered him to make a world. It was time to make a solid land and
Orisha Nla was given a snail full of magic earth, a pigeon, and a five-toed hen to
accomplish the assignment. Orisha Nla came down to the Chaos and set to work
organizing it. He threw magic earth into a small patch. The pigeon and the hen began to
scratch in the magic earth, and they scratched until land and sea were entirely separated
… Orisha Nla was sent back to earth to plant trees, including the first oil palm. Olorun
made the rain fall from heaven to water the seeds, which grew into a great forest. In
heaven, Olorun began to make the first people. They were fashioned from earth by
Orisha Nla, but only Olorun, the Supreme Being, could give them life. Orisha Nla hid in
Olorun’s workshop to watch. However, Olorun knew that Orisha Nla was hiding there
and put him into a deep sleep, and so only Olorun knows the secret of how to bring a
body to life. To this day Orisha Nla, through the agency of parents, makes the body, but
only the Supreme Being can give it life.18

Because of the process of diffusion, certain culture areas share narrative
elements in common. One example of this is the primordial egg as an element
of creation stories in Asia, as seen in one Chinese origin story:

At first there was nothing. Time passed and nothing became something. Time passed
and something split into two: the two were male and female. These two produced two
more, and these two produced P’an Ku, the first being, the Great Man, the Creator. First
there was the great cosmic egg. Inside the egg was Chaos, and floating in Chaos was
P’an Ku, the Undeveloped, the divine Embryo. And P’an Ku burst out of the egg, four
times larger than any man today, with an adze (or a hammer and chisel) with which he
fashioned the world.19

A final example of an origin myth is the emergence myth, common
throughout North America. The initial acts of creation take place under the
earth, which is often organized into a series of layers. The lower layers are
dark and cramped. As the story progresses, the story moves up from one
world to the next. This movement is an evolutionary progression as acts of
creation occur and knowledge is imparted to various creatures, including
humans. Finally, they emerge onto the surface of the earth.

There are several interpretations that have been given to emergence myths.
The world under the surface of the earth can be seen as the womb in which
creation occurs and the emergence onto the earth as a birth. The myth can
also be seen as a reflection of the life cycle of maize (corn) that begins as a
seed under the ground and then emerges onto the surface of the earth.

One of the best-known emergence myths is Diné Bahane’, the Navaho

creation story. The early part of the story takes place under the earth where
there are four worlds, one on top of the other. The story begins in the first
world, the bottom-most world, and then progresses upward. Usually some
danger or destructive power forces the creatures to escape through a hole in
the sky into the next world.

In the fourth world we meet the four Holy People, immortal beings who
travel on the rainbow following the path of the sunray; they can control
winds and thunder. The Holy People then create the first humans, First Man
and First Woman, from ears of corn. (Corn, cornmeal, and corn pollen play
important roles in Navaho rituals.) The life force comes from the wind, which
is likened to a person’s breath. Box 2.5 presents the section of Diné Bahane’ in
which we read of this creation.

Box 2.5 The Navaho creation story: Diné Bahane’

As for the gods, they repeated their visit four days in a row. But on the
fourth day, Bits’íís lizhin the Black Body remained after the other three
departed. And when he was alone with the onlookers, he spoke to them
in their own language. This is what he said:

“You do not seem to understand the Holy People,” he said.
“So I will explain what they want you to know.
“They want more people to be created in this world. But they want

intelligent people, created in their likeness, not in yours.
“You have bodies like theirs, true enough.
“But you have the teeth of beasts! You have the mouths of beasts! You

have the feet of beasts! You have the claws of beasts!
“The new creatures are to have hands like ours. They are to have feet

like ours. They are to have mouths like ours and teeth like ours. They
must learn to think ahead, as we do.

“What is more, you are unclean!
“You smell bad.
“So you are instructed to cleanse yourselves before we return twelve

days from now.”
That is what Bits’íís lizhin the Black Body said to the insect people

who had emerged from the first world to the second, from the second
world to the third, and from the third world to the fourth world where
they now lived.

Accordingly, on the morning of the twelfth day the people bathed
carefully. The women dried themselves with yellow corn meal. The men
dried themselves with white corn meal.

Soon after they had bathed, they heard the distant voice coming from
far in the east.

They listened and waited as before, listened and waited. Until soon
they heard the voice as before, nearer and louder this time. They
continued to listen and wait, listen and wait, until they heard the voice a
third time as before, all the nearer and all the louder.

Continuing to listen as before, they heard the voice again, even louder
than the last time, and so close now that it seemed directly upon them,
exactly as it had seemed before. And as before they found themselves
standing among the same four Haashch’ééh dine’é, or Holy People as
Bilagáana the White Man might wish to call them.

Bits’íís doot l’izh the Blue Body and Bits’íís lizhin the Black Body each
carried a sacred buckskin. Bits’íís ligaii the White Body carried two ears
of corn.

One ear of corn was yellow. The other ear was white. Each ear was
completely covered at the end with grains, just as sacred ears of corn are
covered in our own world now.

Proceeding silently, the gods laid one buckskin on the ground, careful
that its head faced the west. Upon this skin they placed the two ears of
corn, being just as careful that the tips of each pointed east. Over the
corn they spread the other buckskin, making sure that its head faced east.

Under the white ear they put the feather of a white eagle.
And under the yellow ear they put the feather of a yellow eagle.
Then they told the onlooking people to stand at a distance.
So that the wind could enter.
Then from the east Nilch’i ligai the White Wind blew between the

buckskins. And while the wind thus blew, each of the Holy People came
and walked four times around the objects they had placed so carefully on
the ground.

As they walked, the eagle feathers, whose tips protruded slightly from

between the two buckskins, moved slightly.
Just slightly.
So that only those who watched carefully were able to notice.
And when the Holy People had finished walking, they lifted the

topmost buckskin.
And lo! the ears of corn had disappeared.
In their place there lay a man and there lay a woman.
The white ear of corn had been transformed into our most ancient

male ancestor. And the yellow ear of corn had been transformed into our
most ancient female ancestor.

It was the wind that had given them life: the very wind that gives us
our breath as we go about our daily affairs here in the world we
ourselves live in.

When this wind ceases to blow inside of us, we become speechless.
Then we die.

In the skin at the tips of our fingers we can see the trail of that life-
giving wind.

Look carefully at your own fingertips.
There you will see where the wind blew when it created your most

ancient ancestors out of two ears of corn, it is said.

Source: Republished with permission of the University of New Mexico
Press, from Diné Bahane’: The Navajo Creation Story by Paul G. Zolbrod,
1984; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.

Apocalyptic myths

Many myths found in a great many societies tell of the catastrophic
destruction of the world, an apocalypse. The destruction takes many forms,
one of which is by flood. A disciple of Freud’s once explained this as being
related to dreams that happen when the person has a full bladder. An
alternative explanation lies in the fact that floods are likely to be frequently
experienced, as people need to live near a water source. The Judeo-Christian

flood myth is the story of Noah’s ark in which God sends the flood to rid the
earth of the wickedness of man.

In many societies we see a cycle of creations and destructions. The ancient
Aztecs of Mexico tell of four worlds that existed prior to the present world,
the fifth world. The following story tells of the destruction of the fourth
world:

During the era of the fourth sun, the Sun of Water, the people grew very wicked and
ignored the worship of the gods. The gods became angry and Tlaloc, the god of rains,
announced that he was going to destroy the world with a flood. However, Tlaloc was
fond of a devout couple, Tata and Nena, and he warned them of the flood. He instructed
them to hollow out a great log and take two ears of corn—one for each of them—and eat
nothing more.

So Tata and Nena entered the tree trunk with the two ears of corn, and it began to
rain. When the rains subsided and Tata and Nena’s log landed on dry land, they were so
happy that they caught a fish and ate it, contrary to the orders of Tlaloc. It was only
after their stomachs were full that they remembered Tlaloc’s command.

Tlaloc then appeared to them and said, “This is how I am repaid for saving your
lives?” They were then changed into dogs. It was at this point, where even the most
righteous people were disobedient, that the gods destroyed the world, ushering in the
present era of the Fifth Sun.20

While the previous examples are of apocalyptic floods that took place in the
mythological past, not all apocalypses involve floods and some involve
predictions of future events. A good example comes from the New Testament
in the Book of Revelations (21:1–9). Revelations focuses on a coming battle,
both earthly and spiritual, between the forces of good and evil. The myth tells
us that the “Lamb” of God (believed by most to be Jesus Christ) will save his
people from a time of great tribulations on earth, destroy the wicked, and
usher in an age of peace in which his people will live in the presence of God
and Christ in a heavenly city.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall
be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,

neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto
me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I
will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my
son.

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the
lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the
seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride,
the Lamb’s wife.

Much of the symbolism and story of Revelations is familiar to Americans even
if they are unfamiliar with the source, including the four horsemen of the
apocalypse, the lamb of God, the seven seals, the beast, the harlot of Babylon,
and Satan and the lake of fire. As we will see in Chapter 11, Revelations is the
basis for many new religious movements as individuals interpret modern-day
happenings as being those foretold in the myth.

Hero myths

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) described the story of the hero’s journey in his
book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The title refers to the fact that although
there are thousands of different hero myths or stories involving heroes
throughout the world, they all follow the same basic story line, what
Campbell calls the monomyth. Campbell describes the monomyth as follows:
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of
supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive
victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the
power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”21

The hero’s journey is a common theme encountered in many myths.
Sometimes the hero is based on a real person whose story has been idealized.
Other times the hero has no basis in real life. The first stage of the hero’s

journey is the departure. The hero, frequently an orphaned youth, is thrust
out of his or her community for one of several reasons, such as the destruction
of his or her home by some supernatural force. The second phase, initiation,
includes the hero’s training, as he or she learns to utilize supernatural tools,
such as a sacred sword, under the direction of a master, who frequently
possesses supernatural power. In the third phase, the return, the hero returns
and accomplishes the task. The monomyth is frequently found in origin
stories, where the hero is responsible for bringing some knowledge to humans.

Entire religious systems may be based on a hero story. Buddhism is based
on the story of the Prince Siddhartha Gautama. Gautama leads a very
sheltered life in his father’s palace until he becomes aware of sickness,
suffering, and death and the fact that he too is subject to them. He leaves
behind his worldly possessions and spends years wandering, fasting, and
meditating. He learns all he can from various teachers, but nothing seems to
appease his sorrow and emptiness. In desperation, he resolves to sit under a
Bodhi tree until he finds the answers he has been looking for. He is attacked
by Kama-Mara, the god of love and death, but is victorious. During his time
under the tree, Gautama gains knowledge and enlightenment and is thereafter
referred to as the Buddha, or the “Enlightened One.”

The same monomyth structure is also frequently used in popular films, such
as Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.Table 2.2 compares some elements that are
common to some of these movies.

Table 2.2 The monomyth in cinema: a sampling of common features

The Wizard of
Oz (1939)

Star Wars (1977) Harry Potter (2001)

Hero Dorothy Gale Luke Skywalker Harry Potter

Remote
childhood

Lives with aunt
and uncle in
arid Kansas

Lives with aunt
and uncle on
arid Tatooine

Lives with aunt and uncle;
is unaware that his parents

had magical powers

Call to
adventure

Follows Toto
fleeing witch

Follows R2D2
fleeing Empire

Invited to attend Hogwarts

Introduction of
the helper

Good Witch Ben Kenobi Dumbledore

Given amulet Red shoes Light saber Wizard’s wand

Physical
transportation
out of previous

life

Tornado

Mos Eisely
Spaceport on
Millennium

Falcon

Train to Hogwarts

Enters Land of
Enchantment

Oz and witch’s
castle

Death Star Hogwarts Academy

Companions
Scarecrow, Tin

Woodman,
Cowardly Lion

Han Solo,
C3PO,

Chewbacca

Hermione Granger, Ron
Weasley

Faces
challenges

Wizard makes
impossible
demands

Freeing Princess
Leia

Three-headed dog, Devil’s
snare plant, winged keys,

etc.

Uses magic to
accomplish goal

Dorothy uses
red shoes to

return to
Kansas

Luke uses the
Force to destroy

Death Star

Harry uses magic to defeat
Voldemort

Conclusion

The most fundamental questions asked by human beings—about the nature of
life, existence, and death—are answered in the religious narratives we tell.
These stories both explain and structure the world of a particular group of
people. By examining religious narratives, we learn much about a specific
group’s worldview, including rules for moral behavior. Myths are stories to
live by. They create networks of meaning that affect the life of people in that
culture far beyond the domain of religion.

As we explore other topics in the study of religion, we will frequently
return to the issue of religious narratives, because these stories often form the

foundation of religious practices. This will be particularly important in the
next two chapters on symbols and rituals.

Summary

The ways a society perceives and interprets its reality is known as its
worldview. The worldview provides an understanding of how the world
works; it forms the template for thought and behavior; and it provides a basic
understanding of the origin and nature of humankind and its relationship to
the world. People express their worldviews in stories.

Myths are sacred stories that tell of the origin of the world and humankind,
the existence and activities of gods and spirits, the origin of human traditions,
and the nature of illness and death. They tell how to behave and how to
distinguish good from evil. Myths are thought to recount real historical events
that took place in the remote past. They provide the basis for religious beliefs
and practices.

Myths can be both written and oral. Written forms tend to be very stable
through time, and changes that do occur are usually deliberate changes that
are the consequences of translation or scholarly discourse about the meaning
of particular words and passages. Oral texts are recited, and this recitation
often has the characteristics of performance. One of the consequences of the
oral transmission of stories is that they are frequently unconsciously altered
with each generation, which explains the existence of different versions of the
same myth within a society.

There are many ways of interpreting myths. Functional analysis sees myths
as forces that help to maintain the society. Structural analysis focuses on the
underlying structure of myths. The psychoanalytic approach sees myths as
symbolically expressing unconscious wishes.

Certain basic themes are common throughout the world. Origin myths
provide answers to the questions: Who are we? Why are we here? What is our
relationship to the world? These stories play an important role in laying out
the culture’s worldview. One common element is the birth metaphor, in
which the world is born from a god or goddess or by creation out of chaos,

darkness, or the void. Apocalyptic myths tell of the past or future destruction
of the world. Hero myths are stories about culture heroes who, through
knowledge and mastery of certain skills, are able to bring about marvelous
results.

Study questions

1. A society’s worldview includes how that society sees the
environment and its relationship to the environment. Do you think
that two societies with two radically different worldviews could ever
come to an agreement on how to deal with issues of environmental
exploitation such as lumbering and mining?

2. In our society a religious organization might set up a table on a
college campus and distribute copies of the Bible. In a small-scale
society a storyteller might set up a “stage” at a local market and offer
to tell stories. How are these two activities similar and how are they
different? How does the transmission of religious stories differ in
these two societies?

3. Using the Navaho creation story and Genesis, show how a religious
narrative can be a social charter for a society.

4. Why do we label the movies Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, The
Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone monomyths? What are some other movies or television shows
that are monomyths?

5. Why do you think that commonalities exist in myths found in
different cultures?

Suggested readings

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (2nd edn) (Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press, 1972).
[A description of the hero myth in societies around the world.]

Scott Leonard and Michael McClure, Myth and Knowing: An Introduction to
World Mythology (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003).

Fiction

Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me Ultima (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2012).
[In a story filled with symbolism, a young boy grows up in New Mexico in
the 1940s.]

Neil Gaiman, American Gods (New York: William Morrow, 2011).
[The old gods of mythology battle the new gods of technology for control in
America.]

Suggested websites

http://pantheon.org/mythica.html
Encyclopedia Mythica is an encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and legend.

www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
An extensive collection of folk and mythology texts.

www.sacred-texts.com
An Internet text archive.

www.navajocentral.org
Information about the Navaho.

www.jcf.org
The Joseph Campbell Foundation.

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/revelation/white.html
Understanding the Book of Revelation.

Notes

1 This is a brief synopsis of the story of Snow White as retold by the authors. We realize
that most readers are familiar with the Snow White story. The story has been retold and
changed over the decades. Unfortunately, some of the most fascinating elements of the
story have been eliminated from recent versions. We encourage you to read the early
versions, which are much more interesting than the sanitized versions that are most
frequently found today.

2 L. Honko, “The Problems of Defining Myth,” in A. Dundes (Ed.), Sacred Narrative:
Readings in the Theory of Myth (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), p. 49.

3 R. Firth, “The Plasticity of Myth,” Ethnoligica, 2 (1960), pp. 181–188.

4 A. Dundes, Holy Writ as Oral Lit (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999).

5 C. L. Grossman, “Update of Popular ‘NIV’ Bible Due in 2011,” USA Today, September 1,
2009, www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-09-01-bible-translation_N.htm.

6 E. Sun, “Southern Baptists Reject Updated NIV Bible,” Christian Post, June 18, 2011,
www.christianpost.com/news/southern-baptists-pass-resolution-rejecting-2011-niv-at-
annual-convention-51288/.

7 J. Frazer, Folklore in the Old Testament (New York: McMillan, 1923).

8 F. Boas, Race, Language and Culture (reprint edn) (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1969).

9 R. F. Benedict, Zuni Mythology, 2 volumes (New York: Columbia University Press, 1935).

10 B. Malinowski, Myth in Primitive Psychology (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing
Group, 1954), p. 101.

11 C. Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked: Introduction to a Science of Mythology, Vol. 1
(New York: Harper & Row, 1969).

12 E. Leach, “Genesis as Myth,” Discover (May, 1982), pp. 30–35.

13 S. Freud, The Future of an Illusion (New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1953).

14 A. Johnson and D. Price-Williams, Oedipus Ubiquitous (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford
University Press, 1991).

15 C. Jung and C. Kerényi, Essays on a Science of Mythology (reprint edn) (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1969).

16 T. Parker-Pope “Writing Your Way to Happiness,” The New York Times, January 19,

2015, http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/writing-your-way-to-happiness/?_r=4.

17 Brief quote from page 44 from Primal Myths: Creating the World by Barbara C. Sproul, ©
1979 Barbara C. Sproul. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

18 Excerpt from Parallel Myths by J. F. Bierlein, copyright © 1994 by J. F. Bierlein. Used by
permission of Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin
Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

19 Brief quote from page 201 from Primal Myths: Creating the World by Barbara C. Sproul,
© 1979 Barbara C. Sproul. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

20 Excerpt from Parallel Myths by J. F. Bierlein, copyright © 1994 by J. F. Bierlein. Used by
permission of Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin
Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

21 J. Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (2nd edn) (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1968), p. 30.

Chapter 3
Religious symbols

All animals communicate with one another. Most often, this communication
is simple and very specific to the situation. A stimulus—such as the sight of a
stranger, predator, or food—may bring about a response of some kind: threat,
flight, or eating. However, the situation exists in the here and now. The
reaction is an immediate response to the specific circumstances.

Humans also encounter strangers, predators, and food. However, the
human response is more complex than that of other living creatures. Humans
react to the presence of a stranger entering their midst, but the stranger may
be seen as an enemy warrior, a merchant, or a monk—and will be dealt with
appropriately. The reaction to a predator might be to prepare a spear for
defense or to perform magical rites to ward off the danger. Humans feel
hunger and respond to the presence of food, but many edible and nutritious
foods are shunned because of cultural or religious prohibitions. All of these
behaviors involve communication, be it storytelling, ritual, or the articulation
of food prohibitions.

The complexity of human communication is made possible through the
ability of humans to create and use symbols. Symbols permit people to discuss
abstract topics and to talk about things in the past, in an envisioned future, or
even in a supernatural world. The world of religion is a symbolic world.

What is a symbol?

Let us begin by picking up an apple in our hand. We know that this is an

apple by its shape, color, and smell, and we know what to do with it. Many
nonhuman animals will react to an apple in very much the same way. Show
an apple to a horse, and the horse will know by its shape, color, and smell
exactly what it is and might take the apple from your hand and eat it. In this
way, humans and other animals are very similar.

As humans, however, we can do something that horses cannot do. For
example, we can draw a blue triangle on a piece of paper and declare that this
blue triangle represents an apple. It certainly does not look like an apple or
smell or taste like an apple, but as long as everyone in our community accepts
the idea that a blue triangle stands for an apple, we can use it in place of a real
apple in communication. If we have a fruit stand at an outdoor market, we
can fly a banner with a blue triangle above our booth so that people will know
that we have apples for sale. Newcomers might not know that a blue triangle
stands for apples, but we can tell them, and once they become regular
customers, members of our small community, they will participate in our
system of communication. (Of course, a nonhuman animal can be trained to
respond to a blue triangle, but a human creates the symbol and a human does
the training.)

In our community, the blue triangle is acting as a symbol. It is something
that stands for something else. Most symbols have no direct connection with
the thing they refer to. The association of a blue triangle with an apple is
arbitrary; it could as easily be a yellow circle or a green square. As long as
there is agreement within our community as to the meaning of the symbol,
we can communicate with one another using symbols rather than real objects.

Being able to create and use symbols is extremely useful. We can use
symbols to refer to things that are not directly in front of us—a faraway place,
for example, or something we would like to do in the future. We might talk
about going to the grocery store to buy apples, yet there might not be an apple
in sight. We also can talk about fruits that we have never seen or tasted,
perhaps a durian fruit from Southeast Asia. This ability to use symbols to refer
to things and activities that are remote from the user is termed displacement.
And if we discover a new fruit that no one has ever seen before, we can create
a new symbol, such as a name, to refer to it. This feature of symbols is termed
openness.

We can also use symbols to stand for things that are more complex than
simple objects. Symbols can stand for emotions and complex philosophical

concepts that exist only in our minds. Symbols can create a supernatural
world or create myths about the past. Joseph Church, discussing language,
writes:

we can manipulate symbols in ways impossible with the things they stand for, and so
arrive at novel and even creative versions of reality … We can verbally rearrange
situations which in themselves would resist rearrangement … we can isolate features
which in fact cannot be isolated … we can juxtapose objects and events far separated in
time and space … we can, if we will, turn the universe symbolically inside out.1

In our initial example we used a geometric shape, a blue triangle, as a symbol.
Many symbols are physical objects or artistic representations. Symbols do not
have to be physical, however. Language is a system of symbols, but here the
symbols are sounds. The only reason that the word apple means a particular
type of fruit is because when we learned English, we learned that the
combination of sounds that make up the word apple stands for that particular
fruit. There is nothing inherently “applish” about the sound of the word apple,
just as there is nothing “applish” about a blue triangle. In fact, this fruit is
known by many other names in other languages—manzana in Spanish and
elma in Turkish, for example.

Religious symbols

Symbols are important elements in religious practice, and religious rituals
center on symbols and the manipulation of symbols. In Hinduism we might
approach a statue that represents the god Brahma. In ritual the statue may be
bathed with milk, and strings of flowers may be hung around its neck. People
in many different culture areas use masks to impersonate gods, such as the
masks of the Hopi of the American Southwest and the Dogon of western
Africa. The sand painting of the Navaho, created as a part of ritual, becomes a
portal into the supernatural world.

Of course, not all symbols are physical things or artistic representations.
Words, both written and spoken, are critical elements in religious behavior. In
Jewish ritual the Torah is taken from the ark with great ceremony to be read.
In Tantric Buddhism, found in Tibet, words or formulas have great spiritual

power, which builds as they are chanted over and over. Elements of music and
dance and of space and time can also serve as symbols. We will begin our
discussion of symbols by looking at basic artistic representations.

The swastika

A symbol such as the swastika can stand for very complex ideas and can
carry great emotional resonance. Most Americans and Europeans looking at
the swastika experience anger or dread. In 1919, the German Nazi Party
adopted the swastika as its symbol. Because of this the swastika has been
associated with the terrible events perpetrated by the Nazis in World War II.
A swastika spray-painted on a wall is often defined in law as a hate crime.

The swastika is a religious symbol that is found in a great many religious
systems. It is basically a pattern of lines set at right angles to one another and,
as such, carries no inherent meaning. It occurs in many versions—clockwise
and counterclockwise, for example. The term is derived from the Sanskrit su
(“good”) and avasti (“to exist”). The swastika is seen in the religious art
associated with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is also found in the
ancient art of Scandinavia and the Middle East, and it is even seen in early
Christian art. In most of these contexts, the swastika has a positive meaning
such as prosperity and good luck. However, in some cultures the reverse
swastika is called the sauvastika and stands for darkness, misfortune, and
suffering.

The swastika is found in Navaho art, in which it represents the Whirling
Log, an element of a story found in the creation myth (Figure 3.1). The
Whirling Log was a type of dugout canoe built by the gods. The symbol
represents the log with a support pole attached beneath. Attached to each end
is a rainbow rope that stand out straight as the log whirls. The culture hero
Self Teacher traveled in this canoe on an epic journey. This design element is
used in many rituals, including the Night and Feather chants.

The pentagram

The term pentagram can refer to any five-sided figure but is generally used to
refer to a five-pointed star, also called a pentacle (Figure 3.2a). Pentagrams
are among the most widely used religious symbols, both historically and
cross-culturally.

Some researchers believe that the pentagram originated as the symbol of a
pagan goddess. The pentagram became associated with this goddess because
her sacred fruit was the apple. If an apple is cut in half through its equator, the
seeds of the apple form a pentagram in each half. The pentagram is also used
by the Masonic order, which traces its origins back to Pythagoras and ancient
Greece.

The pentagram was associated with the Hebrew Scriptures as a symbol of
the five books of the Pentateuch (the Torah). Early Christians used the symbol
with a variety

Figure 3.1 Navaho blanket with swastika. Early twentieth-century Navaho blanket woven of
white, red, and dark brown sheep’s wool, with storm motif. Note the swastikas at each end.

Figure 3.2 The pentagram. (a) Pentagram, (b) Satanist inverted pentagram, (c) symbol of the
Church of Satan.

of meanings, including the representation of the five wounds of Christ and the
star that prophesied the birth of Jesus. It was only during the Witchcraze (see
Chapter 10) that the pentagram began to take on a connotation of evil. During
this time, the symbol was actually referred to as the “witch’s foot.” This
association with evil became stronger for many when twentieth-century
Satanists adopted the pentagram as their symbol. The Satanist symbol is an
inverted pentagram, most commonly shown with a goat’s head in the center
(Figure 3.2b and c). (Satanists are discussed in Chapter 10.)

As with the swastika, there are many misunderstandings about the
meaning of the pentagram owing to its various associations. Most recently,
the symbol has been adopted by Wiccans, members of a Neo-Pagan religion
that is reviving pre-Christian religious practices. (We will discuss the Wiccan
religion in more detail in Chapter 11.) Wicca is a nature-based, polytheistic
religion that emphasizes the use of good magic and not doing harm. For some
Wiccans the pentagram represents earth, air, fire, water, and spirit; for others
it refers to the four directions and spirit. However, many Americans still
associate the pentagram with evil when they see a person wearing it.

Christian symbols

Figure 3.3 Some Christian symbols. (a) Roman Cross, (b) Greek Cross, (c) Cross of St.
Andrew, (d) Tau Cross, (e) Coptic Cross, (f) Celtic Cross, (g) Cross of the Russian Orthodox
Church, (h) Cross and Flame of the United Methodist Church (®The United Methodist
Church), (i) Jerusalem Cross.

The cross is the symbol most clearly associated with Christianity (Figure 3.3).
Yet the cross did not gain general acceptance for many centuries after the
founding of the Christian religion. A Vatican sarcophagus from the fifth
century shows one of the first depictions of a cross in Christian art. It is a
Greek cross (with arms of equal length); Jesus’ body is not shown. Some early
Christians even argued against the use of the cross as a symbol of Christianity
because it had earlier pagan associations, most specifically the Tau cross (in

the shape of the letter T).
The cross that is widely used today is a Roman cross, but there is still

considerable variation in the exact look of the cross symbol. For example,
Roman Catholic crosses are crucifixion scenes, complete with the body of
Christ. The Protestant cross does not show the body of Christ because
Protestants emphasize that Jesus has risen from the cross and is no longer on
it. A cross with a dual flame behind it is the symbol of the United Methodist
Church. The cross represents Christ, and the flame represents the Holy Spirit.
The cross of the Orthodox Church has three cross bars: one for the inscription,
one for the arms, and one for a footrest.

Box 3.1 Religious toys and games

Bible action figures, Buddha plush toys, a mosque building set, plush
plagues bag, Catholicopoly, Kosherland (based on the board game
Candyland), and Missionary Conquest (based on the board game Risk)
are just a few of the many religiously themed games, dolls, and toys in
the marketplace. Some are satirical and meant solely for amusement
(e.g., Nunzilla dolls, Lookin’ Good for Jesus bath products, and Holy
Toast bread stamp). Others are intended to transmit the narratives and
worldview of a religion.

Colors, images, and the rules of play are all symbolic. The game pieces
in Catholicopoly include a dove and a lamb. In the Buddhist version of
the game snakes and ladders, ethical actions move the player upward
toward enlightenment, while selfish behaviors move one lower toward
rebirth as a lower life form. Nikki Bado-Fralick and Rebecca Sachs Norris
write:

All elements of the games communicate. Not only the components that are
designed to intentionally instill values or knowledge, such as cards or board
design, but every element of the game, from the box to the directions, can be read
as cultural text. For example, games that have long or complicated directions are
usually from hierarchical or highly regulated religions. This makes sense, since
the designers have included what they consider to be important, and in these
religions rules and principles are fundamental and crucial constituents. Unlike the
intentional symbols and meanings embedded in religious games, directions are
more subliminally illustrative, yet nonetheless teach important aspects of religious

life.2

Bado-Fralick and Norris point out that religious games and toys make
many uncomfortable by associating religion with play, commerce, and
profane activities. Yet, the separation of religion as its own domain, even
the separation of childhood and its games and as a distinct stage of life, is
a recent invention. Games and play have long been a part of religion, as
for example in divination rituals (see Chapter 7).

If the cross was not the most important early Christian symbol, what was?
It was the simple fish symbol. There are several reasons why the fish was
used. One often given is that Jesus referred to the apostles as “fishers of men.”
The most commonly given reason, though, is that the letters of the Greek
word for fish, icthus, form an acrostic. An acrostic is a word that is derived
from the first letter of a series of words. So icthus is derived from Iesous
Christos Theou Uiou Soter (“Jesus Christ of God the Son the Savior”). In the
early days, when Christians were a small, persecuted group, the symbol
served as a type of password. One person would draw the first arc in the sand,
and if the second person was also Christian, he or she would draw the second
arc to complete the fish.

Sacred art

Although the swastika, pentagram, cross, and other simple symbols are
important representations in their respective religious systems, they are
usually elements found in more complex settings or works of art. Imagine, for
example, walking into a great European cathedral with its massive stained
glass windows, statuary, and paintings, all containing a myriad of symbols, or
walking through a Buddhist temple in Thailand, with its many representations
of the figure of Buddha, each with its own complex meaning and referents.

The sarcophagus of Lord Pakal

Artistic representations are often used to illustrate and supplement religious
texts. The following is an archaeological example from the ancient Maya of
southern Mexico in the Mesoamerica culture area. Although contemporary
Mayan religion has many parallels with the ancient Mayan religion,
contemporary studies can provide only a limited understanding of ancient
Mayan art. The fact that we can know as much as we do about the ancient
Maya is because they built monumental buildings, chiseled great works of art
into stone, developed a sophisticated calendar, and had a system of writing.
However, not all Mayan symbols have been deciphered, and much remains to
be learned.

In 1949, the Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruiz Lhuillier was working in
the Temple of the Inscriptions at the site of Palenque. Like most Mayan
temples, it was built on top of a large pyramid. While working in the temple,
Lhuillier discovered a staircase under the floor leading to a room containing a
large stone sarcophagus richly carved with Mayan pictures and writing
(Figure 3.4). The cover was removed to reveal the skeleton of a man, that of
one of the greatest kings to rule Palenque. His name was K’inich Janahlo
Pakal, Pakal the Great, or Lord Shield. He died at the age of eighty on August
31, 683, after having ruled for sixty-seven years.

As we in the twenty-first century look at this carving from the seventh
century, especially if we have never encountered Mayan art before, we
probably recognize only a few elements—perhaps a reclining figure in the
center and a bird near the top. Of course, if we were aristocratic Maya living
in the seventh century, the meaning of all of these elements would be known
to us. Our fathers would have taken us to the

Figure 3.4 The Mayan cosmos. This carving is a symbolic representation of the Mayan
cosmos. The carving is found on the sarcophagus cover in the Temple of the Inscriptions,
Palenque, Mexico.

temple precinct to show us the various motifs carved into the stone and to
explain their meaning. As aristocrats, we also would undoubtedly have
attended religious classes or received tutoring from the priests.

This carving is important to modern scholars because it is a visual
representation of the Mayan cosmos. We cannot explain all of the elements,
and limited space here prevents us from offering a complete explanation of
what we do know, but let us examine some of the elements as examples of
how symbolic representations are used to create a virtual supernatural world.

Near the base of the carving is an image of a skeletal snake. The skull of the
“White-Bone-Snake” has been slit and spread out. The open jaws of the
serpent form the portal that connects the world of the living with Xibalba, the
world of the dead. We see Pakal at the moment of his death descending into
the serpent’s jaws as he moves from the world of the living into the world of
the dead.

Behind the figure of Pakal, appearing to be growing out of the serpent’s
jaw, is the Cosmic Tree, which is the central axis of the world. The tree is
rooted in the underworld; behind Pakal is the Middle World, which is the
world inhabited by people; the upper parts of the tree reach into the heavens.
Many of the representations in the upper portion of the tree represent
constellations and heavenly bodies. For example, what appear to be branches
that end in square-nosed serpents, flowers, and other symbols represent the
Milky Way. The bird perched at the top of the tree is the companion of one of
the gods involved with the creation of the world. We know this because of
various symbols carved on the bird, such as a necklace and the “ribbon” in its
beak.

The carving shows Pakal descending into the Underworld. There he will
undergo a series of trials followed by his resurrection as a god. Associated
with Pakal is a sacrificial bowl that is carved with the symbol representing the
sun. Like the sun that moves into Xibalba at sunset and is resurrected at
dawn, so does Pakal move into the Underworld to be resurrected as a god.
After his death, the priests would enter into an altered state of consciousness
(see Chapter 5) and contact Pakal’s spirit. In fact, along the side of the
staircase leading to his tomb is a pipe made of brick. This is a psychoduct,
through which Pakal’s spirit moves from the tomb into the temple sanctuary
during rituals.

The meaning of color

As we saw with the sarcophagus of Lord Pakal, religious art can be quite
complex. There are many important elements in artistic representation. One of
these is color. Although today we see the statues and carvings of the Romans
and the ancient Mayans in white marble or the color of stone, we know that
at the time these statues and carvings were made, objects of stone were often
covered with paint.

Colors have cultural meanings. In Western weddings, brides wear white.
This tradition began with the wedding of British Queen Victoria to Prince
Albert in 1840. Irish folk wisdom dictates the following:

Married in white, you have chosen all right.
Married in red, you’d better be dead.
Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow.
Married in blue, your lover is true.
Married in green, ashamed to be seen.
Married in black, you’ll ride in a hack.
Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl.
Married in brown, you’ll live out of town.

These meanings do not necessarily apply to other cultures. For example,
sometimes white may be avoided because of its association with death. In
Chinese culture, brides wear red.

Many scholars have studied color terminology. English has eleven basic
color terms: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, pink, black, white,
and gray. These are the colors that children learn in preschool. We also define
colors more narrowly within these basic categories by using combined terms
(such as red-orange) or specialized terms (such as lavender and turquoise).

All peoples in all societies, except individuals with some form of color
blindness, see the entire visible spectrum of colors, but the color spectrum is
not divided up into natural units of color. All languages have ways of dividing
up this spectrum into arbitrary categories that are labeled by linguistic forms.
However, the actual number of basic color terms and how the visible
spectrum is actually divided vary from culture to culture. Generally,
languages of industrial societies tend to have a greater number of basic color
terms than do languages spoken in less complex societies.

A color term, a word such as blue, is a symbol. In this case, the word blue
refers not to a physical object, but to a particular segment of the color
spectrum, or, as a physicist might define it, a range of wavelengths of light.

When speakers of different languages are asked to identify the range of colors
covered by a particular color term, we see a great deal of variation. Symbols,
including color terminology, are arbitrary and learned; they are parts of
cultural traditions. For example, the Navaho think of the ideal blue as
turquoise. The stone of that color not only is important in jewelry making, but
also has religious importance. To the Navaho, “blue is the color of celestial
and earthly attainment, of peace, happiness, and success, of vegetable
sustenance.”3

Yoruba color terminology

The language of the Yoruba of Nigeria in the Guinea Coast culture area has
only three basic color terms. Each term covers a much larger part of the color
spectrum than do English color terms. Funfun includes what English speakers
call white, silver, and pale gray. Pupa covers red, pink, orange, and deep
yellow. Dúdú includes black, blue, purple, green, dark brown, red-brown, and
dark gray.

In the English language, colors evoke emotions. We say that a sad person is
feeling blue; when angry, we see red; a jealous person is green with envy; a
coward is yellow. The Yoruba also associate colors with particular
temperatures and temperaments. For example, funfun is associated with
coolness, age, and wisdom; pupa evokes hotness; dúdú is dark and warm.

The supernatural world of the Yoruba is populated by many spiritual beings
called orisha. (The orisha will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 9.)
Obatala, the king of the orisha, an ethical and merciful deity, is linked to the
color funfun, the color of wisdom and respect. Objects associated with
Obatala are frequently colored white, and he is sometimes called the “King of
the White Cloth.” In contrast, Sango is associated with the color pupa. He
rules thunder and lightning and is proud and quick-tempered, and his images
are often colored red. Ossosi, who is associated with hunting, is introverted
and unstable. He is linked to the color dúdú, green and blue. The messenger of
the gods is an orisha named Esu-Elegba. He is the intermediary between the
people and the gods and ancestors and is the first deity addressed in rituals.
Representations of Esu-Elegba are usually done in black and white or, in

Yoruba color terminology, funfun and dúdú. These are contrasting colors and
represent the god’s unpredictability. Artistic representations of Esu-Elegba in
carvings, paintings, and embroideries primarily use these two colors. A
Yoruba seeing such a representation can identify the orisha in part by the
colors being used.

Sacred time and sacred space

Symbols are also used to create sacred realities: supernatural worlds, sacred
spaces, and sacred divisions of time.

The meaning of time

All the examples of symbols examined thus far have been things that we can
directly see as part of some physical artistic endeavor, whether it is a shape or
a color. Yet not all things symbolic are physical. People also handle
nonphysical entities symbolically. Our example will be the cultural handling
of time.

What is time? People see time as being made up of recurring units that are
based on observable physical events: the movement of the sun across the sky,
the phases of the moon, and the passing of the seasons. We also can divide
these units into phases. For example, a day can be divided based on the
position of the sun (morning, afternoon, and evening). In astronomical terms,
these recurring events represent the rotation of the earth on its axis (a day),
the journey of the moon around the earth (a month), and the travel of the
earth around the sun (a year). Human activities are organized by particular
parts of the day or certain times of the year.

Humans also create units of time that are not based on real astronomical
events such as the rotation of the earth. These units appear to be arbitrary. A
week in our culture has seven days. Why not five, as is common in parts of
Central America and Africa? Why not eight, as was found among the ancient

Inca of the South American Andes? And why not sixteen, as is found among
the Yoruba of Nigeria? The seven-day week of Western society is derived
from the cultures of the ancient Near East and perhaps came from the division
of the approximately twenty-eight-day lunar cycle into four quarters. In other
words, concepts such as “a week” are nonphysical symbols that stand for
particular periods of time. Many of these periods do not exist in the real
world, but only in the human mind.

Time is an important element of religious rituals. Many rituals are
performed at specific moments of time, often as part of a ceremonial cycle. As
we will see in the next section, time often has important symbolic meaning.

The Mayan view of time

The passage of time had a deep religious significance for the ancient Maya of
southern Mexico and Central America. They developed several systems of
marking time that intersected with one another to form a complex calendar.
Like many peoples, the Maya had a calendrical system based on the solar year
consisting of about 365 days. The Maya divided their year into eighteen
months of twenty days and a nineteenth month of five days. Each month was
named, and each day within a month was numbered. A particular day was
named by a combination of its numerical position within the month and the
name of the month, just as we do.

The solar year is a natural unit that is determined by the movements of the
sun in the sky throughout the year. However, the Maya developed a second
kind of year of 260 days that was constructed from a cycle of twenty day
names and a second cycle of thirteen numbers. A particular day was known
by a number and a day name. The twenty-day cycle of day names and the
thirteen-day number cycle are interconnected like teeth in two large gears.
The same combination of day name and number occurs every 260 days.

The two calendar systems ran simultaneously, and a specific day was
named after its position in both calendars, which resulted in 18,980 unique
combinations of days. It took fifty-two years to go through all of these
combinations and to start over again. The end of a fifty-two-year cycle and
the beginning of the next was an important ceremonial event in Mayan

religious life. The fifty-two-year cycle has no astronomical basis but is a part
of Mayan culture, a part of how they understood their world. And this was
just the beginning. The Maya recognized several other cycles, such as that
based on the movements of the planet Venus in the sky.

Thus each day from the beginning of time in the Mayan calendar was
unique and was designated by a sequence of notations based on the various
calendars. When a child was born, the child was taken to a priest who used
the designation of the day of the child’s birth to predict the child’s future.
Important events, especially those surrounding the ruler, were scheduled to
fall on days that were considered to be particularly auspicious. Thus to the
Maya, time was much more than just a flow of days and years. Time had an
important religious meaning (Box 3.2).

Box 3.2 The end of time

Different religious systems have different views of time. For some, time
is cyclic. For others, it is a progression from one phase to another. This
was true of the ancient Maya. The Maya lived in the fourth world which
began on August 11, 3114 BCE. The Mayan calendar starts on this date,
and from that day forward, time is divided into a series of larger and
larger inclusive units. The largest of these units is the baktun that
consists of 144,000 days (approximately 395 years). The end point of each
cycle was an important event in the Mayan calendar. December 21, 2012,
the winter solstice, marked the end of the thirteenth baktun since
creation.4 Although many predicted the end of the world on this date,
there is no evidence that the Maya saw the end of a baktun as an
apocalyptic event. However, predictions such as these sold a lot of books
and made for a plot of an action-packed movie.

Other religious systems also see time as being cyclic. One
characteristic of Christian fundamentalism (Chapter 12) is
dispensationalism. This term refers to the belief that God has divided the
history of the earth into phases or “dispensations.” This idea was
developed by the Englishman John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) who read
the Bible as a historic document from which accurate predictions could

be gleaned. His scheme consisted of seven phases, each ending with a
catastrophe, such as the Fall, the Flood of Noah, and the Crucifixion.
People today are living in the sixth dispensation. Like previous stages,
this stage too will come to an end in some catastrophic manner.
However, just before, there would be a “Rapture” in which born-again
Christians would be taken up to heaven and escape the sufferings of the
Last Days. Later they would rule with Christ in the seventh dispensation.

William Miller (1782–1849) was a Baptist preacher who, through
careful study of the Bible as a historical document, believed that the
world as it was known would end in 1843. This was the beginning of an
apocalyptic tradition that characterizes much of American Christianity.
His movement began to spread and was referred to as Millerism. As the
date approached, Miller predicted that the Second Coming of Christ—the
Advent—would occur sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21,
1844. When the predicted event failed to take place, he announced a
second date based upon “corrected” calculations—October 22, 1844. The
failure of the Advent occurring on that date is called the Great
Disappointment. Nevertheless, the idea had taken hold in American
Christianity, although usually without a specified date. Out of the
tradition of Millerism grew several religious traditions that survive to
this day, primarily the Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Rituals and calendars in modern world religions

There are many examples from modern world religions of the importance of
time and calendars. Many rituals are performed according to a temporal cycle.
Such rituals are termed periodic rituals. They often commemorate the
anniversary of important events in the history of the religion. Because of the
importance of setting the date of the celebration correctly, many religions
continue to use calendars that are older than the one most commonly used in
the Western world.

In Islam, Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which is the
month during which the Qur’an was sent down from heaven to Mohammad.

The month of Ramadan is a time for worship and contemplation. During this
time, Muslims follow many constraints on their daily lives, such as not eating
or drinking during daylight hours. At the end of the day, the fast is broken
with prayer and a meal. The Laylat-al-Qadr (the Night of Power) is celebrated
on the evening of the twenty-seventh day of Ramadan, as the night when
Mohammad first received the revelation of the Qur’an. According to the
Qur’an, this is also the night when God determines the course of the world for
the following year. The end of the fasting, and of the month of Ramadan, is
celebrated for three days in Id-al-Fitr (the Feast of Fast Breaking).

The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar. Each month begins with the
sighting of the first crescent of the new moon. The length of the month thus
defined does not divide evenly into the solar year—it is about eleven to twelve
days short. As a result, the start of Ramadan shifts from year to year. In 2017
the month of Ramadan began on May 27, while in 2020 it will begin on April
24. One of the consequences of this is that when Ramadan falls in the winter
season, the period of fasting is relatively short and the weather is relatively
cool. But it is quite different when Ramadan falls during the summer season.

Another example of periodic rituals being set to older calendars is the
Yamim Nora’im (Days of Awe), or Jewish high holy days, which are observed
for a ten-day period between the first and tenth days of the month of Tishri,
the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)
marks the beginning of this time period, and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
marks the end. These are considered to be the most important of all the Jewish
holidays and are the only Jewish holidays that are purely religious and not
based on any historical or natural event.

The high holy days are a time for penitence and prayer during which Jews
are given time to repent of their sins against God and ask God for forgiveness.
On Rosh Hashanah, God judges the people and records His judgment in the
Book of Life. However, there is a ten-day reprieve until Yom Kippur, when the
Book is closed and sealed. Yom Kippur itself is a day for fasting and prayer.

The Hebrew calendar is also a lunar calendar. But in order to keep the
holidays from shifting too far, a thirteenth month is added every two or three
years. In some years, extra days are added to prevent Yom Kippur from
occurring on the Sabbath. Thus the major ceremonies are maintained within
specific seasons of the year.

In the early Christian church, the celebration of Easter was correlated with

the Jewish celebration of Passover, since the Last Supper was a Passover
Seder, and celebrated in the Spring. However, because different Jewish
communities set the date somewhat differently, the early church attempted to
set the celebration of Easter according to their calendar (the Julian calendar,
originally based upon the calendar reforms of Julius Caesar). Yet the date kept
drifting later in the year. Finally, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed a new,
reformed calendar, the calendar that we use today (the Gregorian calendar).

It took several centuries for the new calendar to be accepted throughout
Europe and the New World. Britain and the British Empire, including the
American colonies, adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. By that time it
was eleven days out of sync with the older Julian calendar. As a result, when
the changeover took place, the date of Wednesday, September 2, 1752, was
immediately followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752. Many people were
unhappy having their birthdays dismissed in this fashion.

Other times, not related to a specific calendar, may also have religious
significance. A common example is the time following a death. In Judaism,
this period of mourning is called shiva. Shiva begins as soon as the mourner
has returned from the cemetery and lasts for seven days. During this time, the
mourner remains at home and does not participate in any of his or her normal
activities, such as work or school. Friends and relatives visit the home of the
mourners and often bring food.

Sacred time and space in Australia

The religious systems of the Australian Aborigines are focused on expressions
of sacred time and space. To understand these systems, we must examine the
concept of totemism. A simple definition of a totem, as it is frequently used,
is that of a symbol or emblem of a social unit. A special relationship is said to
exist between a group or individual and its totem, which is frequently, but not
always, an animal. American culture possesses many such emblems. They are
found primarily in athletics as mascots and in business as logos. Many athletic
teams are named after animals—such as bears, bulldogs, eagles, and panthers
—and the selection of a team’s mascot often reflects those characteristics of
the animal that are deemed important for players to display in that particular

sport. Yet to think of totems simply as mascots and logos is very superficial, as
we will see.

The term totem comes from the Ojibwa language of Canada, in which the
word ototeman can be translated as “He is a relative of mine.” This refers to
particular animal species, known as totems, that become associated with
Ojibwa clans, a type of kinship group. The clans are given the name of the
totem.

Totemism and the Dream Time

Perhaps the best-known examples of totemism come from Australian
aboriginal groups. The totemic system has many components, including
totemic symbols, myths, and a sacred landscape.

In contrast to isolated sacred sites, which are often the sites of pilgrimages,
indigenous peoples live on a sacred landscape. The places described in their
myths are places that exist in their own physical world—a stream, a cave, a
mountain. And their origin stories tell of the creation of this landscape and the
creation of the plants, animals, and people who inhabit it.

The creation myths of the Australian Aborigines begin in the dim past
during the Dream Time with the creation of an earth without features, an
earth devoid of mountains, rivers, and plains. Supernatural creatures then
appeared on the earth. These creatures of the Dream Time appeared from
under the earth or, among coastal groups, on rafts. They then traveled over
the landscape, creating the world as we see it today—the physical world, the
plants, the animals, the people—as well as the customs that govern people’s
lives. They then left the surface of the earth or turned themselves into some
object in the landscape, such as a boulder or hill. The places that are
associated with particular mythological beings are today sacred spaces that
play important roles in religious rituals. The landscape in which the
Aborigines live is a canvas on which their mythology is written, and various
features of this landscape serve to define the nature of humanity.

The stories of the Dream Time establish special relationships between
humans and animals, for both types of creatures are descendants of the same
supernatural being that was neither human nor animal. Thus the tie of kinship

is extended to the animal world and to the rest of the living world as well as
the physical landscape. These animals, plants, and natural objects are the
totems of the community. Any particular place, be it a water hole or a hill, can
be associated with a particular story and can be claimed as part of the
religious heritage of a particular group of people.

Within a community, different groups of people share different totems.
Totems exist for bands, clans, the sexes, and even individuals. Claiming a
totem brings with it special obligations. One is a prohibition against eating the
flesh of one’s totemic animal, except during special rituals. It is acceptable for
other members of the community, even your spouse and children, to eat of
your totem, but not for you because you share a special relationship with the
totemic species. Members of a totemic group have responsibilities to perform
religious ceremonies, including initiation ceremonies. There are many other
rules that are part of the special relationship between an individual or group
and its totem.

Totemic affiliations also organize Australian society. Specific clans are
associated with particular totems. There are rules regulating who can marry
whom. Complex rules define the affiliation of one’s children as well as the
appropriate social behaviors between different classes of kin.

The determination of the group into which a child is born can be complex.
In some groups it is determined by rules of kinship. In many groups the
pregnancy is thought to be the result of a totemic spirit, perhaps residing in a
sacred water hole, entering the womb of the woman. The husband and other
elders will question the woman to determine which spirit from what totemic
group entered her womb to determine that child’s affiliation. In some groups
the identity of the spirit is revealed in the father’s dream. On death, the
individual’s soul returns to the totemic well.

At some point, young men are initiated into manhood. These initiation
rituals involve the learning of ritual knowledge, including the ability to look
at and handle totemic objects. These rituals also involve some type of
alteration of the body, such as circumcision or the knocking out of a tooth.
When visiting sacred places described in the Dream Time stories, wounds are
opened or new wounds are made on the body, and a person’s blood is allowed
to fall on sacred objects.

Australian Aborigine culture has a rich tradition of symbolic religious art.
This art includes arrangements of stones, decoration of sacred objects, bark

paintings, and rock art. Sacred spaces, especially caves and rock overhangs,
are decorated with paintings and engravings; some may be as old as 30,000
years or older. Many of these were done by men as representations of totemic
creatures, objects, and events; others were thought to have been completed by
the totemic beings during the Dream Time. Some are said to actually
represent totemic beings who turned to stone or became paintings on a wall.

The symbolism of music and dance

Music and dance play special roles in religious rituals. The degree to which
music and dance are included in ritual is quite variable. Some rituals simply
include a song; others focus on an elaborate performance of a myth in song
and dance. Music and dance can be thought of as symbols as stories are told
through movement and through music motifs.

The symbolism of music

Music is a key element in ritual. It may simply set the mood for a ceremony or
may actually be the primary vehicle by which religious stories are told and by
which people communicate with the gods. Music fulfills many roles during
religious rituals and is used to teach, to express or engender emotional states,
to produce altered states of consciousness, to please the supernatural powers,
or to make contact with them.

An important function of music is the facilitation of memorization. In
nonliterate societies, large amounts of narrative must be committed to
memory. Anyone who has had to memorize a piece of prose in school knows
how difficult this can be. Poetry is easier to memorize than prose because
poetry has rhythm and rhyme. The easiest of all to memorize are the lyrics to
a song. For this reason, narratives and prayers are frequently chanted or sung.

Of course, music also sets the mood for a ritual. The organ setting the mood
for a funeral, a choir singing a medieval chant, the rejoicing of a gospel hymn

—all illustrate the power of music to set the ambience for ritual. We use music
in a similar way for secular purposes. Compare the music you would select to
listen to while studying with the music you would play when having friends
over for a party or a date for a romantic evening. Movies continually use
music to set the emotional tone. We know when to be happy, sad, or
frightened on the basis of the music on the soundtrack.

Many early Christian missionaries understood the influence of music and
brought pianos and organs with them to remote areas of the globe. A small
organ might have been played in a crude bush church set in the middle of a
tropical rain forest. However, these missionaries were making the assumption
that the various types of music that we produce reflect universals in moods
and emotions.

A somber hymn played on an organ reflects the sadness of a funeral, and a
romping gospel hymn expresses the joy of closeness with God. We could
assume that Euro-American religious, military, or love music will evoke the
same emotional response in all societies throughout the world. This
assumption, however, turns out not to be true. In reality, Euro-American
music often fails to convey its intended meaning to non-Westerners, and
native musical idioms fail to move outsiders. Of course, the meaning of music
is symbolic, and as such, it is part of the learned traditions of a culture.

Realizing this basic fact, many missionaries and many contemporary
musicians are writing music in traditional idioms and are discovering and
importing tribal musical traditions into contemporary music. This is an
example of syncretism, the fusion of elements from two different cultures.
For example, the well-known Congolese composition Missa Luba is a Catholic
Mass sung in Latin but set to music elements and instruments of the Kongo
tribe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). African
drumming, Australian Aborigine songs, and Native American flute playing
have all been integrated into new musical experiences.

Music in ritual

Music plays important roles in the lives of foraging peoples. Colin Turnbull
studied the Mbuti Pygmies of the Ituri Forest in the Congo and recorded their

music in the 1950s. The Mbuti sing throughout their day and hunters, walking
in the dense tropical forest, will use song as a way of maintaining contact
with one another. The !Kung San of Botswana utilize song in their healing
rituals. Several times a month they will gather around a fire in the evening
and start singing. Some members of their group, primarily men, begin to
dance around the singers and enter an altered state of consciousness called
!kia. Once they reach this stage they move around the fire laying hands on
each individual as a healing ritual (see Figure 5.2 in Chapter 5).

In some cultures the actual musical sounds may be interpreted as sounds of
the supernatural. The sound may be produced either vocally or
instrumentally. One example of this is the Tuva (Siberian culture area). For
the Tuva, spiritual power is found in nature. These spirits manifest themselves
both through physical appearance and by the sounds they make or that can be
made through human interaction. Examples would be the sound of running
water or the echo of a human voice from a cliff. The way for humans to make
contact with supernatural powers is to imitate their sounds. Caves, in
particular, are important for this purpose. Caves are sites of supernatural
power and can be used to contact the spirits of the earth. The type of vocal
sounds the Tuva use is also interesting. They are known for a technique called
xöömei, or “throat-singing.” A single vocalist using this technique is able to
produce two distinct pitches at the same time.

Instruments are very important elements in music, and an unbelievable
array of musical instruments can be found throughout the world. We can
divide instruments into four basic types. Idiophones are instruments that are
struck, shaken, or rubbed. Common examples are rattles, bells, wooden drums,
rasps, bullroarers, marimbas, and xylophones.

Membranophones are instruments that incorporate a taut membrane or
skin. These include drums. Cordophones are instruments with taut strings
that can be plucked or strummed, hit, or sawed. These include harps, zithers,
and violins. Finally, we have aerophones, in which air is blown across or into
some type of passageway, such as a pipe. These include whistles, pipes,
didjeridus, flutes, and trumpets.

For some cultures, sounds produced by musical instruments have religious
significance. The best-known examples in the anthropological literature are
the didjeridu of the Australian Aborigines and the molimo of the Pygmies of
the Ituri Forest of Central Africa. These are very simple aerophones that are

essentially nothing more than long pipes, usually of wood. The sounds of
these instruments are said to be the sounds of spirits. Initiated men play these
instruments out of sight of the women and children, who are told that the
sound is the actual voice of the spirits. The true nature of the sound is
revealed to young men as part of initiation rites.

Music plays an important role in Africa, where it is associated with
religious rituals and storytelling. Membranophones, especially drums, are
important instruments. Rhythm is highly developed and, in contrast with
Euro-American traditions, melody and harmony are secondary. A great many
types of drums are played, and often they are combined into large drum
ensembles.

The symbolism of dance

The use of dance is not common in Western religious rituals, but in many
religious traditions dance is an important means of symbolically representing
the supernatural world and telling religious stories. Of course, dance does not
exist in isolation. Dance is usually performed to music, frequently involves the
chanting or singing of words, and involves the manipulation of physical
symbols such as costumes and masks, sets, and props.

Culture consists of patterned, traditional behaviors. We can define dance as
a system of patterned, traditional movements. These movements, involving
the whole body or sometimes just a part of the body such as the hands, are
symbolic in that they have culturally determined meanings. Characters in
well-known stories are identified by their traditional movements, such as their
way of walking and moving their arms, as well as by their costumes, makeup,
and masks. In societies that lack systems of writing, dance becomes an
important vehicle for telling sacred stories to the community. For example,
among native Hawaiians, hula dances told the stories of the gods and
goddesses.

The Kwakwaka’wakw of the North American Northwest Coast culture area
say that a human family line was created when the ancestor of the group
came down to earth, took off his mask, and became human. Carved animal
masks are an important religious art form for the Kwakwaka’wakw and

frequently are worn by the dancers who retell important mythic stories.
Dance, however, goes far beyond the telling of stories. Dances can act as
offerings, and many deities like to be entertained. Dancers also can become
conduits of supernatural power. The Kwakwaka’wakw masked dancers, for
example, become the being whose mask is worn for the duration of the ritual.

In many cultures, gods and spirits enter the human body and take over its
functioning. The particular movements during possession identify the god
within the body and may actually provide communication between the deity
and the human participants. For example, possession is an important feature
of Vodou. During a Vodou ritual, a song is sung to summon a particular god.
When the god arrives, he or she possesses one of the dancers. A common
metaphor is that the dancer is a horse on which the deity rides. Which god
has possessed a dancer can be deduced by the dancer’s movements and
actions. (We will discuss the Vodou religion in more detail in Chapter 11.)

Early in the history of Islam, a group that was most interested in the
mystical aspects of the religion broke off to form the Sufi. One of the most
important of the Sufi mystics was a man named Mevlana Rumi, who lived in
the thirteenth-century Ottoman Empire. Rumi founded the Mevlevi Order and
revived the practice of whirling. The members of the Mevlevi Order are often
called “whirling dervishes” by people in the West. They wear long white skirts
that billow out as the dancers, their arms extended in the air, continue to turn.
Through this whirling, the dancers seek to become one with God.

The Tewa, a Pueblo group from the Southwest culture area, say that they
dance to “seek life,” “regain life,” or “renew life.” Many symbolic references to
this theme of new life can be found in the movements of the dancers, the
costumes that are worn, and the songs that are sung. Dancers lift their arms
upward to symbolize the welcoming of rain; lower their arms to indicate
digging, planting, or harvesting; and move their arms from side to side to
symbolize rainbows or clouds. Costume designs are also symbolic. Long
tassels represent raindrops; woven headdresses contain depictions of squash
blossoms or embroidered layers of clouds. The songs that accompany the
dances make references to dawn, youth, flowers, and growing corn. The Tewa
practice agriculture in a very arid environment, so references to rain and
items associated with rain such as clouds, thunder, and rainbows are
important symbols of life.

Tewa dances are generally held in open plazas where performers can be in

contact with the earth. The dancers array themselves in long, parallel lines
and move in unison to the beat of one or more drums. The dancers themselves
may sing or a chorus of singers standing nearby may accompany them. Before
the dance, the participants prepare in a kiva, an underground room that is
entered from a hole in the roof. When the dance is about to begin, the dancers
emerge from the kiva and move to the plaza. This is a symbolic reference to
the Tewa origin story that tells how the first people emerged from a world
below into the present world.

Conclusion

To conclude our discussion of symbolism, we need to tie together several
concepts that we have explored thus far. Symbols are often based on specific
episodes that are recounted in myths, and they represent a specific worldview.
An example we already discussed was the Tewa practice of beginning dances
by emerging from a kiva to symbolize the emergence from under the earth at
the beginning of the world. We will reexamine some of the other symbols we
have already discussed to explore the connections between symbols, myth,
and worldview.

Bloodletting was an important part of Mayan religious rituals, and the
sarcophagus of Lord Pakal contains blood symbolism. The reason for this is
found in the origin story as told in a document known as the Popul Vuh, a
seventeenth-century book that recounts the history of the Maya. In the Popul
Vuh we are told that the reason why the gods created people was to have a
kind of living creature who would worship them. As they prepare to create
human beings, the gods say, “So now let’s try to make a giver of praise, giver
of respect, provider, nurturer.”5

This reflects the worldview of the Maya that there exists a reciprocal
relationship between the Mayan people and their gods. The world was
brought about by a sacrifice by the gods, but it will continue to exist only if
the Mayans in turn sacrifice for the gods. The smoke produced by burning
cloths soaked with blood was seen as providing nourishment to the gods.

The image of Pakal descending into the underworld to be reborn also refers

to a portion of the Popul Vuh. The story tells of twins, Hunahpu and
Xbalanque, who disturb the Lords of Death by playing a ball game. They are
summoned to Xibalba to participate in a series of trials, but they are able to
defeat the Lords of Death through their cunning and are then reborn.

In a similar way, the symbolism of the Christian cross is based on the story
of the crucifixion of Jesus found in the Christian Bible. The symbol of the
cross also expresses the Christian worldview: that the death of Jesus provides
the opportunity for salvation:

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified
him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then Jesus
said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his
raiment, and cast lots.

(Luke 23:33–34)

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ,
save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear
God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive
the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. Then he said unto
Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

(Luke 23:39–43)

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

(John 3:16)

Another example of the connection between symbol, myth, and worldview is
the yin-yang symbol (Figure 3.5). This symbol is based on the Taoist
worldview of the importance of balance and harmony. The Taoists believe
that there are two interacting forces in the universe, called yin and yang. Yin
is the female element, associated with coldness, darkness, softness, and the
earth. Yang is the male element and is associated with warmth, light,
hardness, and the heavens. The two elements are opposites but mutually
dependent, and they need to be in equilibrium. Yin and yang are believed to
be present in every aspect of the world. Yet each holds the seed of the other
that expands and becomes the other.

Figure 3.5 Yin-yang. According to Taoist belief, yin is the female element and yang is the
male element in the universe.

In an ancient Chinese creation story, yin and yang were held together in a
cosmic egg until the struggle of the opposing elements cracked the shell. A
creature called P’an Ku took form inside the egg. P’an Ku is sometimes
referred to as the child of yin and yang or as the giant of Chinese mythology.
P’an Ku emerges from the egg and goes about creating the world, in several
versions fashioning the earth using an adze or a hammer and chisel. But the
creation of the world is not complete until P’an Ku dies, whereupon his body
gives rise to various elements. His skull becomes the dome of the sky, and his
flesh becomes the soil of the earth. His bones become rock; his blood, rivers;
his breath, the winds; and his eyes, the sun and the moon. The fleas and
parasites on his body became the ancestors of modern human groups.

These connections between symbol, myth, and worldview will continue to
be important as we add one more element to the mix: ritual. In the next
chapter, we will discuss rituals and the ways they are intimately connected
with symbols, myth, and worldview.

Summary

A symbol is something that stands for something else. Symbols enable us to
talk about things that are not immediately in front of us and to create our own
realities. They are important elements in religious practice, and religious
rituals center on the manipulation of symbols.

Symbols can appear in many forms. Language is symbolic in nature,
because various speech sounds are used to create combinations that have
meaning. Yet there is nothing of the referent that is inherent in the sound
combination—its meaning is part of a cultural tradition. Recitation of religious
narratives is an important feature of religious practices. Religious ideas also
can be expressed in art that may contain many symbolic elements. Much
artistic representation is arbitrary in that the nature of the symbol does not
always communicate its meaning. Simple examples are the swastika, the
pentagram, and the cross. Although an outsider might have difficulty
understanding a piece of religious art, a member of that culture would have
no such difficulty.

Time and space are also treated symbolically. Many units of time, such as
our week and the several cycles of Mayan time, are arbitrary and provide time
with deep meaning. Calendar systems exist as a way of symbolically
organizing time and for scheduling periodic rituals. Space is also full of
symbolic meaning, especially when mythological events are seen as occurring
on the landscape. Such a sacred landscape is a part of the totemic system
found among the Australian Aborigines.

Music and dance are also symbolic and are important elements in religious
ritual. Musical elements suggest emotions and have symbolic meanings. What
is considered to be religious music in one community might not be in another.
Dance, composed of music, movement, costume and masks, and props and
sets, is often used to tell religious stories in societies where such stories are not
written down. All of these elements—language, art, music, and dance—interact
to provide rich religious experiences.

Study questions

1. Logos and trademarks are examples of symbols that are important in
American society. Select some examples and show how they express
a particular emotion or idea about the product being advertised.

2. Historically, symbols can be very powerful and can evoke great
emotions. This is especially true of religious symbols. List some
religious and political symbols, and describe what roles they have
played in human history.

3. Color has meaning in all cultures. How are colors used in American
society to convey meaning? What are some of the social rules that
determine the use of color in our society (e.g., a bride wears white)?
Do you know of any differences in the meaning of color in other
cultures?

4. How are totemism and the concept of Dream Time a social charter
for Australian Aborigine cultures? How do you think these cultures
would react to the presence of non-Aborigine cultures, such as those
represented by missionaries?

5. Many American organizations are identified with particular animals.
For example, colleges and professional football teams are often
associated with a mascot, usually some kind of animal. What animals
are usually used as college and team mascots? Why are those
particular animals used and not others? When you go to a football or
baseball game, what ritual activities revolve around the mascot
animal? How does this differ from an Australian totem?

6. Describe the role of music in American culture. In what situations do
you find music being played? Why is music played in these
situations?

7. Choose a religious symbol that you are familiar with and describe its
meaning. How is this symbol connected to the myths and worldview
of the culture in which it is found?

Suggested readings

Nikki Bado-Fralick and Rebecca Sachs Norris, Toying with God: The World of
Religious Games and Dolls (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2010).

[This book looks at religious games and dolls and the blending of religious
symbols with popular culture.]

Norine Dresser, Multicultural Celebrations (New York: Three Rivers Press,
1999).

[This is a practical book on the appropriate etiquette for celebrations in
various ethnic traditions in the United States, useful in our multicultural
society.]

Carl G. Liungman, Dictionary of Symbols (New York: Norton, 1991).
[This is one of several compilations of symbols that are useful reference tools.]

Gananath Obeyesekere, Medusa’s Hair: An Essay of Personal Symbols and
Religious Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984).

[A psychological anthropologist examines the use of symbols by Sri Lankan
ascetics.]

Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me Ultima (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2012).
[In a story filled with religious symbolism, a boy grows up in New Mexico in
the 1940s.]

Suggested websites

http://symbols.net
A comprehensive listing of websites that deal with symbols in various
contexts including religion.

www.planetgast.net/symbols
Symbols in Christian art and architecture.

www.cem.va.gov/hmm/emblems.asp

United States Department of Veterans Affairs available emblems of belief for
placement on government headstones and markers.

www.ridingthebeast.com/articles/colors
Color symbolism and meaning in the Bible.

www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar.html
A web exhibit of calendars through the ages (including the Mayan Calendar).

www.mayacalendar.com/mayacalendar.html
A discussion of the Mayan calendar on the Maya World Studies Center
website.

http://guides.lib.washington.edu/ethnomusicology
A list of websites related to ethnomusicology, folk music, and world music
from the University of Washington.

www.folkways.si.edu/
Smithsonian Folkways makes available a wide variety of recordings of ethnic
music.

http://sounds.bl.uk/
Archival Sounds Recordings (British Library) provides access to a great many
recordings of music from around the world.

Notes

1 J. Church, Language and the Discovery of Reality (New York: Vintage Books, 1961), p. 95.

2 N. Bado-Fralick and R. S. Norris, Toying with God: The World of Religious Games and
Dolls (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2010), p. 172.

3 G. A. Reichard, Navaho Religion: A Study of Symbolism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1977), p. 206.

4 We should note that not all scholars agree with this interpretation of the Mayan calendar
and its correlation with our calendar, so the actual date on our calendar may be off by a
few days.

5 D. Tedlock (translator), Popul Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the

Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985), p.
79.

Chapter 4
Ritual

The alarm clock rings. You reluctantly jump out of bed and begin your
morning routine, which might include showering, shaving or putting on your
makeup, reading the newspaper, and eating breakfast. You probably do the
same things in the same order day after day—or at least on weekdays. This
patterned, recurring sequence of events may be termed a ritual.

The term ritual can refer to any repetitive sequence of acts. Psychologists
use the term when referring to repetitive compulsive activity, such as the
ritual of washing one’s hands dozens of times a day. A class might begin with
the ritual of roll call and announcements. However, when the ritual involves
the manipulation of religious symbols such as prayers, offerings, and readings
of sacred literature, we call it a religious ritual.

The basics of ritual performance

In some ways a ritual resembles a play. A play consists of actors, words, sets,
and props presented in a set way according to a script. And a play is a
reflection of the culture of a society and that society’s worldview.

A public religious ritual also consists of actors (shamans and priests, for
example), words (perhaps a prayer, a spell, or a sermon), sets (such as an
altar), and props (such as candles, religious books, or masks) and may contain
music and dance as well. Smaller-scale rituals, such as that performed by a
shaman affecting a cure, also have many of these elements, although here the
similarity to a play is not as strong. Of course, a religious ritual is much more

than a play. Its primary purpose is not to entertain—although in some societies
rituals are an important form of entertainment—and the audience is an active
participant.

Two of the most basic elements in religious practices are ritual and myth,
and the two are often closely connected. Ritual is often based on myth in that
the directive to perform the ritual may lie within the myth. The myth provides
the elements for the development of the ritual. There is some debate over
which came first. Myth is reflected in ritual; other rituals are reenactments of
myth.

A society’s mythology consists of stories that reflect the underlying
worldview of the society. Although few people in a community can articulate
in a philosophical or theological manner the basic themes and underpinnings
of their religious system, everyone is familiar with the myths of their religion
and accepts the basic truths of the religious system. This is also true of rituals.

Many rituals, though by no means all, are public rituals in which an entire
community is involved to some degree. Ritual activities symbolize the
particular beliefs and values of that community. A ritual is the vehicle by
which basic ideas, such as the definition of good and evil and the proper
nature of social relationships, are imparted to the group.

Unlike other forms of discourse—reading this book, for example, or
listening to a lecture—people attending a religious ritual usually are familiar
with the ritual and also with what it means. Perhaps they have read a
commentary or attended a Sunday school class that discussed the meaning of
the ritual. Thus participation in the ritual signals a public acceptance of the
basic tenets of the religion. The mere fact that the activities that take place
within the ritual are well known and accepted lends a sense of stability to the
society and imparts a sense of social unity. Also, the fact that the elements of
the ritual are repeated on a regular basis lends a sense of validity and
sacredness to the religious system.

Prescriptive and situational rituals

There are many terms that we can use to describe rituals. For example, rituals
may be prescriptive or situational. Prescriptive rituals are rituals that are

required to be performed. The requirement may be set forth in a religious text
(e.g., “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” [Exodus 20:8]), may be
required by a deity or a religious authority, or may simply be based in
tradition.

Other rituals are performed because of a particular need of an individual or
a community. These are called situational rituals or crisis rituals. Such
rituals often arise spontaneously, frequently in times of crisis. A community
might hold a spontaneous ritual for a group of men and women from the
community who are going off to war or engaging in some dangerous activity.
Situational rituals arise as a response to terrorist activities around the world.
Some are as simple as flying a flag, others more complex, such as the setting
up of informal altars where people lay flowers, light candles, and leave
photographs (see Figure 12.2, p. 290). Many churches, temples, and mosques
schedule special situational rituals to address the concerns of the community.

Periodic and occasional rituals

Another way of describing rituals is to identify them as being performed on a
regular basis as part of a religious calendar or being performed when a
particular need arises, such as a marriage or a death. The former are called
periodic rituals or calendrical rituals; the latter are called occasional
rituals. The classification of rituals as prescribed or situational is separate
from their classification as periodic or occasional. Thus a particular ceremony
—a Sunday morning church service, for example—is both prescribed and
periodic.

Periodic rituals may be performed daily or several times a day, as in the
daily prayers (salaht) of Islam. (Muslims pray at dawn, midday, midafternoon,
sunset, and nightfall, as commanded by the prophet Mohammad, which
makes prayer a prescribed ritual as well.) Periodic rituals may be performed
weekly, such as the Jewish ritual of the lighting of candles that occurs on
every Friday evening to mark the start of the Sabbath or the celebration of
Sunday Mass in the Catholic Church. They also include the annual
celebrations of Easter, Passover, and Ramadan.

Another example of a periodic ritual is Diwali, the Festival of Lights, one of

the most important festivals in India. It was originally a Hindu festival, but its
observance has spread, and it is celebrated as a public holiday throughout
India. Diwali is celebrated on the darkest night (the new moon) of the month
of Kartik. During the festival, oil lamps are lit, and firecrackers are set off. The
ritual is associated with several important mythical events. One such story is
the return of Rama, his consort Sita, and his brother Lakshmana to their
kingdom of Ayodhya after a fourteen-year exile. To celebrate their return, the
people of Ayodhya are said to have lit up their houses with oil lamps. The
lights that are associated with this festival are said to symbolize the removal
of spiritual darkness.

The celebration of Diwali was probably originally related to the harvest
season. Many periodic rituals are aligned with the phases of the agricultural
cycle. This is the basis of the timing of many religious rituals in the Jewish
and Christian religious calendars. The most important rituals are associated
with the periods of sowing and harvesting.

For example, Passover is a Jewish commemoration of the exodus of the
Israelites from Egypt. However, many historians believe that this holiday was
also originally a spring agricultural festival. This can be seen in many of the
symbolic foods associated with the Passover Seder, or ritual meal, such as
parsley. Exactly seven weeks after the Passover holiday is Shavuot. Shavuot is
also known as Yom Habikkurim, or the Day of the First Fruits, and
commemorates both the beginning of the wheat harvest and the giving of the
Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai.

Occasional rituals are rituals that are performed for a specific purpose when
a situation arises that requires the ritual to be performed. Many occasional
rituals are associated with nature and the impact of nature on the agricultural
cycle. These include rituals to control an infestation of insect pests or to bring
rain, performed when crops are threatened or when rain does not come.
Occasional rituals are also associated with important events in the life of an
individual. These include rituals marking birth, marriage, and death.

A classification of rituals

Our next step is to group the subjects of our study, in this case rituals, into a

manageable number of categories. This can be very difficult when the
variation is great, and any classification is to an extent arbitrary. Here we will
discuss many of the different kinds of rituals using some of the categories
developed by Anthony F. C. Wallace.1 A list of rituals can be found in Table
4.1.

A survey of rituals

Each type of ritual has its own goal and exists within its own cultural and
religious context. In the next section we will survey most of the types of
rituals found in Wallace’s classification.

Table 4.1 A classification of rituals

Type of Ritual Description

Technological rituals
Rituals that attempt to influence or control

nature
Hunting and gathering
rites of intensification

Rituals that influence nature in the quest for food

Protective rituals
Rituals designed to protect the safety of people

engaged in dangerous activities

Divination rituals Rituals that seek information about the unknown

Therapy rituals Rituals that deal with illness, accident, and death
Therapy rituals Healing rituals

Anti-therapy rituals Rituals that bring about illness, accident, or death

Ideological rituals
Rituals that serve to maintain the normal

functioning of a community
Social rites of
intensification

Rituals that delineate codes of proper behavior and
articulate the community’s worldview

Rituals that accompany changes in an individual’s

Rites of passage status in society

Revitalization rituals
Rituals that focus on the elimination of alien
customs and a return to a native way of life

Technological rituals

Technological rituals are rituals that attempt to influence or control nature,
especially in activities that affect human activities and well-being. The success
or failure of human endeavors such as hunting, fishing, and farming is
influenced by the vagaries of nature. Game animals might not be located; fish
might fail to take the bait; the lack of rain might cause a crop to wither and
die. Because these events affect the very survival of a people, all societies
attempt to influence or even to control nature so as to ensure the success of
the hunt, fishing expeditions, or cultivation. Examples of technological rituals
include hunting and gathering rites of intensification, protective rituals, and
divination rituals.

Hunting and gathering rites of intensification

The function of hunting and gathering rites of intensification is to
influence nature in the quest for food. Although the name refers to hunting
and gathering activities, these rituals also extend to other economic activities
such as fishing, herding, and farming. They include periodic rituals that
follow the seasonal cycle and occasional rituals performed in response to some
crisis such as lack of rain. They may initiate the hunting of particular animal
species as they migrate at different seasons through a traditional territory. At
the start of a fishing trip, such rituals are performed to ensure success in
locating fish. Rituals accompany the preparation of the soil, the planting of
seeds, the protection of the growing crop from the elements and wild animals,
and the harvest.

Among hunting and gathering peoples the commencement of the time
when particular wild foods are available is often marked by ritual. On a

practical level, these rituals serve to regulate the gathering of that food. The
premature gathering of a particular type of fruit, for example, might
negatively affect the total amount of fruit that is available. They also reaffirm
the rights of particular social units to specific foods and areas of food
gathering. These rituals are frequently referred to as “first-fruit ceremonies.”
Among the Cahuilla of the southern California desert, individuals would be
sent out to gather small amounts of food. Food left from the winter stores
would be added, and members of each kin group would eat a ritual portion of
the food in a ceremony thanking the supernatural for providing the food in a
ceremony that lasted three days and three nights.

Fertility is a central theme in this group of rituals, be it the successful
sprouting and growth of crops in the spring or the birth of wild animals,
without which people would go hungry and societies would die. When people
are successful in the hunt, rituals are performed to thank the animal for
allowing itself to be caught.

The Lakota are a Native American tribe living today in the north-central
United States. In the early nineteenth century they were hunters of the
buffalo. Today, although wild herds of buffalo have disappeared from the
plains, the Lakota manage herds of captive buffalo and sell their meat as a
major source of income. Occasionally, an uncontrollable animal must be
killed, which today is accomplished by a shotgun rather than a bow and
arrow. But when the animal has died, the hunters gather around the body and
perform a simple ritual to thank the buffalo for permitting itself to be killed,
thus ensuring the continuing success of the enterprise.

The Inuit, who live on the Arctic coast, depend on seals for their survival.
The success of a seal hunt among the Inuit depends on the benevolence of
Nuliajuk, the Mother of the Sea. If important customs are neglected, she can
cause many difficulties for hunters such as storms or breaking up of the ice.
She might also keep the seals out of the reach of the hunters. The Inuit believe
that Nuliajuk is at her happiest when her hair is neat, and the misbehavior of
people is seen as tangling her hair. In the Inuit creation myth her fingers were
cut off and the finger joints became the seals. But without fingers she cannot
tend to her hair herself and it is the role of the shaman to visit her in her
home at the bottom of the sea to comb her hair and thereby appease her.

The traditional Inuit belief is that seals have a soul, and many Inuit hunting
customs and rituals are designed to show respect for the seals. One example is

the practice in many Inuit groups of placing fresh water into the mouth of a
dead seal before it is butchered. Some groups believed that a seal that was
given a drink was more likely to return again as another seal for another
drink, but the general belief across the groups was that the drink would
appease the spirit of the seal.

In the words of an Inuit, Peter Irniq, “Inuit were extremely respectful
toward seals. My father used to catch a seal and put it into our iglu. Before my
mother skinned the seal she would put a piece of ice in her own mouth to
melt, then let the meltwater fall into the dead seal’s mouth. She said this was
to make sure the seals under the ice will not be thirsty. She did this every
time. It’s a spiritual belief, done out of respect for the seals.”2

Protective rituals

There are numerous potential dangers that accompany risky activities.
Imagine traveling in a small dugout canoe out on the ocean, out of sight of
land, looking for productive fishing grounds, with no real ability to predict the
weather more than a few hours in advance, if that. Protective rituals usually
accompany such activities, and they may be prescriptive in that they are
routinely performed at the start of a dangerous activity or occasionally in
response to a gathering storm.

These are rituals designed to protect the safety of the people who are
involved in dangerous tasks. Protective rituals are also performed in response
to some unexpected threat to the success of an economic endeavor. Such
threats might include an infestation of insect pests threatening to destroy a
crop, floods and droughts, sick animals in a herd, and many other potential
crises too numerous to name.

The ocean trading journeys of the Trobriand Islanders of New Guinea are
dangerous. There are numerous concerns, including ensuring the
seaworthiness of canoes and the desire for good weather. These voyages are
accompanied by a great number of rituals. The canoe captain is not only an
expert on navigation and weather prediction, but also a ritual specialist,
performing rituals throughout the voyage. As an example, some rituals that
are performed before the launching of a canoe are rituals for expelling the

heaviness out of a canoe, rituals to make the canoe more seaworthy, and
rituals to make the canoe fast, in part by making other canoes slow.

Rituals for the protection of boats on the open ocean are common among
seagoing peoples. The Vikings christened a new ship by “blooding the keel,”
which involved a ritual human sacrifice in which a person was tied to the keel
of the boat, to be crushed beneath it when the boat was launched. The
Western practice of christening a new ship by breaking a bottle of champagne
still carries with it the idea of a blessing from God, and the person who does
the christening enters into a special relationship with the ship.

Protective rituals are also used for other modes of transportation. Among
the Yoruba of Nigeria in West Africa, Ogun is the god of iron. More recently,
Ogun has also become associated with cars and trucks. It is common for taxi
drivers to decorate their cars with his symbols and even on occasion to offer
an animal sacrifice to him asking for his protection.

Often it is not actual control that is needed. Foreknowledge of natural
events that affect the success of economic efforts can lead to preventive
measures, be they technical (building a fence to keep wild animals out of the
field) or ritual. Such ceremonies assist communities in selecting the best time
to plant or the best place to locate game or fish. Rituals that seek information
are referred to as divination rituals. Divination will be discussed in detail in
Chapter 7.

Social rites of intensification

The next group of rituals serves to maintain the normal functioning of a
community. These are termed ideological rituals. They delineate codes of
proper behavior; define good and evil, moral and immoral; and articulate the
community’s worldview. They assist people and the community in getting
through times of change and times of crisis. They facilitate the orderly
running of the society. They tend to be conservative, sanctioning the social
order.

An important type of ideological ritual is the social rite of intensification.
These are very familiar rituals. They are usually prescribed and periodic and
include the weekly Sunday morning church service found in most Christian

denominations, the Jewish Sabbath rituals, and the daily prayer or salaht of
Islam. They also include major annual rituals such as the Christian Easter and
the Jewish Rosh Hashanah. Elements that are frequently found in social rites
of intensification that are most familiar to us include the reading of sections of
the sacred text; a sermon, commenting on some aspects of the sacred text,
commentary on current crises, or a discussion of moral issues; and prayers to
the deity.

Some rituals have aspects that can be classified in more than one category.
A good example of this is a funeral ritual, which is often both a rite of passage
for the individual who has died (discussed in the next subsection) and a rite of
intensification for those who remain. A death is a time of crisis for the group.
The funeral ritual brings people together and reaffirms the existence of the
social group and its values. This is seen most clearly when we examine the
rituals surrounding the death of a chief or king. The death affects the entire
community and ushers in a period of potential instability. In the absence of a
strong leader, the group may be vulnerable to internal strife. Enemies may
take advantage of both the lack of strong leadership and the fact that the focus
of the community is on the death.

Among the Swazi of the East African Cattle culture area, the death of a
king has the potential of precipitating a major crisis. The prosperity of the
Swazi nation is bound up with the health and virility of the king, and during
his life the king must avoid all contact with death. He may not visit a grave or
touch a dead body and may mourn the passing of a close relative for only a
few days. Individuals living in his household are removed from the homestead
when they become very ill so that they will not die in the king’s presence. The
death of the king is kept secret until a council of kin has made the selection of
an heir. Only after the heir has been installed as the new king will the burial
of the old king proceed. Following the period of mourning, rituals are held to
rejuvenate and revitalize the Swazi nation.

Another example of the element of a social rite of intensification in a
funeral ritual is the Jewish practice of reciting the kaddish. The kaddish is
known as a mourner’s prayer, but variations on this prayer are recited at
many other times, and the prayer itself actually says nothing about death or
mourning. This prayer is a reaffirmation of faith in the face of a great loss.
The prayer begins, “May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified in the
world that He created as He willed. May He give reign to His kingship in your

lifetime and in your days, and in the lifetimes of the entire family of Israel,
swiftly and soon. May His great Name be blessed forever and ever.” Similarly,
the simple practice of gathering at the home of the mourner after a funeral
service can be seen as reaffirming important group ties.

Offerings and sacrifices

One of the functions of social rites of intensification, and other rituals as well,
is to communicate with the deity. One way of doing this is through prayer;
another is through offerings and sacrifices. Offerings and sacrifices can be
viewed in many ways. They may be gifts or even bribes, or economic
exchange designed to influence the supernatural. The supernatural in turn will
reciprocate with rain, healing, economic success, and so on. Of course this is
in no way coercion, and the deity is free to reject the gift.

In many societies, reciprocity plays an important role in social
relationships. Important social events, such as marriages, are celebrated with
gift-giving and feasting. In these societies this type of behavior is projected
into the supernatural world where a harmonious and mutually advantageous
relationship between the society and the supernatural will be expressed in
terms of mutual reciprocity between humans and their gods.

The essential difference between a sacrifice and an offering is that in
sacrifice blood is shed; that is, an animal, which may be a human being, is
killed. All other gifts are offerings. The item that is offered is usually an object
of some economic value and its offering often involves economic hardship for
the individual or group making the offering. It therefore becomes special or
even sacred. However, some of the economic value may be recovered as
when, for example, food that is offered on an altar is later consumed by those
making the offering. Of course, this does not happen when the offering is
destroyed, as when it is burned.

Human sacrifice

Aztec society (Mesoamerican culture area) was based on agriculture and was

highly stratified. The Aztecs believed that the life of the Sun was about to end
and tried to avoid that by providing the sacred food that the sun needed:
blood. Human sacrifice on a large scale was an important part of Aztec
religion.

A ritual would begin with a four-day (or some multiple of four) period of
preparation. During this time, priests would fast and make offerings of such
items as food, cloth, and incense. The ritual itself would be preceded by a
dramatic procession. The participants, elaborately costumed and accompanied
by music ensembles, would walk to the specific temple of sacrifice. All
important rituals involved the sacrifice of either animals or humans.

The ritual human sacrificial victims were called in ixiptla in teteo, or deity
impersonators, as the belief was that they were transformed into gods. They
would be ritually bathed, specially costumed to impersonate the specific deity
to whom they were being sacrificed, and taught special dances. A wide range
of techniques were used in sacrifice, including decapitation, drowning,
strangulation, shooting with arrows, combat, and throwing from heights.
Commonly, the victim was led up the temple stairs to the sacrificial stone
(techcatl). There the victim would be held down by four priests, and the
temple priest would cut through the victim’s chest to remove the still-beating
heart, referred to as “precious eagle cactus fruit.” The heart would then be
offered to the sun for nourishment. This was sometimes followed by the body
being rolled back down the temple steps, where it was often dismembered,
flayed, and eaten.

Therapy rituals and healing

Of all tragedies that may befall a people, perhaps the most disturbing and
disruptive are illnesses and accidents that lead to incapacity or death. All
peoples have theories about the cause of illness and accident, and these are
associated with techniques, including rituals, for addressing them.

There are a number of methods for dealing with accidents and illnesses that
are technical rather than religious. For example, many traditional healers
know how to set bones, and many of the plant materials that are administered
as medicines have been found to have genuine medical value. The

anthropological study of medicinal plants is part of the study of ethnobotany.
Such studies have led to the development of several drug therapies. Some
plant material has been known for centuries to have some pharmaceutical
properties, such as digitalis from the foxglove plant, which is used to treat
heart problems. More recently, the drug taxol, derived from the bark and
needles of the Pacific yew tree, has been used for the treatment of ovarian
cancer. Northwest Coast Native American tribes traditionally treated a variety
of diseases with medicines derived from this tree.

Table 4.2 Causes and treatment of supernatural illnesses

Cause of illness Therapy ritual

Object intrusion Massage and sucking to remove object

Spirit intrusion Exorcism

Soul loss Soul retrieval

Breach of tabu Confession

Witchcraft Anti-witchcraft rituals

Spirits and gods Sacrifices and offerings

Many illnesses cannot be dealt with through technology, especially in
traditional societies. Various theories of illness give rise to many types of
cures that include ritual. Rituals that focus on curing are called therapy
rituals. These are among the most important rituals found in many societies.
The type of ritual will depend on the cause of the illness, with the cause
frequently being discovered by means of divination. Some of the supernatural
causes of illness and their treatment will be discussed at length in later
chapters, but Table 4.2 lists those that are most frequently encountered.

The Navaho

As we discussed in Chapter 2, the Navaho worldview stresses the importance
of balance and harmony. When this balance is upset, something bad, usually

illness, is the result. Balance is upset by human actions, and the specific nature
of the transgression will determine how the illness will manifest itself. The
Navaho have separate specialists for diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis is
done by hand tremblers, who are generally women. The healers are usually
men.

The entire family or even the entire community will gather together for the
therapy ritual, which lasts anywhere from one to nine days. Prayers,
medicine, songs, and herbs in addition to sand paintings are used to restore
balance and harmony and thus cure the illness. The Navaho word for sand
painting is ikaah, which means “a summoning of the gods.” They believe that
if a prayer is offered with a good heart and is correct in every detail, the gods
are compelled to answer it. If they do not answer, there must have been some
imperfection in the sand painting or the ceremony.

The sand painting itself depicts a specific portion of the complex Navaho
mythology. Usually, this is a story of a hero who encounters some misfortune,
but with help from others, usually a supernatural being, the hero recovers and
learns how to heal the same problem in others. The story also is recounted in
long, complex chants. This example again shows the relationship between
ritual, myth, and worldview.

Anti-therapy rituals

Anti-therapy rituals are rituals that bring about illness, accident, or death.
When directed toward a member of one’s own community, the behavior is
clearly antisocial. The person responsible needs to be identified, usually
through divination, stopped, and punished. However, when directed toward
an enemy, an anti-therapy ritual may support an objective of the society.
Among the Yanomamö of northern South America, warfare is carried out
with spears and arrows, as well as through ritual activities that send illness-
causing spirits into the bodies of their enemies.

An anti-therapy ritual of the Fore of New Guinea was described in Chapter
1. A sorcerer takes something connected to the victim, such as a piece of
clothing, and places it in a bundle, recites a spell, and puts the bundle in the
cold, muddy ground. As a result, the victim becomes ill with the disease kuru.

Perhaps one of the best-known examples of an anti-therapy ritual is the
bone-pointing ritual found among the Australian Aborigines. This is
sometimes referred to as a cursing ritual. Taking a kangaroo bone, the
individual performing the ritual sharpens one end and drills a hole through
the other. He takes a strand of the victim’s hair, and puts it through the hole
and secures it with a knot. Then, in public, the performer points the bone at
the victim. Here is a description of what happens next.

A man who discovers that he is being boned by an enemy is, indeed, a pitiable sight. He
stands aghast, with his eyes staring at the treacherous pointer, and with his hands lifted
as though to ward off the lethal medium, which he imagines is pouring into his body.
His cheeks blanch and his eyes become glassy, and the expression on his face becomes
horribly distorted … He attempts to shriek, but usually the sound chokes in his throat,
and all one might see is froth at his mouth. His body begins to tremble and the muscles
twist involuntarily. He sways backwards and falls to the ground, and for a short time
appears to be in a swoon; but soon after he begins to writhe as if in mortal agony, and
covering his face with his hands, begins to moan. After a while he becomes more
composed and crawls to his wurley [hut]. From this time onwards he sickens and frets,
refusing to eat, and keeping aloof from the daily affairs of the tribe. Unless help is
forthcoming in the shape of a counter-charm, administered by the hands of the
“Nangarri,” or medicine-man, his death is only a matter of a comparatively short time.3

Revitalization rituals

Revitalization rituals are associated with revitalization movements. These
include nativistic movements, which focus on the elimination of alien customs
and a return to the native way of life, and messianic movements, which
involve the participation of a divine savior in human flesh. These rituals are
often associated with social movements and usually develop within a context
of rapid culture change. We will discuss revitalization rituals in detail in
Chapter 11.

Rites of passage

Among the most-studied rituals by anthropologists are rites of passage, a

type of ideological ritual. A society consists of a number of individuals who
are related to one another and interact with one another in complex ways. We
can think of a society as being composed of a series of positions, each one
defined in terms of appropriate behavior, rights and obligations, and
relationships to one another. Each position is known as a status. Examples of
statuses include mother, husband, teacher, blacksmith, mayor, and priest. Of
course, a person can occupy more than one status. One person can be a
mother, a wife, and a teacher, depending on the social context. Here we are
using the term status to refer to a social position, not to the relative placement
of each position in the society. The term rank is used for this latter purpose.

When a person changes his or her status in the society—becomes an adult,
marries, enters a profession, or attains political office—the individual alters his
or her social relationship with other members of the society. Such changes
might require that the individual dress in a new way, speak in a different
fashion, and behave toward certain people in new ways. Making these
changes can be difficult for the individual. They often are marked and
facilitated by rites of passage.

Rites of passage imprint the change in a person’s social status on the minds
of the participants and grant community approval or legitimacy for the
change. In a literate society such as ours, all one truly needs is a legal piece of
paper. A couple can fly to Las Vegas or go to the local courthouse and be
married with a brief ceremony, without the presence of family or other
community members. It is the marriage license, not the ceremony, which
establishes the legality of the change in status and inserts the event in the
legal record of some political unit. This is not the case in nonliterate
communities, where the combined witnesses and participation of family and
community are required. Most couples in Western culture choose to get
married in this manner as well.

Some rites of passage are very familiar. These include rites marking a
person’s progression through the life cycle. All cultures have terminology to
refer to the phases of one’s life—infant, child, adult, and senior, for example.
However, these divisions of the life cycle are more formal and clear-cut in
some societies than in others. As a person moves from one category to the
next, the event may be marked by ritual.

The life cycle begins with birth ceremonies designed to ensure the safety
and well-being of the child. Through these rituals the child becomes an

integral part of the community. However, in societies with a high infant death
rate, the introduction of the child to the community may be delayed. A child
may be kept in isolation and is considered a nonperson until she survives for a
certain period of time. In traditional societies the child might then be
presented to the family and other members of the community, receive a name,
perhaps be passed over the smoke of a fire and have strings tied around her
wrists to prevent the child from falling ill. Examples of birth rituals in our
society are baptism in Catholicism, by which the child becomes a member of a
Catholic community, and the Jewish circumcision ceremony whereby a male
child becomes a member of the Jewish community.

The next major transition is that from childhood into adulthood. These
coming-of-age ceremonies include confirmations, quinceañeras, bar mitzvahs,
and bat mitzvahs. Other important life cycle ceremonies are marriage and
death rituals. In addition to life cycle ceremonies, rites of passage mark
initiation into social groups (such as fraternity initiations) or religious or
political office (such as a presidential inauguration or coronation).

The structure of a rite of passage

A rite of passage that you are probably familiar with is a wedding, which
actually consists of a series of rituals performed over a period of time.
Although there is considerable variation, there is a general pattern found in
many, but not all, weddings. We will use this example to describe the
structure of a rite of passage.

Anthropologists identify three phases in the typical rite of passage. The first
phase is called separation. In this phase the individual is removed from his or
her former status. In some rituals this is an abrupt separation of the individual
from the community; in others it may take place over a longer period of time.

The separation phase in a wedding is actually a series of events that take
place over the period of time preceding the ceremony. A typical wedding
cycle might begin with an engagement party. Next follows a number of
planning and preparation activities, frequently involving wedding specialists.
Although these are usually thought of as practical, logistical activities, they
often take on the characteristics of ritual in that they consist of traditional

activities. These include the selection of a wedding dress, costuming the
wedding party, selecting and mailing invitations, signing up with a gift
registry, attending wedding showers, the rehearsal, and the rehearsal dinner.
The final event in the separation phase is when the bride walks down the aisle
and bids farewell to her parents and, in some ceremonies, is formally “given
away” by her father and/or mother or other close relative.

The second step is the transition phase. During the transition phase,
several activities take place that bring about the change in status. In many
weddings, this phase, which is the actual ceremony, lasts from only a few
minutes to over an hour. This is relatively short when compared with rites of
passage found in other societies, in which the transition phase can last months
or even years.

At the conclusion of the transition phase, the person conducting the
wedding ceremony often will introduce the newly married couple to the
congregation as “Mr. and Mrs.” Thus begins the final phase, incorporation,
during which the couple reenters normal society, though in a new social
relationship. This stage includes the reception or party celebrating the
marriage. The incorporation phase usually lasts several hours, although in
many groups it is considerably longer. After the reception there is often a
series of additional activities, such as a display of gifts and the writing of
thank-you notes.

All of this can be quite daunting and very expensive. Of course a couple can
fly to Las Vegas or go to the local courthouse and get the piece of paper and
skip most of the traditional activities. However, many couples and their
families are very uncomfortable with this and will follow such a legal
wedding with some type of celebration to reaffirm the marriage, such as a
reception or perhaps a second wedding ceremony attended by friends and
family.

Coming-of-age rituals

A ritual that frequently assumes great importance in traditional societies is
the coming-of-age ritual, which marks the transition from childhood to
adulthood. An example is the rite of passage that accompanies menarche, or a

girl’s first menstruation. Menarche is only one physiological event within a
complex cycle of events we call puberty that extends over several years.
However, menarche is a very definite, easily observed event.

Because puberty is so well marked in females, the ritual is sometimes an
individual ritual rather than for a group of girls at one time. The
announcement of first menstruation by a girl to her mother may initiate the
separation phase. Among the Yanomamö of South America, a girl who is
menstruating for the first time is secluded in a simple enclosure built in the
corner of her dwelling. The transition period lasts three days, during which
the girl sits on the floor eating little. She shaves her head and removes her
ornaments in an effort to look as unattractive as possible. This is done to
prevent evil spirits from seducing the girl and taking her away to be married,
leaving behind her dead body. At the end of this period she is incorporated
into the community. She cleans herself and puts on a new apron and
ornaments. She is now considered to be an adult female member of the
community.

Female coming-of-age rituals may also occur as a group ritual. In this case
the ritual usually occurs several years before the onset of puberty to ensure
that the ritual is completed before the onset of menstruation.

Initiation rituals for boys are often more elaborate than those for girls.
Because boys lack a clearly defined physiological event to mark the onset of
puberty, the timing of male initiation is fairly arbitrary. Male initiation rituals
are usually group rituals in which all of the boys of a certain age range in a
community are periodically rounded up to go through the ritual as a group.

Male initiation ceremonies are usually characterized by relatively short
separation and incorporation phases. The separation phase may be very
sudden, as when masked dancers tear the boys away from their families
without warning. The incorporation phase may simply be a reintroduction of
the boys, now occupying their new status as men, to the community, followed
by feasting.

Transition and liminality

Initiates in the transition stage, especially in those rituals in which this stage

lasts for a significant period of time, are in an out-of-the-ordinary situation.
They have shed their previous identification and place in society but have yet
to take on the mantle of their new status. Their ambiguous position and the
fact that they are marginal to their society—often in a real sense if they are
removed to a special camp away from the village—are represented
symbolically.

An often-encountered metaphor for a rite of passage is the cycle of death
and rebirth. Separation is symbolized by death, and incorporation by rebirth.
The period of time between death and rebirth is a time of mystery during
which the initiate undergoes a metamorphosis from one kind of human being
to another. Just as the process of change within an insect’s cocoon is hidden
from view and therefore mysterious, the activities surrounding the
transitional phase may be hidden from view from women and uninitiated
boys.

Initiates within this transition period are said to be in a liminal state.
Liminality is the state of ambiguous marginality during which the
metamorphosis takes place. As such, it is symbolically represented by a
number of attributes. Victor Turner provides us with a list of features that
characterize the liminal state. The first column in Table 4.3 lists some of the
properties of liminality, which are contrasted in the second column with the
normal state.

Table 4.3 Characteristics of liminality

Liminality Normal state

Transition State

Communitas Structure

Equality Inequality

Anonymity Systems of nomenclature

Absence of property Property

Absence of status Status

Nakedness or uniform clothing Distinctions of clothing

Sexual continence Sexuality

Absence of rank Distinctions of rank

Humility Just pride of position

Disregard for personal appearance Care for personal appearance

Unselfishness Selfishness

Total obedience Obedience only to superior rank

Sacredness Secularity

Silence Speech

Simplicity Complexity

Acceptance of pain and suffering Avoidance of pain and suffering
Source: Adapted from Victor Turner, “Liminality and Communitas,” in The Ritual Process:
Structure and Anti-Structure (Chicago: Aldine, 1969), pp. 94–113, 125–130.

An important feature of the state of liminality is summed up by the term
communitas. Within this state not only is there a sense of equality, but the
mere fact that a group of individuals is moving through the process together
brings about a sense of community and camaraderie. This is what occurs in
the Islamic hajj, in which all pilgrims wear the same white garments and
perform the same rituals regardless of wealth or social standing. The sense of
belonging transcends the tremendous ethnic diversity of the pilgrims who
gather together from all over the world.

In many traditional societies the boys who are initiated together form very
close bonds and will usually remain close friends throughout their lives. In
some African societies this group of males will form a formal group known as
an age set. Age sets cut across other group boundaries, such as clans and
lineages, and create solidarity between groups that often are opposed to one
another. Age sets serve a number of functions and may serve as important
social units, such as military units.

Members of an age set may move together through various age grades. An
age grade is a specific status defined by age, such as warrior or elder. We can
think of a system of age grades as a classification of an individual into age
categories. An individual or a group such as an age set will move through a
series of age grades during his or her life. Here the distinction is more
complex than just a transition from child to adult, and rites of passage often
mark the entrance into each age grade.

Apache rite of passage

The coming-of-age ceremony for Apache (Southwest culture area) girls is a
periodic ritual, held every July. The ritual lasts four days, mirroring the four
days of creation. For the duration of the ceremony the girls are seen as
reincarnations of the culture heroine White Painted Woman. The Apache say
that White Painted Woman first appeared as a young girl, arriving from the
east. She grew to adulthood, during which time she was associated with the
south. As she grew older, she was associated with the west, the direction
taken by those who die. As a very old woman she was associated with the
north. However, after she died, she appeared again the next day as a young
woman in the east. Thus White Painted Woman symbolizes the cycle of
women’s lives. The girls wear special costumes that contain many items
symbolic of White Painted Woman.

Every evening there is singing and dancing. On the first night the songs
refer to the first day of creation and so on until the last evening. The ritual
that is performed on the fourth night is called pulling the sun. This ritual must
be carefully planned and timed. The ritual specialists, known as singers, sing
four sun-pulling songs, moving their hands, which have been painted with
sun symbols, into different positions. As the last verse of the song is sung, the
singers raise their hands over their heads. As the last note is sung, the sun
rises over the mountains and falls on the singers’ raised hands.

After this ritual is completed, the girls run back to the places where they are
staying during the ritual, but they are not seen doing this because four large
poles that were erected at the start of the ceremony now come crashing down,
causing the other people to turn and look at the source of the noise. The next
time the girls are seen, they are adult women. As the final component, the
girl’s singer comes to the girl to recite her genealogy to her. The Apache are a
matrilineal society, tracing kinship through the women. The singer places
three small bits of food in the girl’s mouth, and her godmother places a fourth
bit of food. This symbolizes the girl being fed by all the women, of all time, of
her tribe.

Secular rites of passage

We find a number of secular rites of passage and other nonreligious activities
that have many of the characteristics of rites of passage. One of these is basic
military training, which has many of the characteristics of coming-of-age rites
in tribal societies. The recruits are physically removed to an isolated and
special place, the military base, where they shed their civilian clothing, have
their hair cut, and are issued a standardized uniform. Civilian occupational
specializations and socioeconomic ranks become irrelevant. The actual
training has many of the features of transition, including the development of
communitas, equality, total obedience, acceptance of pain, and many other
features of liminality listed in Table 4.3. Graduation from basic training would
be the beginning of incorporation. However, there is one major difference
between military training and tribal coming-of-age rituals. After completing
military service, the individuals often return to the status they occupied before
induction and undergo a period of readjustment during which they discard
their military identity.

Another example is the experience of a patient entering a hospital.
Separation begins when the patient enters the hospital and has his clothes
taken away from him and is given a standardized “uniform.” The actual
medical procedures represent transitions as the individual is in some way
changed. Some of the experiences of the patient resemble features of a liminal
state. Discharge represents incorporation. However, unlike the typical rite of
passage, the process seldom results in a permanent change of status that is
acknowledged by the society, except perhaps in the case of permanent
disability.

Alterations of the human body

All peoples have cultural images of themselves that serve to separate them
from the rest of the animal world. Physical appearance serves to distinguish
individuals socially with regard to such attributes as gender, age, social status,
and occupation as well as membership in age and social groups. Many rituals
involve temporary alterations of the human body, as when paint is applied to
the body to symbolize that an individual is in a liminal state. Changes in
status through rites of passage are often marked with changes in dress and

hair style that mark the individual’s new status.
Other alterations are more permanent changes to the human body. The

process of producing the alteration creates a situation in which the individual
must endure a painful procedure. Being able to have one’s body cut, pierced,
tattooed, and scarred without showing pain is often a critical element in rites
of passage. The experience and acceptance of pain is an important feature of
liminality, and this pain may play a role in developing an altered state of
consciousness (Chapter 5), an important aspect of a ritual experience.

Tattooing and other permanent alterations

The oldest evidence we have of tattooing have been discovered on the body of
Őtzi, also known as the Iceman. Discovered in 1991, his mummified remains
had been buried under glacial ice for 5,300 years. The tattoos appear to have
been produced by puncturing the skin and rubbing charcoal into the wounds.
A recent analysis inventoried a total of 61 simple tattoos, such as lines and
crosses, on his body. Of course it is not possible to know for certain the
purpose of this tattooing. However, many are located on either side of the
spine and over joints that show some degree of degeneration. Perhaps they
were created as part of some therapeutic ritual.

The history of tattooing in more recent American and European cultures
can be traced to the voyages of James Cook in the eighteenth century. Many
of Cook’s sailors were tattooed during their stay in Tahiti, and the word tattoo
is derived from the Tahitian word ta-tu, meaning “to mark or strike.”
Tattooing involves piercing or cutting the skin and then introducing a
pigment into the wound. In contemporary Western societies this is done with
an electronic device, but the principle is the same (Figure 4.1a).

The social implications of tattooing in Western society have varied. At
times it has been a fad among the aristocracy or members of particular social
groups, such as sailors, gangs, and prisoners. In this context a tattoo served as
a mark of social identity. At other times tattooing has been a way to express
dissatisfaction with the social order and was a way to distance oneself from
the mainstream society. Tattoos also serve a religious purpose when one
places a religious symbol or a memorial to a loved one permanently on their

skin.

Figure 4.1 Alterations of the human body. (a) Maori (New Zealand) facial tattoos, early
twentieth century; (b) woman from Frankfurt, Germany, with tattoos and facial piercings;
(c) Mangbetu (Democratic Republic of the Congo) woman with elongated head and monkey
bone through her ear.

Closely related to tattooing is cicatrization or scarification. This is
frequently seen in peoples with dark skin on whom tattoos would not show
well. In scarification, a piece of skin is raised and cut, and some material, such
as ash, is rubbed in to encourage the production of scars. Closely related to
cicatrization is branding, in which the scars are created by burns.

Another common alteration of the body involves piercing some body part
(Figure 4.1b). Many American women, and some men, bore holes into their
earlobes to hang earrings. The hole may be enlarged so that a plug can be
inserted, or weights may be attached so that the earlobe will be stretched. A
few societies pierce the lower lip and insert a round plate. People may also
pierce their nose, eyebrow, lips, tongue, nipples, and even genitals. A socially
conservative woman might pierce her ears to wear fashionable diamond
earrings; her rebellious child might pierce her nose or eyebrow as a symbolic
act of rebellion; a youth from the Amazon may have his ears pierced as part of
a coming-of-age ritual.

Some societies see white teeth as resembling the teeth of animals. To create
a boundary between humans and nonhuman animals, teeth are often knocked
out, filed into various shapes, or colored, most often blackened. Other body
parts can be removed, most frequently a finger joint. The bones of the skull in
infants are quite pliable, and pressure on these bones will cause them to

deform. Sometimes such deformation results unintentionally from various
practices such as the flattening of the back of the head in infants on
cradleboards. In other societies, such as the Maya, the heads of infants born
into high social classes were deliberately bound to alter their shape (Figure
4.1c).

Genital cutting

Circumcision, the removal of the foreskin of the penis, is commonly found in
many cultures. In Judaism the circumcision ceremony is referred to as a Berit
Mila (often called a bris). Berit means covenant and Mila means to cut, so a
Berit Mila cuts, as in marks, the covenant with God. The ritual is a
prescriptive one and is based on a passage from Genesis:

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy
seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between
me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the
covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among
you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with
money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

(Genesis 17:9–12)

The circumcision is performed by a ritual specialist, known as a mohel. The
ritual also includes a formal naming of the child. For girls the ceremony is
called a Brit Bat (or Covenant of Daughters) and includes the naming portion
only.

Circumcision is also traditional in Islam. However, here circumcision often
takes place later, frequently around the age of seven, although the age varies
from soon after birth to the time of puberty. In the latter case the circumcision
ritual becomes a true puberty ritual.

There are other modifications of the penis found in many traditional
cultures. Perhaps the best known is subincision. In subincision the underside
of the penis is cut and the urethra slit open. The length of the slit varies. In
some cases, the cut is deep enough to fork the tip of the penis. Some
Australian aborigines considered this symbolic of a serpent deity; in other

aboriginal groups the subincision was reopened periodically for ritual
bleeding.

Surgeries that are to a degree analogous to male circumcision are also
found in females in many cultures. There are several forms of what is
sometimes known as female circumcision or genital cutting. The simplest
forms are where the prepuce (analogous to the male foreskin) of the clitoris or
a part of the clitoris itself is removed. Sometimes the labia minora is removed
with the clitoris. These forms are referred to as clitoridectomy. The more
extreme forms are termed infibulation. In Pharaonic infibulation, found in
many areas of northeastern Africa, the entire clitoris, labia minora, and labia
majora are removed and the remnants of the latter are sewn together leaving
a small opening for urination and the passing of menstrual blood. This surgery
prevents sexual intercourse and is a requirement for marriage. The wound is
reopened by or for sexual intercourse.

Female cutting may be done at adolescence as a part of a rite of passage, but
it is often performed much earlier. The procedure is seen as protecting the
family’s honor and controlling female sexuality. Although many individuals
who do female genital cutting believe that such an action is prescribed by the
Qur’an, it is actually nowhere in the Qur’an. Actually the practice predates
both Islam and Christianity and is practiced in some Christian communities.

Many international organizations, including the United Nations, are
working to eliminate the practice of genital cutting. On one hand this is seen
as a public health issue, especially because the surgery is frequently performed
under unsanitary conditions by individuals not trained in proper medical and
surgical techniques. The practice is associated with infections, infertility, and
even death. On the other hand it is seen as a human rights issue, cast as
violence against women and children.

Another element in the discussions of genital cutting echoes the discussion
of cultural relativism in Chapter 1. Genital cutting is an essential element in
many religious practices, including Islam and Judaism, which practice male
circumcision. And there are many who see male circumcision as genital
mutilation. What is to one community an expression of religion and culture
may be to another community a violation of basic human rights. The big
questions are, where is the line to be drawn and who gets to draw it?

Pilgrimages

In Chapter 2 we looked at stories that tell of the creation of the earth and of
humankind. In particular, we read the story of creation in Genesis and the
story of creation as told by the Navaho. One difference between the Judeo-
Christian and Navaho stories is that the former takes place at a location that
cannot be located on a modern map or visited by tourists. The Garden of Eden
may be a supernatural place or a place whose location has been lost. In either
case it is far removed from the immediate landscape of people who read the
narrative.

By contrast, the Navaho live in the midst of the landscape of the creation.
As they move through their world, they point to mountains, streams, and rock
formations that are mentioned in their myths. The landscape is a constant
reminder of their mythological past, and they interact with this past on a daily
basis.

All religions are associated with sacred places that are mentioned in their
religious stories, places associated with important events in the past. The
Muslims have the Kaaba in Mecca; the Jews have the Temple wall in
Jerusalem; Christians have places in Jerusalem that are recounted in the story
of Jesus; Buddhists have relics of the Buddha that are housed in particular
temples; Hindus have the River Ganges. These are important focal points for
religious practice.

There are also sacred places where miraculous events have taken place in
more recent times. In Mexico the story is told of a native who was baptized
into the Catholic Church in 1525 and became known by his Christian name of
Juan Diego. According to legend, in 1531 an image of the Virgin Mary
appeared to Juan Diego and left a likeness of herself on his cloak. The cloak
bearing the image resides today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in
Mexico City (Figure 4.2). The basilica has become a major sacred site. People
come to this site for many reasons; some are seeking cures for illness. Juan
Diego was made a saint of the Catholic Church in 2002.

A journey to a sacred place is often referred to as a pilgrimage. A
pilgrimage can also be a series of rituals that are associated with a sequence of
sacred spaces. In terms of our classification of rituals, each ritual in the
sequence of rituals is a social rite of intensification, although therapy rituals

are often included. In fact, the purpose of a pilgrimage may be to seek a
supernatural cure for an illness.

One of the best-known pilgrimage sites in the Christian world is Lourdes,
France. From February through July 1858, Bernadette Soubirous witnessed a
total of eighteen apparitions of the Virgin Mary at a grotto near the town of
Lourdes. Today the grotto is the site of pilgrimages by Catholics seeking a
cure from illness.

Figure 4.2 Our Lady of Guadalupe. Painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the wall of the
Atotonilco Sanctuary in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico.

A pilgrimage often can be seen as a rite of passage. Such a journey may be
a requirement of a religion, and a person returning from a pilgrimage may

have achieved a new status or position in the community. The experience of
participating in a pilgrimage may include the three phases beginning with
separation (traveling from one’s home to the sacred place or to the beginning
of the journey to several sacred places). During the rituals that occur at a
sacred site or series of sites, the pilgrim is in a liminal state that is
characteristic of the transition phase. Finally, at the end the individual
reenters the everyday world, often with some symbol of having participated
in the pilgrimage.

Pilgrimages also may involve visiting a number of related sites. One of the
best known of such pilgrimages, and certainly one that involves large
numbers of participants, is the Islamic hajj. This involves a prescribed visit to
a series of sacred sites with specific ritual activities occurring at each one. The
hajj is described in Box 4.1.

Box 4.1 The Hajj

One of the Five Pillars of Islam, which form the framework of Muslim
life, is the hajj, or the pilgrimage to Mecca. All Muslims who are able to
do so are expected to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their
lifetime. The hajj begins on the eighth day of Dhul-Hijjah (month for
Hajj), the twelfth month of the Islamic year, and lasts for as long as six
days. Every year, more than two million pilgrims from all over the world
go to Mecca during this month. The hajj includes a series of rituals and
symbols that are intended to bring the pilgrim as close as possible to
God. A common act during the hajj is a constant repetition of the
Shahadah, or statement of belief. This creed states that “La ilaha ill-Allah
Muhammad-un Rasulu-llah” (“There is no God but Allah, and
Mohammad is the Messenger of God”).

Although there is some variation, what follows is a basic description
of the sequence of events that make up the hajj. Before entering Mecca,
the pilgrims stop at designated places outside the city to conduct
cleansing rituals. As part of this cleansing, men cut their nails, trim their
beards, and put on a white seamless garment. (Women also wear white,
but no particular dress is prescribed.) By wearing this special clothing, all

pilgrims become alike, symbolic of the Islamic belief that all Muslims are
equal before God regardless of social status or wealth. This garment is
also like a burial shroud, which symbolizes dying or turning away from
earthly life to devote all attention to God.

The pilgrims then move into the Great Mosque, which can hold up to
500,000 pilgrims at a time. Here the pilgrims walk around the Kaaba
seven times. The Kaaba is a black stone that stands 13 meters (43 feet)
high, engraved with the sacred names of Allah. It was already a sacred
object in Mecca before the time of Mohammad. The Qur’an says that
Abraham and Ishmael together built the Kaaba, and it is also thought to
be the site of Adam’s original place of worship.

The pilgrims then travel to the plain of Mina, three miles from Mecca.
According to the Qur’an, Mina and other sites such as Arafat are places
where the word of God was revealed through Mohammad. After going
to Mina, the pilgrims move on to the Arafat Valley, where Muslims
believe Mohammad delivered his last sermon. The pilgrims gather stones
and return to Mina. The stones are thrown at the Jamraat, three pillars
that represent places where Satan tried to tempt Abraham from
following the path of Allah. This act is symbolic of Abraham throwing
stones at Satan when he tried to dissuade Abraham from sacrificing his
son. Also related to this event is the ritual sacrifice of a sheep. This is
seen as a reminder of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son,
even though God’s mercy allowed the substitution of a ram. The meat is
distributed to family, friends, and the needy. Finally, the pilgrims return
to the Great Mosque to again circle the Kaaba.

After completion of the rituals the pilgrims reenter normal life. They
cut their hair, feast, and may engage in sexual intercourse. On returning
home, they often wear special clothing, are given a special title, and
assume important positions within their communities.

The Huichol pilgrimage

The Huichol are a Native American people living in the Sierra Madre

Occidental of central Mexico (Mesoamerican culture area). A key element of
their religious traditions is the annual journey of more than 300 miles to
Wirikuta, an area located east of their villages. This is a sacred journey. It
reenacts the journey of the Ancient Ones, the Huichol ancestors, that took
place during the creation of their world.

During the dry season, between October and February, small groups of
pilgrims, each led by a shaman, leave their villages to travel to Wirikuta.
Many objects are collected and prepared for the journey, including candles,
small yarn paintings, coins, and special arrows. Each pilgrim assumes the role
of one of the Ancient Ones. This is more than play acting, for they become the
gods they represent. The shaman leading the pilgrimage becomes Grandfather
Fire.

As the Huichol pilgrims journey on foot (or today partly by bus or truck),
they visit a number of sacred sites, such as water holes and caves. At each of
these places the story of the journey of the Ancient Ones and their visit to the
sacred place is told. Offerings are made, and prayers are recited, as social rites
of intensification are performed.

Finally, they reach the sacred land, where they find the peyote cactus, the
“footprint of the deer.” After being ritually “killed” and after offerings have
been made, the cactus is collected and eaten. Peyote contains a hallucinogen.
The Huichol believe that by eating the peyote, they see what the gods see.
(The use of hallucinogens in religious rituals is discussed in Chapter 5.)

Religious obligations

There are a number of simple religious ritual acts that are usually performed
by an individual or a small group such as a family. A Christian says grace
before eating a meal. A Jew entering a building kisses the mezuzah, a small
case attached to the door frame in which lies a parchment with verses from
the Torah. A Buddhist lights a candle in a household shrine.

There are other ceremonial obligations that might not involve obvious
ritual activity but do entail a series of obligations and avoidances of particular
objects, foods, and activities that are found in daily life. For example, virtually

all cultures have certain foods that are served only on ceremonial occasions.
Other foods may be forbidden to all members of the community or certain
members of the society at particular points in time.

Tabu

In a society some objects and people may be off limits and are said to be tabu.
The term tabu also refers to inappropriate modes of interpersonal behaviors.
These are often phrased in terms of pollution. It would bring dishonor, bad
luck, or some other negative result for a person to have contact with someone
or something that is tabu.

Things that are sacred can be thought of as possessing supernatural power
and are therefore off limits to most individuals. Contact with the supernatural
can be dangerous. Priests must perform rituals to safeguard themselves and
the community against this danger. This is not malicious power. It is neutral,
like electricity. If you stick a wet finger into an electric socket, you will
receive a large jolt of electricity, and perhaps you will die. The electricity is
not evil, but it is powerful. When properly harnessed, it can be used to light
our homes, run machinery, and so forth.

One of the most sacred objects in the Torah is the ark that carried the stone
tablets from Mount Sinai to Jerusalem to be installed in the Temple. The
journey of the ark to Jerusalem was not a simple one, and many of the
episodes that occurred on this journey illustrate how dangerous the ark was.
Not only was the ark a sacred object, but also God had declared that only
Aaron and his descendants were allowed to touch it. On one occasion, as the
ark approached the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen that were pulling the
cart that carried the ark stumbled. One of the followers, Uzzah, reached out to
steady the ark. After all, it would have been a sacrilege to let the ark fall to the
ground. Yet we are told that Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark,
“And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him
there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:7). In
other words, Uzzah’s death was not the result of some evil activity. In fact his
steadying of the ark was a good thing; but his contact with such a holy object,
in the absence of ritual, resulted in his death.

The response to breaking a tabu is thought to be automatic rather than
being at the decision of a deity. Sometimes nothing can be done to save the
individual who has broken the tabu, but often there are ritual means of
mending the situation.

Mana and tabu in Polynesia

The concept of tabu in Polynesia can be seen in the etiquette surrounding the
chief. Again, this relates to the idea of things that possess supernatural power
being seen as dangerous and often best avoided. In Polynesia this supernatural
power is described by the term mana. Mana is an impersonal supernatural
force that is found concentrated in special places in the landscape, in
particular objects, and in certain people.

In some cases it is possible for an individual to gain or manipulate mana,
thus tapping into a source of supernatural power that then can be used for
some purpose. Frequently, mana is granted to a person by a supernatural
being. In Polynesia mana comes from the gods. The chief, as a direct
descendant of the gods, has the most mana, followed by his relatives and so
on down through the hierarchy. Mana does flow from one thing to another,
but it is part of the chief’s role to be a reservoir and conductor of mana.

However, because of the chief’s great amount of mana, he constitutes an
involuntary menace to those around him, who have a lesser capacity for
mana. Thus many tabus are in place to protect others from this power. Not
only is it tabu to touch the chief himself, but because the chief’s mana also
runs into everything he uses, it also is dangerous to use his furniture or even
use his fire to cook with. In some places the chief was even carried around on
a litter because if he walked on a path with his own feet, the path became
forever dangerous, or tabu, to commoners.

Jewish food laws

Many cultures have complex systems of food prohibitions. These prohibitions
may apply to the entire community, or they may apply only to individuals of

a particular age, gender, or social position.
Kashrut is the Jewish law regarding what foods can and cannot be eaten

and how foods must be prepared. Kashrut comes from the Hebrew root Kaf-
Shin-Resh, meaning fit, proper, or correct. The more commonly known word
kosher comes from the same root. Kosher foods are those that are proper
according to the Kashrut. Food that is not kosher is referred to as treyf.
Although some have tried to analyze these rules in terms of early health
regulations, Jews who observe these dietary laws do so because the Torah says
to do so. No other reason is necessary. (Rules similar to the Jewish dietary
laws are also found in Islam, in which permitted foods are halal and
prohibited foods are haram.)

The rules for keeping kosher include eating only land mammals that have
cloven hoofs and chew their cud. (“Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is
clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat”
[Leviticus 11:3].) This is why eating pork is not allowed.

Even animals that are allowed to be eaten must be slaughtered ritually. This
ritual slaughter is known as shechitah and is performed by a ritual specialist, a
shochet. The ritual slaughter is done by a quick, deep stroke across the
animal’s throat with a perfectly sharp blade. This method is seen as being the
most humane method of slaughter possible. It ensures a rapid and complete
draining of the blood as well, which is also a kosher rule. The prohibition of
the consumption of blood is the only dietary law that has a reason given in
the Torah: The life of the animal is contained in the blood. (“Moreover ye shall
eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or beast, in any of your
dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that
soul shall be cut off from his people” [Leviticus 7:26–27].)

Many of these obligations serve to provide a social identity to a group and
to clearly separate that community from its neighbors. They also serve to
separate different subgroups from one another in a multicultural society. For
example, members of a particular group might wear special clothing that
marks them as members of that group, such as a wearing a turban or other
head covering, or might alter the appearance of their body, such as growing a
beard. Particular behaviors and food prohibitions also serve as symbols of
group identity and as barriers to social interactions between different social
units. If you cannot eat with someone, it becomes difficult to engage in close
social interactions. Such prohibitions play important roles in defining religious

groups and keeping them intact.

Box 4.2 Menstrual tabus

One common category of tabus found cross-culturally is menstrual tabus.
Common rules include spending time in menstrual huts, refraining from
cooking or eating certain foods, restricting contact with males (especially
in regards to sex), and bathing in special locations and/or times. Many of
these tabus separate women from men and are seen as protecting men
from possible pollution.

The Mehinaku, an Amazonian group, tell the following myth about
the origins of menstruation.

A long time ago the Sun (Kama) wanted to have sex with Spirit Woman
(Apapainyeineju). Oh, but her labia were long. The Sun took her by the wrist and
said, “Let’s have sex!” To which she replied, “Ah, not me. My vagina is very
dangerous and frightening. Inside there is stinging ant, Mein. Inside there are
snakes, such as Mekhe and others. Inside is Scorpion, Yucapanu. If it gets you,
then you will really be sick. There are many of these between my labia too. I am
really dangerous and frightening.”

The Sun went into the forest and returned with fish poison and dredged it into
Spirit Woman’s vagina, just as he would have done into a pool. Out floated all of
the dangerous animals. Out came the snakes, then the spiders, and the scorpion.
All of these came out but one tiny piranha that remained lodged deep inside her.

“This is good,” said the Sun, and he gave tiny piranha to all the women. Each
month the piranha bite the women and make them bleed. Sometimes, the woman
can feel the piranha bite, and tell their husbands, “Soon I am going to have my
period.”4

As seen in the myth, for the Mehinaku, female genitalia is seen as a
source of danger and possible injury. This remains true beyond mythic
times as menstruating women are seen as contaminating food which can
cause an illness with chest pains and a cough. Although this illness is not
serious for women, it is for men and can even cause death.

Menstrual tabus are found in the world religions as well. In Judaism,
menstrual blood is considered ritually unclean. Leviticus 18:19 states,
“Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness,
as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness” and women are forbidden

from making any physical contact with men during menstruation and
for the week following. At the end of this time, the woman immerses
herself in a mikvah, a ritual bath.

Restrictions for Muslim women are for religious functions only and
are based on the Qur’an 2:22 which states, “They question thee (O
Muhammad) concerning menstruation. Say it is an illness so let women
alone at such times and go not into them until they are cleansed. And
when they have purified themselves, then go unto them as Allah hath
enjoined upon you.” A menstruating woman may not enter a shrine or
mosque, and may not pray, fast, or touch or recite from the Qur’an. She
must refrain from sex and complete a ritual washing before she is
considered clean again.

Conclusion

In the last few chapters we have introduced many basic concepts in the study
of religion, such as worldview, narratives, symbols, and rituals. As we
progress through the book and discuss new ideas and practices, it is important
to keep in mind how these different elements are related to one another. We
discussed in the last chapter the connection between worldview, symbols, and
religious narratives. In this chapter we added ritual to the mix.

We defined a religious ritual as a repetitive, patterned act that involves the
manipulation of religious symbols. In Chapter 3 we discussed how religious
symbols are often based on specific episodes recounted in religious narratives
and that they represent a specific worldview. On another level we see that
rituals are often reenactments of, or directly reference, specific religious
narratives. In the examples in this chapter we saw that Navaho sand paintings
represent important religious stories, that the Huichol pilgrimage retraces the
path of the Ancient Ones as told in religious narratives, and that the Jewish
Passover ritual is based on the book of Exodus, just to name a few.

Ritual itself is an essential component of religious practice. The ritual
expresses important worldviews through the retelling of sacred narratives and

the manipulation of fundamental symbols. Participation in a ritual is usually a
group event and constitutes an expression not just of the beliefs of the group,
but also of group solidarity. In the next chapter, in our discussion of altered
states of consciousness, we will further discuss the important psychological
impact of rituals. In the words of Anthony Wallace, “Ritual is religion in
action; it is the cutting edge of the tool … It is ritual which accomplishes what
religion sets out to do.”5

Summary

A religious ritual is a standardized, repetitive sequence of activities that
involves the manipulation of religious symbols such as prayers, offerings, and
readings of sacred literature. Rituals are often based on and are sanctioned in
myths that articulate the underlying worldview of a culture, and these tenets
are embedded in the rituals that are performed by a society. Prescriptive
rituals are ones that are required to be performed by some religious authority;
situational rituals are performed because of a particular need of an individual
or a community. Periodic rituals are performed as part of a religious calendar;
occasional rituals are performed when a particular need arises.

There are many types of rituals. Technological rituals attempt to influence
or control nature, such as hunting and gathering rites of intensification that
influence nature in the quest for food, protective rituals that serve to protect
individuals in some dangerous or unpredictable activity, and divination
rituals. Therapy rituals are healing rituals; anti-therapy rituals are performed
to bring about illness and death. Ideological rituals serve to maintain the
normal functioning of a society. These include the familiar social rite of
intensification that reinforces religious and social beliefs and values and the
rite of passage that marks an individual’s movement from one status to
another. Rites of passage include birth, coming-of-age, marriage, and death
rituals as well as many secular rituals such as graduations, inaugurations, and
coronations. Three phases can usually be identified within a rite of passage:
separation, transition, and incorporation.

In addition to these there are many small rituals and obligations that are

demanded of adherents of particular religions. This includes the concept of
tabu. Things that are tabu are separated from the society and are often
considered to be sacred.

Study questions

1. Rituals are an important part of academic life, be they graduation
ceremonies or pregame pep rallies. What are some of the rituals that
are performed at your school? Are any rituals performed at your
workplace? How would you classify these rituals?

2. Disasters often precipitate religious rituals. Describe some of the
ritual activities that immediately followed the September 11, 2001,
tragedy. What kinds of rituals were they? What functions did they
serve?

3. Discuss a rite of passage that you have attended. Identify and
describe the three phases.

4. When one enters a hospital as a patient, one’s clothes and personal
property are taken away and one is treated in a fashion that is very
different from how one is treated outside the hospital. Do you think
that a hospital stay can be considered a rite of passage? Why or why
not? If so, can the three phases be identified?

5. How is adulthood defined in U.S. culture? At what point is one
considered an adult? Is there a rite or several rites of passage that
mark this transition? How does the lack of a formal marker of
adulthood complicate this transition?

6. Many religions mandate specific ritual obligations. How do these
obligations function in society? How do they influence interpersonal
relationships between members of different religious groups?

7. If you have a chance, observe individuals from a particular religious
group. Describe differences in dress and other behaviors. Would you
label these ritual obligations?

Suggested readings

Mark J. Plotkin, Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice (New York: Viking, 1993).
[The story of an ethnobotanist’s search for new medicines in the Amazon.]

Tepilit Ole Saitoti, The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1988).

[An autobiography of a Maasai from Tanzania.]

Marjorie Shostak, Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman (4th edn)
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000).

[The story of the life of a !Kung woman from the Kalahari Desert of southern
Africa told both in her own words and in the words of the author.]

Suggested websites

http://tahtonka.com/religion.html
Native American arts, humanities, and culture.

https://oukosher.org
Kosher laws.

http://web.haj.gov.sa/english/Pages/default.aspx
Official website of the Ministry of Hajj, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Notes

1 A. F. C. Wallace, Religion: An Anthropological View (New York: Random House, 1966).

2 D. F. Pelly, The Sacred Hunt (Vancouver: D&M Publishers, 2001), p. 28.

3 H. Basedow, The Australian Aboriginal (Adelaide, Australia: Preece, 1925).

4 T. Gregor, Anxious Pleasures: The Sexual Lives of an Amazonian People (Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1987), p. 142.

5 A. F. C. Wallace, op. cit., p. 102.

Chapter 5
Altered states of consciousness

Religion is a system of beliefs and behaviors that deals with the relationship
between humans and the sacred supernatural. In interacting with the
supernatural world, an individual may have experiences that transcend
ordinary experiences, such as a trance or hallucination. These religious
experiences are subjective; they manifest themselves on an emotional and
psychological level. These emotions range from fear and anxiety, to a
generalized feeling of well-being, to a profound experience in which a person
feels an association with supernatural power or a supernatural entity such as a
spirit or a god. These experiences and emotions are important elements in
religious practices.

These experiences are called altered states of consciousness. In its
simplest sense, an altered state of consciousness is any mental state that is
recognized by the individual or observer as differing from a normal state.
Daydreaming and the feeling that comes from drinking a little too much
alcohol are examples of mental states that can be subjectively identified by the
individual, and/or seen by observers, as being different from that individual’s
normal, alert mental state. Although everyone experiences altered states of
consciousness to some degree, in both religious and nonreligious contexts, in
many cultures these states are encouraged and are interpreted by the culture
as important religious experiences.

The nature of altered states of consciousness

The definition of an altered state of consciousness is a subjective one that
includes a wide variety of phenomena. Table 5.1 lists some of the experiences
that characterize altered states. Which particular mental state is experienced
and the intensity of that experience depend on a number of factors, including
the nature of the factor responsible for an individual entering an altered state,
the context of the experience, the individual’s and society’s expectation, and
the physical and mental condition of the individual.

Entering an altered state of consciousness

Altered states of consciousness can be brought about by a number of
physiological, psychological, and pharmaceutical factors. Table 5.2 lists a
number of situations that can bring about an altered state of consciousness.
Many of these factors occur in religious practices and are given a religious
interpretation.

Table 5.1 Characteristics of altered states of consciousness

Alterations in thinking: disturbances in concentration, attention, memory, and
judgment; reality testing impaired to varying degrees; distinction between

cause and effect blurred

Disturbed time sense: altered sense of time and chronology; feelings of
timelessness; time coming to a standstill; the acceleration or slowing of time

seen as infinitely long or infinitesimally short

Loss of control: fear of losing grip on reality and self-control; feelings of
helplessness; in spirit possession states the person relinquishes control

Change in emotional expression: sudden and unexpected displays of
emotional extremes; individual may become detached and uninvolved

Body image change: distortion in body image; a schism between body and
mind; dissolution of boundaries between self and others and the universe;

various parts of the body appear or feel shrunken, enlarged, distorted, heavy,
weightless, disconnected; spontaneous experiences of dizziness, blurring of

vision

Perceptual distortions: hallucinations; increased visual imagery; synesthesia,
in which one form of sensory experience is translated into other form, such as

in seeing or feeling sound

Change in meaning or significance: attach increased meaning or significance
to experiences; feelings of perceptiveness and insight

Sense of an indescribable experience: inability to communicate the experience
to someone who has not undergone a similar experience; varying degrees of

amnesia; sometimes a lucid memory

Feelings of rejuvenation: experience a new sense of hope and rebirth;
hypersuggestibility, in which the person comes to rely more on the

suggestions of the religious practitioner; contradictions, doubts,
inconsistencies, and inhibitions tend to diminish; suggestions of the person

endowed with authority accepted as concrete reality

Based on A. M. Ludwig, “Altered States of Consciousness,” in C. Tart, Altered States of
Consciousness (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1969), pp. 9–22.

Table 5.2 Factors bringing about an altered state of consciousness

Production of altered state
of consciousness

Examples

Reduction of external
stimulation and/or motor

activity

Solitary confinement, prolonged social and
stimulus deprivation, altered states while falling

asleep or waking up, dreaming

Constant exposure to
repetitive stimulation

Prolonged drumming or repetitive dance
movements (e.g., whirling dervishes)

Increase of external
stimulation (sensory

overload) and/or
strenuous physical

activity

Third-degree tactics, spirit possession states,
ecstatic trance

Increased alertness or
mental involvement Prolonged vigilance, intense mental absorption in a

sustained over time task

Decreased alertness;
passive state of mind;

reduction in goal-directed
thinking

States attained through meditation, daydreaming,
cognitive and muscular relaxation (e.g., while

floating on the water or sunbathing)

Alterations in body
chemistry or physiology

of nervous system

Hypoglycemia (which may be due to fasting),
dehydration, sleep deprivation, hyperventilation,

temporal lobe seizures, administration of
pharmacological substances

Based on A. M. Ludwig, “Altered States of Consciousness,” in C. Tart, Altered States of
Consciousness (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1969), pp. 9–22.

Fasting

Fasting is the act of abstaining from eating food and drinking liquids over a
period of time. The concept of fasting may also include other prohibitions
such as that against sexual intercourse and smoking. There is great variation
in the nature of a fast. In some societies the fast includes all food and drink; in
some the drinking of water is permitted. In still other societies a fast refers to
abstaining from a particular food such as meat.

Fasting leads to an alteration in body chemistry. In response to the absence
of food intake over an extended period of time, the body turns to alternative
means of providing glucose to run the body. Initially fat stores in the liver and
elsewhere are metabolized. On depletion of the fat stores, the body begins to
break down proteins. The feeling of hunger normally disappears after a few
days.

Changes in body chemistry accelerate with intense, prolonged fasting, and
the fasting individual will show the clinical features of starvation. Severe
symptoms of starvation, including death, have occurred in religious fasting;
this is a rare, maladaptive outcome. Because most religious fasts last only a
day or two, or involve some intake of food during the fasting period, the
features of starvation seldom develop. In intense fasting, the psychological

features that are seen include an increase in impulsive and aggressive
behavior, a decrease in competence, and hallucinations. Characteristics
associated with dehydration include fatigue, lethargy, confusion, and
dizziness. Thus fasting can lead to the development of an altered state.

People express many reactions to fasting in a religious context. Of course,
in addition to physiological and psychological features, the cultural
expectations play a major role. Fasting is often seen as a sacrifice to a deity
and frequently accompanies religious rituals. It can be an important element
in the training of religious specialists in which it is seen as a form of
discipline. Fasting also accompanies rituals of atonement as an act of
cleansing.

There are many instances of fasting in both the Old and New Testaments.
For example, Moses fasted for forty days and forty nights while he was on the
mountain with God. Jesus also fasted for forty days and forty nights while in
the wilderness.

The Jewish calendar contains a number of fast days. The best known is Yom
Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. On
that day, Jews fast from sunset to sunset the next day. Fasting includes
abstinence from all food and drink, including water, as well as other
prohibitions such as that against sexual intercourse and bathing. Fasting is a
part of the process of achieving atonement.

Fasting is found in some Christian denominations and absent in others.
Fasting accompanies Holy Communion in the Catholic and Orthodox
churches. Here fasting often means abstaining from certain, but not all, foods.
Fasting customs vary greatly in Protestant churches and often accompany a
personal spiritual experience rather than being a part of a ritual. Fasting is
found in some Buddhist sects, and it is an important element of Hindu ritual.

Fasting during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic
calendar, is one of the Pillars of Islam. Fasting includes abstention from food
and water from sunup to sundown, as well as abstention from sex and
smoking. This act is seen as moving the individual closer to God by
abandoning those things that are enjoyable. As the community fasts together,
people are brought together with a heightened sense of community.

Sacred pain

Altered states of consciousness can also result from pain. Pain is a common
theme in religious traditions. It may be a punishment, as in the Christian
legacy of Eve bringing forth children in pain (“in sorrow thou shalt bring
forth children” [Genesis 3:16]) or the Hindu consequences of bad karma. Pain
may be seen as purifying, as with the ascetics and monks who cause
themselves pain of the flesh in this life to avoid greater torment of the soul in
the next life. It is sometimes an enemy or maybe even a weapon, as with
Christ’s battle on the cross. Finally, pain may be seen as transformative or as a
source of supernatural power—pain purifies and is used to achieve exorcism.

Certain levels of pain have an analgesic quality (such as when the dentist
shakes your lip before giving you a Novocain shot or when you rub the elbow
you just banged on something hard). Pain can also induce a euphoric state,
through the body’s production of natural opiates, and may be related to
experiences of dissociation or trance. The voluntary ordeals to which
shamanic initiates and ascetics submit themselves may be related to this
effect. This is also the goal of many participants in modern Western body
modification subcultures who practice suspension (hanging from hooks
piercing their skin).

In our society we tend to think of pain as a very individualistic and even
isolating experience. However, religious pain is often shared pain. Sometimes
this sharing is vicarious. Christianity provides many examples of the
importance of vicarious suffering, including the sacrifice of Christ on the
cross, the existence of hell, and the public executions of witches and heretics.
Some individuals have experienced localized pain in areas of the body that
correspond to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus. Sometimes these are seen as
marks on the body known as stigmata.

Many rituals use pain that is either self-inflicted or inflicted by others. For
example, some funeral rituals involve self-mutilation on the part of mourners
(Chapter 8). Self-inflicted pain is also effective because before performing the
act, people often become very focused, concentrating on the act. They may
also have undergone a period of purification before the act that might include
fasting or lack of sleep.

Among the ancient Maya, male rulers would use small obsidian blades to

perforate the foreskin of their penises, and women would perforate their
tongues and draw strings, often studded with thorns, through their tongues
(Figure 5.1). The blood would fall onto strips of bark paper lying in a
ceremonial bowl. The blood-soaked paper then would be burned as an
offering. The intense pain and blood loss would bring about visions that were
interpreted as the entrance of gods and ancestors into the presence of the
ruler.

In Chapter 4 we examined rites of passage that included coming-of-age
rituals. These rituals often include tattooing, scarring, and circumcision.
Because many of these operations are quite painful, the ability to withstand
pain has become an important element in these rituals. The subject often
enters an altered state of consciousness in the course of undergoing such
painful procedures. This altered state of consciousness often makes it possible
to withstand the pain that is being inflicted.

Pain is also closely linked to emotion and sense of self. In modern Western
medical practice, pain is often seen as being very disruptive and devastating to
a person’s life and sense of self, isolating the individual in his or her own
private world. However, pain can also be experienced as healing and
transformative. In these cases pain is often experienced as the catalyst for
strengthening the person’s sense of self. Instead of being isolating, the pain
experience may reinforce the person’s connections to both the social and
supernatural worlds. Prime examples of changes in identity that occur
through pain experiences are possession and exorcism, both of which will be
discussed in later chapters.

Figure 5.1 Mayan carving. Stone carvings from Temple 23, Yaxchilán, Mexico,
commemorating a ritual performed on October 28, 709 CE, celebrating the birth of Bird-
Jaguar. (a) Lintel 24 shows Lady Xoc pulling a rope studded with thorns through her tongue
as her husband, Shield-Jaguar, holds a torch. (b) Lintel 25 shows Lady Xoc experiencing a
hallucination of a serpent.

A pilgrimage (see Chapter 4) often involves sacred pain that may be
interpreted as a sacrifice, an imitation of the suffering of a god, a penance, a
test, and so on. Again, such pain is related to an altered state of consciousness.
One example comes from the pilgrimage to Sabari Malai in South India. The
pilgrimage follows the path of the god Lord Ayyappan, son of Shiva, and his
encounter with, and defeat of, a female demon. Pilgrims commit themselves to
celibacy, moderate eating, walking with bare feet, and sleeping on the ground.
The pilgrimage is a forty-mile journey, walked barefoot over sharp stones and
hot sand. The pain of this is seen as an essential part of the pilgrimage, the
goal of which is becoming one with Ayyappan. Following is a description by
E. Valentine Daniel of the experience of pain on this pilgrimage:

One tells oneself, “I shall walk on this side or that” or “Look! There’s a patch of grass.
Let me go walk on that. It will make my feet feel good, even though the patch is only
three feet long.” During this phase, one is able to differentiate between the pain caused
by the blisters under one’s toenails and those on one’s heels. Then again, one is able to
distinguish between the pain caused by blisters, wherever they happen to be, and the
pain arising from strained calf muscles and tendons … The headaches caused by the
heat of the noon sun and the load of the iru muti can be distinguished from the pain
resulting from the straps of the knapsack biting into one’s shoulders.

Sooner or later, however, all the different kinds of pain begin to merge … The
experience of pain makes one acutely aware of oneself (ego) as the victim, and the
outside (undifferentiated as roots, stones, and hot sand) as the pain-causing agent …
With time, pain stops having a causative agent, and ego is obscured or snuffed out
because it has nothing to contrast itself with or stand against … There is a “feeling” of
pain, of course, but it is a sensation that has no agent, no tense, and no comparative …
Pain is the only sensation belonging to the eternal present.1

The biological basis of altered states of consciousness

Participants in religious rituals may report being possessed by a spirit or
visited by an angel; they may feel their souls move outside their bodies; they
may become one with the universe. These are real and profound experiences.
But what is occurring within the brain of these individuals? Is there a
biological basis for these altered states of consciousness?

Neurologist Oliver Sacks and others have looked at the relationship
between migraines and religious experiences.2 The term migraine is generally
used to describe a type of headache, but migraines are also associated with
nausea and other physical symptoms. One symptom associated with
migraines is an aura, a type of hallucination. Although auras are most often
visual, they may also involve distortions of other senses.

Culture plays a major role in how the patient interprets an aura. A modern
migraine sufferer might experience a visual aura as pathological, a condition
that makes it difficult to function—for example, to drive a car. (An aura that
consists of floating lights, for example, can severely interfere with normal
vision.) The same visual experience could be interpreted as a vision. In fact,
descriptions of visions were written down and illustrated by Hildegard of
Bingen, a nun and mystic who lived from 1098 to 1179. Her descriptions and
drawings are similar to contemporary descriptions of auras by migraine

patients. Thus a particular experience may be experienced as a medical
condition or, if the culture interprets it that way, a mystical experience.

Of course, migraine auras are not consciously induced, as many religious
altered states are. Research in neurobiology has focused on how rhythmic,
ritualized behavior affects certain parts of the brain. For example, in situations
in which a fast rhythm is being used, such as with vigorous singing and
dancing, the sympathetic system or arousal system of the brain is driven to
higher and higher levels, ultimately becoming overstimulated. When this
happens, the brain essentially selectively shuts down, and certain areas of the
brain stop receiving the neural input that they normally receive and on which
they depend to function normally.

One area of the brain that shuts down when overstimulated is a structure in
the brain known as the orientation association structure. This is the part of
the brain that enables us to sense the boundaries of our body, to distinguish
ourselves from the world around us, and to orient ourselves in space. These
are tasks that we normally take for granted because our brains are functioning
well, but the inability to perform these tasks can cause huge difficulties for
people who have sustained damage to this part of the brain. Imagine trying to
sit down in a chair if you could not tell where you ended and the chair began
or if you did not know exactly where your body was.

The orientation association structure becomes deprived of new information
because of the selective shutdown response to overstimulation of the arousal
system. The result of this is a softening of the boundaries between self and
other. This may be responsible for an altered mental state described by many
religious systems in which the divisions between the self and the outside
world disappear and one feels as being “one” with the universe or
supernatural beings. This is referred to as a unitary state.

Other research has focused on the emotional impact of repetitive motor
behaviors, including what are referred to as marked actions or actions that are
different from

Box 5.1 Altered states in Upper Paleolithic art

The Upper Paleolithic of Europe (35,000–10,000 years ago) is the time

when the first Homo sapiens arrived and replaced the Neandertals. It was
a time of new technologies and the development of artistic traditions.
Perhaps the most famous art from this era is that of cave paintings,
which are found primarily in France and Spain.

Over the decades, archaeologists and art historians have wrestled with
interpreting the meaning of cave art and the role it played for people of
the Upper Paleolithic. David Lewis-Williams believes that the art was
part of a religious experience and are graphic representations of
experiences of altered states of consciousness, either created while in or
immediately after coming out of an altered state.

Lewis-Williams points out that when people enter altered states there
are some experiences that appear to be universal, because they result
from the biology of the brain. One is the sensation of flying. Another is
that of being drawn into a vortex, which is often perceived as the
entrance to a tunnel that leads to another world such as an underworld.
He theorizes that Upper Paleolithic peoples saw the caves in terms of
such experiences. They were the “entrails of the underworld.” The walls
of the caves were seen as a membrane between the everyday world and
the world of the spirits.

Many of the works found on the cave walls incorporate some feature
of the wall itself, such as a crack or nodule. Often the painted animals
appear to be coming out of the wall. These are spirit-animals, and
shamans performed rituals to move these animals through the membrane
so the shaman could use the spirit-animal in healing and other activities.
This connection to the spirit world on the other side of the membrane
can be seen in offerings—such as stone objects and animal teeth—that are
wedged into cracks in the wall, thereby sending them into the
underworld. Incised lines may also be attempts to penetrate to the other
side.

In addition to representational images, such as animals, Upper
Paleolithic humans painted geometric figures on the cave walls. In
moving into a trance state, a person passes through three stages. In the
first stage, geometric visual images are seen. These are entoptic
phenomena and are the forms painted on the cave walls. These images
are seen by peoples in all societies, but they are open to cultural
interpretation. In the second phase, the individual attempts to make

sense of these phenomena and interprets them in cultural terms. These
entoptic images are still seen in the third stage, or deep trance. They
combine with iconic images of people and animals that are seen as part
of the spirit world. In these deep trances, an individual will often feel
changed into an animal and shares the power of the spirit-animal.
Images of transformed shamans are called therianthropes.

Sources: D. J. Lewis-Williams and J. Clottes, “The Mind in the Cave—the
Cave in the Mind: Altered Consciousness in the Upper Paleolithic,”
Anthropology of Consciousness, 9 (1998), pp. 13–21; D. J. Lewis-Williams,
The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art (London:
Thames & Hudson, 2002).

normal ordinary movements, such as a slow bow. Other studies have looked
at the impact of smell, such as that of burning incense. What is important to
note is that these studies have found that it is not possible to get the exact
same effects as are seen with ritual behavior just by chemically stimulating
the right area. It is only with the merging of beliefs and behaviors that the full
effect is achieved.

Ethnographic examples of altered states of
consciousness

Altered states of consciousness are at the core of many religious experiences
and enable the believer to experience the supernatural in a very immediate,
visceral way. In the following section we will see the role of altered states of
consciousness in ritual by examining specific ethnographic examples.

San healing rituals

The !Kung are a subgroup of the San, a hunting and gathering people of the
Kalahari Desert in southern Africa (Khoisan culture area).3 In their healing
rituals the !Kung experience !kia, which is an altered state of consciousness.
According to the !Kung, an energy known as n/um, given to the !Kung by the
gods, resides at the base of the spine. As an individual enters !kia, the n/um
begins to boil and turn to a vapor, which then rises in the spine to a point near
the base of the skull. At that point the individual enters an altered state.

In a large !Kung camp, during the time of year when food is plentiful,
dances are held several times a month. As night falls, several women sit down
around a large fire and begin to sing. Other women soon join them in a tight
circle around the fire and the singing becomes louder and more energetic.
Soon some of the men, and a few women, begin to dance around the circle of
singers. As the dancing becomes more and more energetic they become warm
and begin sweating profusely. The dancers then start to stagger and shake
violently. Having entered !kia they begin their healing by going around the
fire and laying their hands on each individual. The !Kung believe that illness
is shot into people by the ancestors. By laying hands on a person, they pull out
the sickness and throw it into the darkness (Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2 San healing ceremony. Healing ritual of the /Gwi band, a subgroup of the San,
southern Africa. The men begin to dance around the women, who are singing around a fire.

About half of the men and about 10 percent of the women become healers.
In addition to pulling out illness, a person in an altered state of consciousness
can see the inside of a person and travel to the home of the gods. They
experience intense emotions and a sense of ascending and flying which is
interpreted as traveling into the heavens.

The Sun Dance of the Cheyenne

The Sun Dance is a major communal religious ritual practiced by many tribal
groups in the North American Plains culture area, including the Arapaho,
Blackfeet, Crow, Kiowa, Sioux, and Cheyenne. Each group has its own
particular variations, but there are certain elements common across the
different cultures. The Sun Dance takes place near the summer solstice and

represents the theme of renewal.
The Cheyenne’s name for the Sun Dance, oxheheom, means “New Life

Lodge” or “Lodge of the Generator.” The ritual is closely tied to the creation of
the earth and passages from the Cheyenne origin story. One myth tells of a
famine that was afflicting the Cheyenne. In response, a culture hero named
Tomsivsi (Erect Horns) took the beautiful wife of a tribal chief with him on a
journey to the Sacred Mountain. Inside the mountain, they were taught the
Sun Dance and were told that by performing the dance the world would be
renewed.

The ceremony is pledged by an individual who is making a commitment to
supernatural beings. This pledge may be made in hopes of healing a loved one,
or a man himself may be sick and vow to do the dance if he recovers. The vow
may be made to avert danger in war or may be based on a dream. From the
time the man makes his pledge until the end of the ritual, there is a tabu on
sexual activity. This again references the myth in which Tomsivsi refused to
have sex with his companion until after he emerged from the Sacred
Mountain.

The Sun Dance takes eight days to perform, with the first four days spent
building the dance lodge. The center pole for the dance lodge is cut down by a
man who interacts with the tree as a warrior interacts with an enemy and it is
ritually transported to the lodge by chiefs. Many ritual acts and offerings to
the pole are associated with the raising of the pole. During this time, secret
rites are also conducted in the Lone Tipi which symbolizes the Sacred
Mountain where Tomsivsi learned the dance. Many acts symbolic of earth
renewal are done at this time.

The last four days are devoted to the actual public dance, which takes place
in the Sun Dance Lodge. The participants in the dance face the center pole and
rise up and down on their toes while standing in one place. As they rise they
blow on eagle-wing bone whistles. The dancers do this almost continuously
for the entire four-day period. While there may be brief rest periods, the
dancers are completely without food or water.

The most dramatic part of the Cheyenne Sun Dance, and an element not
practiced by most other Plains groups, is an act of self-sacrifice known as
“hanging from the central pole.” A man does this act with the help of a
shaman who himself has made the same sacrifice in the past. The shaman
fastens a rope to the central pole that will reach just to the chest of the man.

Two holes are cut in the skin of the man’s chest, skewers are passed through,
and the free ends of the rope are attached to the skewers. The man dances,
fastened to the pole, all night trying to break free. If he has not done so by
morning, the shaman cuts him free.

Dancers who make this additional sacrifice do so in hopes of gaining pity
from the supernatural beings and being rewarded with good fortune. Dancers
are also rewarded with public approval and social prestige. The fasting,
dancing, and pain all help induce an altered state of consciousness for the
dancers. Participants often report having visions during the ritual.

The Holiness Churches

The Holiness Churches are a series of independent churches that are found
primarily in Appalachia, most predominantly in West Virginia. This area of
the United States was once highly dependent on coal mining. It was a
relatively isolated, economically depressed area. Although some of this is true
today, the isolation is breaking down, and life is improving. Many Holiness
Churches still survive. Each church is independent, yet individuals will
frequently visit several churches in the region. The rituals do not follow a set
pattern, although many elements are highly traditional, and the sequence of
activities is determined largely by the elders of the church community. These
practices are based on a specific portion of the Bible:

And he [Jesus] said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast
out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they
drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they
shall recover.

(Mark 16: 15–18)

During the service, several members of the congregation enter an altered state
of consciousness through intense concentration in prayer and with loud music
with a repetitive beat. Individuals dance energetically and even enter
trancelike states. In some Holiness Churches participants in an altered state

will pick up poisonous snakes and drink poison. Entrance into an altered state
is a highly desired religious experience and is interpreted as being filled by the
Holy Ghost. This is an example of a unitary state.

Individuals may also “speak in tongues” which is an unknown “language”
that is interpreted as the voice of God speaking through the person. Also
known as glossolalia, the language uses the sound, rhythms, and accents of
the speaker’s native language. The sounds are broken up into syllables that are
put together unsystematically into units that resemble words and sentences
but are not.

Drug-induced altered states of
consciousness

The use of drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness is practiced by
many societies. Table 5.3 lists various categories of drugs that produce an
altered state of consciousness.

Table 5.3 Drugs that produce an altered state of consciousness

Category Examples Effects

Euphoria Morphine
Reduces mental activity and induces a sense of well-

being

Phantastica
Marijuana,

peyote
Causes visions, illusions, hallucinations, delirium

Inebriantia Alcohol
Produces a state of intoxication; brings about an
initial phase of cerebral excitation followed by a

state of depression

Hypnotica Xanax
Sedatives or sleep producers; may cause insensibility

to pain

Analeptics,

Excitania coffee,
tobacco

Mental stimulants

Tranquilizer
Librium,

Thorazine,
Valium

Reduces anxiety and mental tension; produces a
state of mental calm

As with any altered state of consciousness, this can have both adaptive and
maladaptive expressions. For example, a drug addict may be unable to
maintain a home, a job, or normal social relationships as a consequence of his
or her addiction. In discussing drug-induced altered states, it is important to
recognize the difference between secular drug use, which is often extremely
maladaptive, used for escapism, and leads to many personal and social
problems, and ritual drug use, which is highly controlled and generally
adaptive.

The problems associated with recreational drug use, such as addiction, are
generally not seen when the usage is done in a religious context. Religious
drug use takes place only at certain times and in certain contexts, with defined
beginning and end points. The ritual setting channels the experience in
important ways.

The importance of this structure and the possible dangers of drug use are
often recognized in the insider’s perspective as well. For example, the Huichol
emphasize the role of the shaman not just to lead them on the peyote
pilgrimage, but also to lead them back. They long for the ecstasy of this
religious experience but also worry they might not be able to return from it.
Members of the Native American Church, who use peyote as a sacrament,
also caution against using peyote in anything but a religious context.

Hallucinogenic snuff among the Yanomamö

Various substances are used in religious contexts in order to bring about
altered states of consciousness. Here we will explore the use of hallucinogenic
snuff, tobacco, peyote, and marijuana in religious contexts.

The use of drugs is ubiquitous in South American traditional societies. A
great many plants, both wild and domesticated, can be found in the tropical

forests that are exploited by traditional societies and used in religious rituals.
Napoleon Chagnon describes the use of hallucinogens by Yanomamö shamans
in Venezuela.4

The most commonly used hallucinogenic snuff is called ebena. It is made
from the inner bark of a particular tree and is ground together with bark ashes
and leaves. After the mixture is carefully kneaded it is ground to a fine
powder on a heated piece of broken pottery. The final product, a fine green
powder, is manufactured and used on a daily basis by the shamans of the
village. One man will insert a long, hollow tube into the nostril of another.
Placing a bit of powder in one end, he blows the powder with a powerful puff
of air into the nasal cavity of his partner. The effects of the drug can be
immediately seen. The individual taking the drug chokes and coughs; his eyes
water; and long strands of green mucus drip from the nostrils. He has
difficulty walking and begins to experience visual hallucinations, mainly
blubs of light.

The Yanomamö provide a cultural interpretation of these visual
hallucinations. They see the world as populated by tiny, humanlike spirits
called hekura. A shaman’s supernatural power depends on his ability to entice
the hekura into his chest, which is visualized as a world of rivers, mountains,
and forests. Under the influence of ebena they report seeing hekura spirits
moving down from the mountains. Having decorated their bodies to make
their bodies attractive to the spirits, the men sing songs to entice the spirits
into their chests. Once the hekura have settled in the spirits will work with
the shaman in bringing about healing as well as to cause illness and death to
his village’s enemies.

Tobacco in South America

Many ethnographies of South American cultures describe the varied ways in
which drugs are used in these societies. Many of these practices are outlined
by Johannes Wilbert, who, while focusing on the use of tobacco in South
American societies, also touches on the use of other substances. In these
societies a drug is often used in combination with a variety of substances,
both collected and cultivated.5

The use of tobacco, often mixed with other substances, is common in South
American societies. The substances are made into several different forms, and
many delivery systems have developed. Of course, traditional societies do not
have the option of injection, so the problem is how to get the drug into the
bloodstream, where it will move rapidly to the brain.

Substances are efficiently absorbed in parts of the body that are lined with
epithelial tissue that contain a high density of blood capillaries. These include
the lining of lungs, mouth, throat, digestive system, rectum, nose, and eyes.
Tobacco can be smoked, sucked (as in chewing tobacco), or drunk. Some tribes
produce a processed form of tobacco with the consistency of a jelly, which is
then rubbed on the teeth and gums. Tobacco can be dried and ground into a
powder and blown up the nose.

Drugs also can be introduced into the rectum by some type of enema
device. The advantages of this technique are that it will not irritate the
stomach and that the drug will not be lost if the individual vomits. Sometimes
the enema device is a simple tube. The drug is then blown into the rectum.
Another device makes use of a bulb that can be made from rubber or the
bladder of an animal. A painting on a pottery vessel found in a Mayan site
solved the mystery of a particular type of pottery vessel that appeared to have
no obvious function. The painting shows it being used, with a rubber bulb, as
an enema syringe.

Peyote in the Native American Church

The late nineteenth century was a difficult time for the Native American
population of the United States. The tribes were losing land, their traditional
lifestyles were disappearing, disease had decimated many native communities,
and the official policy of the U.S. government was to destroy Native American
culture and to assimilate the populations into the general culture. Religion
became one method of coping with this stress, and out of the chaos developed
a series of religious movements known by anthropologists as nativistic
movements. (These movements will be discussed in detail in Chapter 11.)
Many of these movements combined both native and Christian elements, an
example of syncretism.

Some of these early movements involved the use of the hallucinogenic
cactus peyote. Peyote grows in northern Mexico and southern Texas and has a
long history of use in religious ritual, as among the Huichol. The ritual use of
peyote slowly moved into the Native American populations and is referred to
as peyotism. Some of these groups stress Native American beliefs and rituals;
others combine Native American elements with those of Christianity that
were introduced by missionaries. They also tend to be pan-Indian in that they
incorporate elements and draw membership from many different tribes.
Familiar elements of ritual include meditation, revelation, prayer, and the use
of native plant materials—for example, tobacco and sage.

For some groups that utilize Christian elements, peyote plays a role similar
to that of the sacramental bread and wine of the Christian Mass. The peyote is
believed to contain the power of God and to ingest the peyote is to absorb
God’s power. Members of the Native American Church say that this enables
them to have a direct experience of the supernatural.

The first Native American Church was incorporated in Oklahoma in 1918,
followed by others. The reactions of the various states to the use of peyote
have been mixed. In some situations it was tolerated; in others individuals
were tried and convicted for using a banned substance. Finally, in 1978,
Congress amended the American Indian Religious Freedom Act to legalize the
use of peyote as a sacrament in Native American Church rituals.

Marijuana among the Rastafarians

Rastafarians are members of an Afro-Caribbean religion that has its roots in
Christianity but venerates the former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, as
the messiah. Rastafarians believe that people of African descent are the
Israelites reincarnated and generally focus on issues of race relations. One of
their key beliefs is in the coming repatriation of blacks in the Americas to
Africa. The Rastafarians are an example of a revitalization movement
(Chapter 11), originating in conditions of social and economic deprivation and
meant to improve the lives of its adherents through adopting new religious
beliefs. Since its beginnings the Rastafarian movement has grown to
encompass not just the poor, but also the middle classes and has spread out

from its place of origin, Jamaica, partly through the international spread of
both Jamaican people and reggae music.

The Rastafarians stress a philosophy of ital levity, which stresses the
rejection of Western consumerism and emphasizes living in harmony with
nature. This includes eating food that is grown without chemical fertilizers
and using herbal remedies. In addition to vegetarianism and not cutting the
hair (resulting in dreadlocks), a common Rastafarian religious practice is the
smoking of marijuana, or ganga. Ganga is sometimes referred to as the
“wisdom weed” or “the holy herb” and is seen as a religious sacrament and a
way to gain new understandings of self, the universe, and God.

Rastafarians trace the use of ganga to several passages in the Bible,
including the following: “thou shalt eat the herb of the field” (Genesis 3:18),
“eat every herb of the land” (Exodus 10:12), and “Better is a dinner of herb
where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith” (Proverbs 15:17).

Conclusion

In Chapter 1 we listed the six dimensions of religion as set forth by Ninian
Smart. One of these was the experiential dimension, an encounter with a
sacred reality that is beyond ordinary experience. Religious experiences can be
highly emotional. They can range from a generalized feeling of well-being to
dramatic visions. These mental states, states that differ from one’s normal
mental states, are altered states of consciousness. They define religious
experience. It is through such altered states that supernatural phenomena and
powers manifest themselves. It moves abstract beliefs into the realm of lived
experience.

Interpreting the changes in mental state when one is in an altered state of
consciousness is largely influenced by culture. In other words, culture places
meaning on our experiences. A buzz from drinking several alcoholic drinks is
amenable to several interpretations. Some are secular: “I’ve had a little too
much to drink, and I’m feeling tipsy.” Some people, experiencing the identical
reaction, might interpret that same feeling as “I feel as if a spirit has entered
my body.” The objective feeling may be the same, but the subjective

interpretation may be very different.
The religious interpretations of altered states of consciousness generally fall

into two categories. First, supernatural power, usually in the form of spirits or
gods, enters the person’s body, a phenomenon that we call spirit possession.
An individual can control the spirit within his or her body to accomplish
certain goals, or the spirit that possesses a human body can use that body to
heal or to divine the unknown, often without the knowledge or the memory of
the possessed person. However, possession by an unwanted spirit can bring
about illness that may be cured by exorcism rituals.

The second common religious interpretation of an altered state of
consciousness is that a person has entered a trance state because the soul has
left the person’s body. The experience of the individual in the altered state is
then associated with the experiences of the soul, which is operating in a
supernatural realm.

Altered states frequently play an important role in healing, for both the
healer and the patient. Healing is facilitated, and in some cases even
accomplished, through suggestibility, emotional catharsis, and feelings of
rejuvenation. For example, when possessed by a spirit, the healer may use the
supernatural power of the spirit to remove the cause of the illness, often by
sucking the offending spirit out of the patient’s body. When an illness is
diagnosed as the loss of the soul, the healer sends his or her soul on a voyage
to retrieve the lost soul of the patient.

The most common idea of religious altered states, though, is the idea of
achieving a unitary state, a state in which the individual experiences a feeling
of becoming one with the supernatural, however this is conceived of by the
community. For some, this is becoming one with God or a spirit; for others, it
may be expressed as becoming one with a generalized supernatural force. We
saw an example of this in our discussion of the Sabari Malai pilgrimage, the
goal of which is a unitary state with the god Lord Ayyappan.

The idea of the unitary state is often one of the major components of a
religious ritual or even an entire religious system. A common religious theme
is that humans were once at one with the supernatural but somehow became
separated. The goal of many religious practices is to regain that unity. This
theme can be seen in many familiar religions. For Christians, Jesus provides
the pathway back to God; for Buddhists, following the teachings of Buddha
allows an individual to attain oneness with the universe; for Muslims,

reconciliation is possible through submission of the will to Allah.
In previous chapters we discussed symbols, narratives, and the importance

of religious rituals. However, it is only with a discussion of altered states of
consciousness that a true appreciation of the power of rituals can be reached.
Narratives provide a basis for belief, but it is only with ritual that these ideas
are turned into experiences. A religious altered state in a way offers visceral
proof of the existence of the supernatural. These experiences move the
supernatural from the realm of abstract belief into that of a lived reality.

Summary

An altered state of consciousness is any mental state that differs from a
normal mental state. Such states are characterized by a number of
psychological experiences, such as alterations in patterns of thinking,
disturbed sense of time, change in emotional expression, distortion in body
image, and others. A person can enter an altered state through a number of
situations including reduction of external stimulation, increase of external
stimulation, increased alertness or decreased alertness, pain, or alterations in
body chemistry such as those that accompany fasting and sleep deprivation.
These factors create observable changes in the activity of the brain.

Altered states of consciousness can also be brought about by drugs and
chemical agents, such as the use of tobacco, coffee, alcohol, marijuana, peyote,
and a number of manufactured substances. However, the use of these
substances in religious practice occurs within a religious context. The
experience is strongly influenced by cultural expectations.

Study questions

1. Altered states of consciousness include familiar experiences such as
dreaming and daydreaming. Describe any such experiences that you

have had. How do they fit the description of an altered state of
consciousness that is given in this chapter?

2. Many factors can lead to altered states of consciousness and are likely
to occur in most people’s lives. What are some of these?

3. Tattooing, body piercing, and other alterations to the body that are
practiced among some people in today’s society are painful
procedures. How does the experience of pain become a part of the
total experience? You might want to talk with some people who have
undergone these procedures.

4. Next time you go to a religious service, pay close attention to any
experiences that could be labeled an altered state of consciousness.
Describe the experience. What were the conditions that led to the
experience? How do the physical layout of the church, temple, or
mosque; the presence of ritual objects; and the playing of music help
to produce an altered state of consciousness?

Suggested readings

Ariel Glucklich, Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul
(Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2003).

[Examines ideas about and uses of pain in religious contexts.]

Richard Katz, Boiling Energy: Community Healing Among the Kalahari Kung
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982).

Autobiographies about personal religious experiences

Karen Armstrong, Through the Narrow Gate (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin,
2005).

[Armstrong, who has written on many religious topics, tells of her own
spiritual life, including seven years in a convent.]

Madeleine L’Engle, The Irrational Season: The Crosswicks Journal, Book 3
(San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1984).

[L’Engle’s journal follows a church year and her own questioning of her
faith.]

C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (New York: Harcourt
Brace, 1995).

[Lewis’s autobiographical account of his life, including as a Christian and as
an atheist.]

Fiction

Myla Goldberg, Bee Season (New York, Doubleday, 2002).
[A girl’s participation in a spelling bee sets in motion events that will
ultimately lead to the disintegration of her family. Largely about the spiritual
quests of all four of the family members.]

Suggested websites

www.holiness-snake-handlers.webs.com
Official website of Holiness serpent handlers.

www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/hildegarde.html
The life and works of Hildegard von Bingen.

archeologie.culture.fr/chauvet
The Upper Paleolithic cave site of Chauvet-Pont D’Arc.

www.nativeamericanchurch.com
The website of the Native American Church of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.

www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/british-museum/the-americas-
bm/meso-central-america-bm/a/maya-the-yaxchiln-lintels

The lintels from the Mayan site of Yaxchilán.

Notes

1 Fluid Signs: Being a Person the Tamil Way by Daniel E. Valentine. Reproduced with
permission of University of California Press in the format Republish in a book via
Copyright Clearance Center.

2 O. Sacks, Migraine (New York: Random House, 1992).

3 The various symbols other than letters used in San words stand for a variety of clicks
that characterize their languages.

4 N. A. Chagnon, Yanomamö (6th edn) (Independence, KY: Wadsworth, 2012).

5 J. Wilbert, Tobacco and Shamanism in South America (New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 1987).

Chapter 6
Religious specialists

In small-scale societies with relatively simple technologies, rituals usually are
performed by most or all of the adult members of the community. However,
some individuals may develop a special interest in religious practices and may
develop a special ability to contact the supernatural. An example is the healers
found among the !Kung San, in which around half of the men and a number
of women become healers. Yet these men and women are full participants in
the secular life of the group. Full-time, specialized religious statuses usually do
not exist in such societies, because these societies do not produce the surplus
of food that is necessary to support full-time specialists.

As we discussed earlier, religious activities are not clearly delineated from
non-religious activities in small-scale societies. Religious activities are
interwoven with secular activities; indeed, the separation between religious
and secular is not even made. This is reflected in the lack of full-time religious
specialists.

Some societies have developed part-time specialists. These are people who
earn their living at some economic task, such as hunting or farming, but who
are called on to perform rituals when necessary because of their special
knowledge or abilities. Such a person might be paid for his or her services, but
many are not.

In larger and more technologically complex societies we see the
development of many occupational specializations, including religious
specialists. These practitioners may be full-time specialists who derive their
income primarily from the performance of religious rituals. Such individuals
may be supported by the community, or they may derive their income
through payment for services by individuals whom they have helped. For
example, religious practitioners may be found in a marketplace, ready to be

approached by clients who are in need of services in order to secure economic
success for some endeavor or perhaps a cure for an illness. In some societies
religious practitioners may attain important political and economic positions.

There are many terms used to describe religious specialists. Unfortunately,
the terms are not used in a consistent manner. Sometimes it is a problem of
translation because the nature of religious practitioners and their activities in
many societies might not neatly fit a defined category in our society or as
defined by anthropologists.

Two terms frequently used to categorize religious specialists are those of
shaman and priest. These are not two mutually exclusive categories, but
rather ends of a continuum. Very often a religious practitioner that we might
classify as a priest will perform some functions that are more characteristic of
a shaman; the reverse is also true.

Shamans

The distinction between priests and shamans is not always clear-cut, and
there are many religious specialists who fall somewhere in between. Generally
speaking, in contrast to a priest, a shaman receives his or her power directly
from the spirit world. He or she acquires status and abilities, such as healing,
through personal communication with the supernatural during shamanic
trances or altered states of consciousness. The route to becoming a religious
specialist and how each functions within a society will also differ for shamans
and priests.

Defining shamanism

Like many terms used in the study of religion, the term shaman has been used
in different ways by different people. Some use the term very broadly to
encompass a wide variety of phenomena; others use it in only a very narrow
sense. Most agree that shamanism refers to techniques used by specific kinds

of religious specialists and that shamans can be found in a wide variety of
cultures and religions (Figure 6.1).

The term shaman actually comes from the Tungus language of Central
Siberia. It refers to the religious specialists who use handheld drums and spirit
helpers to help the members of their community by healing the sick, divining
the future, and ensuring success in the hunt. The term was later expanded to
include similar religious specialists in other cultures, although some people
believe that the term shaman should only be applied to these Siberian
religious specialists.

Figure 6.1 Shaman. A shaman performs at the Kaijiang Festival in Harbin, China, at the start
of the fishing season.

For those who apply the term more broadly, the crucial elements of
shamanism include direct contact and communication with the supernatural
through trance, the use of spirit helpers, the use of a specific culturally
recognized and transmitted method and paraphernalia, and a socially
recognized special position for the shaman.

Unlike priests, who are full-time community-based specialists, shamans are

usually part-time independent contractors. The authority of a shaman lies in
his or her charisma and ability to heal. The relationship between a shaman
and the community is a personal one. Shamans focus on specific problems,
such as those that affect a particular individual or family. Because clients
often select a shaman in a particular situation for the shaman’s reputation and
track record in curing, successful shamans can amass a significant degree of
social authority.

Becoming a shaman

Because shamans receive their power and authority directly from supernatural
beings, they frequently are chosen by spirits to become a shaman. Perhaps the
behavior of a child with regard to sacred objects is interpreted as a sign of
selection by the spirits for training as a shaman. Often the call comes in a
dream or trance. In some societies a person may deliberately seek a call
through inducing an altered state of consciousness. This is most frequent in
societies in which shamans achieve some degree of social authority. In some
societies, the task of being a shaman is so difficult and demanding that
individuals do not seek a call. When a call comes—through a dream, a trance,
recovery from an illness—the individual may be reluctant to act on it.

The spirits will commonly call to the future shaman during a particularly
difficult time of their lives, including periods of stress, illness, accident,
possession, or near-death experiences. Shamans have been called “wounded
healers” and are seen as people driven to be shamans by their own illnesses,
possibly including psychosis or possession. The shamanic initiation often
includes the idea that the spirits eat, dismember, or kill the person before that
person can be reborn as a shaman. The spirits are testing the initiate and the
symbolism of death, transformation, and rebirth are very common.

The shaman often undergoes a period of training, usually with an older
shaman. Although learning religious knowledge is important, the main
purpose of the training is to learn how to make contact with the supernatural,
a very dangerous activity, and how to manipulate the supernatural world in
order to achieve some specified end. The candidate establishes a relationship
with a spirit familiar who acts as his guide to the supernatural world. The

period of apprenticeship may include periods of seclusion, fasting, and the
taking of hallucinogens, but the main goal is to learn to enter into and control
the experience of an altered state of consciousness.

The shamanic role and rituals

The shaman may contact the supernatural by traditional, standardized
methods that fit our definition of ritual. The ritual is only a means for
contacting and establishing a relationship with a supernatural entity; it is not
an end in itself. The success of a shaman lies not in her ability to memorize
and perform rituals, but in her ability to successfully establish contact and
some measure of control over the supernatural.

The control of spirit helpers and the ability to enter altered states of
consciousness are central to the role of shaman. These spirits help the shaman
fight hostile spirits and also help the shaman diagnose and treat illnesses. In
some cultures illness results from the loss of the patient’s soul. The shaman
will enter an altered state of consciousness and send his or her soul to
recapture the patient’s soul and return and anchor it to the patient’s body.

The shamanic ritual may be a simple affair, say a private consultation
between patient and shaman, or may be a major public ritual. In the latter, it
is common for the ritual to be very dramatic, aided by the use of various
theatrical techniques on the part of the shaman. Drumming, singing, dancing,
and elaborate costumes contribute to this effect, as do the use of ventriloquism
and sleight of hand. Using these techniques does not necessarily imply intent
by the shaman to deceive onlookers. Shamans operate in the realm of the
supernatural, which others are unable to perceive. Using sleight of hand may
represent an attempt by the shaman to represent and convince others of what
they see as true accomplishments on the unseen level.

The movement of the shaman between the realm of the natural and
supernatural is often related to a worldview that sees humans living in a
middle zone between an upper and lower world. The three worlds are seen as
linked by a central vertical axis, often referred to as an Axis Mundi or Axis of
the World. An example already discussed is the Mayan World Tree seen on
the sarcophagus of Lord Pakal in Chapter 3. The shaman is able to travel

between these worlds, usually along this central axis. In shamanic rituals, a
ladder, pole, or tree is often used to represent the axis.

The shaman’s ability to make this soul journey to the supernatural realm is
linked to his or her special abilities at transformation, which is often linked to
other ideas of transformation such as into animals or other beings. Also
common is gender transformation, where the shaman wears the clothes of, or
even takes on some of the social roles of, the opposite sex, or is seen as being
sexually ambiguous.

Because of their ability to directly contact and manipulate the supernatural,
members of a shaman’s community often regard them with some suspicion.
The same powers that enable them to cure sickness could also be used to cause
it. Priests do not have this same ability and so are not viewed with the same
concern. Although priests are capable of the same personal evil that we all are,
they have no special abilities by virtue of their position.

Siberian shamanism

Shamans of Central Siberia are religious specialists who use handheld drums
and spirit helpers to help the members of their community. Siberian shamans
perform rituals to heal the sick, divine the future, and ensure success in the
hunt. Here again the world is divided into three realms. The upper realm is
one of light and good spirits; the middle realm is the home of people and
spirits of the earth; and the lower realm is one of darkness and evil spirits. It is
the shaman’s role, while in an altered state of consciousness, to communicate
with various spirits. The shaman may also journey to one of the other realms.

One of the main functions of the shaman is healing. This is accomplished in
many ways. A shaman can communicate with spirits to learn what they want.
He can also dispel a disease-causing spirit or retrieve a lost soul. A shaman
has spirit familiars or animal souls that help in the shaman’s work. These
spirits give the shaman his particular qualities and powers. It is by having
these spirits that the shaman is able to heal, but they also give the shaman the
potential to do harm.

Other shamans specialize in contacting the spirits to help ensure a
successful hunt. In this case the shaman contacts the spirits of an animal

species and makes a deal with them. The animal spirits will supply humans
with food, and the humans will eventually supply the spirits with human flesh
and blood. This is one cause of human sickness and death. It is the role of the
shaman to minimize the amount of human sickness while trying to maximize
the number of animals that will be successfully hunted. Part of a shaman’s
success in doing this is from a pact with the animal spirits through a special
relationship with the daughter of the elk or reindeer spirit.

Yakut shamanism

The Yakut or Shkha live in northeastern Siberia. Missionaries of the Russian
Orthodox Church entered the region in the early eighteenth century. They
found a people living in small groups spread over a vast area, hunting, fishing,
and herding horses and reindeer. Over time, many Yakut converted to
Christianity, yet the practice of shamanism remained strong, and most people
participated in both Orthodox and shamanic rituals. In 1931 the Soviet
government began a program designed to destroy the traditional religious
practices by persecuting shamans. Many were executed or deported. Ethnic
Russians moved into the area and today outnumber the native population.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Republic of
Sakha, a part of the Russian Federation, the ban on shamanism was lifted.
With this came a sense of identity among the Yakut; shamanic rituals
increased in frequency, and traditional beliefs were taught in the schools.

Like many traditional peoples living in a modern state and exposed to
different religious practices, Christian elements have entered into shamanic
rituals and beliefs. For example, Takako Yamada quotes a shaman in 1994:

I didn’t see many gods in the upper world. I only saw Jesus Christ, a woman god and
one or two other gods. Jesus and the woman gave me a photo, asking me to look after
the people in the world. So, I believe I have received a universal ability to cure not only
the Yakut but also foreign people.1

Along with the revival of traditional shamanism have come new groups that
often develop around a charismatic leader who combines shamanic and
Christian elements and produces a new type of religious practice. Marjorie

Mandelstam Balzar describes a ritual performed by one such leader, Kyta
Baaly.2 Although young and poorly educated, he has attracted a significant
following. He performs rituals that are based on traditional Yakut practices,
yet he claims to be the son of Jesus Christ. Followers wear a small “sacred
world path” pin or pendant that combines a Christian cross with a tree
symbol. This is an example of a revivalistic movement, which will be
discussed more fully in Chapter 11.

Korean shamanism

Although shamanism is usually thought of as a feature of small-scale
religions, shamans are also found in many industrial societies. For example,
Korea has a long history of shamanism. At one time shamans, who were
mostly men, had considerable political influence. Over time this influence
waned, and eventually shamans were persecuted and driven underground.
Shamanism moved from being a prominent, public institution to being a more
private, secretive activity. Today most shamans are women. This provides
many women with a good source of income and also gives them some degree
of influence over the community. Shamanism is now becoming recognized as
an important part of Korean culture and many aspects of shamanistic ritual,
such as songs and dances, are being publicly performed for entertainment.

Shamans are chosen by the spirits. Women who have experienced some
type of psychological stress in their lives are especially vulnerable. The society
believes that the spirits, in their search for someone to possess, tend toward
individuals whose maŭm, or soul, has already been fractured and therefore
been made vulnerable. The sign that a particular woman has been selected is
manifested as possession illness or sinbyŏng. There are many physical and
psychological symptoms of sinbyŏng, but the most significant is entrance into
a trance state. The individual is ill with possession sickness until she accepts
the call of the spirits. Many individuals chosen by the spirits are very
reluctant to become shamans, who are considered by society to be social
deviants. Finally, however, she apprentices herself to an experienced shaman
who eventually performs an initiation ritual that transforms her into a full-
fledged shaman.

Youngsook Kim Harvey recounts the description by a Korean shaman of the
events that led to her initiation:

Long before I had any indication of supernatural notification, I found myself feeling
excited by the rhythm of the changgu (“drum”). I don’t remember how I came to be
brought back to myself … it happened more and more often. When I heard the changgu,
I seemed to forget everything instantly and lose all sense of inhibition. I wanted to
dance and chant to it. It is this sense of being swept up and away in a weightless sort of
way that makes you dance and be a mudang in spite of everything else. When you are
in that state of mind, you cannot think of anything else … Even now, just talking about
it to you makes the temperature rise in me … You can see how people who are possessed
by spirits can go insane if they are improperly initiated … You have no way of making
use of the feelings that take hold of you.

When you start doing your own kut, you just feel your spirits stealing into you and
taking over; the sensation is incomparable … You just know that you’ve got the spirits
in you … that you don’t have to worry because it’s them inside you, not you … You’re
just a medium and you feel marvelous. Otherwise, how could anyone do the things a
mudang does in her sober mind? You lose all sense of embarrassment … all inhibition …
you are suffused with the feeling, “I’m the number one, the best—there is none else like
me in the whole world!”3

Korean shamans are called to perform shamanic rituals for a number of
reasons. For example, a shaman is called to guide the dead to the otherworld.
During this ritual, the shaman takes the role of the deceased who is then able
to communicate with the family. Shamanic rituals are also performed to cure
illnesses, for divination, and to ensure the good fortune of the family and
community.

Pentecostal healers as shamans

Box 6.1 Clown doctors as shamans

Although Western medicine is undeniably effective in treating many
diseases, it has been criticized for focusing only on the physical disease
and neglecting the patient’s illness experience. In an attempt to address
this issue, many complementary therapies have been introduced. One

example is the use of clowns in pediatric hospitals. A study by Linda
Miller Van Blerkom of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit (CCU),
which entertains children in New York City hospitals, suggests that these
clowns have many similarities with traditional shamanic healers.

The clowns dress in outlandish costumes that include a white doctor’s
coat and a doctor’s bag filled with magic tricks and props. They are
described as popping red foam-rubber clown noses out of respirator
tubing, hiding puppet animals under their coats, blowing bubbles,
singing lullabies to children, doing magic tricks, dancing, and telling
jokes. They distract patients during painful procedures and also interact
with families and staff.

Van Blerkom points out that both clowns and shamans mediate
between order and chaos, sacred and profane, natural and supernatural,
and that clowns with healing functions are known from other cultures,
particularly in Native American cultures. She notes several similarities
between shamans and clown doctors. For example, both wear unusual
costumes and both are viewed with some ambivalence.

The use of puppets by clown doctors is reminiscent of shamanic spirit
helpers, and both use music and sleight of hand. Traditional shamans
and clowns use suggestion and manipulation of cultural symbols and pay
more attention to the patient’s experience and social context than
Western doctors typically do. Van Blerkom writes:

The clowns say they parody doctors and play with hospital equipment to lighten
up the atmosphere and make children less afraid of doctors and their instruments,
but one can also recognize another shamanistic function: psychosocial support. By
involving the social group, illness and curing are given public recognition and the
patient receives group support. Shamanistic rituals reinforce social roles and can
be therapeutic for families struggling to cope with an illness and disorder.

Source: Linda Miller Van Blerkom, “Clown Doctors: Shaman Healers of
Western Medicine,” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 9 (1995), pp. 462–
475.

The distinction between shamans and priests is not always clear and in
some Western religious traditions practitioners usually thought of as being

priests exhibit many shamanistic traits. One example is Pentecostal faith
healers (see Box 6.1 for another example). Altered states of consciousness are
achieved through the use of rhythmic speech and music. Participants in the
ritual are often moved to shout, dance, run up and down the aisle, or cry. The
healing ritual, known as “laying on of hands,” generally takes place during a
service. The person in need of healing stands in front of the preacher, who is
standing in front of the altar. Others stand behind the person receiving the
prayer in case he or she needs physical support. The preacher anoints the
person’s head with oil and recites incantations. The preacher may also rub the
head, torso, back, or legs of the person. The whole congregation may
participate by clapping in unison during the healing. The Holy Spirit is
believed to possess both the healer and the patient, which can lead either one
of them to convulse suddenly or begin speaking in tongues.

Similar to shamans, many Pentecostal preachers report having been called
by the supernatural, in this case God, and describe prophetic dreams and
visions. Pentecostal preachers also function similarly to shamans by using an
altered state of consciousness to directly contact and experience the
supernatural for healing another individual.

Neoshamanism

The last several decades have seen a growing interest in shamanism, primarily
in the United States and Europe. Much of this can be traced to the publication
of historian Mircea Eliade’s book Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy
in 1951.4 This book was one of the first to look at common elements of
shamanism cross-culturally and to focus on shamanism as a technique for
achieving an altered state of consciousness. The interest in shamanism,
however, really took off starting in the 1970s. Many cultural themes in the
United States helped contribute to this, including the legacy of the 1960s drug
culture, an interest in non-Western religions, environmentalism, and the New
Age, self-help, and self-realization movements. Popular anthropology works
also contributed, largely through the work of Carlos Castaneda and Michael
Harner.

Carlos Castaneda, while a graduate student at UCLA, claimed he was

apprenticed to a Yaqui (Arizona) shaman named Don Juan Matus. Based on
his experiences, he wrote a series of books beginning with The Teachings of
Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, published in 1968.5 The earliest books
focused on the use of mind-altering drugs to experience another reality. Later,
he moved his focus to a new technique of body movements, or magical passes,
that he called tensegrity, a term borrowed from architect R. Buckminster
Fuller, who coined the term as a combination of “tensional” and “integrity.”
The aim of tensegrity is to increase awareness of the energy fields that,
according to Castaneda, humans are made of. This is done through body
movements and breathing, which Castaneda said were taught to him by Don
Juan and which go back to ancient Mexico. Although Castaneda himself
passed away in the late 1990s, workshops in tensegrity continue to be offered.

Castaneda’s work has been criticized by many academics as fictional, not
true ethnography. No one has been able to verify the existence of Don Juan
and experts in Yaqui culture have cast doubts on the accuracy of his accounts,
among other issues.

Michael Harner is an anthropologist who spent many years studying
shamanism, primarily in the Americas (among the Jivaro in the Upper
Amazon) and northern Europe (Saamiland). Harner felt that the insights he
learned about shamanism from the Jivaro were applicable to all people in all
places. He dubbed the concept core shamanism, which is described on his
website as “the near universal methods of shamanism without a specific
cultural perspective.”6 In 1980, Harner published The Way of the Shaman as a
sort of self-help book for those in the West interested in pursuing shamanism.7

Harner is the founder of The Foundation for Shamanic Studies that continues
to offer training workshops in core shamanism.

Although Harner’s original work with the Jivaro centered on the use of the
drug ayahuasca, he focuses now on drumming to achieve altered states of
consciousness. In a typical workshop, the participants are told to lie down and
relax with their eyes closed or covered. A leader then directs them through
either an exercise in guided imagery or a supernatural experience, depending
on your point of view. The participants are told to begin their journey by
entering the earth at a place well known to them in the physical world, such
as a cave. They then travel down tunnels to the “lower world,” where they
meet and interact with spirit teachers and power animals.

Those who use techniques like those proposed by Castaneda and Harner are
known as neoshamans to distinguish them from more traditional shamans.
There are many significant differences between the two. Neoshamanism is
focused on an individual, often as a self-help means of improving one’s life.
Neoshamans choose to participate and focus on what they consider the
positive aspects of shamanism. More traditionally, shamanism is focused on
helping the community. Shamans are chosen but may resist the call because of
the dark side of shamanism that neoshamans often ignore. The shamanic
trance is often described as a terrifying experience, and shamans are often
marginalized and feared because of their ability to do great evil.

Neoshamanism has also been criticized for presenting shamanic beliefs and
practices out of their cultural context through such concepts as core
shamanism. A single practitioner may choose bits and pieces from many
different cultures. Harsher criticisms accuse neoshamanism of cultural
imperialism, neocolonial attitudes, and perpetuating racist stereotypes of
indigenous people. Harner and others are seen as profiting from the
commodification of indigenous identity, beliefs, and practices. Although some
indigenous healers do encourage neoshamanism and are willing to teach, this
is a very contentious issue, one that speaks to the larger issue of who controls
cultural symbols and rituals.

Priests

Priests are full-time religious specialists associated with formalized religious
institutions that may be linked with kinship groups, communities, or larger
political units and are given religious authority by those units or by formal
religious organizations. Priesthoods tend to be found in more complex food-
producing societies, whereas shamans are associated with technologically
simpler ones. Generally speaking, a society will contain either priests or
shamans but seldom both. (Here we are using the term priest as a generic term
that includes a wide variety of practitioners, including ministers and rabbis.)

A priest acts as a representative of the community in dealing with the deity
or deities. In this capacity, priests are responsible for the performance of

prescribed rituals. These include periodic rituals on a ceremonial calendar that
is usually tied to the agricultural cycle. A priest also performs rites of passage
such as birth and death rituals and weddings, as well as performing rituals in
the event of disaster and illness. A priest’s skill is based on learning ritual
knowledge and sacred narratives and on knowledge of how to perform these
rituals for the benefit of the community. However, a particular ritual might or
might not result in the desired end. A ritual performed for a rain god to end a
drought might result in a rainstorm or a continuing drought. But the failure of
the ritual to work is not necessarily due to the activities of the priest; it might
be due to the will of the deity who has made the decision whether or not to let
the rains come.

Although priests may contend with important, practical matters, such as
the success of crops or the curing of illnesses, they are also associated with
rituals that have more generalized purposes. These purposes are usually
articulated in social rites of intensification and deal with the reinforcement of
the belief system and the established ethical code. Priestly rituals legitimize
community ventures—for example, the coronation of the British monarch by
the Archbishop of Canterbury—and, on a more personal level, establish the
legitimacy of a child as a member of the community through birth rituals.

Priests also personify the image of the ideal person. They are models of
ethics and morality in their communities, and they are held to higher
standards of behavior than is the population at large. When a priest fails to
live up to these standards, the significance is much greater than when another
person fails in the same way. This is why revelations of child molestation by
Catholic priests are considered exceptionally heinous and shocking.

Priestly rituals usually take place in a space that is set aside for ceremonial
activities, which is considered to be sacred space. It is usually a community
space as well. It may be an outdoor area or a structure, and the structure may
be large enough that the entire community can enter and participate in the
rituals. However, in many societies the ceremonial structure—a shrine or a
temple—is a place where sacred objects are kept and into which only a priest
may enter.

Individuals become priests for a variety of reasons. Often it is an inherited
responsibility, as when a priestly office is passed on from father to son. Many
societies have priestly lineages, such as the Levites of the Old Testament, or
priestly classes or castes, such as the Brahmins of Hinduism. Sometimes the

position of priest is one of great prestige and power and one enters the
priesthood to further one’s standing in the community. At the conclusion of
training, the priest is formally recognized as a religious authority by the
community through a rite of passage, such as an ordination.

Priests also may have received a divine call, sometimes in dreams, visions,
or trances. In some societies a person becomes a priest after being cured of an
illness. The very fact of being cured may be taken as a sign of divine favor. In
other societies the reason for entering the priesthood might be more practical.
In Europe in centuries past one of the only ways a middle-class man could get
an education was by joining the priesthood. Research and teaching would be
important components of his responsibilities. It was the custom in some
agricultural societies that the oldest son inherited the land, the middle son
entered the military, and the youngest son entered the priesthood.

The training of a priest usually involves memorization of vast amounts of
knowledge, for the very survival of the community might depend on the
priest’s competence in the performance of rituals. Although a priest may
connect with the supernatural through visions and trances, this ability is not
as important as the priest’s ability to memorize and perform rituals in the
proper manner.

Zuni priests

The Zuni, a pueblo people of the American Southwest culture area, developed
religious practices that involved a complex hierarchy of priests, which forms
the basis of Zuni religious and political organization.

Young males, rarely females, are inducted into one of the six kiva groups
that exist in Zuni society. A kiva is a ceremonial chamber, a sacred space
analogous to a shrine or temple. Among the Zuni, kivas are rectangular rooms
built above ground. (This is different than the more familiar circular
underground kivas found among other pueblo peoples and so commonly seen
in archaeological sites.) The six kivas are associated with the six cardinal
directions, which include the familiar north, east, south, and west but also the
zenith overhead and the nadir underground. Ritual responsibilities rotate
among the six kiva groups. The major responsibility of the priests of each kiva

group is the accurate performance of rituals. This involves the manipulation of
sacred objects and the recitation of prayers.

Zuni society also recognizes many other priesthoods. They include the
priests of the twelve medicine societies that both men and women join when
they are cured of an illness because of the work of the medicine society. If a
man takes a scalp in battle, he joins the warrior society. In time a man may
join a number of priesthoods. The accumulation of ritual knowledge over time
is associated with prestige and power.

Zuni political authority is vested in a council of priests led by the priest of
the sun and keeper of the calendar. Their major concern is with religious
matters, such as selecting some of the participants in certain rituals, the
placement of occasional rituals into the ritual calendar, and the reaction of the
religious organization to natural disasters. They appoint a civil administration
to handle nonreligious matters.

Okinawan priestesses

Okinawa, located southwest of the main islands of Japan, was once the
independent kingdom of Ryukyus. Although the language, culture, and
religious beliefs are very similar to those of Japan, there are considerable
differences as well. Okinawa’s indigenous religion was based on animism and
shamanism, but has been heavily influenced by Shinto, Buddhism, and
Taoism entering from Japan and China. Like Shinto, Okinawan religion sees
the world as inhabited by a myriad of supernatural beings referred to as kami.
By placating and pleasing the kami through rituals, misfortune can be avoided
and blessings gained.

There are a variety of religious specialists, all of whom are women (Figure
6.2). Okinawa is the only known society in which women lead a mainstream,
official, publicly funded religion that is practiced by both sexes. The two main
specialists are priestesses, kaminchu, and shamanlike practitioners called yuta.
The yuta mediate between the villagers and the supernatural by
communicating with the ancestors and the kami. They practice divination as
well as healing rituals. Whereas each yuta has one or more kami that she
communicates with regularly, the kaminchu is believed to actually embody a

particular kami associated with the clan.
Kaminchu rituals are funded by the village council or clan and take place at

the village prayer house in the village square, in clan houses, or in sacred
groves. On these occasions the priestesses wear elaborate five-piece white
outfits and crowns of leaves. This is the conventional clothing for the kami as
well. The significance of the kaminchu is in their presence; they actually do
very little at a ritual. They sit in certain places on certain days and receive
food offerings from the villagers. They do not preach, perform rites of passage,
or heal—they sit and eat. However, like the kami themselves, they are believed
to emit good spiritual energy. The villagers also like to have the kaminchu
around at events such as housewarmings and agricultural festivals.

Figure 6.2 Okinawan Priestesses. Priestesses perform during a ceremony at Shuri Castle
Festival, Okinawa.

The role of kaminchu is semihereditary. Each clan has a certain number of
kaminchu positions that can only be filled by female members of the clan.
Within some clans, certain positions can only be filled by women of certain
families. The role of chief kaminchu for a village is traditionally passed from

mother to daughter.
Susan Sered compared the stories told by kaminchu (priestesses) and yuta

(shamans) of how they attained their positions.8 Both types of religious
practitioners told of illnesses, but Sered found significant differences between
the two. The kaminchu reported minor illnesses that generally involved some
sort of bleeding or other bodily rupture. The Okinawan worldview sees the
body as whole and sealed and this illness event was seen as opening the path
for the embodiment of the kami. However, the illness is small and symbolic. It
does not make the woman into a kaminchu but is considered a sign or
reminder of what she was born to be.

In contrast, the illnesses reported by the yuta involved serious
psychological, physical, or social dysfunction. After a long illness that made
them social outcasts, they were able to heal themselves both physically and
socially through becoming yuta. Overcoming the illness was seen as proof
that the yuta would be effective in her role and also had the ability to
understand the suffering of others. The status of yuta is more ambiguous and
the question being answered in the stories they told was why a person would
take on such a role.

Eastern Orthodox priests

Religious organizations associated with nation-states or multistate
organizations are characterized by many types of priests organized in complex
hierarchical organizations, such as those of the Roman Catholic Church. In
contrast to the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches consist of a
series of independent religious organizations. Some are associated with
particular nations, such as the Greek Orthodox Church, but others are not.
Within the church are many religious specialists who fall within our
definition of priest. These specialists are organized into a complex religious
hierarchy. The head of a region is the bishop. Each bishop is independent of
other bishops, although bishops at several levels will form various councils.
The specialists who are called priests are usually assigned to particular
churches and are responsible for the performance of rituals. Finally there are
the deacons who assist the priests in the performance of rituals and work

under their direction.
The Orthodox Church has a strong tradition of asceticism where

individuals separate themselves from the everyday world and spend their lives
as monks and nuns. Monks are ordained priests, but instead of functioning in
the outside world they live in various types of isolated communities, such as
monasteries or small villages; some live a semi-solitary life as hermits
associated with a nearby monastery. Bishops are normally selected from
among the monks and most Orthodox seminaries are associated with
monasteries. Bishops are celibate but men who are already married may
become priests and deacons, although upon the death of their spouse they
cannot remarry.

Orthodox priests participate in a wide variety of activities including
education and counseling, but the focus of their responsibilities is the
performance of rituals. They are primarily involved with the performance of
social rites of intensification that center around the Divine Liturgy or
communion service. The priest also performs rites of passage associated with
birth, baptism, marriage, and death. This knowledge and authority comes
from the church.

Other specialists

While shamans and priests are major and well-studied types of religious
specialists, many other specialists practice in various limited ways. The labels
that are used to refer to these specialists often overlap extensively and are not
used in any consistent manner. Some of their functions overlap those of
shamans and priests. In this section we will look at healers, herbalists,
diviners, and prophets.

Healers and diviners

The term healer is often used to refer to a priest or shaman, especially when

the individual is focused on the curing of illness or injury. However, more
specialized healers also exist. Many activities of healers are similar to those of
U.S. medical practitioners. For example, they may set bones, treat sprains with
cold, or administer drugs made from native plants and other materials. Many
governments have used traditional healers as conduits for the introduction of
new practices in nutrition and public health (Box 6.2).

Box 6.2 African healers meet Western medicine

Traditionally, healers have played important roles in the lives of people
in sub-Saharan Africa, providing simple health services as they worked
in consort with the spirit world. Today Western medicine also plays an
important role. A great many native Africans are doctors, nurses, and
other health practitioners, and large hospitals have been built in urban
centers. Yet the majority of the population has little access to Western
medicine. The World Health Organization estimates that that is 1 doctor
for every 40,000 people.9 Hospitals and clinics are often not available in
rural areas, and the cost of medical services and medicines is often
prohibitive.

On the other hand, the ratio of traditional healers to people in Africa is
about 1 in 500.10 A solution to the problems of making basic health
education and services available to rural communities is to recognize the
importance and effectiveness of healers in many medical situations. In
addition, healers can be trained in many aspects of Western medicine,
thus forming a partnership between traditional healing and medicine.
Healers are available and trusted members of the community and
therefore can have a major impact on the general state of health in these
areas.

Many programs have been developed in Africa to train native healers
in medical techniques. One such group is Prometra, the Association for
the Promotion of Traditional Medicine. The organization provides
medical training to healers while at the same time promoting native
healing methods. Experiences between native populations and European
powers fostered a deep mistrust between the medical establishments of

colonial governments and local healers. This mistrust is now being
overcome. For example, traditional healers recognize symptoms of
HIV/AIDS and can refer patients to medical facilities. They can also
monitor infant health and practice infant oral rehydration; dehydration
is a major cause of infant mortality.

Sources: Prometra (www.prometra.org); S. Faris, “Calling All Healers,”
Time (July 24, 2006), pp. 42–43.

One type of healer is the herbalist. Herbalists are specialists in the use of
plant and other material as cures. The herbalist may prescribe the materials to
be administered or may provide the material as prescribed by a healer or
diviner. Various plant materials that are used in tribal societies actually do
have medicinal properties. Herbalists are intimately familiar with the various
plant materials in the habitat and gather, process, and administer various
medicines made from these materials. However, much of the theory of curing
is based on principles of magic to be discussed in Chapter 7.

A diviner is someone who practices divination, a series of techniques and
activities that are used to obtain information about things that are not
normally knowable. These may include things that will happen in the future,
things that are occurring at the present time but at a distance, and things that
touch the supernatural, such as the identification of witches. Some divination
techniques involve the interpretation of natural phenomena or some activity,
such as the turning over of cards. Other techniques involve the diviner
entering an altered state of consciousness and, while in that state, obtaining
the requested information.

Diviners usually focus on very practical questions: What is a good time to
plant my crop? Will my investment pay off? Whom should I marry? What is
an auspicious day for a marriage? A very important type of information that
diviners provide is the cause of illness. The diviner often provides the
diagnosis, and the healer provides the cure. Diviners usually, but not always,
work for private clients and are paid for their services. Divination is discussed
in Chapter 7.

Prophets

A prophet is a mouthpiece of the gods. It is the role of a prophet to
communicate the words and will of the gods to his or her community and to
act as an intermediary between the gods and the people. Although shamans
may occasionally function as prophets, in many cases the role of prophet is a
separate one. Prophets are found in a wide variety of cultures and include the
familiar examples of Moses and Mohammad.

Handsome Lake was a prophet of the Seneca tribe (Eastern Woodlands
culture area) during the time when the reservation system was first imposed.
In 1799 Handsome Lake became ill and appeared to have died. His body was
prepared for burial, but he revived. He said that he had had a vision of three
messengers who had revealed to him God’s will and told him that he was to
carry this message back to his people. Later the same year he received a
second revelation in which he was shown heaven and hell and was given
moral instructions, which were very similar to Christian ideas. Handsome
Lake received further revelations in subsequent years. On the basis of his
visions, he preached a revitalization of traditional seasonal ceremonies, a
strengthening of the family, and a prohibition against alcohol. Handsome
Lake’s teachings continued to spread after his death in 1815 and ultimately
became the foundation for the Longhouse religion.

The Nuer, a cattle-herding people living in the Eastern Sudan culture area,
have a history of prophets. One example is Ngundeng, a nineteenth-century
Nuer prophet. He was born in the late 1830s. Of course, there are no historical
records of his life, but there are many stories, especially those told by his
family. According to tradition, he was conceived after his mother was past
menopause and was born after a twelve-month pregnancy. Ngundeng is said
to have spoken to his mother at birth and to possess a number of physical
characteristics that were attributed to divine influence. Unlike some prophets
who make contact with supernatural power later on in life, Ngundeng was
born with that power.

As a young man he had seizures, or altered states of consciousness. He also
showed very strange behaviors such as wandering alone in the bush, fasting,
and drinking nothing but water for long periods of time. As he began to eat
tobacco, mud, grass, and human feces, he became very thin, and his hair grew

long and matted. Then he was possessed by a god, who revealed himself to be
Deng. Ngundeng, as Deng’s prophet, began to make prophecies and developed
a reputation as a peacemaker.

The Nuer believe that prophets are chosen by a god and are then able to
predict the future, cure the sick, ensure the fertility of women and cows,
influence the growth of a good crop, and so forth. Stories began to circulate
about Ngundeng’s further ability to take a life through words or even
thoughts. The ability to kill was the other side of the coin of controlling life.
The god Deng was a lifegiver, controlling rain and the procreation of cattle
and children, but he was also a god of death. Ngundeng gained a wide
reputation for making barren women fertile and halting epidemic disease. He
died in 1906.

Over 100 years later, the prophet Ngundeng played an important role in the
movement for an independent state in southern Sudan. Ngundeng had a dang
or ceremonial rod which was inherited by Ngundeng’s son. When the son was
killed in battle in the resistance against British colonial rule, the dang was
taken as a souvenir to England. Years later, the dang was sold at auction to a
British scholar, Douglas Johnson, who has studied the Nuer. Douglas returned
it to the Nuer in 2009. The rod had become a symbol of the Nuer’s drive for
independence from Sudan.

Conclusion

So far in this book, we have discussed many of the basic concepts and
components of religious systems, such as narratives, worldview, symbols,
rituals, altered states of consciousness, and ritual specialists. Religious
specialists often are the main repositories of religious knowledge, retelling key
narratives, manipulating religious symbols, and entering into altered states of
consciousness through their ritual practices. Specialists play a key role as
mediators between the natural and supernatural worlds. As we move into the
next section of the book, we will shift our attention to those supernatural
forces and beings. Again, all of these topics are tied together. For example, the
conceptions people have of the nature of the gods influence the character of

the rituals that will be directed toward the gods. An important factor in a
culture’s worldview is how and in what ways supernatural phenomena and
powers manifest themselves.

Summary

Most religious systems identify specialists to carry out specific religious
functions. Two of the most frequently found specialists are shamans and
priests.

A shaman receives his or her power directly from the spirit world and
acquires the ability to do sacred things through personal communication with
the supernatural. Shamans are part-time independent contractors whose
authority lies in their charisma and ability to heal. A Siberian shaman works
with a spirit familiar or animal soul that helps the shaman in his or her work
of dispelling a disease-causing spirit or retrieving a lost soul.

Priests are full-time religious specialists who are associated with formalized
religious institutions and tend to be found in more complex food-producing
societies. The priest acts as a representative of the community to the deity or
deities and is responsible for the performance of prescribed rituals. The skill of
a priest is based on the learning of ritual knowledge and sacred narratives and
on knowledge of how to perform these rituals for the benefit of the
community. Priestly rituals usually take place in a space that is set aside for
ceremonial activities, such as a temple or shrine.

Other kinds of religious specialists include herbalists, diviners, and
prophets. A prophet is a mouthpiece of the gods. It is the role of the prophet to
communicate the words and will of the gods to his or her community and act
as an intermediary between the people and the gods.

Study questions

1. Religious specialists in U.S. society are often set apart by particular
modes of dress, grooming, and general behavior. Some specialists are
subject to special rules, such as celibacy in Catholicism. What is the
function of setting religious specialists apart from other members of
the community? How does this help the individual in his or her
function as a religious specialist?

2. Although most religious specialists in U.S. society are priests, some
do, on occasion, carry out functions that are more apt to be classified
as shamanism. What are some of these?

3. In cases of illness, most Westerners visit a physician rather than a
religious specialist. In what ways does the behavior of a physician
resemble that of a religious specialist?

4. How is neoshamanism different from classic shamanism? Do you
think the term shaman is appropriate to use in Western societies?

5. Although we talk about shamans and priests typically appearing in
different kinds of societies, there are cases such as Korea and
Okinawa in which both types of practitioners are present. How does
this work? How do their roles and functions both overlap and differ?

Suggested readings

Nicholas Black Elk (as told through John G. Neihardt), Black Elk Speaks
(Lincoln, NE: Bison Press, 2014).

[The story of a Lakota shaman living during the years of white settlement at
the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.]

Frederick Buechner, The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days (San
Francisco: HarperOne, 1991).

[Autobiography of Buechner’s childhood, finding Christ, and becoming a
minister.]

Thomas Merton, The Seven Story Mountain: Fiftieth-Anniversary Edition
(New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998).

[Merton discusses his early doubts, his conversion to Catholicism, and his

decision to take life vows as a Trappist monk.]

John K. Nelson, A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine (Seattle: University of
Washington Press, 1996).

[Includes description of the role of Shinto priests and the story of how several
men became priests.]

Fiction

Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge
(New York: Washington Square Press, 1990).

[The account of an anthropologist learning the ways of a shaman.
Presented as fact but believed to be fictional.]

Suggested websites

www.shamanism.org
The Foundation for Shamanic Studies (Michael Harner).

www.castaneda.com
Carlos Castaneda’s Magical Passes.

www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/index.html
Arctic Studies Center (Smithsonian).

Notes

1 T. Yamada, “Through Dialogue with Contemporary Yakut Shamans: How They Revive
Their Worldview,” Anthropology of Consciousness, 7 (1996), pp. 4–5.

2 M. M. Balzar, “Healing Failed Faith? Contemporary Siberian Shamanism,” Anthropology

and Humanism, 26 (2002), pp. 134–149.

3 Y. K. Harvey, Six Korean Women: The Socialization of Shamans, American Ethnological
Society Monograph No. 65 (1979), pp. 31–32.

4 M. Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (new edn) (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 2004).

5 C. Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (Oakland, CA:
University of California Press, 1998).

6 M. Harner, The Foundation for Shamanic Studies, www.shamanism.org.

7 M. Harner, The Way of the Shaman (10th anniv. edn) (New York: HarperOne, 1990).

8 S. Sered, “Symbolic Illnesses, Real Handprints, and Other Bodily Marks: Autobiographies
of Okinawan Priestesses and Shamans,” Ethos, 25 (1997), pp. 408–427.

9 World Health Organization, WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy: 2014–2023 (Geneva:
WHO, 2013), p. 27.

10 Ibid.

Chapter 7
Magic and divination

When most people hear the word magic, they most likely picture a rabbit
being pulled out of a hat or an elephant disappearing before their eyes. What
is popularly called magic we will call illusion, because magic in this sense
refers to acts that rely on some sort of trickery and deception. Entertainers
who perform such illusions freely admit that they are manipulating not the
supernatural world, but rather human perception. Magic, as anthropologists
use the term, refers to rituals by which a person can compel the supernatural
to behave in certain ways. Closely related to magic are supernatural ways of
gaining information about the unknown, be it what will happen in the future,
what is happening in some faraway place, or the cause of an illness. These
techniques are aspects of divination.

The nature of magic

Life is full of surprises—some good, some bad. One way of dealing with
adverse situations is through science, an important methodology for coming
to an understanding of our world through objective observations,
experimentation, and the development of hypotheses and theories. Scientific
explanations are limited since they deal only with observations that are made
through our senses, such as using vision to examine animal tissue under a
microscope or distant galaxies through a telescope. And science demands a
natural explanation consistent with the laws of nature. All peoples, from
small-scale communities to large industrial societies, make detailed

observations about their world and manipulate objects in their environment in
order to come to some understanding of their world. All societies have
systems of technology that use rational and practical methods to achieve
certain objectives.

Consider a subsistence farmer in a small-scale society who is growing crops
to feed his family. A subsistence farmer is very knowledgeable about his craft.
He is familiar with various types of soils, knows the best time to plant, and
knows how to build a fence to keep out wild animals. A lot is riding on his
success. Failure to produce an adequate crop could lead to malnutrition or
starvation for his family.

Yet some situations are beyond the explanatory power and control of
science and technology. No matter how carefully and skillfully the farmer
performs his task, bad things can and do happen. Rains fail to come, or an
infestation of insect pests destroys his plants. He probably wonders, “Why is
this happening to me? What can I do to prevent these things from
happening?” These questions cannot be addressed through scientific
investigation.

To answer such questions, our farmer might turn to religious ritual to
invoke the influence of a deity. Perhaps he will present an offering to a god
and ask the god for help, perhaps to bring rain. Or he might build a small
spirit house in the corner of his field and by presenting the spirit with food
offerings, try to persuade the spirit to take up residence and guard the fields.

In these examples our farmer is accessing supernatural power through the
intercession of a supernatural anthropomorphic causal agent such as a god or
spirit. He brings this supernatural power to bear upon his problems through
rituals in which he attempts to persuade a deity to intercede in his life to bring
about desired outcomes, such as a good crop. However, the success of this
enterprise lies in the hands of the god or spirit who might or might not be
inclined to do as the farmer asks.

Supernatural power also exists in other, more diffuse forms. (For example,
we examined supernatural power called mana in Chapter 4.) Instead of
relying on the good will of a supernatural being, our farmer can manipulate
supernatural power as a more direct means of achieving his ends. All he needs
is the correct ritual. Ritual is seen as a key. And if the right key fits into the
right lock, then the wielder of that key is able to “unlock” that power to
directly achieve his objective. This is what we mean by the term magic.

Magic and religion

Early anthropologists were quite ethnocentric when it came to the study of
magic, often placing it in a separate category from religion. Today most
anthropologists consider magic to be a part of religion because it is associated
with supernatural mechanisms, but many early anthropologists (and some
contemporary ones) have used other criteria to place magic in a separate
category.

Edward Tylor, who discussed magic in his book Primitive Cultures,
published in 1871, wrote that magic is a logical way of thinking.1 The problem
is that the logic is based on bad premises. Tylor believed that in tribal cultures
the magician takes the same approach as a scientist, but the magician makes
the mistake of assuming a causal relationship simply because things appear to
be similar, when this relationship does not exist. In addition, Tylor did not
include magic in the realm of religion because no spirits are involved, which
he considered necessary for inclusion in his definition of religion.

James Frazer, like Tylor, believed that magic was a pseudoscience, based on
direct action.2 Frazer was a part of the evolutionary school (Chapter 1) and
thought that magic was an early stage that would be replaced by religion.
Religion was seen as different from magic because it is based on persuasion of
supernatural beings rather than manipulation of supernatural forces. Some
evolutionary school thinkers believed that ultimately religion itself would give
way to science. Of course, none of this has happened; in most societies magic,
religion, and science coexist.

Émile Durkheim also thought that magic could be distinguished from
religion, but he focused on the social context.3 Unlike religious rituals that
tend to involve the whole of the community, magic is often centered on the
needs and desires of an individual. A farmer wants rain, a young man wants a
wife, a woman needs a cure for her child’s illness. In contrast to religious
rituals that are carried out for the good of the community, magic is directed at
very practical ends as articulated by an individual. Durkheim wrote, “In all
history, we do not find a single religion without a church … There is no
church of magic.”4 However, generalizations are just that. Magic is frequently

used in community-wide public rituals to bring rain or defend the community
against an enemy.

Another related difference is seen in the purpose of the magic or religious
ritual. Religion is seen as “an end in itself.” Bronislaw Malinowski wrote:
“While in the magical act the underlying idea and aim is always clear,
straightforward, and definite, in the religious ceremony there is no purpose
directed toward a subsequent event.”5 Some nonmagical rituals certainly have
very specific goals—coming-of-age ceremonies, for example—but many rituals
are more generalized, especially social rites of intensification.

When Malinowski studied the Trobriand Islanders, he noted that they did
not use magic in lagoon fishing because it is not dangerous. However, open-
sea fishing is dangerous and is accompanied by extensive rituals designed to
assure safety and success. He writes: “We do not find magic wherever the
pursuit is certain, reliable, and well under the control of rational methods and
technological processes. Further, we find magic where the element of danger
is conspicuous.”6

However, Annette Weiner notes that although lagoon fishing is relatively
safe, there are other reasons to perform magic in the lagoon environment. She
writes:

They “turn” to magic, not out of psychological distress over a physical environment out
of control, but when it is essential that they produce a large catch that must be used for
an important exchange that has social and political consequences. To control the actions
of the wind and the fish is ultimately proof of one’s ability to control an exchange,
thereby providing a measure of control over others.7

The issue of whether or not magic is part of religion or a separate category
altogether is largely a function of how religion itself is defined (Chapter 1).
Here we are using a very broad definition of religion that easily
accommodates magic as it is used in this text.

Rules of magic

Magic tends to follow certain principles. These were first described by James
Frazer in his book The Golden Bough originally published in 1890.8 Frazer

articulated the Law of Sympathy, which states that magic depends on the
apparent association or agreement between things. There are two parts to the
Law of Sympathy. The first is the Law of Similarity, which states that things
that are alike are the same. The second is the Law of Contagion, which states
that things that were once in contact continue to be connected after the
connection is severed. The Law of Similarity gives rise to homeopathic, or
imitative, magic and the Law of Contagion gives rise to contagious magic.

Homeopathic magic

Homeopathic or imitative magic assumes that there is a causal relationship
between things that appear to be similar. The similarity can be physical or
behavioral. The most familiar kind of homeopathic magic is image magic.
This is the practice of making an image to represent a living person or animal,
which can then be killed or injured through doing things to the image, such as
sticking pins into the image or burning it. The first may cause pain in the
body of the victim that corresponds to the place on the image where the pin
was stuck; burning the image might bring about a high fever. Animals drawn
on the walls of caves with arrows through them might be an example of
image magic. Here the artist is creating the hunt in art. Depicting a successful
hunt will bring about a similar outcome in the real hunt.

There are many examples of behaviors that imitate a desired end, causing
the end to occur. Sometimes these are found embedded within rituals that are
not specifically seen as magic rituals. An example is the increase rite of the
Australian Aborigines. These are essentially fertility rituals that function to
facilitate the successful reproduction of the totem animal (Chapter 3). They
are performed annually and are seen as essential parts of the animals’ life
cycle. The men who perform the ritual draw sacred designs on their bodies
and place various objects on their persons. In this way the men become the
totem animal in a magical sense. Their behavior, which is often expressed in
dance, brings about a sympathetic behavior in the actual animal. For example,
the acting out of the copulation and birth of an animal species will translate
into reproductive success for those animals.

The principle of sympathy explains many folk customs, including those in

American society. Folklorist Wayland D. Hand has collected many examples,
such as walnuts being good for the brain.9 After all, does not the shell
resemble a skull and the meat inside resemble the brain?

Many of the practices that are labeled “alternative medicine” or
“homeopathic medicine” in American society are based on the Law of
Similarity. Traditional herbal medicine is often based on the doctrine of
signatures. This is the belief that signs telling of a plant’s medical use are
somehow embedded within the structure and nature of the plant itself. Some
believe that God provided these signatures so that people could ascertain the
use of particular plants in healing. For example, red cloverhead is used to treat
problems of the blood, as is the red sap of the bloodroot. Indigestion is treated
by several yellow plants associated with the yellow color of the bile that is
often vomited up. The fused leaves of the boneset plant are used, as the plant’s
name suggests, to heal broken bones.

Similar analogies appear to be the basis of many food prohibitions observed
by pregnant women among the Beng of the Ivory Coast, West Africa. A
pregnant woman is told not to eat meat from the bushbuck antelope, which
has a striped coat. If she does, her child will be born with striped skin. During
pregnancy a women should give herself enemas using a particular vine that
has slippery leaves; then the infant will move quickly through the birth canal
during birth. The soon-to-be new mother is also told that her behavior during
her pregnancy will be reflected in her child, especially negative behaviors. A
pregnant woman who steals will have a child with the long arm of a thief.
Some in the United States think that if the mother is anxious or nervous
during pregnancy, the baby will be nervous and fussy.

Contagious magic

Contagious magic is based on the premise that things that were once in
contact always maintain a connection. An example of contagious magic from
our own culture is the rabbit’s foot. The rabbit is a successful animal, but not
because it is intelligent. It is a prey animal for a wide variety of other animals,
but there are numerous rabbits. This must mean that the predators are not
always successful. Because rabbits are not smart, they must be lucky. If we

carry a part of this lucky animal, the luck will rub off on us.
Wayland Hand notes that there are many examples of folk medicine in the

United States that are based on the principle of contagion. Many of these
involve transference of the disease into some object. The object could then be
disposed of, thus curing the illness. Warts could be cured by rubbing a penny
on the wart and then burying the coin. One cure for whooping cough was to
tie a caterpillar in a band around the neck of the child. The illness disappeared
as the caterpillar died, the disease having been successfully transferred to the
animal.

We also see the principle of contagion in modern society with the collection
of, and prices paid for, anything used by a celebrity. A sweaty shirt worn by
one of your professors in the classroom would get a very different reaction
than would a shirt that had been worn by your favorite rock star or actor.

The following example comes from New Guinea. If a man has been hit in
battle by an arrow, his friends will bind up the wound and put a cool poultice
on it to keep the fever down and make him comfortable. They will also put a
poultice on the arrow, which they have taken out of the wound, because it
was connected with the wound, and this too will help with the cure. The
enemy who fired the arrow, however, is likely to be practicing counter-magic.
Back in his camp he will keep the bow near the fire and twang the string from
time to time because the bow fired the arrow that made the wound, and
through this connection he can send twinges of pain.

Anything connected with the person can be used in contagious magic. If
you can get hair, a nail cutting, or even one of their belongings (such as
clothes), you can do your worst to the person it came from. In fact, a hair
from your enemy’s head is likely to be the first thing any sorcerer would ask
you for before taking on a contract to liquidate the enemy. You can attack
someone through his or her footprint, name, shadow, or reflection (although a
few of these also involve soul beliefs).

Magic in society

Magic plays an important role in a society’s religious practices. We will

examine the operation of magic in three societies, the Trobriand Islanders, the
Azande, and the Fore. We will also look at the role of magic in Wicca, a Neo-
Pagan religion.

Magic in the Trobriand Islands

The Trobriand Islanders, who live off the western coast of New Guinea,
distinguish among three types of knowledge. First there is knowledge of
things in the everyday world, which is shared by all or a large group of adult
members of the society. This is what children learn from their parents: boys
learn how to garden and girls learn how to weave mats.

A second form of knowledge is more specialized and is shared with a
limited number of individuals. This includes expert knowledge that is
necessary for task specializations, such as sailing or woodcarving. This form
also includes knowledge of particular magical rituals that tend to be learned
by many members of the society.

The highest level includes knowledge of the most complex and valued
technological skills, such as canoe building, as well as knowledge of myths,
songs, and dances. These skills are important to the community, and a person
who has such skills is called tokabitam, “man with knowledge.” This level of
knowledge includes knowledge of important magic, such as rain and garden
magic. This knowledge is of great importance to the community, and the
relatively few people who possess such knowledge are very important people,
in terms of both prestige and wealth, because the services of such people are
paid for.

Learning magic

Although many forms of magic are well known among adult members of a
community, much magical lore is the private property of individuals. The
most common way to obtain magic is to learn it from one’s parents,
grandparents, or other kin. Thus certain types of magic become associated
with particular family lines. Sometimes the magic is owned by a more remote

relative or a nonrelative. In this case the person who desires the magic will
purchase it from its owner.

A Trobriand Islander who wants to learn particular magic will present a
series of gifts over time to the owner as a way of convincing the individual to
bestow that knowledge. It is to the advantage of the owner of the magic to
spread the learning process over a long period of time, thus maximizing the
number of gifts given. If the owner dies before all of the magic has been
transferred to the student, the magic might not be effective because the
transfer of the magic is incomplete.

Sometimes the owner of the magic dies before beginning the transfer
process or, for some reason, does not want to share the knowledge. This is
how magic disappears from the community. On the other hand, important
magic can be purchased from more remote Trobriand communities. Today
many young men travel to the capital of Papua New Guinea to find work.
After several years they return, bringing gifts of manufactured goods as well
as magic purchased from tribes living on the large island.

In learning magic one must learn the words that are spoken—the spell. The
spell is an oral text that is transmitted without change. The slightest deviation
from its traditional form would invalidate the magic. Because spells usually
are passed down unchanged from generation to generation, they often come
to be recited in an archaic form of the language and might include words that
no longer have meaning. If the magic comes from a different cultural group,
the spell may even be recited in a foreign language. In the Trobriand Islands
the ritual must be performed exactly. The slightest slip in the ritual, such as a
minute omission in its performance or a seemingly insignificant change in its
sequence, invalidates the magic. This is not the case in all societies. Among
the Azande of the Sudan, described in the following section, magical rituals
are variable, and the spell is unformulated.

Trobriand garden magic

Despite all the knowledge, skills, and hard work that a Trobriand farmer puts
into gardening, bad things can happen. Rain might fail to come, or insect pests
might destroy a crop. To deal with these seemingly uncontrollable problems,

the farmer turns to magic.
In farming, good fertility and a good crop are attributed to the skill and

knowledge of the farmer and the superiority of his magic. There is a clear
distinction between work that must be performed manually and work
performed through magic. Together, they make up a complex gardening
system.

The Trobriand Islanders recognize many types of soils; they discriminate
between many varieties of yams; they build fences to keep out pigs. The
islanders are very clear about what tasks are considered work and what are
considered magic. The construction of a spirit house is strictly magic, but
weeding is work. Work and magic are essential to the success of a garden.
Good luck, a better-than-expected result, is confirmation of the strength of the
magic; bad luck, a poor crop, points out a deficiency in the magic.

Malinowski describes many garden rituals. For example, this is part of a
ritual that occurs before a field is cleared of brush: in the morning the men
gather together around the magician, a religious specialist, who fasts until the
completion of the ritual. The men, dressed and bodies painted for the special
occasion, pick up their axes, which have been magically prepared. They march
to the garden, where the magician takes his hereditary wand of office in his
left hand and his axe in his right hand and enters the garden. He cuts a small
sapling and recites a spell:

This is our bad wood, O ancestral spirits! O bush-pig, who fightest, O bush-pig from the
great stone in the rayboag, O bush-pig of the garden stakes, O bush-pig drawn by evil
smells, O bush-pig of the narrow face, O bush-pig of the ugly countenance, O fierce
bush-pig. Thy sail, O bush-pig, is in thy ear, thy steering-oar is in thy tail. I kick thee
from behind, I despatch thee. Go away. Go to Ulawola. Return whence you have come.
It burns your eyes, it turns your stomach.10

The sapling, which is then thrown into the forest, stands for evil influences
and the bush-pig, which causes damage by digging up gardens. This ritual is
followed by others, creating a cycle of rituals that parallels the work that must
be accomplished to secure a bountiful harvest.

Magic among the Azande