Barbara Myeroff, of Peyote Hunt, The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians, writes of the rituals within the Huichol religion and generalizes, “Rituals occur, significantly, in dangerous situations” (239). These dangerous situations often occur as a result of a time of change and the dangers may either be a literal physical risk to well-being or it can be a perceived fear. It is interpreted that ritual can be utilized to stabilize a variety of dangerous changing environments to meet societal norms, so that the danger may be controlled.…
“The Listener” is a witchdoctor who is powerful enough to cure or help individuals who are bewitched. The practitioner listens to the troubles of client as far back as he or she is able to recall to resolve their problems. Even sometimes as far back as childbirth. Mothers of the clients are often accused of cursing the client through the teachings of secret body rituals. Witchdoctors perform incredible exorcisms to cure the bewitched. Nacirema tribes have many other body rituals I did not discuss, but during the course of this paper I touched on a few I felt were…
According to, Professor Linton, who brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago, claims the culture of these people are very poorly understood (Miner, n.d.). Miner proceeds to give many representations in which the Naciremas people have beliefs and rituals…
As we read this article, we see the Nacirema as a masochistic culture which gave their possessions for the chance to be treated with rituals they felt purified the body, mind and soul. This was achieved through the treatment and advice of the medicine men, holy mouth men or the listener. When they followed through with the rituals, it was thought…
After reconstruction African American were still trying to recover from the inequality and the lack of education in the southern states. The nadir period was the time were African Americans aimed at eliminating racial discrimination, equal job opportunities, and improving their political power. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendment, reconstruction, plessy vs. Ferguson, and radical republicans were all factors that helped black folks advance in society. Booker T.Washington and W.E.B Dubois were to powerful civil rights activist who had two different views on the status of African Americans.The Declaration of Principles of the Niagara movement and Booker T.Washington’s Atlanta Exposition address that were two documents which explained the views of African Americans in the states. This paper will argue that the Atlanta exposition Address was a way to keep peace between the white and black race and that the Niagara Movement was a prime example of principles blacks work so hard to achieve.…
The article that I read is called “Body Ritual Among the Nacierma”. The Nacierma is a North American Group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico. My first thought was, wow, I never heard of this tribe before, and they are North American. As I continued to read this article, I became more fascinated by it and wondered, how come I’ve never heard of this tribe. They appear to be a lot like us or us like them, and we as a society have seemed to have used their ways to this day.…
After realizing “Nacirema” is American spelled backwards, it becomes evident that Miner is criticizing American culture. He describes the “tribes” behavior with a focus on changing personal appearance and magic-based rituals. Everybody goes to the “Latipso” to see “medicine-men” when they are sick and often are given potions or end up dead. This is like a looking glass into American culture. In our culture, there is a huge focus on physical features, but we don’t pray to fix it. Instead we take vitamins, apply make up, shave and wear nice clothes. Oftentimes when we are sick, hospital visits result in doctors writing prescriptions or performing surgery. We usually don’t know what the pills do for us, but are told it will correct the ailment and invest a lot of trust into the doctors no matter what.…
Over 50 years ago, Horace Miner published a study on the Nacirema Tribe. In the study he talked about their body rituals, and revealed to the world every strange ritual these people had. After reading this study, I decided to do one for myself. So I visited the Nacirema tribe. The things I observed still puzzles me.…
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” As William Shakespeare states in Hamlet, we are constantly learning and redefining the borders and boundaries of our knowledge. This is true not only of our own internal minds but collectively as it pertains to research where we know something works, but we can’t explain how it works. The vine of the soul or Ayahuasca transcends the mundane world of our everyday lives and grants passage to vistas known only to initiates. Ayahuasca, also known in the Portuguese language as Hoasca, has been enlightening the indigenous tribes of Brazil for centuries. In addition, ayahuasca is mainly consumed in tea form. Some of the ingredients include the stems or bark of the Banisteriopsis caapi and other plants. Drinking the tea is a spiritual ritual that seeks enlightenment and is guided by a shaman, otherwise known as a holy man. Furthermore, during this journey there are adverse side effects, and this is just one of the reasons an experienced guide is an integral part of the Ayahuasca ritual. It is said that the tea can bring closure or perspective to the passing of a loved one or other emotional traumas.…
Rituals to bring about harmony in nature which aim to cause the protification of a certain animal, plant of natural phenomena connected with a particular ancestral spirit being…
The Huichol Indians live in the Sierra Madre Mountains of central Mexico. Every year they go on their pilgrimages led by their guide, a shaman named Pancho. They believe if they don’t go on their pilgrimages, the world will end and that is their responsibility. Part of this pilgrimage is living in the past. If they are living in the future, time will stop. This is how their space and time is viewed. They said that Gods don’t worry about space and time. Everyone will be safe with time. They have to pay attention to time and make sure everything is done right or else the Gods will be disappointed. Keeping open hearts and being the center of their sacred land. The original pilgrimage was the ancestors, where they walk in a group led by the shaman with many of their offerings. Once they walk deep into the valley as a religious experience, they look for peyote and gather it for the coming year. They take this hallucinogen to become Gods themselves and the shamans help with understanding the vision. This is a very spiritual quest for them. Along with finding the peyote they bring offerings which are very personal to them. The men give spears and women give bowls. The personal objects they bring with them in hopes to bring them wealth are crosses with coins on them. They confess their sins by tying knots in a string and then throwing them into the fire. This is more of a communal thing for them as they are all in a circle versus confessing their sins in a confession booth where it is you and the…
A common misunderstanding exists that psychedelic drugs can only be used for recreational purposes. There are, however, numerous cultures across the globe that take advantage of their psychoactive properties for religious and spiritual reasons. (Schultz) Popular research has even gone so far as to suggest that responsible use of psychedelics can lead to positive change for individuals and societies. (Masters and Houston) It is therefore essential to understand their potential role in contemporary American society.…
Horace Miner writes about the Nacirema, a culture steeped in magic and superstition. Their ways of life are portrayed as uncivilized and barbaric. The Nacirema perform rituals and rites that are strange to us here in the civilized world. The description and portrayal of this tribe make it very hard for the reader to connect or even begin to understand such a strange people. Miner starts of the article creating an atmosphere of wonderment; “if all of the logically possible combinations of behavior have not been found somewhere in the world, he(anthropologist) is apt to suspect that they must be present in some yet undescribed tribe”(Miner:1956:503). And that tribe is the Nacirema, a foreign and strange people to whom we in the western world could never relate. However, if ones look closely at the text and the hints provided, it is clear that Horace Miner has tricked us into ethnocentrism, all the while describing to us the American culture. In fact the word Nacirema is American spelled backward. The Body Rituals of the Nacirema is in fact a satire on the American culture of the 1950’s.…
The Shaman follow strict beliefs and rituals in their everyday lives. The rituals in which they perform are called ‘Shamanising’. They do this by using dried up tree sap and a variety of leaves, ground up into a powdering texture and sniff it as a hallucinogenic drug. They believe that they have the power to communicate with spirits who guard them and give them healing powers; these spirits also visit the Shaman in their dreams. Each of the spirits are named after various animals. The spirits give them comfort, faith, hope and answers to questions in which they do not know the answer.…
Miner, Horace (1964; 2004). Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. In Winters, Paul and Schneider, James (Fourth Edition). Frame and Focus. (p.p. 31 – 35). Washington, DC: Person Custom Publishing.…