Folklore and Religion Midterm

Manbo

Female high priest in Vodou.

memorate

First hand account of a supernatural experience. an experiential narrative, a description of a supranormal experience undergone by the narrator or a person close to him or her. Term introduced in 1934 by Carl W. Von Sydow, but redefined later.

myth

Narratives of cultural or religious beginnings. myths refer to beginnings in a sacred sense (but can also refer to endings as in eschatology). Believed to be sacred and true

magic superstition

Suggest a causal relationship between the condition(s) and the result(s). This type of superstition is used for production and prescription, rather than for prediction. Typically, there are multiple conditions, which usually include intentional actvity: "If A and B, then C." For eample, "Borrow a drawing knife (conditions), place it under the bed of a woman in confinement (condition), and the pains during and after the birth will be greatly decreased (result)."

contagious magic

Suggests that objects once in contact continue to affect one another, for good or for ill. For example, a woman might wear her happily married mother's engagement ring to ensure a happy courtship and marriage for herself.

succubus

Supernatural assault figure, compare to OLD HAG. A succubus is a demon in female form or supernatural entity in folklore (traced back to medieval legend) that appears in dreams and takes the form of a woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual activity.

glossolalia

speaking in tongues

cultural evolution

the 3 stages: savage, barbarism, civilization, unilinear development of stages that all cultures go through the same way (now largely discredited/seen as unethical)

apotropaic

- [super generally, protective practices] apotropaic magic (from Greek apotrepein "to ward off" from apo- "away" and trepein "to turn") is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of vague superstition or out of tradition, as in good luck charm (perhaps some token on a charm bracelet), amulets, or gestures such as crossed fingers or knocking on wood. The Greeks made offerings to the averting gods (Ἀποτρόπαιοι θεοί: Apotropaioi Theoi), chthonic deities and heroes who grant safety and deflect evil.

Edward B. Tylor

1832-1917 survivals, English, founder of cultural anthropology, representative of cultural evolution, animism (The belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.) Tylor argued that animism is the true natural religion that is the essence of religion, Tylor perceived the modern religious belief in God as a "survival" of primitive ignorance. He claimed the contemporary belief in God to be a survial, because science could explain the phenomena previously justified by religion

romantic nationalism and folklore

A cultural movement combining the romantic focus on the primitive or the common man or woman and older literary forms with the advocacy of national and ethnic pride through the development of the literature, language, and traditions of the group. Romantic nationalism led to the collection and literary imitation of traditional art forms, and as a consequence, it gave impetus to the discipline of folklore during its formative stage.

taboo

A taboo is a vehement prohibition of an action based on the belief that such behavior is either too sacred or too accursed for ordinary individuals to undertake, under threat of supernatural punishment. Such prohibitions are present in virtually all societies.[1] The word has been somewhat expanded in the social sciences to strong prohibitions relating to any area of human activity or custom that is sacred or forbidden based on moral judgment and religious beliefs. "Breaking a taboo" is usually considered objectionable by society in general, not merely a subset of a culture.

vodou as vernacular religion

Altered states of consciousness, direct contact, practical direct experience, dance and become god, protection, magical/apotropaic, healing aspects=vernacular [also lack of institution and that the formal and personal aspects are part of the same experience, ex. Honngan (male priest) who was descended from a line, emphasis on lineage both personal and extended back to Africa].

communitas

Antistructural. egalitarian, spontaneous, against hierarchical and structural status-roles frees relationships between individuals and the usual norms and roles. Spontaneous.

syncretic aspects of Vodou

Catholic saints, various African deities. African, Spanish, In Brazil: European, African and Indian [Specific saints became associated with specific deities because of pictures with associated symbols (ex. St. Patrick??) had snakes in a common picture, so became associated with the snake deity, etc.]

W.J. Thoms

Coined the term folklore in 1846, English, studied popular antiquities, started a journal or association?

E. Orings attributes of folklore

Communal, common, informal, marginal, traditional, ideological, aesthetic

cultural context

Concepts and values of the tradition bearer's cultural group that would makes the folklore meaningful and understandable to an insider. Wilson uses example of a Mormon supernatural legend not being understood by a non-Mormon. Cultural data, what behaviors, ideas and concpets people bring to th social setting in which folklore performance takes place. Providing cultural context makes it clear to an outsider, how to take in the information.

endocannibalism

Consuming part of the body of the dead of your own people. Metcalf, "Some neighborss of the Berawan reportedly consume liquids of decomposition mixed with rice, a variety of endocannibalism."

ve-ve

Cornmeal drawings of symbols of lwa/loa--vodou deities, ephemeral, transient.

cultural source hypothesis vs. the experience-based approach

Cultural/societal knowledge, pressures, belief produces experiences (Mormon Visionary Narratives). THe culture is the source of the experience. Lauri Honki characerizes this approach in his study of FInnish memorates. Experience-based approach: cross-cultural experience cannot be expalined by culture--universal--physiological perhaps, or just actually supernaturally valid. Near death experiences, vanishing hitchhiker legends, old hag. Hufford doesn't explain it away.

"Night Terror" experience, cultural influences, and physiological explanations

David Hufford, Old Hag, Sleep Paralysi Terror, evil presence Spirit pressing on chest, on chest, floating, flying body is paralyzed in REM sleep to keep sleeper from acting out his dreams, in rare instances, this normal muscle inhibition or atonia occurs during partial wakefulness, either during the period of falling asleep (hypnagogic), or less frequently, the period of awakening (hypnopompic). This condition is known as sleep paralysis. a stage when the body is asleep, but the mind is not. Often sleep paralysis is accompanied by hypnagogic hallucinations, which consist of complex visual, auditory, and somatosensory perceptions occuring in the period of falling asleep and resembling dreams. (Hufford finds this explanation inadequate) Cultural Influences: Sleep disruptions, stress, panic reactions, example: woman who saw her friends killed by Cambodian pol pot believed they were coming back to haunt her; objects or illness caused by spirits of unjust deaths, African Americans experiencing poverty, racism, PTSD had more night terror/sleep paralysis Belief in spirits or hags, witches, incubus, aliens, spirits of unjustly killed, would effect your interpretation and creation of the experience

emic and etic approaches to the study of culture

Etic level of analysis--generate scientifically useful explanations for the phenomenon, outsider perspective, analytical perspective Emic--insider, me, view cultural phenomenon or practice within a particular cultural reality, can include participant observation. Mama Lola is an example of this. From within--but you don't have to be an actual member.

baseball magic

George J. Gmelch artile. Particularly observed with pitchers and hitters, where the outcome is more uncertain, involves a high degree of chance, unlike fielding, whih is more certain and less magic has been reported to be performed by fielders. Attempting greater control over ones baseball performance through magic The pitcher is the least able to control the outcome of his own efforts, they often fluctuate between performing really well and losing, dpendent on the proficiency of his teammates, the inefficiency of the opposition and the supernatural (luck). Anxiety and uncertainty about baseball performance leads many baseball players to perform: -rituals, which often grow of of exceptionally good performances -fetishes, such as lucky objects (old bats, bobby pins, crucifixes, horsehide covers of old baseballs, coins -taboos, such as mentioning that no-hitter is in progress or crossing baseball bats

Yoder's characterization of folk religion

His influential 1974 definition conceptualized folk religion as unorganized religion that is both related to and in tension with the organized religious systems in a complex society. It was, for him, the totality of people's religious views and practices existing apart from and alonside normative religious theological and liturgical forms. Definition remains closely aligned to the official church-centered orienation of European scholarship. Yoder's two-tiered dichotomization of unofficial folk religion and official institutional religion pervades the scholarly description, conceptualization, and analysis of religion by American folklorists who emphasize folk religion's dependent, residual qualities in relation to formal cultural institutions. Idea that there is some pure form of religion somewhere, that folk versions are contaminations of.

Holy Ghost People

Holy rollers, snake handling church in scrabble creek west virginia, 1967, "the best ethnographic film ever made"--margaret mead Vernacular aspects: informality, literal interpretations of bible, anointing, convulsed dancing, an expression of faith, small churches, no official doctrine, quickening power of holy ghost, healing eyesight, etc Possession, collective effervescence, communitas, sacra, memorates, testimonials "we don't tell you want to say or don't say" "don't be idle, don't sit around and do nothing. be hot for god."

liminality

In between and betwixt, threshholds, borders during a rite of passage, the second stage of the ceremony: a process with three major components: ludic recombination, communication of sacra, and communitas Liminal phase can be open/public or secret/initiative ritual/sequestered, liberated from social structures and roles, alienated from partial persona, transient, can be carnivalesque

personal and cultural meanings of vodou

Mutual aid, strategies for survival in urban cities, being alone in ny, community, bonding, cultural heritage, the "original black man's religion", the woman who talked about passing it down to her children.

features of folk/vernacular religion

Informal, practical, personal. Burying St. Joseph's statue to sell house is an example. Numinous, experiential aspects of religion. Small, homogenous communities of believers, action of personally believing, religion as it is believed/lived, practiced and experienced in every day life. Influened by, but developing alongside, and within the "official" institutional religious contexts and forms. Manifested in: belief, speech, story and song, private devotions and practices; public ritual activities, the material culture of clothing, food, domesti space, religious objects, and the life of the body. The entire body of interpreted and negotiated religious beliefs and practices of individuals and communities fluidly interacting with organied religious traditions. Reliance on oral tradition, regional variation, group identification, and the unofficial status of particular systems of beliefs in relationship to an official, normative tradition.

Legacy of the Spirits

Karen Kramer documentary/ethnography about Vodou practitioners in Brooklyn, personal cultural meanings of vodou, mutual aid, strategies for survival in urban cities, being alone in ny, community, bonding, cultural heritage, the "original black man's religion" Direct experience, dance and become god, protection, magical/apotropaic, healing aspects=vernacular, inherited, family ties, personal experience, altars, invite gods into home to celebrate, dancing, chicken sacrifice, film seems to portray vodou so as to remove exoteric stigma and misconceptions about Vodou!

legend

Local, historic, supposed or believed to be true, whether actually believed or not, conveys belief, the idea is that it happened in the real world, short, oral prose narrative based in the reality of performers and audiences.

oicotype

Localized variant. The local form of text-type. C.W. Von Sydow, who introduced the conept into folklore studies, borrowed it from biology, where ecotype means a a variety of speies that possess inherited characterisitics that enable them to thrive in a particular habitat. Occurs when regular changes occur in a text-type's content, style or structure as it adapts to the preferred patterns of a particular locality or culture group. Tied to cultural setting. Suggests not just superficial changes like place names, but changes ot he text type's core, too.

imitative (homeopathic) magic

Magic also called the Law of Similarity. Suggests that like produces like, and similar objects may affect one another. Mimetic imitation can enact an event or outcome, so that, for example the cravings of expectant mothers can cause birthmarks on their children that resemble desired food.

anxiety and magic

Malinowski--magic appears in situations of chance and uncertainty. people use magic to gain more reliable control over the outcomes of uncertain situations, when someone cannot predict the results of their actions on the basis of their knowledge about the environment and their performance; uncertainty. Going out on the Ocean versus lake for instance. The dangerous elements of weather. Magic relies upon belief in the a universal "sympathy" between all existent things, natural and supernatural, creating a web of meaningful association linking magical knowledge with magical acts. tapping into the unity of all things, the magical believer gains access to the inherent power or essence of material and spiritual forms and transforms both them and her or himself.

serpent handings as sacrament

Mary Lee Daugherty article snake symbolism, life and death, sickness and health, faith, life over death, knowledge physical signs communicate spiritual reality Emic-internalized her own feelings of insecurity and worthlessness, being "no count", can understand how snake handling makes them assured of their own worth, demonstrations of their worth to God West virginia book of mark-literal reading of bible holy ghost spontaneity true believers 1,000 people or less in communities, coal miners, poor, cultural isolation local don't kill the snakes or see them as evil, take the risk, symbolically taking on life and testing faith, willingness to die for their beliefs gives to their lives a vitality of faith. Each time they handle the serpents they struggle with life once more and survive again the forces that traditionally oppress mountain people harsh, uncontrollable forces in mines and mountain life. Healing love that emerges at end, communitas, they all seem to love each other, free from restrictions and conventions, kiss each other

polygenesis/monogenesis

Multiple sources of origination of folklore or one source that diffused

features of Day of the Dead celebration

Oct 27-Nov 2, regional vs. urban 3 deaths: death of the body, death of spirit, death of soul offerings to remember those who have died, recently and ancestors to the third--death of soul does not happen, which is one the soul is forgotten leave food, nourishment for souls of dead private and public celebrations private: home altars, 4 elements--earth (food, tamales), air (paper cut outs called posadas), fire (candles), water (water) also, marigolds (cleansing) make path of flowers from door to altar or from house to cemetery toys and clothes and junk food for children alcohol for adults public: go to cemetery, bring food and drinks, procession, travel through the streets, play music, women pray at graves while men socialize some mummers do skits in the streets for money/treats 10/28: for those who died violently (Aztec belief that afterlife is dictated by how you died, not lived) leave bread and water outside, not allowed inside 10/30: children who died before baptism, briefly and then they return the next day 11/1: day of large celebration, public, ends at darkness, mummers scare last dawdling spirits away stores and altars decorated with sugar skulls, calevaras, popularized by an artist varies whether it is rural, urban or in America hollywood cemetery tourism, voyeurism

ludic recombination

Recombination of cultural traits in bizarre, unusual way inversions, out of proportion nose of phallus, incongruous forms, monsters, half animal/half human, exaggerations, distortions, satire, caricature, lampoonery, liberation from custom, masks, play, recombination of cultural traits in bizarre, unusual way.

Berawan vs. American funerary practices

Peter Metcalf Berewan: rites consist of 4 stages, the first and third involve ritual preparation of the corpse, the second and fourth make up the steps in storage of the remains. The first stage, lasting two to ten days, consists of rites performed immediately after death. During the second state, the bereaved family stores the corpse in the longhouse or on a simple platform in the graveyard. this storage lasts at least 8 months and sometimes for several years if the close kin cannot immediately afford the expensive final stages. Third, if the corpse has been in the graveyard, the family brings it back to the longhouse, where it is kept for 6 to 10 days, while the family lavishly entertains guests who have been summoned from far and wide. Finally, the remains are removed to a final resting place, an impressively proportioned mausoleum. The Berawan believe that after death the soul is divorced from the body and cannot reanimate the already decaying corpse. however, the soul cannot enter the land of the dead because it is not yet a perfect spirit. to become one of the truly dead, it must undergo a metamorphosis. As the body rots away to leave dry bones, so the soul is slowly transformed into spirit form. American: would seem to trap the soul to Berawan: embalming, replacement of blood with perfumed formaldehyde, immediate burial in coffin, removal of soft organs, injection of inert materials. stitching, make up, restorative techniques for appearance, injection of wazes, cosmetic, padded coffins, grave clothes Within this four part plan, details of the corpse's treatment vary considerably: 1st storage stage: family may place corpse in a large earthenware jar or in a massive coffin hewn from a single tree trunk. 2nd storage state: the family may use a valuable glazed jar or the coffin left over from the first state. 3rd stage rites: the family may take out the bones of the deceased and clean them. As the corpse decomposes, its secretions may be collected in a special vessel.

sign superstition

Predicts future events, such as the arrival of visitors, the weather or marriage. They often exhibit the strucutre, "if A, then B"--a single condition, a single result--such as "if you drop a knife (condition), a stranger is coming (result)." Conditions often are celestial, animal, or plant in nature and thus cannot be controlled by human will; when they do involve human activity, they are typically considered unavoidalbe, as in the accidental dropping of silverware.

Primiano's idea of "vernacular religion"

Religion as it is lived, as it is manifested in everyday life, ALL religion is vernacular, lived religion, no real, pure, official religion (which is just an ideal). Reglion as it is enountered, understood, interpreted and practiced. Because it involves interpreation, impossible for it to not be vernacular, even institutionalized elements rae vernacular, it is the very nature of religion to be vernacular. Each person has their own version, enacts them personally.

numinous

Rudolph Otto. Saints, mystical experiences, folklorisits might see it as a direct encounter in vernacular terms. Describes the power or presence or realization of a divinity. According to Otto, the numinous experience has in addition to the tremendous, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling, a quality of fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel. The numinous experience also has a personal quality, in that the person feels to be ni communion with a Holy Other, The numinous experience can lead in different cases to belief in deities, the supernatural, the sacred, the holy and/or the transcendent. The word was popularized in the early 20th century by the German theologian Rudolf Otto in his influential 1917 book Das Heilige, which appeared in English as The Idea of the Holy in 1923 C.S. Lewis, citing Rudolf Otto, brought the concept into the mainstream of readership; Lewis described the numinous experience as follows: Suppose you were told there was a tiger in the next room: you would know that you were in danger and would probably feel fear. But if you were told "There is a ghost in the next room," and believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be based on the knowledge of danger, for no one is primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but of the mere fact that it is a ghost. It is "uncanny" rather than dangerous, and the special kind of fear it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny one has reached the fringes of the Numinous. Now suppose that you were told simply "There is a mighty spirit in the room," and believed it. Your feelings would then be even less like the mere fear of danger: but the disturbance would be profound. You would feel wonder and a certain shrinking—a sense of inadequacy to cope with such a visitant of prostration before it—an emotion which might be expressed in Shakespeare's words "Under it my genius is rebuked." This feeling may be described as awe, and the object which excites it as the Numinous.

Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome

Shelly Adler article More than 100 persons of various southeast Asian ethnic groups have died from this since 1977. Loss of traditional belief, gender roles, and the impact of war, migration, and rapid acculturation, reveals the event that may provoke the fatal syndrome, hasty conversions to Christianity, denials of roles of shamans, abandonment of spirit appeasing rituals. Hmong refugee men were among victims in America as they tried to accommodate through these changes, between two worlds, male dominated societies, loss of breadwinner power, stress from war and migration died in their sleep survived two forced migrations but couldn't find jobs here traditional Hmong beliefs--it is a spirit pressing on your chest and you would consult a Shaman there was dream, forewarning death this issue was alleviated by moving to rural areas 1) a sense of panic or extreme fear 2) paralysis (partial or complete 3) a sense of pressure on the chest 4) a sense that there is an alien being (animal, human, or spirit) in the room 5) a disturbance in sensation

incubus

The male counterpart is the incubus. Religious traditions hold that repeated sexual activity with a succubus may result in the deterioration of health or even death.

syncretism

Sycretism is the combining of different, often contradictory beliefs, while blending practices of various schools of though. Syncretism involves the merger and analogizing of several originally discrete traditions, especially in theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. Religions syncretism exhibits blending of two or more religious belief systems into a new system, or the incorporation into a religious tradition of beliefs from unrelated traditions. This can occur for many reasons, and the latter scenario happens quite commonly in areas where multiple religious traditions exist in proximity and function actively in the culture, or when a culture is conquered, and the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do no suceed in entirely eradicating the old beliefs or, especially, practices. The process of syncretism in the Caribbean region often forms a part of cultural creolization. (The technical term "Creole" may apply to anyone born and reaised in the region, regardless of ethnicity.) The shared histories of the Caribbean Islands include long periods of European Imperialism (mainly by Spain, France and Great Britain) and the importation of African slaves primarily from Central and Western Africa). The influences of each of the above interacted in varying degrees on the islands, producing the fabric of society that exists today in the Caribbean. The Rastafari movement, found in Jamaica, syncretizes viorously, mixing elemtns from the Bible, Marcus Garey's Pan Afrianism movement, a text from the European grimoire tradition, the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, Hinduism, and Caribbean Culture. Another highly syncretic religions of the area, vodou, combines elements of Western African, native Caribbean, and Christian (especially Roman Catholic) belie

social context

William Wilson article: the social settings in which items were performed, not just what was said or made or done, but also the circumstances that generated the performances and the participants' responses to them.

the Grimm brothers

collectors of folklore in Germany during period of Romantic Nationalism Children's and Household Tales/Grimm's Fairy Tales, 7 editions

sacra

communication of sacra--re-establish origins/cosmic order-exhibition, actions, or instruction -relics, symbols, artifacts, instruments, dramatic performance, cosmogony, mythical history

Iwa

deities of vodou faith, spirits, they can be possessed by lwa through ritual, dancing, etc.

esoteric/exoteric folklore

exo- beliefs about another group, like the misconceptions about vodou

rites of passage

observed and coined by van gennep in 1909 to describe rituals "that accompany transitions from one situation to another and from one cosmic or social world to another" (13), separation, transition, and incorporation. it was expanded upon by Victor Turner.. he divided them into three stages: separation (from the social structure or cultural conditions, family or society, or your old identity or role), margin/limen, and reaggregation (into the everyday world/society, but transformed/renewed), or preliminal, liminal, and postliminal. separate the sacred from the mundane. death and rebirth. liminality is central to the process. a structural model, tripartite structure. rituals or rites that accompany change of place, state, social status, and age. human life cycle-marked by passages from one social and physical position to another physiological and psychological maturation. cultural socialization, cultural worldview birth, childhood, puberty, initiation, entry into adult status, engagement, marriage, maternal confinement, fatherhood, transfer into another social status, an death. social relationships change, you are transformed, you enter a new state or identity. Honko-traditional ceremonies organized by the community through which the individual is transferred from one social status to another In Relation to Holy Ghost People Turner likes Rites just about only in relation to religious events Separation: The sacred kiss Margin: Sacra (things that express the essence of the faith) (snakes),dancing, the music, glossolalia/speaking in tongues, testimonials, the healing/touching of people, reading a particult passage from text, possession Ludic Recombiation: throwing snakes around, greeting?, wild dancing

folklore as "survivals"

processes, customs, and opinions, and so forth, which have been carried on by force of habit into a new state of society different from that in which they had their original home, and they thus remain as proofs and examples of an older condition of culture out of which a newer has been evolved. "Survivals" can include outdated practices, such as the European practice of bloodletting, which lasted long after the medical theories on which it was based had faded form use and been replaced by more modern techniques. Other examples: "bless you" after someone sneezes.

dissociation

trance