Ant Exam 2

Pentacostal healing

"laying on hands", possession by holy spirit, ecstatic trance, speaking in tongue, physical convulsions, christians converts from shamanic traditions often pentacostalism appealing.

Holiness

(unitary state) The state is entered through intense concentration in prayer and with loud music with a repetitive beat; no drugs are used. Individuals speak in tongues, 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.

trance state

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.

Siberian Shamanism

use hand-held 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. 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. Yakut 2 "familiar" spirits, Emekhet, the spirit of a dead shaman guardian spirit, Yekyua, an external soul that belongs both to the shaman a living animal.

Shaman

A part-time religious specialist who receives his or her power directly from the spirit world and acquires status and the ability to do things through personal communication with the supernatural.

Tattooing

involves piercing or cutting the skin and then introducing a pigment into the wound.

Music Symbols

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.

Dance Symbols

is an important means of symbolically representing the supernatural world and telling religious stories. 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. 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

3 Phases of rites of passage

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. Transition phase- During the transition phase, several activities take place that bring about the change in status. Incorporation- during which the couple reenters normal society, though in a new social relationship. usually lasts several hours, although in many groups it is considerably longer.

Prophet

Someone who communicates the words and will of the gods to his or her community, acting as an intermediary between the people and the gods

Cheyenne sun

The Sun Dance takes place near the summer solstice and represents the theme of renewal.The Sun Dance takes eight days to perform, with the first four days spent building the dance lodge. 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.

Whirling Log

The Swastika in Navajo Art, 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 feather, which, as the log is whirling, stands out straight. 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

whirling log

The Swastika in Navajo Art, 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 feather, which, as the log is whirling, stands out straight. 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.

Yanomamo

The Yanomamö world is populated by tiny, human like spirits called hekura. One's supernatural power depends on one's ability to entice the hekura into the chest, which is visualized as a world of rivers, mountains, and forests. To accomplish this, one must take ebene, which is a hallucinogenic snuff made of several ingredients. The snuff is blown into the nose of the individual.

Displacement

The ability to use symbols to refer to things and activities that are remote from the user

Fasting

The act of abstaining from eating food and drinking water over a period of time.

sympathetic system

The arousal system of the brain.

Huichol

The use of peyote is a key element in their religious practices; it is used to contact and interact with supernatural powers in rituals that are an integral part of their pilgrimage. Native American Church- use peyote as a sacrament

Jewish Time

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

sacred pain

An attitude wherein the subject or object is set apart from the normal, everyday world and is entitled to reverence and respect.

Color

Generally, languages of industrial societies tend to have a greater number of basic color terms than do languages spoken in less complex societies. Symbols, including color terminology, are arbitrary and learned; they are parts of cultural traditions. Chinese culture, brides wear red.To the Navaho, "blue is the color of celestial and earthly attainment, of peace, happiness, and success, of vegetable sustenance." In the English language, colors evoke emotions

Gregorian calendar

1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed a new, reformed calendar, the calendar that we use today (the Gregorian calendar). It features the placement of extra days in defined leap years.

Openness

A feature of symbols; the ability to create new symbols

Pentagram

A five-sided figure. but is generally used to refer to a five-pointed star, also called a pentacle. Pentagrams are among the most widely used religious symbols, both historically and cross-culturally

Priest

A full-time religious specialist who is associated with formalized religious institutions.

Pilgrimage

A journey to a sacred place or a sequence of sacred spaces at which rituals are performed. A pilgrimage can also be a series of rituals that are associated with a sequence of sacred spaces

Neoshamanism

A modern spiritual practice that draws on some concepts and practices of traditional shamanism, but is usually used as a method for improving an individual's life.

Priests

A priest acts as a representative of the community in dealing with the deity or deities 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. Are individuals who personify the image of the ideal person. They are models of ethics and morality in their communities. 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. 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.

Healer

A religious specialist who concentrates on healing. often used to refer to a priest or shaman

Diviner

A religious specialist who specializes in divination. series of techniques and activities that are used to obtain information about things that are not normally knowable

prescriptive rituals

A ritual that a deity or religious authority requires to be performed.

situational rituals

A ritual that arises as needed, frequently in times of crisis.

calendrical rituals

A ritual that is performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar

occasional rituals

A ritual that is performed when a particular need arises. Many occasional rituals are associated with nature and the impact of nature on the agricultural cycle. rituals marking birth, marriage, and death.

rites of passage

A ritual that occurs when an individual changes status, serving to legitimize the new status and to imprint it on the community's collective memory

Communitas

A state characterized by a sense of equality, community, and camaraderie.

Circumcision

A surgical procedure during which the foreskin is removed from the penis

Swastika

A symbol formed by two lines crossing at right angles with their ends bent at right angles in a clockwise or counterclockwise position.

Totem

A symbol or emblem that stands for 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.

rites of intensification

A type of ideological ritual that functions to reinforce the belief system and the values of the society. Performed as periodic rituals or an occasional ritual in times of stress. Muslims daily prayers, christian sunday services.

Pentacostal

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 hands," generally takes place during a service. 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. 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.

unitary state

An altered state of consciousness in which an individual experiences a feeling of becoming one with the supernatural.

spirit possession

An altered state of consciousness that is interpreted as a spirit taking over control of a human body and is either deliberately induced by a ritual performance or the consequence of an illness caused by a spirit taking control.

Journeys

Intentional travels of the soul- may visit physical or spiritual places or communicate with guardian spirits

Victor Turner

Makes lists of characters of the liminality state. Betwixt and between.

soul retrieval

Returns soul that have left the body because of abuse, grief, or other physical or emotional states.

Taboo

Objects and persons that are supernaturally prohibited. May also refer to certain behaviors that would bring about negative consequences through supernatural means. It would bring dishonor, bad luck, or some other negative result for a person to have contact with someone or something that is tabu.

Islam Time

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.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.

DreamTime

The creation myths of the Australian Aborigines begin in the dim past during the DreamTime 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 stories of the DreamTime establish special relationships between humans and animals.

Incorporation

The final stage of a rite of passage in which the individual is reintroduced to the community in his or her new status.

Separation

The first phase of a rite of passage in which an individual is removed from his or her former status.

orientation structure

The part of the brain that enables us to distinguish ourselves from the world around us and to orient ourselves in space.

liminality (transition)

The state of ambiguous marginality that characterizes the transition phase of a rite of passage. They have shed their previous identification and place in society but have yet to take on the mantle of their new status.

Okinawan

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. the kaminchu is believed to actually embody a particular kami associated with the clan.

Maya calendar

They developed several systems of marking time that intersected with one another to form a complex calendar 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. 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.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. 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.

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.

Yin Yang

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

Peyote

a hallucinogenic cactus. Used in rituals by the Native American Church and the Huichol of Mexico.

Shaman

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. Often performs healing, soul retrieval. 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

Hajj

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. Communitas in the liminal phase.

Extraction

removing misplaced energy (effects of stress, anger, sadness, injury) that may abuse illness.

Rastafarians

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.

Cross

the symbol most clearly associated with Christianity. The symbol of the cross also expresses the Christian worldview: that the death of Jesus provides the opportunity for salvation.