Myths & Rituals

James G. Frazer, Sympathetic Magic

According to the Sympathetic Magic article, Magic is closely related to science.

Michael J. Harner, "The Sound of Rushing Water"

Among the Jivaro Tribe, the shamans hold very strong power over supernatural forces; strong enough to be able to fully curse and kill, and to fully heal and cure someone. They gain this power by entering a tranced state of being with a hallucinogen.

Peter M. Worsley, "Cargo Cults"

Cargo cult: Religious movement occurring among small-scale societies of Melanesia in response to culture contact; the movement focuses on the attainment of trade goods.

The purpose of death rituals:

Death rituals or funerals serve many purposes among which are channeling the expressions of grief, determining the fate of the soul, and protecting the community of ghosts.

1. What is holism?

Holism: The study of human societies as systematic sums of their parts, as integrated wholes.

Sect vs denomination:

Many religious groups develop by branching off of established mainstream religions. The groups that remain mainstream and differ the least from the origin religion are called denominations. A sect is a new branch of a mainstream religion, usually involving new revelations, new scriptures, and a new leader.

What is Ethnography?

The descriptive study of human societies.

What is worldview?

There are particular ways in which people perceive and interpret their reality in different societies. This is known as worlview.

Campbell, Heidi (2007), 'What Hath God Wrought?' Considering How Religious Communities Culture (or Kosher) the Cell Phone, Journal of Media and Cultural Studies

This article shows that a religious group's response to a technology cannot be separated from those values that guide all aspects of community life.

Sorcerers VS witches

Unlike sorcerers who perform magic rituals to achieve their evil ends, witches simply will death and destruction and it happens, for the source of this evil is a supernatural power that lies within the body of the witch. In small-scale societies witches differ from sorcerers. In small-scale societies witches kill by willing death to occur.

what is Vodou

Vodou resembles in many ways traditional West African religions in that Vodou is characterized by a ! pantheon of intermediary deities, spirit possession, and offerings placed on altars.

in the article Virtual Religion

all of the following are discussed as benefits of St. John's Internet Church. It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for worship. A seated view where the participant looks as if he/ she is actually seated in a church setting. It allows one to move at their own pace to understand all materials being taught.

Differences in the concept of the soul

among human societies include the size of the soul, the number of souls a human possesses, the location of the soul in the human body. In some societies one's soul is in ! one's shadow or in one's reflection in a mirror.

What is a spirit?

a supernatural being that is less powerful than a god and is usually more localized; often one of a collection of non-individualized supernatural beings that are not given specific names and identities. Spirits are most often seen as classes of supernatural beings. They tend to be associated with specific locations. They provide protection and success, but also are blamed for minor mishaps. They are not responsible for some powerful aspect of nature.

What is God?

God is an individual supernatural being, with a distinctive name, personality, and control or influence of a major aspect of nature (such as rain or fertility), that encompasses the life of an entire community or a major segment of the community. Gods are anthropomorphic entities (Nonhuman entities that have human characteristics). Thus, they are not human in origin.

What is the concept of witch craft in small-scale societies based on?

largely based on the work of E. E. Evans-Pritchard among the Azande of the Sudan. Evans-Pritchard concluded that a belief in witchcraft serves three functions: It provides an explanation for the unexplainable; it provides a set of cultural behaviors for dealing with misfortunate; and it serves to define morality. Zande believes that witchcraft is a substance found within the body of the witch.

What are Shamans

part-time religious specialists who receive his or her power directly from the spirit world and acquire status and the ability to do things through personal communication with the supernatural. They may receive a call from the spirits through an altered state of consciousness to become a shaman. They may become a shaman because of recovering from a illness. They are sometimes call "wounded healers" in that they are often driven to become shamans because of illness, accident, spirit possession, and so forth.

Baseball Magic Article: Magic-like rituals

are an important part of the behavior of athletes in athletic competition. Certain ritual behaviors, such as wearing the same clothing or washing one's hands after a ! losing inning, are adopted because the player associated certain activities with success. Magic is most frequently found in situations that are unpredictable (fear, anxiety, etc.). Magic involves the use of plant material, called medicines, in which supernatural power resides among the Azande.

Santeria (Rule of the Orisha)

developed in Cuba from a fusion of West African religions, primarily Yoruba and Spanish Catholicism ○ It developed out of societies of freed slaves living in various locations and conditions throughout Cuba ○ Santeria deities, called orisha, show the same syncretism as the Haitian Iwa ○ The orisha associated with particular saints, i.e. OgunàSaint Peter -The religion is known for being secretive, partly because of the use of animal sacrifice in ritual; and relatively little info about beliefs, rituals, and symbols is released to the general public

UFO religions

examples of new religious movements. An example of a UFO religion is Heaven's Gate.

What is magic?

refers to rituals that people use to control the supernatural. Magic ritual usually includes: a spell, the manipulation of objects, special conditions for the performer of the ritual. The oral text of a magical ritual is often known as a spell.

Where did the series of witchcraft trials and executions take place?

took place in the late 17th century in the United States, in the ! town of Salem, Massachusetts.

The Ghost Dance of 1890

was begun by a Paiute prophet Wovoka and promised the return of the ancestors and the disappearance of the dominant society. It is an example of a nativistic movement. Nativistic movement is a type of revitalization movement that develops in traditional societies that are threatened by the activities of more technologically advanced societies.

What is Assimilation?

A condition whereby a dominated culture has changed so much because of outside influences that it ceases to have its own distinct identify.

What is a ghost?

A ghost can best be thought of as a soul that remains in the world of the living.

Fundamentalism:

A religious movement characterized by a return to fundamental principles, usually including a resistance to modernization and an emphasis on certainty through a literal interpretation of scriptures. Totalism, scripturalism,and traditioning are features of fundamentalism.

What is Participant Observation?

A research method where by the anthropologist lives in a community and participates in the lives of the people under study while at the same time making objective observations.

Revitalization movements:

A revitalization movement is a movement that forms in an attempt to deliberately bring about change in a society. These frequently initiated by an individual or a small group that promises better times. We can recognize several types of revitalization movements. i.e. Ghost Dance is a nativistic movements which is a kind of revitalization movement. Another example for ! revitalization movement from the US is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

What is cultural relativism vs. ethnocentrism?

Cultural Relativism: Attempting to analyze and understanding cultures other than one's own without judging them in terms of one's own culture. Ethnocentrism: Using one's own culture as the basis for interpreting and judging other cultures.

Culture change and syncretism:

Culture change occurs through the processes of discovery, invention, and diffusion. Accultura-tion refers to the situation whereby a culture is significantly changed because of exposure to the influence of a politically and technologically dominant culture. Sometimes there is a reworking of the trait through a process known as syncretism, in which traits from two cultures fuse to form something new and yet, at the same time, permit the retention of the old by subsuming the old into a new form, such as Vodou in Haiti and Santeria in Cuba (In Cuba the deities are called orisha and are know by their Yoruba names-the religion known as Santeria).

E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Men Bewitch Others When They Hate Them

In addition, remember that even though somebody is seen as a witch in society, they are not deemed as a bad person in Azande society.

What is a Vampire?

In eastern European folk belief (not Hollywood folk belief) a vampire is a person who, having died before his time, returns to life to bring death to his friends and neighbors.

Paul Boyer et al., Witchcraft and Social Identity

The article looks at the pattern of witchcraft accusations as a result of socioeconomic and political factions in Salem during the 17th century. ! - Ideas of witchcraft in Europe were influenced by Christian ideas about the nature of evil. Christianity accepts the existence of an evil spirit, known as Satan or the Devil. In this belief sys-tem witches are individuals whose evil power originates with a pact with the Devil. In Europe, witchcraft beliefs were merged with sorcery. Sorcery became associated with the invocation of spirits, which was defined as being hostile to God. Anyone doing any form of magic was seen as calling on the servants of Satan. Magic and witchcraft became not just crimes against society, but heresy—crimes against God. The period known as the Witchcraze began at the end of the Middle Ages (around 1450) and lasted for about 200 years. In Euro- American witchcraft beliefs, witches define all that is wrong and immoral. People who exhibit antisocial behavior are the most likely targets of witchcraft accusations. Witches also fulfill our unconscious need to blame someone for the misfortunes that we experience in our daily lives. In general, patterns of witchcraft accusa-tions reflect deeply felt conflicts and divisions in a society.

what is diffusion?

The movement of culture traits from one culture to another.

What are the origins of halloween?

The origins of Halloween can be found in a(n) ancient Celtic festival called Samhain.

What is Acculturation?

The process whereby a culture accepts traits from a dominant society.

What does the term PANTHEON refer to?

The term pantheon refers to a hierarchy of gods. All gods and goddesses in a polytheistic system form a pantheon.

What is Hinduism's belief about the soul?

We can find he belief that an immortal, eternal soul is born again and again in different bodies is found in Hinduism.

What are Priests?

full-time religious specialists who is associated with formalized religious institutions are usually responsible for the performance of prescribed, periodic rituals. 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 rep-resentative of the community to the deity or deities and is responsible for the performance of pre-scribed rituals. The skill of a priest is based on the learning of ritual knowledge and sacred narra-tives and or 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.

Revitalization movement

is a movement that forms in an attempt to deliberately bring about change in a society. Revitalization movements may be brought about by political and economic marginalization, malnutrition and high level of epidemic disease, and perception that values of the community are being threatened.

Vodou

is a religion that is found in the country of Haiti and in the Haitian diaspora. It is rich in symbolism, with art, dance and music playing central roles in ritual. Vodou grew out of several religions indigenous to West Africa, especially the religions of the Fon, Kongo, and Yoruba peoples. An example of syncretism is the association of particular Iwa with Catholic saints and manifestations of the Virgin, i.e. in Haitian Vodou, the identification of the Yoruba deity Legba as St. Peter is an example of syncretism.

What is the Law of Similarity?

states that things that are alike are the same

The Law of Contact (Contagion) states?

states that things that were once in contact continue to be connected

Why do Anthropologists use ethnography?

to conduct research and participant observation is unique to anthropology.