Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Essay Example for Free

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema EssaySandra Bullard November 27, 2011 Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Dr. Chan Body Ritual Among the Nacirema The Nacirema are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. According to the Nacirema mythology, their nation was originated by a culture hero, Notgnihsaw, who otherwise known for two great fears of strength- the throwing of a piece of start across the river Pa-To-Mac and the choppin down of a cherry tree in which the Spirit of Truth resided. The focus of the Nacirema culture is the activity of the human body, appearance and the health of which predominate as a dominant concern in the culture of the people. The belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its inherent tendency is to debility and disease. In the hierarchy of magical practitioners in the Nacirema culture, second in the lineup ar e the holy-mouth-men. The Nacirema have a pathological horror of and captivation with the mouth, the condition of which is believed dto have a supernatural influence on all social relationships.If it werent for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers would reject them. throng seek out a holy-mouth-man once or twice a year. Holy-mouth-men have an impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of these objects are for the eviction of the evils of the mouth. The holy-mouth-man opens the clients mouth and, using the above tools, enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth.If there are no naturally occurring holes in the teeth, large sections of one or more teeth are gouged out so that the supernatural substance can be applied. In the clients view, the purpose of these ministrations is to arrest decay an d to draw friends. The natives return to the holy-mouth-men year after year in order to keep sacred and traditional character of the rite. The medicine-men of the Nacirema union have an imposing temple, also called latipso. The latipso is a very elaborate ceremony that is required to treat very sick patients only.These ceremonies are so harsh that it is astounding that the sick natives who enter the temple incessantly recover. When the supplicant first enters the temple, they are first stripped of all off his or her clothes. In every-day life the Nacirema rid of exposure of his body and its natural functions. Once in the latipso, the body secrecy is lost and the man finds himself naked and assisted by a vestal housemaid in which he then fulfills his natural functions into a secret vessel.These procedures are necessitated by the fact that the excreta are used by a godly to ascertain the course and nature of the clients sickness. Female clients who enter the lapitso, find their naked bodies are subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men. One demeanor that these people address wealth is with shrines. Every household has one or more shrines. The most powerful individuals in society have several shrines in their houses. The shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone.Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls. Another way I think wealth is defined in their community is the gifts that are given to guardians of temples. The lapitsos guardian for example, will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. And once a client is admitted, they must be able to give the custodian another rich gift before organism permit out. Cultural relativism is demonstrated by Horace Miner and his capability of understanding and gaining trust of the individuals culture.The individuals of the Nacirema community opened up to Miner and let him see their sacred and traditional ritu als. It was his willingness and openness that let the Nacirema community to trust him. Its hard for me not to display ethnocentrism towards their community and rituals because its completely antithetical from what I have learned and grown up with. None of their rituals that they perform make any sense to me. For example, the women putting their heads in the oven and letting them bake for an hour is hard for me to understand and conceptualize.So, its hard for me to say that I think that theyre strange, because thats their culture and thats the only think they have ever known. When I put it in perspective and think about their opinions on our culture, they wouldnt know why we do the things we do within our community. It is very kindle to read about people who once lived in North America and maybe still do live in North America that perform these types of ritual.