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Body Ritual Among the Nacerima (Horace Miner) 1. Please write a…
Body Ritual Among the Nacerima (Horace Miner)
1. Please write a response to the following discussions:
Discussion 1 (M.M)
Please respond to this discussion
I have mixed feelings about people studying other peoples cultures. I understand the curiosity about other cultures but sometimes it can be dangerous or it can become disrespectful. Most people who come from modern places are so interested but they sometimes over step their visits. This story talks about how these people focus on health and they have a highly developed market economy. It says these people do work to make money and become developed but they spend a lot of time doing rituals. Which I feel most cultures do rituals. We in the United States have rituals too, they have just become so normal no one realizes. Going to church is a ritual and also going to work. You do a ritual because you expect something to come from it. These people were very concerned with their health. Apparently their belief is that the human body is ugly and it naturally wants to become full of diseases. They had shrines in their houses to show off this way of thinking. The houses are not that fancy but the rooms for the shrines are made to be more beautiful. They have potions and charms for these rooms and are put into special boxes. These potions and charms come at a price, they pay the medicine man for the potions and have to pay another fee for the matching charm! Sounds like modern say America to me. Accessories. sold separately. After reading that part I realize the human brain is the same all around the world, get rich and make money off the poor and also make it religious. There is a medicine man in every town regardless of the size and they have a temple of some sort. When someone gets sick, and you take them to the temple, that usually means they are going to die. You could do a purification ritual but of course only if you can afford it! Good luck!
2 Please write a response to the following discussions:
Discussion 2 (D.R)
Please respond to this discussion
Discussion 12: Body Ritual Among the Nacerima
Summary: The Nacerima group is from the area between the Canadian Creel, the Yaqui, Tarahumara of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. At the center of their culture, they perform rituals on their body. The poor typically have one shrine in their homes, and the rich have multiple shrines. To perform these rituals, they have inside their homes boxes in the walls, which hold all of the holistic contents needed. In our modern times, this would be considered a medicine cabinet or medicine chest. We both use medicine to help us feel better and for longevity. For these rituals to be conducted, they must pay the medicine men (pharmacists) with gifts. The Nacerima believe these medications will help them live a long life and are sacred to their tradition. They are obsessed with the mouth and go to great lengths to ensure that their mouth is clean since, to them, it translates to a strong moral character. Like our society, we visit the dentist twice yearly for check-ups, and they do the same. However, one ritual is mouth-rite, similar to how we use mouthwash since they are swishing the hog hairs and powders around. Even though the mouth man is not treating their teeth and they continue to form cavities, etc., they believe what the mouth man is doing is sacred and continue to go to him for treatment. Another ritual that men perform is shaving their faces. The same way men today shave their faces by using a sharp blade. The men of Nacirema never use the bathroom in front of their wives. However, he will use it in front of a maiden. Interestingly, “a man whose own wife has never seen him in an excretory act suddenly finds himself naked and assisted by a vestal maiden while he performs his natural functions into a sacred vessel.” Some of the rituals women perform include the lunar cycles, which can reference menstrual cycles. By baking their heads in an oven, the women are possibly doing some kind of beauty treatment or trying to get rid of evil in their heads by “baking” it out of themselves. The temple is similar to a hospital or hospice where the sick go to live out their final days. During their time there, they are subject to various forms of torture by the “nurses” and “doctors.” The “listener” is a psychiatrist or therapist to whom the Nacerima tells their problems and hopes he can resolve them using rituals.
Critique: The Nacerima are obsessed with their bodies, both physically and mentally. They will endure torture and other ritualistic treatments to try and treat different ailments they may or may not even have. They go to great lengths to try and change their bodies and minds. This is similar to how we do beauty treatments to appear younger and alter our bodies with plastic surgery. They have rules which are similar to ours in a certain way such as you should never let your husband or wife see you use the restroom. Both of our cultures are similar since we go to therapy to help sort of certain issues or feelings. In America, we are body obsessed as well; you see or hear advertisements about the latest weight loss drug (Ozempic), or plastic surgeons advertising their services (Botox, face lifts, body treatments).
