Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Tribe
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Tribe Nacirema culture spends a considerable portion of their days in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which is the dominant concern of the people. The fundamental belief of the whole system is that the human body is ugly and that it will only wither away with disease. Trapped in such a body, man's only hope to stop these events is through the powerful use of rituals and ceremonies. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. I was able to speak with the natives to examine these shrines and to have the rituals described to me. The shrine is a box or a chest. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions that these natives believe they cannot live without. These potions are received from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do...