Culture Unit: The Power of Ritual

Culture Unit: The Power of Ritual
As we wrap up our reading of the first two cultural literature units and begin our writing process, I think it important that we take a step back and look at some aspects of culture that are significant and worth analyzing. When you think about it, nearly every aspect of our lives in some way has to do with culture--the cultures we belong to, as well as the ones we are opposed to. That concept, "culture," encompasses so many things in our lives: who we are (age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc.), who we are (thoughts, actions, behaviors, beliefs, biases, etc.), and who we are (roles, expectations, privileges, disadvantages, etc.). "Culture" is something that we have a symbiotic relationship to; it is both something we define and something that defines us--something we shape and something that shapes us. It is inextricably bound to our identities.


One aspect of culture that we've looked at in literature and explored in our own personal lives is tradition, customs and rituals. These are the things we do that have been passed down for generations, or that may be even newly formed; these are things we may do or participate in without fully understanding their meaning, but realizing their significance. And these traditions, customs, and rituals have a great deal of power in our lives. Take, for your consideration, an example:


* Not too long ago, I shared with you an article about the booming funeral industry in Taiwan. We've seen this idea--the importance of funeral rites--in many ways in the literature we've read so far. Last semester, we talked about how death was an important part of Greek society, not just because a glorified death cemented the ascension of the hero, but also because a proper funeral guaranteed his entrance into the afterlife. When we looked at this more recently in the African and Middle East units, we saw that the death and the funeral had much different significance, mostly because of very different ideas about what happens after death in those particular cultures. I mentioned to you in our discussions in our society today, the power of that funeral rite is for the survivor, not the deceased, that this is a way for those left behind to cope and deal and answer the questions that we've been asking since we as humans had language: what happens to us when we die, and what is the meaning of our lives once they are over? It would be shocking to our sensibilities for someone to die and not be buried, or have a memorial of some sort. Therein, perhaps, is the power in that ritual, that "rite of passage": it is something that signifies the transition that is being made.


Since the start of the year, I myself experienced the passing of a close family friend, and experienced the very emotional memorial services; there was definitely something inherent in the ritual itself that allowed for closure, which would have been lost had there been none. Perhaps, then, rituals give us a way of understanding the inexplicable, of coping with the unbearable, of addressing the unimaginable, of making sense of the world around us.


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QUESTION TO CONSIDER:

Think of a ritual that you've participated in (for example, the wearing of ashes at the onset of Lent). Research the origins of that ritual and explain how that particular ceremony came to be. Also, reflect on the power or significance that the ritual has for you personally.