After reading “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” I believe the Nacirema are the Americans. First Nacirema is American spelled backwards. I also think it is America because it said “North American group living… Little is known of their origin, al- though tradition states that they came from the east.”
After researching the Hmong culture, I learned several interesting facts about their culture, ceremonial practices, and their views on death and dying of a loved one. Many people in the Hmong culture believe in multiple souls that reincarnate. Although for this to occur, these individuals believe that an honored deceased member must have a proper burial to enter the spirit world in a positive way. Funerals in the Hmong culture last for many days, and the more revered the deceased is the longer the funeral may be. Animal sacrifice is a common ritual performed at a Hmong funeral and the animal is used to provide food for the people attending the funeral (Purnell, 2014, p. 246).
Some of the tissue is then cut from the inside of the lips or from incisions cut down each side of the neck. These incisions will more than likely not be seen because of how the body is positioned in the casket with the help of a pillow. Also liquid sealer is often used to prevent leakage from the incisions. All this is done to make the body look as close to “normal” as
Have you ever been to a funeral and wondered how a dead body can look so clean and lively? How can it look as if it hasn’t been dead for a little over a minute? That’s due to the process known as embalming. Embalming is the preservation of human remains, using chemicals, in order to prevent decomposition. It is used to make sure that the corpse is presentable on the day of the funeral.
Elderly men were assigned the duty of being “bone-pickers”, which meant they had to grow their nails out very long to pick the flesh off of the deceased’s bones (Choctaw Tribe). They believed that there was great power in an individual’s bones. When the bone-pickers duties to the Indian concluded, they created a large stand, and placed the person ’s horse(s) on it, and then they roasted them. The meat was then shared between the whole tribe (Carson 498).
First, they wrap the body in cloths this is called mummification. The cloths used in mummification belonged to the deceased and were their Shentis. A Shenti is a piece of clothing that covered the person from the sun and protects the body. They cherished these and were needed for the afterlife. Second, they would make a stone Sarcophagus much like a coffin.
They are believed to migrate from the east, long ago. Though this tribe has a considerably well-organized economic culture, its unique ceremonial and body rituals make it a curious tribe to study. Socially, it is a close-nit group. The people of this tribe believe in the ugliness and frailty of human body, and follow a set of body rituals, often horrible, to avert the debility of human body. All the Nacirema have at least one “shrine” in their houses to follow these body rituals.
Also, it seems that the most important part of the honoring process is placing a photograph of the deceased on the altar. This is how the mexican culture celebrates Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). (Hernandez, Aracely. " Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). "
They also cremated people that were sick. They burned some people alive. They made some people burn their own family members. First to get there they had to get in cattle cars. To transport the people they put them into the cattle cars.
Horace Miner, a American Anthropologist wrote an academic essay titled “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” In this article Miner described some of the bizarre rituals and practices of the “Nacirema” which the reader comes to find out that he is talking about North Americans. The way Miner goes into detail about how these people live makes them seem foreign. Thus making the norm for an American lifestyle seem odd because the certain type of lingo Miner uses to make this “tribe” more exotic then the actually are. His point in doing this is to show the reader how obnoxious anthropologist can be when they are explain a different culture.
I SrA Dofonso Fernando am writing this letter on behalf of my family and myself. I believe I would benefit from a humanitarian reassignment. I am applying for reassignment to Nellis AFB, Las Vegas, Nevada due to financial, emotional, and health circumstances. This reassignment would benefit the military and I as I could focus on my health and my family’s health, organize finances and have the ability to provide for my family if I was not geographically separated. The financial burden of maintaining a household in both Hawaii and Nevada, due to our physical separation at this time, is also a hardship on our marriage and ability to exist as a family.
The dreaming encompasses all aspects of Aboriginal life and Spirituality. The Dreaming is a term referring to Aboriginal spiritual beliefs about creation and existence. According to Aboriginal belief, all life as it is today; human, animal and plant is part of one vast unchanging network of relationships which can be traced to the ancestral spirit beings of the Dreaming. The Dreaming involves all knowledge and understanding in Aboriginal societies, and hence incorporates all beliefs and practices of Aboriginal communities. There are many important aspects such as ceremonies and rituals, land and identity and the place of death.
Some of those rituals are avoiding exposure of their body and bathing in secret. They believe that the body is an ugly thing. In order to make it better they have to perform a ritual and ceremony. Many of their homes have multiple shrines dedicated to this purpose. The more powerful
Many traditional Cherokees believe that after one dies, his or her soul often continues to live on as a ghost (Cherokee Indian Religion). They are supposed to have the ability to materialize where some but not all can see them. More fundamental beliefs that they follow is that good is rewarded, and evil is punished, and witchcraft among the Cherokee does not resemble that of non-Indian cultures (Cherokee Indian Religion). Even though they follow a strict belief system and everything had a purpose and was thought out, there are times when punishments cannot be explained. When someone does something right, it is rewarded either by being ranked higher or having individual honors or privileges within the society.
The mortuary feasts is ceremonial that honoring the spirit of the deceased and other ancestor spirits, at which these goods are given to heirs of the deceased in acts of public, ritual generosity. With the help of enchantment and custom, Vanatinai people amass awesome amounts of stylized assets, pigs, privately made family products, and sustenances, for example, yam and sago starch so as to host a years long arrangement of elaborate morgue feasts. The feast is a way for the Vanatinai people to communicate with the ancestor spirits. The assets exhibited at the zagaya and at all previous mortuary feast events, including the funeral, are trades between the living and dead. If the feasts is properly done all mourning taboos are clear from individuals
