Deck 3: Ritual

Question 1

Which of the following elements are not usually involved in definitions of ritual?

A) reliance upon symbols
B) long-standing tradition
C) repetition
D) capacity to intensify bonds within a community

Answer 1

long-standing tradition

Question 2

According to the editors, we can only assert (uncontroversially at least) that rituals serve which of the following functions?

A) Rituals restore and maintain equilibrium in society.
B) Rituals allay cultural anxieties and fears.
C) Rituals simultaneously construct social arrangements and values, and teach community members about them.

Answer 2

Rituals simultaneously construct social arrangements and values, and teach community members about them.

Question 3

Wallace outlines __________ as the five major types of ritual.

A) Technological rituals, therapy and antitherapy rituals, sacrifice rituals, salvation rituals, and birth/ death rituals
B) Technological rituals, therapy and antitherapy rituals, conventional rituals, supernatural rituals, and revitalization rituals
C) Exploitative rituals, medical rituals, ideological rituals, salvation rituals, and legal rituals
D) Technological rituals, therapy and antitherapy rituals, ideological rituals, salvation rituals, and revitalization rituals

Answer 3

Technological rituals, therapy and antitherapy rituals, ideological rituals, salvation rituals, and revitalization rituals

Question 4

___________ is a classified by Wallace as a salvation ritual whereas ____________ is classified as an ideological ritual

A) Taboo; mystic experiences
B) Sprit possession; rites of passage
C) Taboo, rites of intensification
D) Rites of rebellion; rites of passage

Question 5

All of the following are reasons why ritual is compared to theatre EXCEPT:

A) Ritual is seen as a cultural performance.
B) Ritual can include scripted or learned communication or movements.
C) Ritual often involves a scared space and use of special costumes or props.
D) Ritual can deliver participants into new stages if life with new rights, responsibilities, and privileges.

Question 6

The "liminal"period explored by Victor Turner is

A) the interstructural situation experienced by neophytes in a rite of passage.
B) the final episode in a rite of passage, where the neophyte achieves a new social status.
C) a condition of highly elevated awareness and understanding.
D) a condition of infancy, where the neophyte is in her/his first stage of existence.

Question 7

What are the three phases of rites of transition identified by van Gennep?

A) ambiguity, contradiction, and structure
B) separation, margin, and aggregation
C) exhibitions, actions, and instructions
D) disproportion, monstrousness, and mystery

Question 8

Turner argues that the frequent disproportion and monstrousness displayed in the communication of sacra

A) makes initiates aware of the primary factors of their culture through a "primordial mode of abstraction."
B) is a by-product of ritually induced hallucinations and dreams.
C) increases the separation felt by neophytes.
D) creates tension among and between initiates.

Question 9

The "most sacred things,"the sacerrima, are

A) revealed to the initiates by the elders at the end of the liminal period.
B) the axiomatic building blocks of an entire worldview, regarded as absolute ultimate mysteries.
C) usually reserved for rites of passage that happen in advanced adulthood.
D) are symbolically stripped of meaning during the liminal period.

Question 10

In Santer'a, embodiment is especially important because

A) the teaching of moral behavior and ritual skills happens informally and nonverbally.
B) observers can easily evaluate the initiate to decide whether or not he/she will be accepted into the religion.
C) verbal communication is strictly discouraged.
D) participants cannot communicate with oricha verbally.

Question 11

The head is an especially important symbol in Santer'a initiation rituals because

A) it is thought to be filled with evil spirits that must be washed away.
B) it represents the passage of knowledge from an elder to the aleyo.
C) through it, the sacrificial animals and the aleyo communicate.
D) it is the spiritual faculty and central locus of a human being.

Question 12

Santer'a is understood as an initiatory religion because

A) initiation rituals take place on a weekly basis.
B) to become a member one must participate in the initiation rituals of every family member.
C) members are initiated every day through individual prayer.
D) the changes and elevation of a member's position in the religion are marked by initiation rituals.

Question 13

By touching one's head to the floor, a ritually younger Santer'a participant salutes the "head"of an elder which

A) shows submission and acceptance of one's position in the social order.
B) marks the end of the initiation ritual.
C) creates an eternal bond between the ritual families of the two participants.
D) marks the end of subordination to the elder and elevates one's position to that of equal status.

Question 14

Mason critiques the ways in which social scientists have tried to define "rite of passage"and asserts that

A) an initiate has his/her own unique experience that does not necessarily fit into a model.
B) Turner's definition is invalid.
C) nonverbal communication in a rite of passage is more important than verbal communication.
D) the liminal stage is composed mainly of physical movements.

Question 15

For the Huichol Indians, Wirikuta is

A) a village that has been recently abandoned.
B) a paradisiacal condition that existed before the creation of the world.
C) a place where physical existence is literally reversed.
D) a place where the supernatural and the natural realms diverge.

Question 16

According to Myerhoff, the reversals which occur in Wirikuta are not expressed through

A) naming.
B) emotional states.
C) interpersonal and ritual behavior.
D) relationships between the physical and spiritual world.

Question 17

According to Myerhoff, the primary ritual function of the peyote hunt is

A) to experience intense hallucinogenic visions.
B) the transformation of participants into non-physical entities by providing a mnemonic device.
C) the transcendence of the ineffable.
D) to collect peyote for consumption.

Question 18

Myerhoff insists that rituals differ from myths because

A) they involve the entire community.
B) they require action.
C) they facilitate transformation.
D) they promote the attitude of the sacred.
E) they allow participants to reverse their spiritual roles.

Question 19

Myerhoff concludes by suggesting that "paradox is the very quick of ritual,"meaning that

A) reversals portray differentiation and continuity at the same time.
B) all rituals must involve a paradox.
C) rituals depend on a negotiation between two seemingly opposite planes of existence.
D) that reversals underpin all rituals.

Question 20

According to Myerhoff, the transformation from physical being into deity is one in which the ritual participant is

A) moving backward, regressing to a primordial state of equality by observing reversals.
B) moving forward, to a higher and more egalitarian existence by observing reversals.
C) using discussion and reflection to appreciate the supernatural world.
D) communing with the supernatural in order to gain spiritual power.
E) all of the above.

Question 21

The Charismatic Renewal movement believes that healing practices are necessary after an abortion because

A) the emotional bond between mother and father has been damaged.
B) the mother has made a difficult but necessary decision which leaves her with ambiguous emotions of grief and relief.
C) abortion produces death trauma for the fetus and the mother experiences guilt and grief.
D) the mother is thought to be incapable of conception until she has asked for God's forgiveness.

Question 22

To the Charismatic Renewal movement, the imaginary baptism of an aborted fetus heals by

A) turning the fetus into a person who can be prayed for and sent to Jesus.
B) reassuring the mother that she has made the correct decision.
C) allowing the fetus a second opportunity on earth in the future.
D) cleansing the mother's hands in an act symbolizing the washing away of sin.

Question 23

The symptoms of distress a Japanese woman displays after an abortion are attributed to

A) criticism by friends and family members for committing a socially unacceptable act.
B) condemnation by the gods for committing an unnecessary act.
C) psychological trauma and the effects of the fetal spirit begging for love and comfort.
D) vengeance and resentment from the aborted fetal spirit that is a victim of an unnatural, but necessary, act.

Question 24

In both Charismatic Renewal and Japanese post-abortion rituals, _________ is one of the most important symbols.

A) fire
B) water
C) milk
D) food

Question 25

When Kapchan discusses sacred and secular henna adornment of women's bodies in Morocco, what is the primary ritualistic difference between a sacred versus secular henna tattooing?

A) In a secular tattooing meaning is more open and is more subjectively manipulated
B) In secular tattooing only, the designs are meant for beatification and reflect feminine artistry
C) The female body becomes publically displayed to men and women alike in contrast to its usual concealment
D) Secular tattooing is a folk art while sacred tattooing is not

Question 26

At which two events in a woman's life is Baraka practiced and why?

A) Before marriage consummation and before delivery of children, because the woman must be pure for these two events.
B) At menarche and before marriage consummation to purify women's bodily fluids.
C) Before marriage consummation and before delivery of children, because these two moments mark when women, and their sexuality specifically, can become pollutants to society and women must come to terms with this loss of purity and power.
D) At menarche and before marriage consummation, because these two moments mark when women, and their sexuality specifically, can become pollutants to society and women must come to terms with this loss of purity and power.

Question 27

All of the following are parameters that are generally specific henna tattooing in MoroccoEXCEPT:

A) Henna tattooing all over the world maintains the same cultural parameters as in Morocco.
B) Permanently tattoo is religiously disapproved of and has generally fallen out of vogue though it is still practiced as a health/therapeutic or anti-therapeutic ritual.
C) Henna tattoos are applied to the hands and feet because these are the only areas visible when women wear the long jellaba.
D) Apart from the ritualistic context of marriage ceremonies where men's hands are dipped in henna,henna tattooing and adornment is only practiced on women.

Question 28

Kapchan discusses how henna art on bodies makes public internal chances such as coming of age/ marriage, etc. All of the following are ways Kapchan discuses that internal components or values are made public by this ritual EXCEPT:

A) Application of Henna often marks changes in life such as: marriage, birth, a son's circumcision, or death.
B) Visible henna marks after a henna tattooing ritual act a reminder of feminine self-identity.
C) Visible henna marks after a henna tattooing ritual bear a woman into her dominant culture and renew the properties of a private sociocultural ritual to a wider public audience
D)The ephemeral art of henna has no constants whatsoever and the meaning of visible henna marks after a henna tattooing ritual will remain a dynamic mystery

Question 29

In BOTH sacred and secular henna tattooing ceremonies, the body becomes representative of all of the following EXCEPT:

A) The individual physical body
B) A purified vessel reflecting social and religious feminine ideals
C) The gendered and social body within society
D) A canvas not only design and adornment, but simultaneous cohesion and questioning of social norms

Question 30

Not all rituals are religiously based.

Question 31

The comparison of ritual to theater has been a very useful analogy in the anthropological approach.

Question 32

The Ndembu of Zambia use the same term to refer to a boy undergoing circumcision rites as they do to refer to "the first or ritual wife."

Question 33

Much of the symbolism of the liminal persona is modeled on the biological processes of the human body.

Question 34

Turner asserts that the liminal period is a stage of abstract reflection.

Question 35

Recent anthropological studies of cultural performance have demonstrated that meaning is inherent in ritual signs and must be discovered by the performer.

Question 36

Since the learning of Santer'a rituals is slow and informal, participants with knowledge of certain ceremonies exercise a type of esoteric power.

Question 37

Practitioners often confuse the "owner of the head"(oricha) with the initiate in Santer'a rituals.

Question 38

The body position of the Santer'a initiate during the moforibale indicates the gender of his/her oricha.

Question 39

The Huichol utilize reversals to symbolically transform themselves into deities.

Question 40

According to Myerhoff, reversals are instituted and relaxed with formal ceremonies.

Question 41

According to Myerhoff, transformation through the observation of oppositions expresses a lamentation for a lost paradise.

Question 42

Cross-culturally, it is understood that personhood begins at or before birth.

Question 43

The ritual healing system of the Charismatic Renewal movement affirms the mother's choice of pregnancy termination by creating a person of the aborted fetus.

Question 44

The Japanese abortion healing ritual, mizuko kuyo, takes place in a relatively public setting, while the American Charismatic Renewal movement's post-abortion prayer is often private.

Question 45

To the Charismatic Renewal movement, abortion is a definitive termination of human life, while the Japanese believe it to be the return of the fetus to a state of prebeing.

Question 46

Henna body adornment is practiced in Morocco only for religious rituals.

Question 47

Although no direct, definitive comparison can be drawn between henna and the blood of the bride's virginity, the red color and the smashing of the henna bowl to indicate loss of virginity reflect an ambiguous, yet powerful status of female blood in Moroccan society.

Question 48

All henna tattooing rituals secular or scared involved blood sheading.

Question 49

Because secular and scared henna tattooing rituals are so different the designs applied to women are also different