body ritual among the nacirema Nacirema 人的身体仪式 人类学

Assignment

：

the text;

t the dictionary to find out the meanings of all the new words;

to understand the body ritual of the Nacirema, esp. the details as

suggested by the expressions in heavy black

黑体

;

4.

Reflect on your interpretation by resorting to bottom-up and top-down

processing.

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

Horace Miner

The anthropologist has come so familiar with the diversity of ways

in which different peoples behave in similar situations that he is not apt to

be

surprised

by

even

the

most

exotic

customs.

In

fact,

if

all

of

the

logically

possible

combinations

of

behavior

have

not

been

found

somewhere in the world, he is apt to suspect that they must be present in

some

undescribed

tribe.

This

point

has

in

fact,

been

expressed

with

respect to clan organization by Murdock. In this light, the magical beliefs

and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems

desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which human

behavior can go.

Professor

Linton

first

brought

the

ritual

of

the

Nacirema

to

the

1

attention

of

anthropologists

twenty

years

ago,

but

the

culture

of

this

people is still very poorly understood. They are a North American group

living

in

the

territory

between

the

Canadian

Cree,

the

Yaqui

and

Tarahumara of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is

known of their origin, although tradition states that they came from the

east.

Nacirema

culture

is

characterized

by

a

highly

developed

market

economy

which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the

people’s time devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of

these

labors

and

a

considerable

portion

of

the

day

are

spent

in

ritual

activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and

health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people.

While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and

associated philosophy are unique.

The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be

that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and

disease. Incarcerated in such a body, a man’s only hope is to avert these

characteristics

through

the

use

of

the

powerful

influences

of

ritual

and

ceremony.

Every

household

has

one

or

more

shrines

devoted

to

this

purpose.

The

more

powerful

individuals

in

the

society

have

several

shrines

in

their

houses

and,

in

fact,

the

opulence

of

a

house

is

often

referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most

2

houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the

more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by

applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.

The focal point of the shrine is

a box or chest

which is built into the

wall.

In

this

chest

are

kept

the

many

charms

and

magical

potions

without

which

no

native

believes

he

could

live.

These

preparations

are

secured 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 not provide the curative

potions

for

their

clients,

but

decide

what

the

ingredients

should

be

and

then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is

understood

only

by

the

medicine

men

and

by

the

herbalists

who,

for

another gift, provide the requited charm.

The charm is not disposed of after it has served its purpose, but is

placed

in

the

charm-box

of

the

household

shrine

as

these

magical

materials are specific for certain ills, and the real or imagined maladies of

the people

are

many,

the

charm-box is

usually

full to overflowing.

The

magical packets are so numerous that people forget what their purposes

were and fear to use them again. While the natives are very vague on this

point, we can only assume that the idea in retaining all the old magical

material is that their presence in the charm-box, before which the body

rituals are conducted, will in some way protect the worshipper.

3

Beneath the charm-box is

a small font

. Each day every member of

the

family,

in

succession,

enters

the

shrine

room,

bows

his

head

before

the

charm- box,

mingles

different

sorts

of

holy

water

in

the

font,

and

proceeds with a brief rite of ablution. The holy waters are secured from

the

Water Temple

of the community, where the priests conduct elaborate

ceremonies to make the liquid ritually pure.

In

the

hierarchy

of

magical

practitioners,

and

below

the

medicine

men

in

prestige,

are

specialists

whose

designation

is

best

translated

as

“holy

-mouth-

men.”

The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of

and fascination with the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out,

their

gums

bleed,

their

jaws

shrink,

their

friends

desert

them,

and

their

lovers

reject

them.

They

also

believe

that

a

strong

relationship

exists

between

oral

and

moral

characteristics.

For

example,

there

is

a

ritual

ablution of the mouth for the children which is supposed to improve their

moral fiber.

The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a

mouth- rite

.

Despite

the

fact

that

these

people

are

so

punctilious

about

care

of

the

mouth, this rite involves a practice that strikes the uninitiated stranger as

revolting. It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small

bundle of boar hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powder,

and the moving of the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures.

In

addition

to

the

private

mouth-rite,

the

people

seek

out

a

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