MYTH AND RITUAL |
NARRATIVE FORMS
Time Any time Recent past Remote past
Place Any place World of today Different world
Attitude Secular Secular/sacred Sacred
Principal
Human
Human
Non-human
Characters
DEFINITIONS OF MYTH
Mircea Eliade
Myth narrates a sacred history; it
relates an event that took place in primordial time, the fabled time of the
beginnings
Myth tells only of that which really
happened, which manifested itself completely. The actors in myths are Supernatural
Beings. The are known primarily by what they did in the transcendent times
of the "beginnings." Myths describe the various and sometimes dramatic breakthroughs
of the sacred.
Myths narrate not only the origin
of the World, of animals, of plants, and of man, but also all the primordial
events in consequence of which man became what he is today - mortal, sexed,
organized in society, obligated to work in order to live, and working in
accordance with certain rules. If the World exists, if man exists, it is
because Supernatural Beings exercised creative powers in the "beginning." But after the cosmogony and the creation of man, other events occurred, and
man as he is today is the direct result of those mythical events, he is constituted
by those events.
Claude Levi-Strauss
Myth always refers to events alleged
to have taken place long ago with a timeless pattern that explains the present
and the past as well as the future and which has a universal character whose
substance lies in the story which it tells
William Bascom
Myths are prose narratives which,
in the society in which they are told, are considered to be truthful accounts
of what happened in the remote past
George Honko
Myth is a story of the gods, a religious
account of the beginning of the world, the creation, fundamental events, the
exemplary deeds of the gods as a result of which the world, nature and culture
were created together with all parts thereof and given their order, which
still obtains.
John Middleton
A myth is a statement about society and man's place in it and in the surrounding universe....Myths and cosmological notions are concerned with the relationship of a people with other peoples, with nature and with the supernatural.
Lewis Pondy
Things which never happened but always
are
CLASS DEFINITION OF MYTH
Narratives that (1) recount the operation
of transcendent forces in primorial times that have shaped the everyday
world as it presently exists and (2) provide the ultimate truths and foundational
assumptions about the nature of the world and of humankind that guide and
authorize our actions.
TYPES OF MYTH
Myth Types
CreationWorlds Above and Below
Death and Rebirth
Cosmic Combat
Quests and Tests
FUNCTIONS OF MYTH
1. Present an image of the
world as organized rather than chaotic
2. Provide an image or model of
the universe that supports and is supported by the power outside human
control.
Serve to support
the current social order and help integrate the individual within the group
3. Elicit and support a sense
of awe, gratitude or rapture in relation to the mystery of the universe and
human
existence
4. Guide individuals toward self
realization through stages and crises of life
ORGANIZATIONAL MYTHS
Narratives that morally idealize the organization and make it unique
THEMES
1. Status and conformity to rules
2. Humanity of leaders
3. Mobility opportunities
4. Protection of members
5. Responding to personal difficulties
6. Reacting to honest mistakes
7. Overcoming obstacles
COMMON ELEMENTS
1. Equality
2. Security
3. Control
THE CHRISTIAN MYTH OF CREATION AND FALL
CREATION
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the
face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis I,
1-2)
First Day – created light
Second Day – created the firmament of Heaven, the colossal dome (or sphere) of brass within the midst of the waters of chaos, so that it divided the upper waters from the nether waters – the waters above the firmament from those below.
Third Day – created the earth in the very center of the firmament,
and divided it from the waters so that the former became the dry land, and
the latter the oceans. Created the pit of Hell at the very center of the earth.
Created trees, plants, flowers, and grasses to bear fruit for men and
beasts, and herbs for the healing of diseases.
Fourth Day – Created the sun, moon, and stars, and set them within the firmament and around the earth
Fifth Day – Created all fish and birds
Sixth Day – Created the beasts of the earth, and Adam, who was formed from the dust and clay of the earth. God made Adam in his own image, and breathed the breath of his own divine life into his nostrils so that man became a living soul. He made Adam the ruler of the earth, the head of nature, commanding all beasts, birds, fish, and plants to be subservient to him.
Seventh Day – God rested and rejoiced in the knowledge that
everything which he had made was good.
THE FALL
Adam was perfect, physical yet immortal, and all creatures of the earth obeyed him. He was created with free will so that love between humans and God would be freely given. The animals served him and the plants fed him, and there was no need for him to labor for his livelihood. He was in perfect harmony with his natural surroundings, and constantly aware of the presence of god.
God planted a garden – Eden – in the center of the world. In the garden was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which created the negative potentiality that Adam might choose his own will rather than God’s.
God created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. The two were the First Parents of our race – immortal, free from all conflict and sorrow, innocent, naked, and unashamed.
Lucifer entered the garden in the form of a serpent. He promised Eve that eating from the Tree would make her as a god, knowing good from evil. Eve ate the fruit and gave some to Adam. Their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked.
When God discovered what had happened, he pronounced a curse on the Serpent to crawl on his belly in the dust and to be in perpetual enmity with the human race. He condemned Eve, and all her female offspring, to bring forth children in pain and sorrow, and to be subject to her husband. God cursed the earth so that it would not bring forth fruit for Adam without sweat and toil. God pronounced the curse of death and of the expulsion from the garden.
From this moment death, suffering, and evil entered the material world and humans were separated from the divine life of God.
This narrative creates the Christian problem. Things are not as they
should be, death and pain are imperfections, there is separation from the
divine, there is conflict with nature, guilt, anxiety, and impotence of
will. The task become to extricate man from the tangle in which Lucifer has
involved him, to salvation
from Death and Hell.
CIVIL RELIGION
Civil Religion – a religious orientation that most Americans
share that provides a religious dimension to the fabric or American life.
It is not sectarian or specifically Christian but it is specific about America
and has played a crucial role in the development of American institutions.
KEY TENETS
1. The existence of God
2. The United States is God’s chosen nation
3. There is an inherent morality in civil laws (Higher law answerable to God)
4. There is a sacred connotation to secular symbols (flag, inauguration, holidays)
5. There is a divine reward for virtue and punishment for vice
6. Exclusion of religious intolerance
BIBLICAL THEMES
1. Exodus
2. Chosen People
3. Promised Land
4. New Jerusalem
5. Sacrificial death and rebirth (Civil War)
6. Prophets (George Washington as Moses)
7. Martyrs (Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy)
8. Sacred events (Washington and Lincoln birthdays, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day)
9. Sacred Places (War and presidential memorials, Supreme Court)
10. Rituals and Symbols (Inauguration, Constitution and Declaration
of Independence, Songs)
TYPES OF RITUAL
Orientation Basic Mood Motivation Activity
Decorum Interpersonal Cooperating Politeness Expected
Ceremony Political Competing Contentiousness Enforced
Magic Transcendent Causing Anxiety Desired
Liturgy
Ultimate
Being
Reverence
Cosmically
Necessary
Celebration Expressive
Playing
Festive
Spontaneous
Decorum - Ritual occasions in which participants engage in conventionalized
behavior, appropriate gestures and postures that facilitate interaction.
There is agreement about the form but not necessarily the meaning of action.
Role, status and intentions are displayed.
Examples: greeting
and departing, walking in public, being a gentleman or a lady or a good sport
or a guest
Ceremony - Ritual occasions in which participants surrender idiosyncrasies
and independence in the name of some larger cause to which one pays homage.
Actions symbolize the power to conserve or change the state of affairs.
Examples: conventions,
rallies, courtroom trials, inaugurations, convocations, state of the nation
addresses, standing
for national anthem, demonstrations, parades
Magic - Ritual occasions in which participants use transcendent power
to take or restore control
Examples, Ouiji boards,
astrology, praying for results, curses, healing
Liturgy - Ritual occasions in which participants approach the sacred
in a reverent, receptive way and wait upon power. Participants act in order
to be acted upon.
Examples: worship, meditation,
spiritual exercises, pilgrimage
Celebration - Ritual occasions in which participants engage in expressive
ritual play
Examples: carnivals, birthdays,
feasting, gaming, dancing , music making
DEFINITIONS OF RITUAL
Ritual is a perfunctory, conventionalized
act through which an individual protrays his respect and regard for some
object of ultimate value to that object of ultimate value or to its stand-in
Erving Goffman
Ritual is a prescribed form of
behavior for occasions not given over to technological routine, having reference
to beliefs in invisible beings or powers regarded as the first and final causes
of all effects
Victor Turner
Ritual is stereotyped behavior
which is potent itself in terms of the cultural conventions of the actors,
though not potent in a rational-technical sense and which serves to communicate
information about a culture's most cherished values
Edmund Leech
CLASS DEFINITION OF RITUAL
Religious ritual is a prescribed form of behavior through which transcendent
sources of value are created and affirmed. These rituals are closely scripted,
dramatically organized, and authorized by the source of transcendent value,
which lend to them an intrinsic value.
CHARACTERISTICS OF RITUALS
Frederick Bird
Rituals are culturally transmitted symbolic codes that are
Regularly repeated
Dramatically structured
Authoritatively designated
Intrinsically valued
FORMAL PROPERTIES OF RITUAL
Sally Moore and Barbara Myerhoff
Ritual Properties
Acting (self conscious, acted not just vocalized)
Special behavior or stylization (extraordinary symbols or actions or extraordinary use of ordinary symbols)
Evocative presentational style and staging (intended to produce attentiveness or greater commitment)
Collective message and meaning
TYPES OF RITUAL
Ritual Types
Rites of passageCelebration rituals
Deference rituals
Punishment rituals
Purification rituals
Spiritual exercise rituals
Worship rituals
Therapeutic rituals
FUNCTIONS OF RITUALS
1. Regulate human actions, particularly
in marginal settings
2. Facilitate communication of intense and powerful sentiments
3. Activate otherwise dormant
human energies
TYPES OF GAMES
Contests – Games based on artificially created equality of chances
so that adversaries confront each other under ideal conditions
Sporting contests, chessChance – Games based on a decision independent of the player, an outcome over which the player has no controlWinner’s triumph is uncontestable
Vindication of personal responsibility
Dice, roulette, lotteriesMimicry – Games involving aceptance of an illusion or imagined universePlayer is passive
Negates individual will by surrender to destiny
Children’s games (imitating adults, soldier, police, pirate, cowboy), theatrical presentations, carnivalsVertigo – Games involving momentary destruction of stabilityActors fascinate spectators
Whirling, acceleration, fallingNegates individual control
GAMES, CONTESTS, AND RITUALS
Games – Social
organization of play
Contests – Intentional elimination of distinctions at outset leads to new relationship between the parties
Uncertainty, numerous possible outcomesRituals – Occurrence of distinctions at outset leads to organic connection between two initially separateContestants stand in opposition
Opposition subjugated to higher principle
Certainty, one possible outcome selected from among the alternatives
PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
Roles
Hero – Accepts rules, principle of fairnessVillain – Rejects rules, value of rules
Referee – Displays official incompetence in the face of mayhem
Moral Dilemma
Hero is responsible to both social norms and requirement for successMoment of TruthVillain is motivated by individual interest only
Irreconcilable oppositionHero sets aside rules and acts on the basis of moral righteousness
Ritual creation of order out of chaos
Moral order and success are reunited
Resolution is not permanent
THE HOLY
Emile Durkheim
Characteristics of the Holy
Helpful and dangerous
Great power
A non-empirical force
Intrinsically valuable
Places a moral obligation on the worshiper and imposes ethical imperatives
Qualities of experience of the holy
Feeling of unapproachability
Power, energy, urgency
Awareness of wholly otherness of the holy
A sense of
fascination and attraction
Ego Quality
- Experience of a loss of sense of self while consciousness is nevertheless
maintained. Loss of
self is commonly experienced as an absorption into something greater
than empirical ego
Unifying Quality
- Perception of an inner subjectivity to all things, even those usually experienced
in purely
material forms
Inner Subjective
Quality - Perception of an inner subjectivity to all things, even those usually
experienced in
purely material forms
Temporal/Spatial
Quality - Experience of time and space as modified, up to the point
of experience of
timelessness and/or spacelessness
Noetic Quality - Experience of nonrational intuitive, insightful experience as valid
Ineffability - Experience of inability of expressing experience in conventional language
Positive Effect - Experience of joy or blissful happiness
Religious Quality - Experience of intrinsic sacredness (mystery, awe, reverence)
HOLINESS RITUAL
History of the Holiness Movement
The Holiness Movement arose within Methodism in response to discontent among Methodists committed to achieving Christian perfection
Supporters of the Holiness Movement urged a “sanctifying moment” or “second blessing” that would replace the love of sinning with a love of God.
The sanctifying moment would be manifested in an instantaneous transformation (“entire sanctification,” “full restoration,” “perfect love”).
The transformed believer would testify to the experience and become accountable for its continuance
The movement developed an institutional structure with the creation of the National Camp Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness in 1867
A number of churches emerged out of the Holiness Movement, mostly during the 1880s and 1890s (Salvation Army, Church of the Nazarene, Church of God in Christ, Christian and Missionary Alliance)
Organization of the Holiness Ritual
The purpose of the ritual is to become one with the sacred
Participants are ordered by where they are located with respect to becoming one with the sacred
Saved or called (Baptized as an adult, knowingly accept Christ as personal savior)
Sanctified or committed (Individuals have fully incorporated the teachings of Christ into their being such that their everyday behavior, lifestyle, and outlook reflect those principles)
Filled with the Holy Ghost (Individuals who are both saved and sanctified, are in complete harmony with the teachings of Christ as indicated by spirit possession, and use of spiritual power to perform ministries in the group)
Pastor (An individual who offers the most complete evidence of having become. This person is saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost and has received the call, answered the call, served as an apprentice pastor, and excelled in the ministries of preaching, song, and healing)
Space within the church is ordered spiritually from
Rear to front
Floor to platform
Left to right
Speech forms are ordered spiritually
Spoken Word
Song
Chant
Glossolalia
Manifestations of the Spirit are ordered
Clapping, swaying (unsaved)
Dancing minimally in place (saved)
Dancing with movement, beseech Spirit with palms raised to receive Spirit, go into various depths of trance symbolized by speaking in tongues, loss of motor control, collapse (sanctified)
The roles of participants in the religious rituals are ordered by their spiritual status. Spiritual standing is coded by dress color, physical location within the church, and prominence in the rituals
General congregation (mostly middle aged women and children in conservative dress, saved and unsaved)
Zionettes Choir (children 6-12 dressed in white aspiring to being saved)
Fellowship Choir (mostly 14-21 year old females dressed in turquoise, pink, and green dresses, saved)
Musicians (adolescents or senior mothers, saved or sanctified)
Memorial Choir (junior and senior mothers, deacons, and trustees in black dress, sanctified)
Deacons and Trustees (older sanctified men)
Nurses (senior mothers in white nurses dress who watch over those possessed with the Holy Spirit)
Assistant Pastor (sanctified member who conducts the first half of the ritual)
Head Pastor (sanctified wearing black dress with red trim indicating the blood of Christ who leads the second half of the service)
STRUCTURE OF THE HOLINESS SERVICE
Beginning the service (crossing the threshold)
Processional (entrance in spiritual order, an indicator of spiritual status)
Call to Worship (asserting worship service)
Invocation (invocation of Holy Spirit by Assistant Pastor or a Senior Mother, chanting)
"Our Father" (statement of belief, supplication)
Scripture Reading (hearing and accepting the word, presented in reverent spoken word)
Hymn (prayer and limited spirit breakthrough)
Apostles' Creed (statement of belief and commitment)
Hymn (prayer with moderate spirit breakthrough in the form of dancing)
Collection for Home and Foreign Mission
Hymn (prayer with extensive spirit breakthrough; entire congregation stands, claps, and sways; dancing and speaking in tongues by higher spiritual status participants; pastor enters the sanctuary)
Introduction of the Pastor
Pastor’s Morning Message (uses a scriptural passage to address a problem confronting the congregation as a whole, asks how problem would have been solved in Biblical times, and concludes with extensive witnessing of the Spirit by higher spiritual status participants)
Alter Call (Pastor touches each person who comes to the alter on the forehead to indicate that the Spirit is working in the Pastor and now in the person)
Offertory (collection taken by the Assistant Pastor)
Benediction (Pastor asks the Lord’s blessing for those present)
Aftermath (Participants remain in the church for fellowship)