SYMBOLS: THE SYMBOLIC PROCESS
Symbol = something that stands for or points to something else: a flag,
a cross, a word, a flower, etc.
Types of symbols:
1. Signs
2. Representational symbols
3. Presentational symbols
SYMBOLS: THE SYMBOLIC PROCESS
1. SIGN = something that is regularly or causally connected in
experience with something else:
w
disease with symptoms
w
dark clouds with rain
w
Sirens with caution
SYMBOLS: THE SYMBOLIC PROCESS
2. Representational symbols = represent things that are distinct or
different from each other:
w words
w traffic
lights or traffic signs
w the
American flag
w the
Cross in Christianity
SYMBOLS: THE SYMBOLIC PROCESS
3. Presentational symbols = are similar to, but not identical with the
thing symbolized.
w geographic maps
w photographs
w
religious icons
w international
signs (no smoking, etc.)
w sacramental
services
RITUAL
w RITUAL
IS A SYMBOLIC MODE OF RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION THAT UNITES WORDS AND
GESTURES TO FORM A SACRED DRAMA
• Baptism
is a ritual
• Marriage
and funeral services are rituals
• Chanting is a ritual
RITUAL
w Ritual
transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary
• example
= bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist
ritual
w Ritual
implies action or doing on the part of believers
example = singing, chanting,
praying, etc.
PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF RITUALS
w SACRAMENTAL
= the ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary
w PERFORMATIVE
= doing something!!!
w REPETITIVE
= ritual activities are repeated yearly or at life-cycle events (marriage,
etc.)
w SOCIAL
= rituals provide social cohesion; people DO rituals TOGETHER
MYTH:
Civil Religion
Civil Religion = a form of MYTH that validates the social order
KEY FUNCTIONS:
1. Provides social cohesion through a yearly cycle of holidays and
celebrations
examples: Memorial Day, 4th of
July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.
MYTH
Civil Religion
Key Functions:
2. Infuses public policy and public
events with mythic significance
examples: singing the national
anthem at
sporting events; the burial of
heros; Presidential elections; political holidays and celebrations; saluting
the flag, etc.
MYTH
Civil Religion
Key Functions:
3. Supports social ideals over social reality
example: “Land of the Free and the
Home of the Brave” vs. racism and sexism
4. Shapes “history” to suit religiopolitical convictions
example: “Defender of the Free
World”
MYTH
Civil Religion
w SUPERBOWL
XXVII
• the
world sees Los Angeles explode in riots following the Rodney King beating
and the acquittal of the police
officers
• the world
sees that America “really is” a place were equality, justice and freedom
count
• SUPERBOWL XXVII, a civil religious
holiday, provides the opportunity for a “re-validation” of the American social
order
HEAVEN’S GATE
An extraordinary myth guides ritual suicide in the
Heaven’s Gate cult:
• Leader
= Marshall Applewhite
•
Son of a Texas Presbyterian minister
•
Combined biblical salvation myths with New Age
beliefs in extraterrestrials, UFOs, and space travel to “higher consciousness”
•
Started the group in the early 1970s with Bonnie
Nettles
Heaven’s Gate
The Myth:
•
Like Jesus, believers
would transform their bodies into genderless and eternal
extraterrestrial bodies
• Believers should abandon their families and previous
lives and discipline themselves to overcome all human desires and attachments
• Soon flying saucers would pick them up and take them
to the Next Level.
HEAVEN’S GATE
The Myth:
• Applewhite (“Do”) had come from the Next Level to
“harvest” worthy humans
• Nettles (“Ti”) who died in 1985 was piloting a flying
saucer behind the Hale-Bopp comet approaching earth
• On March 22, 1997, Heaven’s Gate followers begin to
“shed their bodily pods”
• The group decides to “exit earth”
HEAVEN’S GATE
The Ritual (guided by the myth):
• 39 members “exit” the planet in a mansion in Rancho
Santa Fe, CA
• Consumed applesauce mixed with phenobarbital, drank
vodka; plastic bags were pulled over their heads
• Surviving members removed the bags and draped each
body with a purple shroud
• Bodies were found lying peacefully on cots or beds in
the mansion
HEAVEN’S GATE
w
20 were women 19 men;
many of the men, including Applewhite, were castrated
w
They dressed in black
pants and shirts and wore new Nike running shoes
w
Shoulder patch =
“Heaven’s Gate Away Team”
w
Overnight bags
included clothes, notebook, lip balm; each person had a $5 bill and quarters in
the front shirt pocket
MYTH/RITUAL LINK
Primal Religions
w Characteristics
of Primal Religions
• local
and insular; closely linked with geographic area and land
• view
the world in a pre-scientific manner; cause and effect guided by myth and
ritual
• “religion”
deals with practical matters of survival
• emphasizes ritual techniques in daily life
MYTH/RITUAL LINK
Features of Primal Religion
w MANA
= unseen spiritual force present everywhere
w ANIMISM
= natural world is alive with spirits
w FETISHISM
= protection by the power of special objects
w TABOO
= spiritual power in people, places and
things
MYTH/RITUAL LINK
Features of Primal Religions
w TOTEMISM = special relationship with a power
animal
example: the coyote or eagle; or “Rocky” the WIU mascot
w MYTH
AND RITUAL ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF DAILY LIFE IN THE PRIMAL WORLDVIEW
PRIMAL RELIGIONS
Ritual Techniques
w MAGIC = coercion of spiritual powers
w SHAMANISM =
ritual specialist; knows the ancient myths and rituals
w
PURIFICATION =
the ritual removal of pollution; relates to Taboo
w SACRIFICE = gifts to spiritual power
w FUNERAL RITES = myth/ritual link
NEO-PAGANISM & WICCA
w
…The Neo-pagan
spiritual impulse:
Recovering primal religion in the
modern world:
1.
Reconnecting the living link between myth and ritual
2.
Diana’s Grove: Cynthia Jones and Patricia Storm create a spiritual center in
Missouri
w
a quest to rediscover
meaning & purpose
w
one of the fastest growing new religious
movements in America, today
NEO-PAGANISM & WICCA
Neo-paganism = a broad term embracing a wide variety of contemporary
groups:
w
environmentalism - earth-oriented
w
feminist
movement
w
ritual magic
w
typically
tries to recreate primal religions using current cultural ideas and
ideals
WAY OF THE ANCESTORS
w Observing the MYTH/RITUAL LINK in Primal
Religion; from the Long Search series:
KEY PEOPLE/THEMES:
1. TORAJAN peoples
2. ALOK-TO-DOLO = “way of the ancestors”
3. Location = Indonesia
WAY OF THE ANCESTORS
w Key
people/themes
3. TOMINAA = the ritual specialist or shaman
4. PUANG-MATUA = high god in Torajan “alienation myth”