What is religion?  Since many of us were raised in religious traditions in a society characterized by religious choice, we often think of religion as a set of precepts, beliefs and practices that we choose to follow.  Since we do think of religion in this narrow way, religion is often thought of as a compartment that is but one dimension our overall identities.   In our society we often have little problem interacting with people who choose or belong to other religious traditions; often what we have in common with them overwhelms our differences.  But this is a Western view of religion.  In most societies, particularly in non-state societies, religion is an integral part of social life and social identity.  Religion is not a separate "thing" that is distinguishable from other aspects of life.  In fact, this makes it much more difficult to define, since it may have social, political, moral, and other dimensions not readily extractable from everyday life.  All religions, of course, deal with the sacred or supernatural; all religions involve some form of belief or intellectually based precepts; all religions involve some form of collective practice or behavior (ritual activity); and all religions have moral or ethical tenets.   Religions are complex:  they may contain myths, magic, prayer, shamanic healing practices, various kinds of rituals, veneration of the ancestors, ideas about the afterlife, rules of behavior; and if we are to believe Horace Miner's (Nacirema) point, religion often extends into areas of life we may not consider "religious," like our daily bodily rituals, our medicinal practices, our values.  We'll be exploring religion a bit more fully in class during the next few days.

The aim of this small project is to broaden our exposure to religious traditions among non-state or "traditional" societies around the world.  Drawing on the society you have already chosen in your study of kinship, I would like you to explore some of their myths and rituals.  Remember that myths are narratives that help explain who "we" are, where we came from, what the nature of the forces are that affect our lives and destinies, and the values and aims that underlie our individual and collective lives.  Myths provide members of society a blueprint for action.  Myths contain ethical and moral precepts that members of society are to follow; failure to follow them may result in misfortune and lost well-being.  I would like you to find two myths in the society or culture that you have chosen, to briefly outline the stories they contain, and then to find in each three "messages" (about the origins of certain practices or social institutions, about moral behavior or values, about why things are what they are, etc.) which reveal something about the culture that produced them.

I would also like you to describe and examine one ritual practiced in that society.  Rituals are, of course, collective patterned activities which generally reveal something about a culture's view of the sacred or supernatural.  One well known anthropologist, Victor Turner, has argued that rituals are really like dramas: they dramatize the mythological narratives of a society.  Unlike the dramas we see on the stage, these dramas don't make distinctions between actors and audience; everyone participates, although there are different roles played by different people.  There are many different kinds of rituals, including rites of passage, seasonal rites, healing rituals, etc.  Select one such ritual, describe it as a drama... what does it dramatize, what are the roles in it, what themes seem to be most important in the ritual, and what does the ritual reveal about the culture that performs it.

I would like you to write this up in a two-three page summary to hand in.  You want to remember that this, along with the kinship project and other small projects during the course of the semester, will be pulled together at the end of the semester into one larger project on the society you have chosen.  This project is due on Friday.