Soma2019 Rel 3 Rituals

LECTURE NOTES 3
INTRODUCTION TO RELIGIOUS STUDIES
RITUALS
G.A. Somaratne
Centre of Buddhist Studies
The University of Hong Kong
2019
1/17/2019 G.A. Somaratne, BSTC1003, HKU 2
We will discuss
• What is a religious ritual?
• What are the purposes of performing sacred rites?
• What are the functions of rites?
• What is the connection of myths to rituals?
• What are rites of passage? Why are they called life-crisis

rites?
• What are calendrical rites?
• What are special rites?

What is a Religious Ritual?

Visible, tangible, and repeatable actions of
word and gesture performed
in a particular place
at a particular time
by a group or by a person,
in relation to the sacred.

Repetitive, performative, social

A formalized mode of religious action or patterns
of action through which humans experience the
holy.
A formal religious ceremony or set of ceremonies

that give a regular pattern to worship.
A repetitive, performative, and social form of

doing intended to commemorate sacred
occasions or to invoke a sacred presence.
Purposes of sacred rites

• Purification (removal of sins/evils)
• Supplication (asking divine help)
• Thanksgiving (giving thanks through

praise and gifts)
Functions of rites
• Ritual forges links between the worshipper and
the object of worship (God).
• It focuses the attention on the object of worship.
• It depicts an aspect of the nature or history of

the religion.
Ritual entails or may entail:

words, gestures, and objects;
music or other set forms;
religious specialists such as priests, imams,

or monks.
Prescribed action
• Prescribed action repeated from time to time in a
systematic way.
• Ritual behavior – (a) a common part of human

life, (b) important in religion.
• Religious rituals vary between religions.

Meeting places
• The sacred rites are performed in
relationship to divine beings.
• They are meeting places, points of

contact with the holy.
Drama
• The word Ritual comes from a Greek term with
the meaning “a thing done.”
• The word drama comes from a Greek word with
the meaning “I act”, “I do.”
• Ritual is always:
• displaying; an exhibition, can be seen by others.
• A drama through which the holy is pointed to or

made present.
Focusing lens
• Ritual is a dramatization of how things should be,
not of how they actually are.
• Ritual regularly reaffirms the right order of things.

It maintains cosmos.
• Ritual acts provide an opportunity, a kind of

“focusing lens,” for seeing what is of value.
• Ritual is a mechanism for repairing the

fragmentation of human experience and the
breakdown of cosmic coherence (Jonathan Z.
Smith 1982).
Focused Time
• a focused time.
• Other times are unfocused time.
• Ritual frames the time.
• Ritual actions are focused actions.

Time marked out

• The word Time comes from the Latin word
tempus. From the same root, comes the word
temple.
• Temple - “a space marked out.”
• Ritual time - “the time marked out.”
• Ritual time is the sacred time and it is separated

from the profane time.
• In a ritual, the sacred time is always recognized
or marked at the beginning and at the end.
Sacred calendar
The profane world runs on a civil calendar
marked by days, months, and years.
The sacred world runs on a holy calendar that

marks time in the important festivals of life:
Christmas (Christian), Yom Kippur (Jewish),
Diwali (Hindu).
The time of festivals and rituals are intervals of a

sacred time in the ordinary profane time.
Time out
• Sacred time is time set aside from our usual
course. It can be a time of rest, silence or solitude.
• It is to pause, now and then, dedicating those

pauses to something considered sacred.
• Plato in his Laws called a religious holiday an

anapaula, “a breathing space.”
• Whether as a Sabbath, a carnival, a festival, a

jubilee, or days added at the end of the year to
keep a calendar aligned with the seasons, most
cultures recognize a time out.
Old Time to New Time

• Ritual is an entering into a new time from
the old time.
• At the end of the ritual the old person

becomes new.
Disorder to Order
A religious calendar is a repetition of the divine
life. Those who follow it renew their lives.
New Year festivals are preceded by events of

disorderliness.
Before the beginning of new, pure life,

represented by the new year, there is a return to
chaos, represented by the New Year's Eve party.
Ritual and Myths

• The term ritual is often used together with the
term myth.
• Ritual that is enacted is often connected with a

particular myth or significant story.
Rituals recreate
• In ritual, people symbolically perform the acts of
the gods that are narrated in myths about how
they brought order (cosmos) to the primordial
chaos.
• Myth recounts these divine acts. Rituals re-enact

them.
• Every time the creation is repeated in ritual, there

is a fresh victory over the forces of chaos
because “the ritual makes creation over again”
(Eliade 1963)
Diversity of Ceremonies
• Incredibly diverse rituals are performed in
conjunction with
• hunting, planting, harvesting,
• historical events, installations, pilgrimages,
• healing, rain-making, war,
• transition points in the human life cycle, and so

forth.
Rites of Passage or Life-crisis rites

• “The life of an individual in any society is a series
of passages from one age to another and from
one occupation to another.”
• The rituals performed at such transitions are

what Arnold van Gennep called rites of passage
and Victor Turner referred to as “life-crisis” rites.
Rites of passage/ Life-cycle rites:

• Performed to mark and facilitate
• (a) transitions in the life cycle.
• (b) crucial changes in the status of individuals.
• Rites of passage can be conveniently subsumed

under two categories
• (a) Life-cycle rites
• (b) Status-elevation rites.

Life-cycle rites:
• Performed at crucial junctures in the human
life-cycle: birth, puberty, marriage, and
death.
• Human beings experience many transition

points in their passage from conception to
death.
• Such transition points are nearly universally

occasions for ceremonies.
Transition Points of a human being

• Upper-caste Hindus ceremonially observe as
many as sixteen transitional events;
• rituals performed before conception, after

conception, immediately after birth, during
childhood, during the adult life, with death, and
after death.
Status-elevation rites:
• Status-elevation = transition from one
occupation or status to another.
• Initiates are installed in the vocation, office, or

society.
• Installation ceremonies: coronations,

inaugurations, ordinations, graduations, and
initiations into clubs or societies.
Ritual pattern of rites of passage

• Rites of passage unfold in three stages:
separation, transition, and incorporation.
(Arnold van Gennep)
• The pattern of such rites is analogous to a
three-act play.
The first phase

• The first act in the ritual drama begins with
a period of separation of the participants
from the profane, ordinary world.
The second phase

• A transitional period, a time in-between, a time
when the participants are no longer what they
were but not yet what they are to become.
• Analogous to passing through a threshold or

doorway from one way of being to another.
• In Turner’s view, the transitional phase is

especially important in bonding the initiates
together and establishing a sense of community.
Third phase
• In the third phase, the transition from one status
to another is completed.
• The communicants (the new members) are

reincorporated into the community.
Triadic structure
• This triadic structure of separation, transition,
and incorporation involves:
• the symbolic death of one stage of the
communicant’s life;
• the passage through a ritual threshold to another
stage.
• As evident in puberty rites (a child’s passage
from youth to adult) and in death rites (from this
world to the next).
a life-death-rebirth triad
• The triadic pattern of separation, transition,
and incorporation suggests the motif of dying
to one mode of existence and rising to new
life—a life-death-rebirth triad.
• Momentous occasions in the human life cycle
are often marked by rites that reflect this
triadic pattern.
Comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell

• The three phases of rites of passage are a
manifestation of a universal cosmic present in all
of us.
• The triadic structure embodies a social,
psychological, and cosmic dynamic of
separation, struggle, and reintegration
• This structure is evident in the sacred stories,
rites, and dreams of people everywhere.
Calendar/Calendrical rites:
• Performed by entire societies or groups to
celebrate and renew (a) the seasons and (b)
important historical events.
• Seasonal rites - performed in relationship to the

planting, maturing, and harvesting of crops, the
migration of animals, and the cycles of sun and
moon.
• Periodic rites - performed at regular intervals –

e.g., daily and weekly services and those that re-
create or commemorate momentous events.
Seasonal festivals/ New year

celebrations
• associated with nature’s rhythms.
• performed to renew and revitalize cosmos.
• denote a time of renewal, celebration and

rest.
• Relationships are renewed.
• include rites of purification.

Seasonal Rites: in primal and archaic

religions
• Nature was infused with divinity; deity was
embodied in sun, moon, earth, sky, plants, and
animals.
• Ecological changes were thought to be

movements of the holy.
• Human occupations were in concern with the

seasons—hunters to the migrations of animals,
pastoralists to the availability of pasture, and
agriculturists to the earth’s periods of fertility and
germination
the cosmic drama

• The cosmos was perceived as dynamic and
personal.
• Nature was a conflict of forces and wills. The
outcome of this conflict could not be taken for
granted.
• Humans were important actors in the cosmic
drama.
• Their rituals helped the gods to preserve and
renew the process: the alteration of the seasons,
the passing of the old year and the rebirth of the
new.
For example, in the cult of Demeter

• Seasonal festivals reflected nature’s alternation between
plenty and scarcity, fertility and barrenness, life and
death.
• The fertility of the earth and the fortunes of human

beings were linked to the struggle between Demeter, the
goddess of plenty, and Hades, the lord of the underworld.
• The reunion of Demeter and her daughter Persephone

was a time of plenty that was celebrated by festivals of
planting and harvest.
• Their separation, the return of Persephone to Hades, was

a period of scarcity and danger.
Seasonal rites
• Performed to renew and revitalize the cosmos.
• Participants did not play themselves; they re-

created the roles of primordial actors and forces.
• In this sense, seasonal rites re-created the
cosmos as it was in the beginning.
• Past and present were fused; the celebrants
entered a timeless, eternal realm.
The belief of the Babylonian New Year festival

• The annual repetition of the ceremony helped sustain and
renew the cosmos.
• In Babylonian myth, in the beginning, the deity Marduk
triumphed over the sea monster Tiamat and created the
earth from its vanquished body.
• In the ceremonial reenactment, the Babylonian king played
the part of Marduk. What the god did in the beginning, the
king re-created at the beginning of each year.
• The New Year festival took place over twelve days. It
included recitation of the creation myth, the Enuma Elish, in
Marduk’s temple and the ceremonial re-creation of the
cosmic battle.
Seasonal ceremonies
• The Chinese New Year celebrates the beginning
of spring;
• it is a time of renewal, celebration, and rest
before spring planting begins.
• The New Year season begins with rites of
purification;
• houses are cleaned, and the domestic divinity, the
Lord of the Stove, is dispatched to Heaven to
report on the behavior of family members during
the past year.
Chinese New year

• Prior to the customary New Year’s Eve feast,
families show respect and devotion to their
ancestors by acts of remembrance and by
offering them a portion of the meal.
• The feast is followed at midnight by exploding
firecrackers.
• On New Year’s Day and subsequent days,
relationships are renewed through visits to the
homes of relatives and friends.
Periodic rites
• Regularly scheduled rituals.
• Performed according to a calendar and

chronological units of time (hours, days, weeks
and years).
• Associated with historical events and
personalities.
Periodic rites
• (a) Those that reiterate saving historical events:
the Jewish Passover, the celebration of Buddha’s
birthday, the Christian reanimation of Christ’s
passion during Holy Week.
• (b) Other regularly scheduled observances:

Jewish observance of Sabbath, Christian worship
on Sundays, and Muslim observance of five daily
times of prayer and congregational worship on
Fridays.
Festive rituals
• Common in most religions.
• Celebrate the birthdays of key figures, such as

Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, Rama and Buddha.
• Performed at key events and seasons.
turning points
• The ritual life of Jews, Christians, and Muslims is
primarily associated with those persons and
events they regard as turning points in the
history of salvation.
• Their worship focuses on God.
• Services are scheduled primarily in relationship to

historical events and chronological divisions of
time.
Worship rituals
• Performed on particular days:
• Sunday service at the church,
• Saturday service at the synagogue,
• Friday noon prayer at the mosque.

In Taoism
• Certain gods must be worshipped on special days in each month. E.g.,
the month five of the lunar calendar:
• birthday of the South Star of Longevity
• day of sacrifices to the Earth
• birthday of the Mother of the Sea Dragon
• the birthday of one of the gods of the Five Directions
• birthday of the City god
• birthday of the son of the god Tai-shan
• birthday of Kuan Ti, god of War
• festival of the day heaven and earth united and creation began
• birthday of the Old Royal Mother, guardian of the peaches of
immortality
• birthday of Tan-yang Ma
• birthday of Hsu-wei Hsien Wang, an immortal
Hindu Lakshmī pūjā

• Marks the yearly coming of Lakshmi, the goddess
of wealth. Performed to bring good fortune during
the coming year and the divas are lit to help her
find her way into homes of worshippers.
• It is the time when many businessmen and shop
keepers close their accounts. Their books may be
brought to the temple to be inscribed with
mantras by the priest. The businessmen take a
vow to be honest and hardworking in the year to
come
Special rites:
• Those prompted by special circumstances, such
as those conducted for healing, deliverance from
misfortune, success in battle, or assuring a safe
journey.
Changes of Status
• Every community of faith marks momentous
changes of status or condition.
• The critical moments of human existence are

times of ambiguity and anxiety.
• They involve a transition from a familiar mode of

existence to an unfamiliar one.
Sacramental rituals
• Sometimes, related to rites of passage: e.g.,
Orthodox and Roman Catholic baptism, initiation,
marriage and funeral services.
• Related to matters of religious importance: e.g.,

Ordination, Confession, and the Eucharist (at
which the death of Christ is ritually remembered
and celebrated).

Soma2019 Rel 3 Rituals

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Soma2019 Rel 3 Rituals

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LECTURE NOTES 3

INTRODUCTION TO RELIGIOUS STUDIES

• What are the purposes of performing sacred rites?

• What are the functions of rites?

• What is the connection of myths to rituals?

• What are rites of passage? Why are they called life-crisis

• What are calendrical rites?

• What are special rites?

What is a Religious Ritual?

in relation to the sacred.

Repetitive, performative, social

A formal religious ceremony or set of ceremonies

A repetitive, performative, and social form of

Purposes of sacred rites

• Thanksgiving (giving thanks through

• It focuses the attention on the object of worship.

• It depicts an aspect of the nature or history of

Ritual entails or may entail:

religious specialists such as priests, imams,

• Ritual behavior – (a) a common part of human

• Religious rituals vary between religions.

• They are meeting places, points of

• displaying; an exhibition, can be seen by others.

• A drama through which the holy is pointed to or

• Ritual regularly reaffirms the right order of things.

• Ritual acts provide an opportunity, a kind of

• Ritual is a mechanism for repairing the

• Other times are unfocused time.

• Ritual frames the time.

• Ritual actions are focused actions.

Time marked out

• Ritual time - “the time marked out.”

• Ritual time is the sacred time and it is separated

The sacred world runs on a holy calendar that

The time of festivals and rituals are intervals of a

• It is to pause, now and then, dedicating those

• Plato in his Laws called a religious holiday an

• Whether as a Sabbath, a carnival, a festival, a

Old Time to New Time

• At the end of the ritual the old person

New Year festivals are preceded by events of

Before the beginning of new, pure life,

Ritual and Myths

• Ritual that is enacted is often connected with a

• Myth recounts these divine acts. Rituals re-enact

• Every time the creation is repeated in ritual, there

• historical events, installations, pilgrimages,

• healing, rain-making, war,

• transition points in the human life cycle, and so

Rites of Passage or Life-crisis rites

• The rituals performed at such transitions are

Rites of passage/ Life-cycle rites:

• (a) transitions in the life cycle.

• (b) crucial changes in the status of individuals.

• Rites of passage can be conveniently subsumed

• (a) Life-cycle rites

• (b) Status-elevation rites.

• Human beings experience many transition

• Such transition points are nearly universally

Transition Points of a human being

• rituals performed before conception, after

• Initiates are installed in the vocation, office, or

• Installation ceremonies: coronations,

Ritual pattern of rites of passage