symbol and ritual - they shall take up serpents Flashcards
1
Q
intro and case study
A
- Vietnam war is an example of significant upheaval
o It not only affected the US but also those abroad - ‘Technological change in our society is alike in kind, psychologically, to the acculturative stress and culture shock felt by primitive societies when they are overwhelmed by the juggernaut of change’ (vii-viii)
- Case study takes place in Piedmont, New South. The people of Appalachia.
o Snake handling was response to tumult of their society in late 1940s-50s
2
Q
chapter 1 - the ceremony
A
o Sing about nature of heaven. Minister says God loves everyone
o Should focus on bringing eachother together. Reject divisiveness
o Bible reading
o Testimonies of miracles by preacher
o Sing about life in heaven
o Women have shaking reactions, perform a dance comprising of more shaking/jerking
o Minister speaks in tongues, people respond
o Dancing continues, trance like
o Decide not to do snake-handling, police are taking them and so they are not restricted to one per ceremony
o Minister details how the snake represents the devil, they show that God has power over evil
3
Q
1 - impact of police on ceremony
A
- Impact of police forbidding snake handling on practice is clear. Service is now very different
o Used to put snakes round neck etc.
o They proclaimed their fundamentalism
o Many women fell into the pastor’s arms after being blessed, healing ceremony
4
Q
2 - biblical origins
A
- Mark 6:17-18
o ‘in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover’
♣ Footnote remarks how many other passages seem against snake handling. E.g. 1Cor9, ‘never let us temple Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents’ (11)
5
Q
2 - Hensley and converts
A
- Hensley found converts in Tenessee
o Brought Bibles and snakes to meetings
o Sang
o Healing ceremonies - Practice was suspended when member was bitten by rattlesnake.
o Some argued that it was because Defriese was a ‘backslider’ (12)
6
Q
2 - climax
A
- ‘The climax comes when the power is strong within the congregation, heightened by the clichéd preaching of the minister. A rope is then stretched out by a member to separate the audience from the snake-handling devout, and visitors are warned that the snakes are about to be produced’ (19)
- removing snake from box = act of faith
7
Q
2 - snake charming
A
- ‘A particularly admired gambit is to grasp the snake about midbody and then raise it slowly until the flickering tongue touches the nose of the worshipper, who meanwhile stares intently into the snake’s eyes. This is to taunt and to overpower evil with the ‘spirit’ in the worshipper’ (21)
- Snake charming = test of faith
- It is said that some drink a solution of strychnine, lethal
- Putting hand in flame = test of faith
8
Q
6 - phallic symbolism
A
- Phallic symbolism associated with snake cult
- Sexual theme runs throughout
o Women are in state of ‘orgiastic ecstasy’ (53) - ‘The Biblical tradition of the Origin of Death is but one of many obviously related ones in the Old World. In the African versions the creator sends a message, in various animal forms, with the promise of immortality to man’ (58)
- ‘The African high snake god and creator is full of clear echoes of and parallels to Semitic myths’ (60)
- Phallic symbolism in the supposed hairiness of snakes
9
Q
7 - bible and use of serpents
A
- Bible
o NT, JC uses ‘ye serpents’ as a criticism (Matt 23:33)
o Connection of snakes and immortality in John 3:14-15, ‘and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of man must be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life’
o ‘The serpent is inextricably intertwined with both life and death. As a phallic symbol, he is associated with earthly life, and with life everlasting. As an attribute or agent of an angry God, he brings death and destruction.’ (85)
o ‘For all his association with evil and with punishment and death, the Biblical serpent is nevertheless equally associated with godly knowledge and omniscience and immortality’ (85)
10
Q
8 - oral symbolism
A
- Oral symbolism
o Folk belief that snakes can suckle
o ‘Oral biting’ motif in medieval stories e.g. snake bites nipple of woman to drink the milk which she didn’t give her child
o Oral incorporation = mother snake swallows child when it is under threat - ‘Drinking poison is the identical gambit in parallel form: an oral incorporation of Power will not kill – if only one has faith in the somewhat witless benignity of the Power’ (108)
11
Q
8 - elemental symbolism
A
- Symbolism of snake often linked to elements
o ‘Fire-handling in snake-cult meetings is also a natural cognate libidinally and symbolically’ (101)
12
Q
8 - snakes and pregnancy
A
- connection between snakes and pregnancy
o ‘if a patient undergoing treatment for a rattlesnake bite sees a pregnant woman, he will surely die (Honduras and elsewhere)… pregnant women are immune to snakebite (south-east)’ (102) - Snakes are believed to behave in a certain way e.g. don’t bite children/women
13
Q
8 - autonomous will of snake
A
- ‘The snake is an uncanny creature primarily because, like the phallus, it has an independent and autonomous will of its own. Its uncanniness is also associated with its nature as a castrated, or projectively disclaimed, member, pleasurable and dangerous, good and bad at the same time. It has a life of its own, like the phallus and like the repressed wishes of the autonomous id: it becomes erect and detumescenet independently of the conscious will’ (106)
- ‘The castrated snake-phallus is not bitten but bites’ (107)
14
Q
8 - paradoxical symbolism of snake
A
- Snake is paradoxical: symbol of evil, yet simultaneously omniscience
- ‘The snake is both the ancestral or oedipal father, giver of life, God – and the phallic Devil, instrument of God’ (108)
15
Q
9 - theology of reverend barefoot
A
- Theology of Reverend Barefoot:
o Omnipotent God who allows people to handle serpents/speak in tongues etc.
o Handling the snake is good triumphing evil
o If you have the spirit of the Holy Spirit, you can do anything e.g. heal
o Barefoot views himself as destined to be an apostle
o Power of mind over body. Faith can heal physical pain/injury
