vocab 6 7 8 Flashcards
sacred/profane dichotomy
People live in two realities simultaneously
sacred dichotomy
The world of SACRED is the reality beyond the everyday
profane dichotomy
The world of PROFANE is the reality of the everyday
Emotional transcendence
that feeling that you are connected to something greater than yourself and/or your everyday world
Etic
from the outside-to explain (your beliefs are wrong. Let me explain why you believe in them) (ethnocentric)
Emic
from the inside-to understand (i don’t share your beliefs but I am interested in what they mean for you) (cultural relativism)
Rational belief
Requires verifiable evidence and consistent results (basis of science, mathematics, and logic)
Non-rational belief
Requires only belief without appeal to science, mathematics, logic (basis of religion)
Koyaanisqatsi
life out of balance
Animism
the sacred and the power of the sacred lies all around us in nature
Anthropomorphism
giving human characteristics (physical, intellectual, and emotional) to entities which are not humans
Mana
inanimate objects which have the power of the sacred but unlike god(s) ghosts or spirits, they have no intent to help us or harm us (4 leaf clover)
Myth
(not superstition or misunderstanding of reality) a cultural transmission of core values
Primeval Reality
that reality in which all values of a religion originates
Creation Myths
(origin myths) the story of creation they talk about the beginning and the end
Time Before Time
when neither matter or space existed
Singularity
16+ billion years ago a point of energy
Time of Creation/Perfection
creation is when everything comes into existence makes no sense without one another
Quetzalcoatl
creator/god of the aztecs
Father Raven
creator spirit for Inuits
Jehovah
God/creator of judeo/christianity
Allah
God/creator of Islam
The Brahma
God/creator for the hindus (vishnu/shiva)
The Rainbow Serpent
creator god for australian aborigines
The Big Bang
bang that created everything (science explanation)
The Golden Age
classical greeks
The Garden of Eden
christianity god tells us what we are supposed to do what we aren’t supposed to do
The Dreaming
Australian aborigines call the primeval reality the dreaming (at sacred times in sacred spots they gather and do rituals then sleep and in their sleep their dreams are connecting them to the primeval reality)
Time of Corruption
starts when the time of perfection ends and god leaves us (hunger, war, disease, conflict, sin)
Cyclic Time
A theory that all life goes through a cycle of a beginning, a temporal life, and an ending then it begins all over again (the basic of animistic belief)
Ouroboros
a dragon or snake swallowing its tail
The End of Time
The end of all reality of the everyday
Ceremony
Public (emotional transcendence) Ritualistic (rule governed activities)
Rite of intensification
Those rituals or symbols which make the ceremony “work” the right food at thanksgiving of dressing in costumes on Halloween
Rites of passage
(initiation rites) ceremonies that mark the movement of individuals moving from one social role to another often but not always from childhood to adulthood
Separation
When those groups of individuals who are participating in the rites of passage are removed from their everyday lives
Transition
Reminded of the most important core values of the culture (tests: physical/spiritual/intellectual) if you fail you can’t move forward.
Reaggregation
when you have successfully accomplished the rites of passage and you are brought back into society “now you are one of us”
Liminal Status
state of inbetween you arent what you once were (you don’t belong anywhere else except here)
Communitas
connection you will make with other people that are also going through this rites of passage
Enkipaata
a group of boys will be separated and go through several weeks of physical tests to become men
The Amish Way
the simple way in which the Amish do not want to be part of all the distractions and materialism of the outside world
Rumspringa
teenagers must leave community and live with the english and engage in contemporary world
Atheism
The belief that the sacred exists only in our imagination (there is no rational proof of the sacred)
Kikuyu
Dominant group in Kenya, historically are farmers
Emile Durkheim
french sociologist, wanted to know origins of religion & why it was so important
Ancestor Worship
belief that you must respect the dead because they have the power of the sacred
Ghosts/Spirits
when people die, they are all around us
Masai
Very traditional people, lion hunters, cattle herders
Tolai
Traditional people on Island of New Guinea
Celts
Celtic peoples western Europe migration, end up in Ireland and Scotland and eventually move to east coast
Samhain
-celebrated by the celts
-pronounced sow-wyn
-oct. 31st is their new years
-believe ghost of dead ancestors come & visit
-bonfires & told stories
Day of the Dead
First few days of November, celebrate loved ones who died, respect the dead
Vampirism
Vampirism
Undead, those who died, disrespected will come back and harm the living
Dead Other
People seen as “others” in real life seen as “other” in death, not treated equally even after death
1990 Native American Graves and Repatriation Act
NAG: Fill museums with material culture, started digging up dead other, if you accept social darwinism nothing wrong with desecrating Native American Graves
RA: Anyone with human remains or objects from graves have 10 years to return them to people they belong to.
Geronimo
-apache chief & shaman
-Apaches version: Geronimo was buried in an anonymous grave & was dug up by officers, his remains were brought to Yale at Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
-A private club
-2 connections to yale:
- it sits on yale property
- in order to be a part of the club u have to be a student at yale
Anthropophagy
Consumption of humans by humans (cannibalism)
Taboos
1) Objects not to be touched
2) Words not to be spoken
3) Acts not to be done
cryogenics
-production & behavior of materials at very low temperatures
-freezing bodies quickly after they die to preserve them
-not dead but not alive
