Observations on Religious in Society
This weekend I attended an African wedding placed in Houston, Texas. In the parking lot, there are Lexus, BMW’s, Jaguars, and Mercedes Benz vehicles. Walking inside the church there are guest over two hundred people in attendance. The guests are wearing their “African Culture” hats, clothes, as well as jewelry. The wedding is much Americanized, except the bride has a very long train attached to her white dress. There were two sets of bridesmaids that were standing on the side of the bride, while the ceremony was going on. The audience was very silent when the vows were exchanged between the groom and the bride. Throughout the wedding, I began to notice the only people who were wearing formal American dresses, and suits clothes were African American, Hispanics, and Caucasians. The ceremony started at ten o clock in the morning and lasted until eleven. When the bride walked in everyone stood to their feet to acknowledge her presence, and took pictures of the bride walking down the aisle. Everyone in the audiences seemed so happy. Majority of the guest were in couples, old couples, as well as some newlyweds. The service had a priest, bride, groom, flower girls, eight bridesmaids four being upfront, and four being to the side. The participants filled the room with love, understanding of marriage, and the power of unity. In this wedding, the father walked the daughter down the aisle as we have seen in America. The flower girl wore their Nigerian flag colors in her dress. The two children holding were very strong young kids, with the rings being placed on a pillow.
In class we have discussed many different ways religion in used throughout the world. In particular this wedding you do show up as a ...
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...s of women as well as men in their ceremony. The ceremony as exactly like a regular American wedding except, the participants wore their religious clothes to the ceremony. After the ceremony my friend and I discussed certain facts about Nigerian religion. Some Nigerians practice Voodoo, as well as juju which is magic. She also explained most of the people who live in Africa did not speak English. They have “mami” water to worship the water that mermaids live in. Listening to different things about this African Religion, I have decided that other cultures are not as bad. Yes, we have different ways of thinking, and communicating with other religions, but if we actually be in attendance of ceremonies throughout the years it’s a great experience to learn about each other cultures through sociology, and trying to establish their profane and sacred traditions in life.
A ritual "is a sequence of events involving motions, words, and objects, performed according to set sequence”. In addition, a religious ritual is a solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order (Michael, 2012). The ritual I have chosen to investigate is Jewish Marriage. This ritual will be analysed using Lovat’s five-step approach.
The Pueblo Indians religious history is different than the average Christian religion history. Their religious beliefs are based on the creation of life. The persons seen as the creators of life are the centrality and the basis of their religion. In the early 1900’s these Indians were looked upon in different lights. White man compared the Pueblo rituals and religious routines with his own. Pueblo religious beliefs, practices and social forms were criticized, scrutinized and misunderstood by white Christian American settlers. The major religious practice and worship of the Pueblo Indians involved ritual dances. White men attempted to stop these Puebloan ritualistic dances because they did not meet his own religious standards and this happened before the Indians had a chance to explain or define what their dances really stood for. Women played a significant role in Puebloan ritual dances and religious
If cultures agreed to research and make alterations to traditions, they would gain a greater understanding of their own historical developments and maybe even desire to research the traditional developments in other cultures. Ceremony is a novel that brings up many racial and cultural issues, and if they can be recognized and used as inspiration to make changes and become better people, the world will become a better place and hopefully negative racial issues will become nonexistent. Works Cited Jaskoski, Helen. A. Leslie Marmon Silko: A Study of the Short Fiction.
For Foua, a Hmong mother, the United States was a complete opposite to the life she was use to living and right now preparing this wedding shows the skills that she possess even if they are not very relevant in her new home, “‘I [Foua] am very stupid.’ When I [Anne] asked her why, she said, “Because I don’t know anything here. I don’t know your language. American is so hard, you can watch TV all day ad you still don’t know it” (Fadiman 103). This wedding bought Foua and Anne close in a different way, it created a new level of understanding and appreciation. Anne is starting to discover what it is like to be from another country where the language is different, the clothes are different, the entire way the people live is different. Basically, the world has been flipped upside down and the people need to find their new source of living. It is never easy to pick up a perfectly settled life and suddenly decide that moving and changing it all around is exactly what we need to do. But that was not the case of Foua, her family was forced to move to the United States. This would have made it even harder to adjust. Everything is suddenly thrown at Foua and there is no looking back only forward and the forward might be a lot more difficult. This is why this wedding is like a dream to Foua, it combines her old life with her new life. Although, the skill of creating a Hmong wedding might not be useful in the United States they still create a lot of joy and this joy can lead people to understand one another in a new found way. A new joy that was found in the new life of the bride and groom, but also there was the connection between two cultures. There was a greater understanding and
The film “Coming to America” by filmmaker John Landis, presents a dilemma faced by an African prince regarding his country’s culture and traditions. Although the film is not based on any real country, persons, or events it may affect certain individuals as they may relate to some of the issues presented within. Coming to America takes place in two different countries. One of them being Zamunda Africa a fictitious place and the other Queens New York in the United States. The main characters I will focus on primarily are Prince Akeem and his father King Jaffore of Zamunda Africa and Cleo McDowell along with his daughter Lisa McDowell of the Queens New York. Prince Akeem has approached his twenty-first birthday and now is troubled by a prearranged
People who are religious don’t want to be labeled. We are all human beings with different solutions to our lives. However, despite being religious and having faith, others will criticize, and judge by the way you practice. That’s because nobody knows every single culture they research or observe; they’ll think it’s interesting but scary or too different. According to Mark Hay’s article, “A West African Kingdom in the American South”, he observes a series of women, all in white, enter the courtyard, swaying to beat of drums; then walks a priest, an older man with a staff and gourd, rolling his shoulders, and chanting to the drumbeat. “They answer his incantations, and together, in a slow, circuitous choreography, they dance their way to the doors of Obatala’s shrine. One by one, they disappear inside to make offerings to the spirit” (Hay). You will wonder if we all do this, will we be equal? Everyone has different traditions they follow according to their culture and where they
The Society Religion as a Social Glue The view in the title is a functionalist’s view. Durkheim claims that religion is to do with the sacred and certain things, people and places are perceived to be sacred for example Jesus Christ, totem and the Tajmahal. He claims that what people perceive to be sacred are actually symbols of a collective consciousness. By worshipping these sacred things etc. they are actually reinforcing the beliefs, values, norms and tradition which make social life possible.
Differences in culture make country has its own traditional customs. Wedding, an extremely important event on one's life, has specific ritual observances. However, thanks to the cultural exchange, Vietnam wedding customs and those of a foreign country – America, have both similarities and differences.
Making up the two largest religions in the world, Christianity and Islam, both look at marriage as a major part of one’s life journey. Thus the idea that the sacred ritual of marriage in both Christianity and Islam are full of rich symbolism, ceremony and grounded in religious and cultural traditions, can be explored. However, the ritual of marriage differentiates between Christianity and Islam, as Christianity is founded on deep symbolic meaning and religious tradition in contrast to the culturally rich marriage ceremony found in Islam. This can be further investigated through an in depth analysis of the ceremony, symbols, religious and cultural traditions involved in the ritual of marriage.
Changes occur within societies, cultures, religions, or livelihood, people lose their sense of importance towards their roots and sense of being therefore redefining the meaning of humanity. However, as Ceremony teaches, being in touch with one’s roots and sense of being will bring about understanding of what is true or what is false. An individual should realize the meaning of their essence and in turn would bring the understanding towards the world. Ceremony’s world application evaluates and serves as a guide of how humanity should open their eyes and look at everything in a different a perspective to see it in the way of the ceremony: the way of life. The ceremony should be practiced and adapted throughout all the time, no matter the race, religion, culture or livelihood.
Originally, after choosing my topic, I had planned on focusing on the traditions of Muslim marriage-- however, the more I researched the more corruption was unveiled within the sacrament. I don’t know about you all, but I find controversial things far more interesting. I would like to preface my speech by saying although many of the practices I am going to speak about are widely accepted throughout the Middle East—however, this does not make them justifiable. Like all controversial topics, there are two sides to this argument. Arranged marriages, child marriage, and polygamy are practices passed off as “traditions,” but it is my goal to shed some light on the topic. It is not uncommon for couples to marry based off caste and wealth rather than
Indigenous religions exist in every climate around the world and exhibit a wide range of differences in their stories, language, customs, and views of the afterlife. Within indigenous communities, religion, social behavior, art, and music are so intertwined that their religion is a significant part of their culture and virtually inseparable from it. These religions originally developed and thrived in isolation from one another and are some of the earliest examples of religious practice and belief. The modern world; however, has taken its toll on these groups and many of their stories, customs, and beliefs have been lost to, or replaced by, those brought in as a result of popular culture and the missionary work of Christians and Muslims.
There are traditions and or rituals that we participate in year after year, even though we have forgotten what the meaning is or where it has come from. Every one of us has experienced some type of ritual or tradition in some form or fashion. Wedding and marriage rituals and traditions also fall true to this. There are different cultures that celebrate in different ways all over the world. There is a tradition for Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and South America, North America and even Caribbean traditions and Oceania traditions. I suppose there is a tradition or ritual for every corner of our world and for every tribe. I have even seen weddings for animals. Everyone seems to be getting into a ceremony! Within all of these different ceremonies, traditions and rituals have changed over the years. To go back hundreds of years ago, some couples did not even know each other when they were to be married, or paired up by the tribes or royal parents to choose the couple that would best suite the family. Just imagine not even meeting the one that you are supposed to marry and spend the rest of your life with until the day of the ceremony. These traditions were kept sacred and carried out just because that is the way that it has always been done. Most wedding ceremonies would consist of the same rituals and traditions that would be carried on down from generations. Most people doesn’t even know what most of the traditions mean. Unfortunately with time, and more modern ways, these rituals are being changed.
How do we define religion? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of religion is as follows: “the belief in a god or in a group of gods, an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods, or an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group” (Merriam-Webster.) My personal definition of religion is that it is a set of beliefs and practices that generally pertain to the worship of one or more than one spiritual being or representation of a spiritual power. Religion can be a personal belief or an organization or group of people who have similar beliefs and values. There are many different types of religions in the world and have been since the beginning of mankind.
Religion, a word shrouded with mystery, confusion and complexity. For some it is the answer to everything, a path to guidance and hope. For others it is the reason for all evil or just a manmade phenomenon for people who refuse to understand that everything happens for a scientific reason. Whatever the case is, it is a topic that is quite controversial and much debated among scientists, cultural theorist and conspiracy theorists. Religion plays a major role in functioning and forming social and psychological behavior of a society. It is connected more towards the emotional side of a person and everyone has their own perspective about it. Therefore religion has become an important part of human identity.