Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
“Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”
Even though people should not judge based on what others believe, not everyone is always going to agree with each other. Although it would be much easier for everyone to accept other peoples differences. People should not judge others because of their religion and beliefs. Everyone has their own opinion as to what is right and what is wrong. There are several different religions and cultures and I think people should accept each other for who they are not what they believe in or they “weird” stuff that they do. If you think that something someone does it not right or even “weird” chances are there is something that you yourself do that other people would not see as being right or even “weird.”
A lot of people would find the Nacirema to be “weird,” I mean why would they put themselves through the torture and pain of these rituals? Well other cultures probably think the same thing about some of the stuff Americans do. Such as tattoos and piercings, it is a painful act, so why would we do it. Most people would say because they like the way they look. Well the same goes for the Nacirema. Obviously there rituals are a little more sadistic than most that Americans do but they obviously do them for a reason and think that they have some meaning.
Although a good example of people like this in America would be the voodoo believers that you can find right in New Orleans. They sacrifice animals and believe that making a doll to be someone and torturing it inflicts pain upon the resembling person. I found it very interesting though that in the article it stated “the fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease.” In most cultures the human body is found to be a beautiful thing. There are some cultures where the females have to hide their body unless they are in the privacy of their own home or here in America there are no regulations to this it just depends on where you are. Also here in America a lot of females even some men these day do these do their body to enhance how they look, trying to be more “sexy.” A few examples would be botox, breast implants, butt implants, and all other sorts of plastic surgery. There are quite a few cultures that do not believe in doing these things to the human body.
I also found it interesting that each family has at least one or more shrine in their home devoted to the ritual and ceremony of averting characteristics of the body. In society this could also be considered “weird”.