Taboos and Rituals

• Central Mindanao University, University Town, Musuan, Maramag, Bukidnon
• Chapter 11: TABOOS AND RITUALS
• ABATAYO, ELENEGIE, ALBARIDA, KYLA, ALKUINO, ANGEL, ALONZO, LALAINE
• The Sociology of Religion by Malcolm Hamilton

  April 1, 2024
• Taboo


  A ritual prohibition, derived from the Polynesian word tapu
• Taboo


  • Extremely widespread in human cultures and religious systems
  • Often associated with ideas of sacredness or holiness as well as with ideas of profanity and pollution
• Robertson Smith's theory of taboo


  Taboo represented the survival of primitive superstition
• No real distinction is made between what is sacred and what is polluting in the conceptions of taboo in many cultures
• Taboos and ritual avoidances are being created continuously right up to the present and are by no means primitive survivals
• Radcliffe-Brown's definition of taboo/ritual prohibition


  A rule of behavior which is associated with a belief that an infraction will result in an undesirable change in the ritual status of the person who fails to keep the rule
• Radcliffe-Brown's view of taboos


  • The object of ritual avoidance has ritual value, and this may include people, places, objects, words, or names
  • Ritual values are also social values or things of common concern or significance which bind two or more persons together
• The key to understanding taboos lies in the relationship between things which have ritual value and things which have social value
• Ritual behavior symbolically expresses the social value of a thing, occasion or event
• The Andamanese taboos relating to childbirth are the obligatory recognition in the standardized symbolic form of the significance and importance of the events to the parents and to the community at large
• The reason for observing the taboos, apart from socialization and custom, is that failure to do so will bring misfortune
• Freud's view of taboo behavior

  A desire to touch the taboo object which is repressed, as well as a horror or fear of touching it
• Freud's characterization of taboo is incorrect in several aspects
• The taboos surrounding menstrual blood surely involve no repressed desire to meet it
• There seems no more reason to believe that taboos reflect anxieties (as well as desires) than there is to accept Radcliffe-Brown's claim that taboos may serve to generate anxiety
• The characterization of taboo in terms of ambivalence could not successfully be applied to the whole range of taboos found in various societies
• Van Gennep's view of taboo behavior

  • Taboo behavior is nearly always an important element in transition rituals and is related to the belief that a transition from one status or condition to another is inherently dangerous
• Mary Douglas' view of taboos

  • Taboos are associated with the margins of established categories and transitions between them
  • Our ideas of dirt also express symbolic systems, and the difference between pollution behavior in one part of the world and another is a matter of detail
• Concept of dirt


  Matter out of place, symbolizing systematic ordering and classification of matter
• Taboos and social order

  • Anomalous things are considered dangerous and powerful, often being classed with the sacred
  • Taboos related to bodily emissions reflect social order and threats to it, with the body symbolizing society
• Role of taboos


  • Play a role in upholding morality and social control
  • Can be used for the common good, ideological purposes, and in situations of conflict
• Manipulative use of taboos

  • Can be manipulative devices for controlling women, assert male superiority, designate separate spheres, blame failures on breaches of rules, and extract compensation
• Critics challenge the idea that tabooed things confound categories, proposing alternative explanations based on distinctions between nature and culture
• Communal rituals


  • Involve kinship groups, tribes, villages, communities, or nations
  • Serve various purposes like veneration of gods, prosperity, protection, and marking significant life events
• Interpretation of communal rituals by anthropologists

  • Viewed as a way for societies to uphold central values, preserve moral order, and address conflicts
  • Rituals help recognize divisions, conflict, and disharmonies within a society, serving as a coping mechanism
• Purpose of rituals


  • Arise in response to conflicts between general moral order and individual or sectional interests
  • Often involves an open display of strife, antagonism, cohesion, and cooperation
• Role of rituals


  • Play a crucial role in maintaining social cohesion and addressing societal tensions
  • Reflect the values, beliefs, and conflicts within a community
  • Through rituals, communities navigate challenges and reinforce their shared identity and values
• Communal rituals are essential for reinforcing social bonds, addressing conflicts, and upholding the moral fabric of societies
• Max Gluckman's interpretation of the Swazi national first-fruits ceremony (incwala)


  • A symbolic representation of the underlying conflicts within the nation as well as its fundamental unity and cohesion
  • Expresses the ambivalent attitude towards the Swazi king
  • Believed to achieve unity and prosperity by symbolic acting of social relations in their ambivalence
• The incwala ceremony is closely bound up with the productive cycle in the Swazi economy, and prosperity is only possible if moral conditions are good
• Gluckman's interpretation of rites of reversal among the Zulu and other people


  Instances of a much wider range of customs which may be interpreted as the expression of generalized tensions, and which may indeed be cathartic
• Norbeck criticized Gluckman's interpretation, suggesting that rituals may be seen as a form of humour and amusement, which can be a way of expressing and dealing with tension and conflict
• Abrahams and Bauman's analysis shows that rites of reversal are not really rebellious but expressive of values which predominate in one part of society and which are opposed to those prevailing in the domestic context
• Rigby shows how rites involving reversal of gender roles among the Gogo people of Tanzania reflect their system of social classification
• Ritual


  Can be a way of expressing and dealing with tension and conflict
• Abrahams and Bauman (1978): 'Humour and 'horse play' associated with role reversal are prominent in festivities, challenging the protest and rebellion argument'