tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/rituals-43124/articlesRituals – The Conversation2024-03-11T12:24:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251522024-03-11T12:24:50Z2024-03-11T12:24:50ZRamadan will be difficult for those in Gaza or other war zones – what does fasting mean for those who might be already starving?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580797/original/file-20240309-20-1w4qtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C11%2C3730%2C2144&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Palestinians gather at the area where aid was distributed in Gaza City on Feb. 19, 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/palestinians-struggling-with-hunger-gather-at-the-area-news-photo/2015671793">Karam Hassan/Anadolu via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ramadan in the Gaza Strip this year will be anything but “normal.” </p>
<p>Malnutrition and disease are claiming dozens of lives. The Gaza Health Ministry said on March 6, 2024, that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/famine-gaza-hunger-israel-hamas-war-rcna141891">at least 20 people had died</a> of malnutrition. Many others, it said, were “dying silently,” unable to reach medical facilities.</p>
<p>According to humanitarian organizations, the proportion of people in Gaza deprived of food <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/06/colleagues-starvation-gaza-no-precedent-famine">exceeds any other place in the world</a>. </p>
<p>What meaning can the holy month’s fast have for those who have nothing to eat? </p>
<h2>Ramadan and the Quran</h2>
<p>Fasting in Islam requires believers to abstain from certain acts that are necessary for sustaining life – mainly eating, drinking and sexual – from dawn to dusk. But it is not just about food. It also requires that people abstain from lying or criticizing others behind their backs. </p>
<p>Muslims access “the sacred” primarily through the Quran, which is recited collectively from cover to cover in <a href="https://gulfnews.com/uae/ramadan/ramadan-2023-all-you-need-to-know-about-taraweeh-prayers---when-why-and-how-to-perform-it-1.1618320387277">communal night nighttime vigils during Ramadan</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://keough.nd.edu/people/mahan-mirza/">As a scholar of Islam</a> and as a practicing Muslim, I often think of how Islamic scripture describes the purpose of this sacred month. “Fasting is prescribed to you,” <a href="https://quran.com/2/183">says the Quran</a>, “that ye may learn self-restraint.”
The revelation of the Quran to Muhammad commenced in Ramadan, and Muslims take this time of the year to renew their connection to God’s words. </p>
<p>Fasting in Ramadan was prescribed in 624 C.E., the second year of Islam. This was shortly after the Prophet Muhammad’s emigration from Mecca to Medina in today’s Saudi Arabia to escape persecution. This episode, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Hijrah-Islam">known as the Hijra</a>, came to mark the first year of the Islamic calendar. </p>
<p>While Muslims may fast voluntarily throughout the year, it is mandatory in the month of Ramadan. Sick or pregnant people, as well as travelers, must make up missed days. The chronically ill or elderly must make amends by feeding others. </p>
<p>Fasting in Ramadan is believed to rejuvenate spiritual strength. The <a href="https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:1690">Prophet Muhammad said</a> the mere ritual of fasting without inner transformation results in nothing but hunger.</p>
<p>“Goodness does not consist in your turning your face towards East or West,” <a href="https://quran.com/2/177">the Quran cautions</a>, in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/qiblah">reference to the orientation</a> that is required in ritual prayer. Rather, goodness consists in caring for the neighbor and stranger. These are principles that <a href="https://www.acommonword.com/the-acw-document/">all religions have in common</a>. </p>
<h2>Ramadan and charity</h2>
<p>In Muslim culture, Ramadan is experienced primarily as a month of prayer, ascetic practice, family life and generosity. A select few engage in a practice known as “<a href="https://www.zakat.org/on-ritual-retreat-itikaf">i’tikaf</a>,” a voluntary retreat in partial seclusion at the mosque, typically during the last few days and nights. </p>
<p>A highlight of Ramadan is increased acts of charity and the feeding of others. Many mosques offer meals, which is believed to be an act of particular virtue at sunset to facilitate breaking of the fast, at this time of the year. Muslims often pay their <a href="https://www.muslimaid.org/what-we-do/religious-dues/ramadan/zakat-facts/">annual mandatory alms known as zakat</a> during Ramadan in order to reap the special rewards of this month. </p>
<p>Islamic educational and humanitarian organizations increase their appeals for donations every year in Ramadan, and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2022/apr/11/ramadan-2022-around-the-world-in-pictures">rhythm of life in Muslim communities transforms</a> with pre-dawn family meals, lazy mornings, working afternoons and communal feasts.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580575/original/file-20240307-28-ap9at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several children and adults share a meal while being seated in a circle on the floor where a number of dishes are placed in the center." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580575/original/file-20240307-28-ap9at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580575/original/file-20240307-28-ap9at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580575/original/file-20240307-28-ap9at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580575/original/file-20240307-28-ap9at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580575/original/file-20240307-28-ap9at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580575/original/file-20240307-28-ap9at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580575/original/file-20240307-28-ap9at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A family living in a tent breaks their fast during Ramadan 2021 in Deir Al Balah, a city in Gaza, on April 19, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tawfik-al-akraa-and-his-family-are-seen-during-the-iftar-news-photo/1232406941?adppopup=true">Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Ramadan in Gaza</h2>
<p>The meaning of Ramadan in a war zone is poignant for Muslims who are suffering directly. War is neither prescribed nor prohibited during Ramadan. <a href="https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2406">Muhammad urged</a> his troops to break the fast when entering into battle in order to preserve their strength. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Badr">Battle of Badr</a>, the first of many military confrontations under Muhammad’s command, which became a turning point in early Islamic history, took place in Ramadan. </p>
<p>For those who witness that suffering on screens from the comfort of their homes, the question of moral responsibility still remains. Muslims who seek to fulfill <a href="https://quran.com/2/3">God’s command</a> are “to spend out of what God has provided for them” in worthy charitable causes in Ramadan. Many of them will ask what more could be done to feed the hungriest of hungry in the world, who are <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/80-of-world-s-hungriest-people-live-in-gaza-palestine/3156190">now in Gaza</a>.</p>
<p>Religions help us come to terms with our mortality. They help us make sense of life beyond this life. In a time of war and famine, when death is near, <a href="https://quran.com/50/16">Ramadan can remind us that God is nearer</a>: “closer than the jugular vein.”</p>
<p>For countless innocent victims of all ages and every gender who are breathing their last – in the direst of circumstances and the deepest of anguish – this thought can be a source of solace, if not joy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225152/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mahan Mirza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ramadan encourages acts of charity. This also poses a question for many Muslims as they consider what more could be done to feed the hungriest in the world, many of whom are in Gaza.Mahan Mirza, Executive Director, Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, and Teaching Professor of Teaching Professor of Islam and Global Affairs, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2213992024-02-13T13:22:45Z2024-02-13T13:22:45ZWhy having human remains land on the Moon poses difficult questions for members of several religions<p>Sending human remains to the Moon on the first commercial lunar lander, Peregrine 1, on Jan. 8, 2024, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-remains-are-headed-to-the-moon-despite-objections/">along with scientific instruments</a>, caused a controversy.</p>
<p>Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation, objected, saying that “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/05/world/peregrine-moon-mission-navajo-nation-objection-human-remains-scn/index.html">the moon holds a sacred place</a>” in Navajo and other tribal traditions and should not be defiled in this way. The inside of the lander was to be a kind of “<a href="https://elysiumspace.com/">space burial</a>” for remains of some 70 people. Each of the families had <a href="https://www.celestis.com/experiences-pricing/">paid over US$12,000 for a permanent memorial on the Moon</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">professors</a> <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/mathew-schmalz">of religious studies</a> who have taught courses on death rites, we know that death rituals in the world’s religions have been shaped by millennia of tradition and practice. While these ashes didn’t make it to the Moon because of a <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=PEREGRN-1">propellant leak</a>, their presence on the lander raised some important religious issues: Beliefs about the polluting nature of the corpse, the acceptability of cremation and the sacredness of the Moon vary across traditions. </p>
<h2>Jewish death rituals and purification</h2>
<p>In ancient Judaism, certain activities were believed to be polluting, rendering a person unfit to participate in prayers and animal sacrifices offered exclusively at the Temple in Jerusalem. There were many ways in which one could become ritually unclean, and each level of pollution was cleansed by an appropriate purification rite. <a href="https://www.religiousrules.com/Judaismpurity03corpse.htm">Direct contact with a human corpse</a> was believed to cause the most intense form of pollution; even touching a person or object that had been in contact with a corpse would cause a lesser level of defilement.</p>
<p>After the Romans <a href="https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/destruction-second-temple-70-ce">destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E.</a>, Jewish religious practice changed dramatically, including rules about purification. These days, after a burial or visit to a cemetery, many Jewish people wash their hands to wash away negative <a href="https://outorah.org/p/64492/">spirits or energy</a>.</p>
<p>In Judaism, the bodies of the dead are to be buried or entombed in the earth. Cremation of human bodies, <a href="https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/510874/jewish/Why-Does-Judaism-Forbid-Cremation.htm">rejected for centuries</a>, has become more popular but <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/judaism-on-cremation/">still remains a controversial option</a> due to the older tradition of respect for the body as a creation of God – to be buried intact and without mutilation.</p>
<h2>Christian death rituals over the centuries</h2>
<p>Before Christianity developed in the first century C.E., <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9497-3_1">Roman civil religion</a> stressed the need to separate the living from the dead. Corpses or cremated remains were interred in burial places outside cities and town – in <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/city/necropolis">the necropolis</a>, literally a city of the dead. As in Judaism, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v26i2.52569">any visitor needed purification</a> afterward. </p>
<p>As monotheists, Christians rejected belief in the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, including the <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Titan/Selene.html#:%7E:text=SELE%E2%80%B2NE%20(Sel%C3%AAn%C3%AA)%2C,371%2C%20%">Moon goddess called Selene or Luna</a>. They also refused to participate in Roman state religious rituals or activities based on pagan polytheism. Decades later, after Christianity became the official imperial religion, Christians moved the <a href="http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01019">remains of people they considered holy into towns and cities</a> to be re-entombed for easier veneration inside churches.</p>
<p>During the medieval period, ordinary Christians desired to be buried close to these saints in anticipation of the resurrection of the body at the second coming of Christ. Graveyards around the church were <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501753855/standing-on-holy-ground-in-the-middle-ages/">consecrated as “holy ground</a>.” In this way, Christians believed that the departed might continue to <a href="https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-medieval-pilgrimage/burial-ad-sanctos-SIM_00143#:%7E:text=Burial%20">benefit from the holiness of the saints</a>. Their bodies were considered sources of spiritual blessing rather than causes of spiritual pollution.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A relief showing a corpse being placed in a coffin as people stand around, one holding a tall crucifix." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Fourth-century Christian burial depicted in relief at the Shrine of San Vittore in Ciel d'Oro, Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/9691_-_Milano_-_S._Ambrogio_-_San_Vittore_in_Ciel_d%27oro_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto_25-Apr-2007.jpg">G.dallorto, Attribution/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Increasingly today, cremation is considered acceptable, although the Catholic Church requires that cremated remains <a href="https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/bereavement-and-funerals/cremation-and-funerals">must not be scattered or partitioned</a> but buried or placed elsewhere in cemeteries. </p>
<p>Unlike some other religions, neither Judaism nor Christianity considers the Moon divine or sacred. As part of God’s creation, it <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/when-easter#:%7E:text=The%20">plays a role</a> in setting the religious calendars. In both Jewish and Christian spiritual writing, the <a href="https://blog.nli.org.il/en/jewish_moon">Moon is used as a spiritual analogy</a>: in Judaism, of the majesty of God, and in Christianity, of Christ and the church.</p>
<h2>Islamic beliefs on burial</h2>
<p><a href="https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2018/11/01/respect-for-the-dead-under-islamic-law-considerations-for-humanitarian-forensics/">Cremation is strictly prohibited in Islam</a>. After death, the deceased is <a href="https://www.islamicity.org/5586/preparation-of-te-deceased-and-janazah-prayers/">ritually washed, wrapped in shrouds</a> and brought for burial in a cemetery as soon as possible.</p>
<p>After a <a href="https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/ep-1-the-janazah-prayer-for-those-left-behind">funeral prayer</a>, led by an imam or senior member of the community, the deceased is buried – usually without a coffin – with their head oriented toward the holy city of Mecca. The soul of the deceased is <a href="https://zamzam.com/blog/life-after-death-in-islam/">said to visit their loved ones</a> on the seventh and 40th days after death. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://quran.com/en/fussilat/37">Quran warns against worshiping the Moon</a>, as was done in pre-Islamic culture, because worship is due to God alone.</p>
<p>In September 2007, when the first Muslim astronaut from Malaysia got ready to go into space, the Malaysian National Space Agency <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2007-09-20-islamic-body-rules-on-how-to-pray-wash-die-in-space/">published religious directives</a> on burial rituals for Muslims in space. These directives said if bringing the body back wasn’t possible, then he would be “interred” in space after a brief ceremony. And if no water was available in space for the ceremonial rituals, then “holy dust” should be swept onto the face and hands “even if there is no dust” in the space station. </p>
<h2>Hindu and Buddhist funerary practices</h2>
<p>Hinduism is a diverse religion, and so funeral practices often vary according to culture and context. Most commonly, death and the period following a person’s death are associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/006996689023001007">ritual pollution</a>. Because of this, the deceased should be cremated within 24 hours after death.</p>
<p>The cremation of the corpse cuts the ties of the soul, or the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/atman">atman</a>, to the body, allowing it to move on to the next level of existence and eventually be reincarnated. The ashes are collected and placed into an urn on the third day after cremation and immersed in a body of water, ideally a sacred river such as the Ganges.</p>
<p>Within Hinduism, the Moon has played an important role in conceptualizing what happens to the dead. For example, the ancient Hindu texts describe the spirits of the virtuous dead as entering Chandraloka, or the realm of the Moon, where they experience happiness for a time before being reincarnated.</p>
<p>In the many forms of Buddhism, death provides an opportunity for mourners to reflect <a href="https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhist-death-rites/">on the impermanence of all things</a>. While in Tibetan Buddhism there is the tradition of “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757283">sky burial</a>,” in which the deceased is dismembered and left to the elements, in most forms of Buddhism the dead are usually cremated and, as in Hinduism, the corpse is considered polluting beforehand. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person lighting a candle at an altar, painted in red color, with white flowers in two vases and incense sticks in a small pot." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A ritual being performed at a Thai funeral ceremony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/funeral-watering-ceremony-thai-cultural-ritual-royalty-free-image/1831759719?phrase=buddhist+cremation&adppopup=true">Surasak Suwanmake/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In older forms of Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet, the Moon was understood to be <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/38344#:%7E:text=Worship%20of%20the%20moon%20god">identified with the god Chandra</a>, who rides on a chariot. The Moon is also one of the nine astrological deities whose movement provides insight for reckoning individual and collective futures.</p>
<h2>Difficult questions</h2>
<p>In response to the Navajo objection that landing ashes on the Moon was a defilement, the CEO of Celestis, the company that paid for capsules containing the ashes, <a href="https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/biden-administration-to-consult-with-navajo-about-human-remains-on-the-moon/">issued a statement</a> stressing that launching containers of human ashes to the Moon is “the antithesis of desecration … it’s celebration.” </p>
<p>In the end, the question was moot. Peregrine 1 <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/15/world/peregrine-moon-lander-failure-nasa-scn/index.html">never made its soft landing on the Moon</a> because of an engine malfunction, and its <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67962397">payload was destroyed</a> after entering the atmosphere. </p>
<p>As more people decide to send their ashes into space, however, religious conflicts are bound to arise. The key concern, and not just for the Navajo Nation, will be how to respect all religious traditions as humans explore and commercialize the Moon. It still remains a problem today here on Earth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two scholars who study death rituals explain that the corpse is considered spiritually polluting in many religious traditions, while the Moon holds a sacred place.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossMathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217152024-01-30T13:34:33Z2024-01-30T13:34:33ZThe opening of India’s new Rama temple made waves – but here’s what the central ritual actually meant<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571512/original/file-20240125-15-t0kpkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C2261%2C1493&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center left, performs rituals during the opening of the temple dedicated to Lord Ram in Ayodhya, India, on Jan. 22, 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IndiaHinduTemple/8ee5a9844b5f4124965e6fd8b2525d08/photo?Query=rama%20temple%20india%20modi&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=648&digitizationType=Digitized&currentItemNo=NaN&vs=true&vs=true">Press Information Bureau via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The consecration rituals of the icon of Lord Rama were performed in a newly built mega-temple in the town of Ayodhya, India, on Jan. 22, 2024. The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMumilPMcfs">performed the rituals</a> during a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/what-is-ram-mandir-pran-pratishthas-abhijeet-muhurat-which-will-last-84-seconds-101705901568681.html">48-minute period considered auspicious</a> by Hindu astrologers. Lord Rama, an avatara or incarnation of Vishnu, is one of the most important deities in the Hindu tradition.</p>
<p>Amid the carefully staged pageantry, the media’s hysteria over the guest lists and the celebrations of <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/ram-mandir-celebrations-in-us-car-rally-organised-at-golden-gate-bridge-with-tesla-light-show-101705896670586.html">exultant Hindus</a> – not just in India but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X437KhS9Wl4">from Golden Gate Bridge to Times Square</a> – the religious significance of the rituals, known in Sanskrit as “prana pratishtha,” or “establishment of breath,” was completely lost. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/others/ram-lalla-s-idol-from-makeshift-temple-shifted-to-sanctumsanctorum-101705860918400.html">Media all around the world, particularly in India, referred</a> to the icon of Lord Rama as an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/why-indias-new-ram-temple-matters-dispute-behind-it-2024-01-22">“idol</a>.” However, the term does not capture the Hindu belief that matter transforms into divine reality during this ritual. Although there are many nuanced Sanskrit words, there is no English term that does justice. In fact, the word “idol” has pejorative implications. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://religion.ufl.edu/directory/vasudha-narayanan/">professor of religion</a> who has studied the religious significance of deities in temples, I want to highlight this important ritual, which is said to transform the material image. </p>
<h2>From matter to deity</h2>
<p>The ritual of “prana pratishtha” is a culmination of several days or even weeks of preparation. At crucial moments during the performance of the ritual, many Hindus, though not all, believe that the divine being comes to abide in a carefully carved icon. </p>
<p>In an idea roughly analogous to <a href="https://www.usccb.org/eucharist">transubstantiation</a> in the Catholic Church – where, when the priest consecrates the bread and wine, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23013382">the whole substance of the bread and wine</a> is believed to become the body of Christ – through prana pratishtha, the material icon becomes a divine presence.</p>
<p>Although several Hindu texts speak of the supreme being as being beyond form, gender and even number, paradoxically, Hindus also see the supreme entity as graciously taking a “material” form and <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gods_of_Flesh_Gods_of_Stone/LD91JTIl8uIC?hl=en&gbpv=1">abiding in a temple as an incarnate deity worthy of worship</a>. </p>
<p>Despite textual and regional variations, there are many common practices in this ritual. During the process of prana pratishtha, this image carved by a master sculptor is initially purified, then covered in <a href="https://www.republicworld.com/india/ram-mandir-interesting-facts-rituals-for-19th-20th-and-21st-jan-details-inside/">water, grains, fragrant substances, herbs, flowers and other materials</a>. In doing so, it is said to absorb the energies of the universe. Texts called “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Classical_Hindu_Mythology/zobyDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=cornelia+dimmitt&printsec=frontcover">Puranas</a>” and “<a href="https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/agama">Agamas</a>,” composed in the first millennium C.E., give many details for the procedure. </p>
<p>There are fire sacrifices in a pavilion outside, the deity is taken formally into the temple and also in a <a href="https://thedailyguardian.com/ram-lallas-pran-pratistha-the-grandeur-of-ayodhya-dham-is-increasing-every-moment/#google_vignette">procession through the town</a>, and there is recitation of mantras.</p>
<p>Precious stones and metals, as well as a yantra, a metal plate with geometrical drawings, are buried in the ground in the inner shrine where the deity is to be installed. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ram-lalla-eyes-mandir-idol-pran-pratishtha-sculptor-arun-yogiraj-ayodhya-temple-shwet-shila-2492448-2024-01-23">The eyes of the icon are also ritually opened</a>. Since the unrestricted power or “shakti” of the deity is believed to blaze out through its gaze, a mirror is held in front of it both to guide the sculptor in opening the eyes carefully and also to reflect the power back to it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PtVX2Fhx0Q">In Ayodhya, a scarf was removed from the eyes of the deity</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BQGTmW10NZQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The consecration ceremony at the Rama temple in Ayodhya.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the crucial time, the chief priest invokes the divine being, inviting it to abide in the icon. With the opening of the eyes and the invoking and transfer of breath, the material icon is said to be transformed into an incarnation of the deity. </p>
<h2>Controversies over the temple land</h2>
<p>The “prana pratishtha” rituals have been done in thousands of temples in India and globally. But the Ayodhya one has arguably drawn the most attention politically and has also been the most controversial. </p>
<p>The new temple has been built on the land where <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-IRTB-17391">a 16th century mosque – the Babri Masjid – was destroyed by Hindu activists in December 1992</a>. Some Hindus claim that the mosque had been built by razing a 15th century Rama temple, said to be the site of his birth. While there seems to be evidence that a temple stood where the mosque was built, scholars have disputed the claim that that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3517901">spot was the very one where Rama was born</a>. Representatives of Jainism, another ancient religion of India, have also claimed that a <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jain-body-claims-disputed-site-in-ayodhya/articleshow/39766315.cms?from=mdr">sixth century Jain temple</a> existed on this site before the mosque was built. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Creating_a_Nationality/1hduAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Creating%20a%20Nationality:%20The%20Ramjanmabhumi%20Movement%20and%20Fear%20of%20the%20Self">Several scholars have argued</a> that the destruction of the mosque is directly connected with Hindu nationalism and communal violence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hindu worshippers stand above the top dome of an ancient mosque waving saffron flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People atop the 16th century Babri mosque before the structure was demolished in 1992.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-file-photograph-taken-on-december-6-1992-hindu-news-photo/88756585?adppopup=true">Douglas E. Curran/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hindus’ and Muslims’ rights to worship at the site have been litigated for more than a hundred years, and in 2019, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ayodhya-ram-mandir-babri-masjid-supreme-court-verdict-security-on-alert-1617220-2019-11-09">land be given to a Hindu trust</a> and a five-acre lot be given to the Muslims to build a mosque. Building the temple was started soon after this judgment. </p>
<p>Politically, the attention accompanying the rites highlighted the metaphor of Rama “<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/pm-narendra-modi-completes-ram-mandir-pran-pratishtha-ceremony-as-millions-celebrate-homecoming-of-ram-lalla-after-500-years/articleshow/107046063.cms?from=mdr">returning home</a>.” It refers to an incident in the story of Rama as told in the ancient epic, the “<a href="https://southasia.ucla.edu/religions/texts/ramayana/">Ramayana</a>,” when he is exiled from Ayodhya on the eve of his coronation and returns home after 14 years of exile.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/new-yorks-times-square-witnesses-hindu-joy-over-ayodhya-temple-1862932">Devotees’ sentiments</a> as well as speeches at the inauguration of the temple spoke of Rama’s return to Ayodhya after 500 years of being banished from his birthplace. </p>
<p>It was a clear reference to what the government and many Hindus believed to be a return of Rama to Ayodhya after his presence was “banished” <a href="https://time.com/6564070/india-modi-temple-ram/">with the building of the mosque</a> in the 16th century. </p>
<h2>‘Not in our names’</h2>
<p>There were many <a href="https://www.hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/dont-weaponize-faith-huge-times-square-projection-denounces-modinbsppolitical-stunt-in-ram-temple-controversynbsp?fbclid=IwAR3NPFKp3yvOpzTlMBDHPJFsEFxAGSN5GBCbPD6WTJTbkPfhsnif3rNjtrw">Hindus who objected</a> to the <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/i-condemn-repudiate-what-is-being-done-in-the-name-of-hinduism-in-ayodhya">politicization of the event</a> as well as the active role of the government and its agencies in the ritual fanfare. Indian Air Force choppers <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/video/iaf-pilots-showered-flowers-ram-mandir-pran-pratishtha-ceremony-ayodhya-2492123-2024-01-22">rained flowers on the temple after the consecration</a>. </p>
<p>Some observers, including outsiders sympathetic to Hinduism, saw these rituals as a <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/modi-is-god-a-jewish-perspective/">glorification of Modi, not Rama</a>. The event was also contested in religious circles. Several monastic heads refused to join the event, but a prominent Hindu writer said that these religious leaders were not representative of Hinduism and <a href="https://swarajyamag.com/commentary/shankaracharyas-hindu-unity-and-the-ayodhya-triumph-of-ram-bhaktas-a-closer-look">refuted their objections</a>. </p>
<p>Despite these controversies, for those Hindus who supported the building of the temple, it was a sacred moment. For during the prana pratishtha, the divine is said to become present in the icon, if the rituals are properly performed. The “idol” made of material substance is then transformed, and the temple becomes the home for the deity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vasudha Narayanan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of Hinduism explains the importance of the consecration ritual, which is believed to bring the presence of the divine into the temple.Vasudha Narayanan, Distinguished Professor of Religion, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2193742024-01-09T13:24:10Z2024-01-09T13:24:10ZWhat Taoism teaches about the body and being healthy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568087/original/file-20240105-15-9ngj1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C1759%2C1095&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Daoism, which emphasizes harmony with nature, can inform individuals on their relationship with the environment.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Yuan_(painter)#/media/File:Ma_Yuan_Walking_on_Path_in_Spring.jpg">Ma Yuan 'Walking on Path in Spring.' National Palace Museum via Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New Year’s resolutions often come with a renewed investment in making our bodies healthier. Many may take to the newest diet plan or sign up for a health club membership, but it is worth taking some time to consider what actually constitutes a healthy, happy body. </p>
<p>Taoist visions of the body <a href="https://religion.utk.edu/people/michael-naparstek/">form a central part of my research</a>. Taoism, (also spelled Daoism) an indigenous tradition of China, understands humans to be an integral part of the larger cosmos. </p>
<p>Rituals and bodily techniques are used to align one’s individual body with surrounding social and natural environments. These concepts of the body can inform individuals on their relationship with our environment and on what it means to be healthy. </p>
<h2>Taoism, the body and cosmos</h2>
<p>Accounts of Taoism begin sometime in the fourth century B.C.E., starting with the text “Tao Te Ching,” attributed to Lao Tzu. Though scholars do not believe there was an actual person called Lao Tzu, this figure, whose name means “old master” or “old child,” would become the model for bodily practice. Taoists would later develop rituals designed to mirror their body with that of Lao Tzu’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/157342009X12526658783817">as a way to align themselves with the Tao,</a> or the source of all things.</p>
<p>Taoist texts described Lao Tzu’s body as a kind of map for the entire cosmos, visualizing their own individual body like a smaller version of the entire cosmos, and likening the entire cosmos to a larger mirror of one’s own body. Bringing one’s body in alignment with the cosmos was understood to grant Taoists the ability to transform the environment around them by transforming their own bodies. </p>
<p>What happened in the body was understood to have an effect on the entire universe, just as the environment has an effect on one’s body.</p>
<h2>Physical exercises for longevity</h2>
<p>Some of the earliest examples of Taoist practices describe a series of body movements and postures to help align one’s body with their environment. </p>
<p>Historian of Taoism, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40727453">Isabelle Robinet</a>, notes that dating back to the second century B.C.E., the physical exercises were used to help <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3024">cultivate one’s qi</a>, or breath, in order to better achieve harmony with the patterns of nature, nourish one’s health and increase longevity. Contemporary practices such as qigong continue to be informed by these concepts to this day.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568052/original/file-20240105-15-mfuii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A banner showing different postures of exercise." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568052/original/file-20240105-15-mfuii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568052/original/file-20240105-15-mfuii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568052/original/file-20240105-15-mfuii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568052/original/file-20240105-15-mfuii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568052/original/file-20240105-15-mfuii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568052/original/file-20240105-15-mfuii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568052/original/file-20240105-15-mfuii6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reconstruction of a silk painting from the second century B.C.E showing early ritualized bodily postures, excavated at Mawangdui, Hunan Province, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/rrb7c7cm?wellcomeImagesUrl=/indexplus/image/L0036007.html">Wellcome Images, a website operated by Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation based in the United Kingdom.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to practicing bodily techniques, early Taoists also sought out a connection to the environment through alchemy, a process of mixing rare natural elements together to create a refined substance that they believed was an elixir of health. According to renowned scholar of Taoist alchemy <a href="https://www.fabriziopregadio.com/">Fabrizio Pregadio</a>, practitioners sought out rare and powerful elements from the earth, which they mixed and <a href="https://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan.html">consumed in an attempt to attain longevity or even immortality</a>.</p>
<h2>Integrating with the outer landscape</h2>
<p>By the eighth century C.E., Taoists would look inward for these alchemical benefits. Taoist masters developed meditative and bodily practices called “neidan,” or inner alchemy, to help replicate the landscape within their own body.</p>
<p>Rather than seeking out rare elements in the earth, inner alchemy taught how to find the power to refine one’s vital essences from within one’s own body.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A detailed Taoist chart with intricate black etchings and inscriptions in Chinese." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568086/original/file-20240105-20-pl5vqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568086/original/file-20240105-20-pl5vqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568086/original/file-20240105-20-pl5vqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568086/original/file-20240105-20-pl5vqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568086/original/file-20240105-20-pl5vqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1781&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568086/original/file-20240105-20-pl5vqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1781&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568086/original/file-20240105-20-pl5vqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1781&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Taoist inner landscape diagram of the human body.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/%E5%86%85%E7%BB%8F%E5%9B%BE_Diagram_of_the_Internal_Texture_of_Man_%D0%94%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%BC%D0%B0_%D0%B8%D0%B7_%22%D0%A2%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%96%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%98%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0_%D0%BE_%D0%B2%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BC%22_%289441066681%29.jpg/1024px-thumbnail.jpg">Nikolaj Potanin from Russia via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fully developed ritual programs instructed Taoists to undertake an inner journey within themselves. Along the way, they would visualize their old self encountering temples tucked away within lush mountain forests, discover hidden grottoes, and even find divine figures mixing elixirs of immortality. </p>
<p>This internal climb was believed to eventually lead one’s old self to the peak located at the crown of one’s head. From there, Taoists would visualize a new immortal self emerging out from atop their skull.</p>
<h2>Taoist priests and community</h2>
<p>This concept of a body fully integrated with the cosmos informs the logic for how contemporary Taoist priests conduct rituals to benefit the broader community today.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/04/world/asia/kristofer-schipper-dead.html">Kristofer Schipper</a>, a scholar of Taoist ritual, the body is seen as the primary medium that can <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520082243/the-taoist-body">fulfill their duty to reconnect the local community</a> with the original source of the cosmos – the Dao itself.</p>
<p>Taoist priests will envision a different kind of journey, this time across the cosmos but still all within their own body. They seek an audience with the highest gods of Taoism, known as the Three Pure Ones, to whom they will report the merits of the local community. </p>
<p>It is understood that in so doing, the Taoist priest helps reaffirm the connection between the people and the Tao itself. Thus, the community becomes integrated into the “Taoist Body.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rcUzbNrXPeY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Taoists performing a ritual at Longhushan, sacred mountain of Taoism, Jiangxi Province, China.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While an audience with the purest forms of the Tao is reserved only for trained Taoist priests, notions of the Taoist body ultimately provide a way for everyone to understand one’s body to be transformed both inside and out. </p>
<p>As the new year brings new resolutions for healthier bodies, we may gain from added perspectives on what transforming our body can mean – not just for ourselves, but for those around us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Naparstek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of Daoist rituals explains how the indigenous tradition of China understands the human body as being part of the larger cosmos.Michael Naparstek, Lecturer in Religious Studies, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2201262023-12-19T13:17:40Z2023-12-19T13:17:40ZPope Francis’ approval of blessings for LGBTQ+ couples is a historic gesture, according to a Catholic theologian<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566409/original/file-20231218-20-apod48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C3%2C2141%2C1329&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis speaks during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanLGBTQ/8556ca299dda4df394f5e8864e86a1c1/photo?Query=pope%20francis%20same%20sex&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=46&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pope Francis’ <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=in%20lingua%20inglese-,Declaration,Presentation,-This%20Declaration%20considers">Dec. 18, 2023, announcement</a> that Catholic priests may bless LGBTQ+ couples and others in “irregular” situations marks a definitive shift in the Roman Catholic Church’s posture toward many types of loving relationships. It may also mark a definitive turning point within the Roman Catholic Church.</p>
<p>Across the last few years, Francis has <a href="https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-support-for-civil-unions-is-a-call-to-justice-and-nothing-new-148607">made gesture</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-shouldnt-seem-so-surprising-when-the-pope-says-being-gay-isnt-a-crime-a-catholic-theologian-explains-198566">after gesture</a> indicating his desire to find a way for the Catholic Church to accompany and welcome people whose loving relationships do not fit into the church’s sacramental understanding of marriage as between a man and a woman, ordered toward procreation and ended only by death.</p>
<p>He has telegraphed <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-7b465b60945f40deb3a68b3de742f84a">for a long time</a> his desire to come to some new arrangement that would welcome loving relationships in the church without transforming the church’s doctrine on marriage and sexuality all at once – the Dec. 18 declaration seems to do exactly that. </p>
<h2>Pastoral emphasis</h2>
<p>First, let’s be clear about what this new declaration is not. The declaration does not permit the marriage of LGBTQ+ couples, or couples where parties are divorced without annulment of the marriage. Neither does the declaration permit any recognition of a civil marriage.</p>
<p>The declaration is specific that the blessing of relationships outside marriage must not be done in any way that might be confused with a marriage ceremony. In fact, the declaration encourages priests to be <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=prayer%20preceding%20this-,spontaneous,-blessing%2C%20the%20ordained">responsive to “spontaneous</a>” requests for a blessing, and it forbids the creation of “<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=The%20popular%20understanding%20of%20blessings%2C%20however%2C%20also%20values%20the%20importance%20of%20descending%20blessings.%20While%20%E2%80%9Cit%20is%20not%20appropriate%20for%20a%20Diocese%2C%20a%20Bishops%E2%80%99%20Conference%2C%20or%20any%20other%20ecclesial%20structure%20to%20constantly%20and%20officially%20establish%20procedures%20or%20rituals%20for%20all%20kinds%20of%20matters">procedures or rituals</a>” that would provide anything like a script for a blessing ceremony.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people stand in front of a cathedral while another man in white priestly garments blesses them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566410/original/file-20231218-19-qx13c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Same-sex couples take part in a Catholic public blessing ceremony in Cologne, Germany, on Sept. 20, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VaticanLGBTQExplainer/fd76861aa59c4f43ab97ac397e74b082/photo?Query=pope%20francis%20same%20sex&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=46&currentItemNo=13">AP Photo/Martin Meissner</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Still, the declaration is remarkable for what it does do. Sidestepping difficult doctrinal questions that <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255544/the-5-cardinals-behind-the-latest-dubia-issued-to-pope-francis">divide Catholics</a>, the document’s emphasis is pastoral – it is oriented toward caring for and ministering to people rather than teaching doctrine.<br>
The word “pastoral” appears 20 times in the declaration. Francis’ emphasis is unmistakable: The subject of the declaration is not marriage or sexual morality; the declaration is about something else.</p>
<h2>What ‘blessings’ mean in the church</h2>
<p>In fact, the declaration is about blessings and what they mean in the Catholic Church.</p>
<p>A long stretch of the document is devoted to defining and clarifying what the Roman Catholic Church means by the word “blessing.” <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_risposta-dubia-2023_en.html#:%7E:text=For%2C%20when%20one%20asks%20for%20a%20blessing%2C%20one%20is%20expressing%20a%20petition%20for%20God%E2%80%99s%20assistance%2C%20a%20plea%20to%20live%20better%2C%20and%20confidence%20in%20a%20Father%20who%20can%20help%20us%20live%20better">Francis has said that</a> “when one asks for a blessing, one is expressing a petition for God’s assistance, a plea to live better, and a confidence in a Father who can help us live better.” A blessing is an “<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=a%20superabundant%20and-,unconditional%20gift,-.">unconditional gift</a>” that “<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=divine%20gift%20that%20%E2%80%9C-,descends,-%2C%E2%80%9D%20the%20human%20thanksgiving">descends</a>,” while our human thanksgiving “ascends” to God. </p>
<p>Blessings, in this pastoral sense, are events when our human dependence on God’s mercy is expressed as a desire for closeness with God. God, in Catholic belief, responds through the church. “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20201202_udienza-generale.html#:%7E:text=It%20is%20God%20who%20blesses">It is God who blesses</a>” in these situations, Francis has written. God’s blessing manifests through priests and ministers.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://b2c-cbp-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfs/9780899425603.pdf">Book of Blessings</a> provides formulas for everything from blessing a new home or a safe voyage to blessings for elderly people and seeds at planting time. Yet often enough in Catholic life, blessing is requested for an object like a rosary or Bible. </p>
<p>When these desires for blessing arise spontaneously, the church’s ministers always accommodate them. The church’s doctrine says blessing is abundant and inexhaustible. “Such blessings are meant for everyone; no one is to be excluded from them,” <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=Such%20blessings%20are%20meant%20for%20everyone%3B%20no%20one%20is%20to%20be%20excluded%20from%20them">the Dec. 18 declaration says</a>.</p>
<h2>Sidestepping difficult issues</h2>
<p>These meanings of “blessing” are distinct from the blessing in the Rite of the Sacrament of Marriage, which is specific to the “union of a man and a woman, who establish an exclusive and indissoluble covenant.” </p>
<p>Yet, within the scope of that much more broad, pastoral understanding of blessing, Francis has said with this declaration that blessing should not be withheld from LGBTQ+ couples or anyone else.</p>
<p>In this way, the pope has sidestepped the more difficult doctrinal questions while still inviting all couples to present themselves for the blessings they desire. </p>
<p>But the pope has not sidestepped the controversy. In recent decades, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/anglican-church-lgbtq-issues-4f635708fdb24df166ac8237f9473f00">Anglican Communion</a> and the <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/08/27/lutheran-split">Lutheran Church</a> have been roiled by controversy over LGBTQ+ acceptance. More recently, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/congregations-leaving-united-methodist-church-lgbtq-bans-70b8c89ea49174597f4548c249bab24f">Methodist Church</a> in the United States has split over the issue. </p>
<p>Catholics are divided in a similar way, and this declaration is not likely to cool down divisions. In fact, I believe, those divisions will likely deepen – especially in the United States, where Catholic bishops <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/statement-usccb-vaticans-document-addressing-pastoral-blessings">have been tepid</a> in their response to the declaration and <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/11/02/cardinal-christoph-pierre-interview-246416">Francis has not been embraced enthusiastically</a>. </p>
<p>Yet for now, the Roman Catholic Church has made a historic gesture of welcome that invites all people to experience the love of God in a community of believers devoted toward building up a more just and equitable world. “The Church is … the sacrament of God’s infinite love,” <a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/12/18/0901/01963.html#en:%7E:text=The%20Church%20is%20thus%20the%20sacrament%20of%20God%E2%80%99s%20infinite%20love">the declaration says</a>. </p>
<p>Pope Francis has been constant in that loving, pastoral emphasis. For as much as the Dec. 18 declaration has changed, it has not changed that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven P. Millies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In emphasizing the church’s love for all, including people in LGBTQ+ relationships, the pope has sidestepped thorny doctrinal issues.Steven P. Millies, Professor of Public Theology and Director of The Bernardin Center, Catholic Theological UnionLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2187792023-12-07T14:24:36Z2023-12-07T14:24:36ZYule – a celebration of the return of light and warmth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564046/original/file-20231206-23-nd15am.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=104%2C26%2C5701%2C3838&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People gather for Pagan sunrise celebrations in Ireland, on the morning of the winter solstice.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-gather-for-sunrise-at-newgrange-co-meath-on-the-news-photo/1245764534?adppopup=true">Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Yule will be celebrated by Wiccans and many other Pagans in the Northern Hemisphere on Dec. 21, the day of the winter solstice. For Pagans, the shortest day of the year marks the <a href="https://uscpress.com/Search?q=A+community+of+Witches">end of the descent into darkness</a> and the beginning of the return of the light as the days begin to get longer after the solstice. Like many other religious holidays, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/12/festivals-of-light/510518/">Yule is a celebration of light</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.helenaliceberger.com/">sociologist who has been studying contemporary Pagans</a> for more than 30 years, I know that Yule is also a time of reflection. The cold dark period of the year, many Wiccans feel, encourages us to not only spend more time at home, but also to become more reflective about our lives – and often about spirituality. </p>
<h2>Marking the beginning of winter</h2>
<p>Wicca is a minority religion that is part of the larger contemporary Pagan movement. Pagans normally define their religion as earth-based. By this they mean <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-wicca-an-expert-on-modern-witchcraft-explains-165939">they see divinity in nature</a> and connect their rituals to the changing seasons. All forms of contemporary Paganism look to pre-Christian European religions to inform their religious practice. </p>
<p>Wiccans regularly call themselves Witches, although not all Witches are Wiccans. The religion puts more emphasis on participating in rituals and having spiritual experiences than on particular beliefs.</p>
<p>Yule is one of the eight major holidays or “sabbats” that divide the year into the beginning and peak of each season. Yule denotes the beginning of winter. There is a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/wicca-9781845197544?cc=us&lang=en&">ritual for each holiday</a> that focuses on what is occurring in nature and correspondingly in people’s lives. At this time of year, people are experiencing both the height of darkness and the knowledge and hope that the light and warmth will return. </p>
<p>When I began my research about this religion in 1986, the norm for contemporary Pagans was to form into small groups, which Wiccans call covens. These spiritual congregations meet regularly for holidays, learning and discussions. While covens still exist, the primary way of practicing is as “solitaires.” These solitary practitioners may join others for one or more of these sabbats, or they may do their own ritual. </p>
<h2>Yule rituals</h2>
<p>I have always found the group rituals I have attended for Yule, as part of my research, to be joyous occasions. </p>
<p>As with all Wiccan rituals, participants gather in a circle. Those leading the ritual sanctify the space by walking around the circle chanting and sprinkling salt and water. This is followed by representations of the four elements – water, fire, air and earth. Often, a candle is lit to denote fire, a shell to represent water, a feather for air, and a crystal for earth. </p>
<p>Divinities or spirits are called into the circle to help with the ritual. There is always a reading or meditation <a href="https://uscpress.com/Search?q=A+community+of+Witches">related to the holiday and the changes that are occurring</a> in the natural world at that season. </p>
<p>At Yule there is always a fire or lights to symbolize the returning sun. In one outdoor ritual I attended, a bonfire was built in a clearing in the woods. The night was cold and dark, and there was snow on the ground. The circle was formed around the fire. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563758/original/file-20231205-23-25zbmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large number of people gathered around a big bonfire in the woods." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563758/original/file-20231205-23-25zbmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563758/original/file-20231205-23-25zbmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563758/original/file-20231205-23-25zbmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563758/original/file-20231205-23-25zbmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563758/original/file-20231205-23-25zbmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563758/original/file-20231205-23-25zbmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563758/original/file-20231205-23-25zbmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bonfires can be built at Yule in the clearing of the woods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/people-celebration-around-big-huge-traditional-fire-royalty-free-image/922771128?phrase=winter+solstice+fire&adppopup=true">Drepicter/iStock via Getty images plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, most of the rituals I have attended, particularly for Yule, are indoors, and fires are made in cauldrons, or by lighting candles. However, at one large ritual I attended, <a href="https://uscpress.com/Search?q=A+community+of+Witches">there was a large, bright, yellow-and-orange paper mache image of the sun</a> on a long stick. </p>
<p>All of the attendees were asked to wear shiny clothing. Some people had glitter in their hair and on their face; some wore golden or silver clothing; the room and the people glowed with light and sparkles. At other rituals I have attended, people were asked to bring a small candle or light. In all instances the participants are symbolically part of the returning light, either by carrying a light or, in this one ritual, reflecting the room light. </p>
<p>The reading or meditation at Yule rituals normally includes reference to the darkness of winter that people experience around this time of year. </p>
<h2>Light during darkest time</h2>
<p>The rituals normally end with dancing and chanting. At the ritual in which there was a large representation of the sun, all the participants danced joyously behind the person carrying the sun, chanting about the sun returning. </p>
<p>The ritual I attended in the forest ended with everyone dancing around the fire before making sure it was completely put out. We then turned on our flashlights and found our way in the dark out of the woods. </p>
<p>The juxtaposition of the celebration of the returning sun and having the time and inclination for reflection during a dark and cold time makes this an interesting holiday.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen A. Berger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Yule, celebrated by Wiccans and many other Pagans in the Northern Hemisphere on Dec. 21, the day of the winter solstice, is a time for reflection.Helen A. Berger, Affliated Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2105392023-12-05T13:17:24Z2023-12-05T13:17:24ZHow sacred images in many Asian cultures incorporate divine presence and make them come ‘alive’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559865/original/file-20231116-23-care6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C19%2C3264%2C2423&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A gilded statue of the Buddha at Wat Phanan Choeng Temple in Thailand.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/wat-phanan-choeng-temple-this-highly-respected-royalty-free-image/1217280251?phrase=eye-opening+Buddhist+ritual&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">Kittipong Chararoj/ iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Walking into a favorite restaurant here in Knoxville, Tennessee, I was immediately greeted by a golden statue of Buddha, its sparkling gemstone eyes meeting my own as I made my way through the door. The aromas of Thai curries beckoned, but as I was led to a table, I kept thinking about those glinting eyes.</p>
<p>Sacred objects are everywhere: Statues and paintings of gods fill museum galleries and catalog pages alike. You might also see them gracing a neighbor’s yard or upon an altar in your friend’s home.</p>
<p>Some dazzle in bejeweled splendor. Others may appear more humble, their luster softened through generations of hands passing them down. Oftentimes, it can feel as though sacred images are looking back.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/michael-naparstek-1457307">research the ways in which objects express the power of divine presence</a> in Asian religious contexts. Studying different perspectives on sacred objects helps us think beyond religious contexts and allows us to rethink how objects and images play an active role in our lives.</p>
<h2>Sacred visual culture</h2>
<p>Hindu practice is defined by “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/darshan">darśan” – a ritual act of interacting with the divine</a> through the visual experience. Scholar <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/dianaeck/home">Diana Eck</a> describes this interaction in her seminal study of Indian visual culture, “<a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/darsan/9780231112659">Darśan</a>,” in the following way: “to stand in the presence of the deity and to behold the image with one’s own eyes, to see and be seen by the deity.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559867/original/file-20231116-17-nxv3h6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A couple, with a young child in the woman's lap, sitting before the Hindu God Ganesha, with folded hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559867/original/file-20231116-17-nxv3h6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559867/original/file-20231116-17-nxv3h6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559867/original/file-20231116-17-nxv3h6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559867/original/file-20231116-17-nxv3h6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559867/original/file-20231116-17-nxv3h6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559867/original/file-20231116-17-nxv3h6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559867/original/file-20231116-17-nxv3h6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A family prays to the Hindu god Ganesha.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/family-praying-royalty-free-image/548295807?phrase=hindu+worship&adppopup=true">IndiaPix/IndiaPicture via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-theravada-buddhism-a-scholar-of-asian-religions-explains-205737">Theravada Buddhist</a> rituals in Southeast Asia include all-night chanting sessions to recharge statues’ power. As scholar of Theravada Buddhism <a href="https://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/dsweare1/">Donald Swearer</a> notes in “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691114354/becoming-the-buddha">Becoming the Buddha</a>,” monastics and laypeople in northern Thailand will gather to recite Buddhist sutras while holding cords attached to an image of the Buddha, forming an intricate web of connection between the image and the Buddhist community. </p>
<p>The benefits gained from these chants is understood to enter the statue, recharging its karmic power and reanimating it to once again interact with the community.</p>
<p><a href="https://asiasociety.org/education/buddhism-japan">Japanese Buddhist</a> statues <a href="https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/fellows-book/behold-the-buddha-religious-meanings-of-japanese-buddhist-icons/">contain multiple items ritually placed</a> within their wooden cavities: bones of saints, robes from eminent monastics and even silk-fashioned replicas of visceral organs like lungs and kidneys. As art historian <a href="https://oberlin.academia.edu/JamesDobbins">James Dobbins</a> notes, certain Buddhist rituals are performed in order to transform the body of a statue into a living body. </p>
<p>In cases like this, inanimate objects are believed to transform into not only sacred things, but also active, living beings who can see, hear, taste and respond to the concerns of those who worship them.</p>
<h2>‘Eye-opening’ ritual</h2>
<p>There are many different ways to enliven an image, and each ritual tradition carries its own unique process. However, the most well-known across Asia is commonly referred to as the “<a href="https://pluralism.org/news/eye-opening-ceremony-buddhist-statues-draws-hundreds-connecticut">eye-opening” ceremony</a>. The term “eye-opening” gets its name from the culmination of an intense ritual process wherein the monk paints in the pupils of the image, thus opening its eye to see. </p>
<p>In Sri Lanka, Buddhist monks perform a version known as the netra-pinkama, which loosely translates to “meritorious action of the eyes.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gt5jY93AD2w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The netra-pinkama ritual.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research-in-conversation/how-live-happy-life/professor-richard-gombrich#:%7E:text=Richard%20Gombrich%20is%20the%20Emeritus,of%20the%20Clay%20Sanskrit%20Library.">Richard Gombrich</a>, a scholar of Buddhism and Sanskrit, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2051829">noted in his study of Buddhism in Sri Lanka</a> that “Before consecration, a statue is treated with no more respect than one would give the materials of which it is composed. … The very act of consecration indicates that a statue is being brought to life.” </p>
<p>Enlivening an image is not a task undertaken lightly, as it is believed in some cases that any demonic spirits loitering around could interrupt the process, thereby resulting in an ineffective ritual or even a malevolent icon. Both the temple grounds and the ritual specialists must undergo purification rites before beginning. The whole process is filled with strict procedures and avoidance of taboos – a common theme among consecration rituals across Asian religious traditions. </p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, the monk must refrain from looking directly into the icon’s eyes, and thus uses a mirror to look over their shoulder in order to paint in the icon’s pupils.</p>
<p>In Taiwan, statues and paintings of Buddhist, Daoist and local gods will undergo a similar kind of practice known as “kaiguang,” meaning “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674504363">opening the radiance</a>.” Monks, Daoist masters and even the artists who carve the statues may perform the rite on behalf of the individuals or temple communities that commission the image.</p>
<p>Once completed, shops will wrap a piece of red paper around to cover the statue’s eyes to ensure that the first thing that the image sees is the face of the one who requested it. The power of sacred vision is such that it must literally be kept under wraps.</p>
<h2>Living images</h2>
<p>Once its eyes have been opened, the image becomes a living thing capable of performing powerful deeds. As such, people may behave much differently – making offerings of incense and taking pains to follow social etiquette lest they offend. The care with which these objects are treated once they have been “activated” suggests that there is a lot more here than meets the eye. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/darsan/9780231112659">Eck’s observation attests</a>, being seen is critical to understanding what images do. By seemingly looking back at us, sacred images remind us that we are not alone in this world. In so doing, they also send a message that the world is not there for our eyes only, but that other viewpoints are just as powerful as our own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Naparstek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Through the power of rituals, inanimate objects can be understood to transform into agents who can see, hear, taste and respond to the concerns of those who worship them.Michael Naparstek, Lecturer in Religious Studies, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2167802023-11-09T14:09:01Z2023-11-09T14:09:01ZUbuntu offers lessons in how to treat people with disabilities – a study of Bomvana rituals<p>Research shows that people with disabilities have always been largely <a href="https://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/library/finkelstein-attitudes.pdf">excluded</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352486275_Disability_in_Africa_A_CulturalReligious_Perspective">marginalised</a> in societies across the world.</p>
<p>Over time, the language used to describe disability has generally become more positive and inclusive. Many activists advocate for the use of “people/persons with disabilities” and not the “handicapped” or “disabled”. But this language remains negative for many Indigenous people around the world. To them the word “disability” is stigmatising because they <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---ifp_skills/documents/publication/wcms_396412.pdf">don’t have</a> such a term in their vocabulary. It’s also a misrepresentation of their traditional beliefs regarding impairments. </p>
<p>In traditional village life, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Xhosa">Xhosa</a> community of AmaBomvane in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa do not see disability in a person. Their rituals do not allow people to discriminate – their worldview is based on collectivism and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HED4h00xPPA">ubuntu</a>. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:SPED.0000024428.29295.03">Ubuntu</a> is an African philosophy that promotes the common good of society and includes humaneness; each person is an integral part of society. </p>
<p>In many other cultures persons with disabilities are seen to <a href="https://ieas-szeged.hu/downtherabbithole/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Lennard-J.-Davis-ed.-The-Disability-Studies-Reader-Routledge-2014.pdf">differ</a> from the “norm”. </p>
<p>For my <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/128429">PhD</a> in health sciences rehabilitation, I spent three years studying the experiences of people with disabilities when they underwent Xhosa rituals and traditions. I wanted to know how rituals contribute to health and wellbeing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-the-philosophy-of-ubuntu-help-provide-a-way-to-face-health-crises-135997">Can the philosophy of ubuntu help provide a way to face health crises?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>I found that good health and wellbeing relies on rituals, which are the essence of life among the Bomvana people. And that good health is for everybody, including people with disabilities. They cannot be denied health, because everyone is equal. This offers lessons in the inclusion and participation of people with disabilities. </p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>For my study, 50 people were selected for interviews and focus groups from three rural villages – Gusi, Hobeni and Xhora in the district of Elliotdale – with the assistance of chiefs and community members. They included people over the age of 18 with disabilities (who were able to answer questions), indigenous knowledge holders (elders), caregivers and parents of persons with disabilities, traditional birth attendants, traditional healers, a traditional circumcision surgeon and a social worker.</p>
<p>The Bomvana people are associated with the red ochre they use to decorate their faces and the beautiful beaded red blankets worn when attending traditional functions. AmaBomvane have a strong <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/4c2431c5-5387-4697-a626-8d8a781b4c3f">belief system</a> which strengthens cultural continuity, ensuring there will be no lack in leadership to perform rituals and traditions. Their participation in social organisation ensures that traditional knowledge, transmitted orally, is not lost as it moulds the character of the people. </p>
<p>My study focused on three rituals which mark important stages in a person’s life:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/f8f6b1ca-c078-4fc3-a398-df59af186a5b">Efukwini</a> (behind the door), which provides a sacred space for giving birth in which the mother and infant remain separate from the rest of the household for 10 days to protect the child from evil forces. When the nursing mother is in seclusion, AmaXhosa believe that the child is connected to the ancestors for its protection and recognition as a member of the family, including all people with disabilities.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/83637195.pdf">Intonjane</a> (female initiation rite), marking a girl’s rite of passage to womanhood, performed between her first menstruation and her wedding. The ritual is done for all young women, regardless of whether they are disabled.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://vital.seals.ac.za:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:3271?site_name=GlobalView">Ulwaluko</a> (traditional male circumcision), in which boys learn about acquiring their identity and social responsibility as men. A person with disability belongs to the community and must not be excluded from this ritual. All boys must be taught to become men, regardless of disabilities.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>The findings</h2>
<p>AmaBomvane treat people with disabilities with dignity and respect within the context of their rituals. If they didn’t, it’s believed, the rituals would be rejected by the ancestors and misfortune would arise. The Bomvana also believe illness can be prevented through performing rituals to the ancestors, who are seen as intermediaries between God and people. The rituals confer health, stability and resilience. </p>
<p>I found that rituals provide a safe space for people with disability by virtue of being inclusive. This encourages respect and compassion. </p>
<p>The Bomvana understanding of disability is also linked to spirituality and traditional knowledge systems. Disability is <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/128429">seen as</a> outside the body: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Disability is like a blanket any other spirit is wearing. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Bomvana do not see disability as the real person, <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/128429">saying</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The soul is not disabled.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are, however, also <a href="https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/37695">negative attitudes</a> towards persons with disabilities in the broader Bomvana village society outside of the rituals. This, I believe, is a result of colonial influence and <a href="https://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/vee/v33n2/12.pdf">western thinking</a>. AmaBomvane told me, for example, that in the old days missionaries were against men going for circumcision. They did not understand the importance of the ritual to the Xhosa. If one is not circumcised, one remains a “boy” and is forbidden from participating in communal decisions and social events.</p>
<p>Talking about these negative attitudes, one traditional healer <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/128429">told me</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Their treatment is very bad in the community. At times they become projects of people they are living with. Their grant money is misused by their carers. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The grant is given by the state to provide for the basic needs of persons with disabilities who are unable to work.</p>
<p>One caregiver <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/128429'">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They are not supported as they should be. For example, there are these children we are looking after, and when they go home for holidays, we buy them clothes, but when they come back, the clothes … have been taken by siblings that are not disabled.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While in the villages the old values are still respected, I found indications that with changing times and fractured family units, the concept of ubuntu is under threat. </p>
<h2>What this means</h2>
<p>The AmaBomvane belief in ubuntu – social justice and fairness – could be a model for the inclusion of persons with disabilities and their rights. The Bomvana case could encourage others to embrace a spirituality that supports resilience and stability. It’s a humane way of viewing disability.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-archbishop-tutus-ubuntu-credo-teaches-the-world-about-justice-and-harmony-84730">What Archbishop Tutu's ubuntu credo teaches the world about justice and harmony</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>This matters because ubuntu contains all the key aspects of South Africa’s constitutional <a href="https://dredf.org/legal-advocacy/international-disability-rights/international-laws/south-africa-constitution-bill-of-rights/">bill of rights</a> that teaches that “all are equal before the law”. In the view of the AmaBomvane and ubuntu, disability is not seen as a problem which needs to be fixed but rather a state of being that must be treated with humanity and equality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nomvo Dwadwa-Henda does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The philosophy of ubuntu means that good health is for everybody and disability is not regarded as a difference.Nomvo Dwadwa-Henda, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Africa Centre for HIV/Aids Management, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132062023-10-31T12:33:18Z2023-10-31T12:33:18ZFrom India and Taiwan to Tibet, the living assist the dead in their passage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556195/original/file-20231026-27-b64ql7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1024%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hindu devotees prepare to scatter ashes of the deceased into the sea as part of Ngaben, a mass cremation ceremony, in Surabaya, Indonesia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hindu-devotees-prepare-to-scatter-ashes-of-the-deceased-news-photo/1243611860?adppopup=true">Juni Kriswanto/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people see death as a rite of a passage: a journey to some new place, or a threshold between two kinds of being. Zoroastrians believe that there is <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803133541542">a bridge of judgment</a> that each person who dies must cross; depending on deeds done during life, the bridge takes the deceased to different places. Ancient Greek sources depict the deceased <a href="https://www.hellenic.org.au/post/the-final-journey-crossing-the-styx">crossing the river Styx</a>, overcoming obstacles with the help of coins and food.</p>
<p>But the dead cannot make this transition alone – surviving family or friends play key roles. Ritual actions the living perform on behalf of the dead are said to help the deceased with their journey. At the same time, these actions give the living a chance to grieve and say goodbye. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://miamioh.edu/profiles/cas/liz-wilson.html">a scholar of South Asian religions</a> specializing in death and dying, I have seen how much surviving family depend on these rituals for peace of mind. Traditions vary widely by region and religious tradition, but all of them help mourners feel that they have given one last gift to their loved one.</p>
<h2>Fire, water and food</h2>
<p><a href="https://openfolklore.org/content/make-sesame-rice-please-appetites-dead-hinduism-1">Some Hindu death rituals</a> have roots in ancient Vedic rites as old as 1,500 B.C.E. The survivors’ goal is to ensure that a dead person separates from the realm of the living and makes a safe transition to a blessed afterlife or rebirth.</p>
<p>Death rites <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/28709299">typically use fire, water and food</a> in a sequence of three stages.</p>
<p>Stage one is cremation, the fiery incineration of a corpse on a stack of wood infused with flammable oils. Cremation is considered the dead person’s willing, final gift to the god of fire, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57894855">traditionally officiated by the oldest son</a> of the deceased.</p>
<p>Stage two is the immersion of cremated remains in a flowing body of water, such as the Ganges River. There are many sacred rivers in India where the ashes of a loved one can be immersed, and Hindus <a href="https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.119">regard them as goddesses</a> who carry off impurities and sins, assisting the soul on its journey.</p>
<p>Many Hindus believe the ideal place to immerse a loved one’s ashes is in the sacred city of Varanasi, in northern India, where the Ganges flows in a broad stream. Families carry corpses in festive processions to the cremation site, hopeful that their rituals will help loved ones move to another state of existence.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TEOBW1PvMqo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Though the Ganges is considered the holiest river, many rivers are viewed as sacred.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stage three is entrance into the realm of the ancestors. Ancient Hindu belief depicts relatives who have died living in a realm where they are maintained by offerings given by their living descendants, whom they assist with fertility and wealth.</p>
<p>Hindu beliefs and practices are extremely diverse. In many communities, however, descendants perform rites that offer nourishment to the dead person, <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1032342/devdutt-pattanaik-on-the-3000-year-old-hindu-ritual-of-feeding-the-dead">represented in the form of a ball of rice</a>. Through these offerings, which can be performed after the death or during certain holidays and anniversaries, the deceased spirit is said to gradually become an embodied ancestor, reborn thanks to the ritual labor of their offspring. </p>
<h2>Colorful processions</h2>
<p>Buddhist death rituals differ considerably from culture to culture, yet one commonality is the amount of human effort that goes into sending off the dead. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556237/original/file-20231026-22-sh2stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nine men in black outfits with brightly colored patterns on them hold a huge puppet of a dragon outside a building with Chinese characters on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556237/original/file-20231026-22-sh2stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556237/original/file-20231026-22-sh2stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556237/original/file-20231026-22-sh2stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556237/original/file-20231026-22-sh2stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556237/original/file-20231026-22-sh2stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556237/original/file-20231026-22-sh2stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556237/original/file-20231026-22-sh2stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dragon dancers perform during a funeral for Taiwanese TV star Chu Ke-liang in New Taipei City on June 20, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dragon-dancers-perform-outside-a-funeral-hall-during-a-news-photo/698172402?adppopup=true">Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Chinese and Taiwanese culture, it is thought best to send off the deceased with a well-attended funeral procession, full of pageantry for deities and mortals alike. Many people rent “Electric Flower Cars,” trucks that serve as moving stages for performers – even pole dancers are not uncommon. Fifty jeeps with pole-dancing women graced <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38528122">the funeral procession of a Taiwanese politician</a> who died in 2017. </p>
<p>Though pole dancers are a newer phenomenon, Taiwanese funerals and religious processions have long showcased women and young people, including female mourners hired to wail. Scholars such as <a href="https://www.harvard-yenching.org/person/chang-hsun/">anthropologist Chang Hsun</a> suggest that a combination of such traditions <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRmmSdYwDc">led to the inclusion</a> of women dancing and singing in some modern funeral processions. </p>
<p>By the 1980s, scantily clad women were a fixture of rural Taiwanese funeral culture. In 2011, <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/anthropology/our_people/directory/moskowitz_marc.php">anthropologist Marc L. Moskowitz</a> produced a short documentary called “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRmmSdYwDc">Dancing for the Dead: Funeral Strippers in Taiwan</a>” about the phenomenon. </p>
<p>Funeral performances show tremendous freedom and innovation; one sees drummers, marching bands and Taiwanese opera singers. Paper objects in the shape of things the deceased is believed to use in the afterlife are burned, from microwaves to cars. Likewise, specially printed money called “ghost money” is burned to provide the deceased with funds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556448/original/file-20231029-27-6pbk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a yellow monk's robe and someone wearing black stand behind what looks like a dollhouse, as the monk rings a bell." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556448/original/file-20231029-27-6pbk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556448/original/file-20231029-27-6pbk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556448/original/file-20231029-27-6pbk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556448/original/file-20231029-27-6pbk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556448/original/file-20231029-27-6pbk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556448/original/file-20231029-27-6pbk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556448/original/file-20231029-27-6pbk83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A paper model of a villa, used as an offering for the dead during a ceremony in New Taipei City, Taiwan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-picture-taken-on-march-16-2019-shows-a-relative-news-photo/1134772913?adppopup=true">Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Guiding the dead</h2>
<p>In Tibet, Buddhists believe that the vital energy of a person who has died stays with the body <a href="https://theasiadialogue.com/2016/05/04/tibetan-death-rituals/">for 49 days</a>. During this time, the dead person receives instruction from priests to help them navigate the journey ahead.</p>
<p>This journey toward the next stage of being involves a series of choices that will determine the realm of their rebirth – including rebirth as an animal, a hungry ghost, a deity, a being in hell, another human being or immediate enlightenment. </p>
<p>Priests whisper instructions into the ear of the dead person, who is believed to be capable of hearing so long as they retain their vital energy. Being told what to expect after death allows a person to face death with equanimity.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556238/original/file-20231026-25-lx55xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows a man seated in prayer on top of a mountain, as other people work in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556238/original/file-20231026-25-lx55xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556238/original/file-20231026-25-lx55xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556238/original/file-20231026-25-lx55xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556238/original/file-20231026-25-lx55xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556238/original/file-20231026-25-lx55xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556238/original/file-20231026-25-lx55xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556238/original/file-20231026-25-lx55xi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Tibetan Buddhist priest chants prayers and repeats passages from religious scrolls while his helpers make a funeral pyre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lamaist-priest-chants-prayers-and-repeats-passages-from-news-photo/646273502?adppopup=true">Hulton Deutsch/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The instructions given to the dead are described in a sacred text called the “Bardo Thodol,” often translated in English as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-tibetan-book-of-the-dead-172962">The Tibetan Book of the Dead</a>.” “Bardo” is the Tibetan term for an intermediate or in-between state; one might think of the bardo of death as a train that stops at various destinations, opening doors and giving the passenger opportunities to depart. </p>
<p>Tibetan Buddhists believe that these instructions allow the deceased to make good choices in the 49-day interim between their death and the next life. Different rebirth realms will appear to the person, taking the form of colored lights. Based on the karma of the deceased, some realms will seem more alluring than others. The person is told to be fearless: to let themselves be drawn toward higher realms, even if they appear frightening.</p>
<p>For several days before burial, the deceased is visited by friends, family and well-wishers – all able to work out their grief while assisting the dead in a postmortem journey.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213206/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liz Wilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Across cultures, death rituals give mourners a chance to grieve. But they also offer one last opportunity to help the deceased as they transition to the next stage of existence.Liz Wilson, Professor of Comparative Religion, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126862023-10-30T12:31:33Z2023-10-30T12:31:33ZDay of the Dead is taking on Halloween traditions, but the sacred holiday is far more than a ‘Mexican Halloween’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555836/original/file-20231025-23-f7706p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C7928%2C5297&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children trick or treat and wear Halloween costumes for a full week during Day of the Dead season in Mexico.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-boy-with-sugar-skull-face-paint-during-royalty-free-image/1653069265?phrase=mexico+day+of+the+dead+people&adppopup=true">FG Trade Latin/Collection E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Latinos regularly declare: “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/31/day-dead-halloween-dia-de-muertos/">Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween</a>.” The declaration is increasingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/strictly-not-halloween-why-day-of-the-dead-is-misunderstood-and-why-that-matters-192476">repeated by non-Latinos too</a>. </p>
<p>Drawing a clear line between the two holidays is a rhetorical strategy to protect Day of the Dead’s integrity as Mexican cultural heritage and separate it from American popular culture. However, as a Mexican-American who celebrates Día de los Muertos and <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/2740395">as a scholar of culture and performance</a>, I believe it’s time to fully acknowledge the cultural intermixing that’s happening between the two holidays. </p>
<p>Halloween’s influence is transforming Día de los Muertos into a hybrid cultural tradition that simultaneously honors the dead and celebrates the macabre.</p>
<h2>The origins of the distinction</h2>
<p>Día de los Muertos is a traditional fiesta in honor of the deceased that is celebrated in Mexico and other parts of Latin America on Nov. 1 and 2. The holiday is celebrated though ritual observations like constructing altars filled with offerings to the dead and decorating family gravesites to commune with the dead. Day of the Dead is also commemorated through vivacious fiestas in which communities gather in town plazas and community centers to celebrate by dancing, playing music, feasting, drinking and masquerading as death.</p>
<p>Although Day of the Dead is a long-standing tradition in Mexico, the holiday wasn’t celebrated widely or publicly among Latinos in the U.S. That changed in the 1970s and 1980s when <a href="https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.126.501.0272">artists and activists introduced Day of the Dead</a> to their communities as part of the Chicano movement, the social and cultural movement for Mexican-American empowerment.</p>
<p>As Latinos began celebrating the holiday proudly and publicly in the U.S., they also began <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hj96w?typeAccessWorkflow=login">distinguishing it from Halloween</a>. That’s because many non-Latinos mistakenly interpreted Day of the Dead’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0961597763/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_9?smid=A18OZMH8UQINVM&psc=1">skull and skeleton imagery as witchcraft</a>. Latinos used the phrase “Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween” to protect the holiday from misrepresentation, <a href="https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/gifts/dia-de-los-muertos-a-cultural-legacy-past-present-and-futurecatalogue">educate the broader public about the cultural tradition</a> and shield themselves from discrimination.</p>
<p>The declaration was also used in the 1970s and 1980s by Mexico’s tourism industry when it began vigorously promoting Day of the Dead internationally <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Skulls+to+the+Living%2C+Bread+to+the+Dead%3A+The+Day+of+the+Dead+in+Mexico+and+Beyond-p-9781405152488">as a cultural attraction</a>. Tourists arriving in Mexico were informed that Día de los Muertos was an authentic national holiday that bore no relation to Halloween.</p>
<h2>The 1990s and 2000s</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, “Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween” became a political statement. The North American Free Trade Agreement, signed in 1994, flooded Mexico with <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292751996/">U.S. consumer goods, media and popular culture</a>. Halloween’s importation was seen by some Mexicans as <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/541045">a symbol of U.S. “cultural imperialism</a>,” the process by which the United States uses culture to maintain political and economic domination over Mexico. </p>
<p>But by the early 2000s, Mexican, U.S. and British anthropologists reported that Halloween was already fusing with Día de los Muertos <a href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/about/Digging_the_Days_of_the_Dead.html?id=qZUMAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y">in fascinating ways</a>. Halloween candy, costumes and ornaments appeared in stores and street markets, where it was displayed next to Day of the Dead material. Jack-o-lantern and spider-web decorations adorned ofrendas, the traditional altars erected for the dead. The streets were increasingly filled with trick-or-treating children dressed as witches, vampires and monsters. <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/days-of-death-days-of-life/9780231136884">Bars and nightclubs in southern Mexico hosted</a> Halloween and Day of the Dead costume parties for adults. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/about/The_Skeleton_at_the_Feast.html?id=6aMMAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y">Some Mexicans denounced</a> Halloween as “an invasion.” Some referred to Halloween as “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/02/world/the-day-of-the-ghouls-vs-the-day-of-the-dead.html">cultural pollution</a>.”</p>
<p>Such fears led the United Nations in 2003 to officially designate Día de los Muertos a form of “<a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/indigenous-festivity-dedicated-to-the-dead-00054">intangible cultural heritage</a>,” a classification reserved for cultural traditions like rituals, oral traditions and performing arts that are <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/01851-EN.pdf">endangered by globalization or lack of support</a>. This gave the United Nations authority to work with the Mexican government to “protect and conserve” Day of the Dead, which would presumably safeguard the holiday from influences like Halloween. But it was too late. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Girl hits pinata at a celebration in Mexico." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555840/original/file-20231025-27-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Día de los Muertos celebrations in Mexico are adapting and fusing with Halloween in interesting ways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/girl-hitting-pi%C3%B1ata-during-a-day-of-the-death-royalty-free-image/1653070912?phrase=day+of+the+dead&adppopup=true">FG Trade Latin/ Collection E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hollywood’s influence</h2>
<p>Today, Halloween haunts Día de Los Muertos in Mexico like never before. Children trick or treat in costume for a full week during Day of the Dead season. They beg for candy from shops and restaurants by crying “Queremos Halloween!” – literally meaning, “We want Halloween!” On Nov. 2 at the country’s largest cemetery, Panteón de Dolores, you’ll find graveyard ofrendas decorated with cobwebs, vampires, witches and pumpkins.</p>
<p>The fusion of Halloween and Day of the Dead is largely facilitated by Hollywood. A prime example is the celebration at the famous Panteón de San Fernando, a cemetery where the remains of some of Mexico’s most important presidents and dignitaries are buried. As part of holiday festivities, the cemetery hosts a screening of the horror classic “Night of the Living Dead.” Hundreds dressed in Day of the Dead attire gather at the tomb of President Benito Juárez, eating candy while watching zombies terrorize a small American community. </p>
<p>The impact of Halloween’s horror movie influence is most noticeable at the country’s largest Día de los Muertos celebration. The Gran Desfile de Día de Muertos, or the Great Day of the Dead parade, which began in 2016 as a simulation of the one depicted in the James Bond movie “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mexico-city-day-of-the-day-parade/index.html">Spectre</a>,” annually attracts more than a million attendees.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hollywood horror movie images at Day of the Dead festivity in Mexico City." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556388/original/file-20231028-21-7as67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dia de los Muertos festivities in Mexico City feature Hollywood horror movie images and costumes typically reserved for Halloween.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mathew Sandoval photo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to sugar skull makeup and skeleton attire, participants also don Hollywood horror costumes typically reserved for Halloween. You’ll find people dressed as Jigsaw from the “Saw” movies, Chucky from “Child’s Play,” Ghostface from the “Scream” series and Pennywise from Stephen King’s “It.”</p>
<p>By far the most popular costume in 2022 was Michael Myers from “Halloween.” This is hardly surprising. The franchise’s most recent installment, “<a href="https://www.miramax.com/movie/halloween-ends/">Halloween Ends</a>,” was huge in Mexico. When the film was released in Mexico during Day of the Dead and Halloween season, it was one of the <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2346943233/weekend/">highest-grossing movies in the country</a>. In fact, of the 70 counties where the film was released, Mexico had the <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt10665342/">third-highest ticket sales</a>. </p>
<h2>Characters from Disney at celebrations</h2>
<p>In particular, Disney’s influence on both Halloween and Día de los Muertos is immense. The number of children and adults costumed as Darth Vader, Spiderman or Jasmine and Aladdin at Day of the Dead celebrations is bewildering. </p>
<p>And they’re not just at the festive events like the Gran Desfile de Muertos, either. They’re at the ritual ceremonies, too. One can find all manner of Avenger superheroes at the Panteón de Dolores gathered graveside and making offerings to the dead.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People in costumes dancing with characters inspired by Disney and Pixar's Coco." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555843/original/file-20231025-25-idhk45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Disney California Adventure Park celebrating Día de los Muertos in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-handout-photo-provided-by-disneyland-resorts-plaza-news-photo/1233876227?adppopup=true">Joshua Sudock/Handout/Disneyland Resort via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then there’s the dilemma posed by Disney-Pixar’s “Coco,” the beloved animated film about Día de los Muertos. Similar to every Disney entity, companies license and manufacture <a href="https://www.halloweencostumes.com/coco-costumes.html">Halloween costumes</a> based on characters from the movie. </p>
<p>These costumes are now popular in Mexico, where people dress up as characters from “Coco.” But when they masquerade as the skull-faced Miguel, Ernesto de la Cruz or Mama Imelda, it’s hard to say whether they’re wearing a Halloween costume or a Día de los Muertos costume. I’d venture to say that it’s both simultaneously.</p>
<p>And therein lies the crisis of identity currently facing Mexico’s Day of the Dead. The influence of Hollywood is making it more and more difficult to credibly say “Día de los Muertos is not a Mexican Halloween.”</p>
<h2>What’s next for Day of the Dead</h2>
<p>The fusion between the two holidays is happening in rural and urban areas, and in the borderlands and deeper parts of Mexico. It’s altering Day of the Dead’s popular festive qualities and its ceremonial customs.</p>
<p>Cultural conservatives will no doubt bemoan this as “pollution” of a sacred tradition. But they forget that transformation and adaptation are what ensure any tradition’s survival. Día de los Muertos may live eternally, but it’ll be thanks to the vampire bite of Halloween.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Sandoval does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Halloween’s influence is transforming popular festivities around Día de los Muertos and its ceremonial customs in rural and urban areas of Mexico in some fascinating ways.Mathew Sandoval, Associate Teaching Professor in Culture & Performance, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074612023-10-10T12:36:07Z2023-10-10T12:36:07ZHow ‘nones’ − the religiously unaffiliated − are finding meaning, purpose and spirituality in psychedelic churches<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552118/original/file-20231004-26-83ds1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C3859%2C2802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An ayahuasca ceremony at a Hummingbird Church in Hildale, Utah, in 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PsychedelicChurches/738e50a9b1754810b1865274f93e94c0/photo?Query=psychedelic%20churches&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=22&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More and more surveys point to decreasing membership in religious institutions and a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/01/14/169164840/losing-our-religion-the-growth-of-the-nones">corresponding rise of “nones</a>.” Many people might assume that this indicates the absence of belief or a lack of spirituality.</p>
<p>Particularly in the West, people tend to think about <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/05/29/attitudes-toward-spirituality-and-religion/">religion in terms of belief</a> in a higher power, such as God. For many nones, however, spirituality does not need a god or the supernatural to address questions of purpose, meaning, belonging and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-do-life/202007/secular-spirituality">well-being</a>. </p>
<p>While abandoning mainstream religious affiliation, many turn to alternative expressions, including secular, atheist and psychedelic churches.</p>
<p>For about a decade, <a href="https://people.cal.msu.edu/shiple18/">as a scholar</a> who studies alternative expressions of spirituality, I have tracked these groups online, visited churches and interacted with attendees. At times, I have been able to attend services or simply visit locations. At other times, out of respect for participants, I have met members – but not during services and rituals.</p>
<p>These churches demonstrate not a rejection of religion, as surveys suggest, but continued interest in spiritual community, rituals and virtues. </p>
<h2>Psychedelic churches</h2>
<p>One such church is <a href="https://www.thedivineassembly.org/">The Divine Assembly, or TDA</a>, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in 2020 as “a magic mushroom church” by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LIYS0NCoDA">Steve Urquhart</a>, a former <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/09/07/robert-gehrke-long/?fbclid=IwAR1sOm7nDVEDilhiz9GiSA9PGipP9avXhG8g9FNmBpmzpbQUdRvC92HCqnA">member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</a>,
TDA <a href="https://www.thedivineassembly.org/who-we-are">conducts worship</a> that connects people without dogma or intermediaries. TDA is not atheistic but maintains an inclusive notion of belief regarding God or a higher power. </p>
<p>Where members depart from traditional notions of religion and church, however, is within their practices and aims. Through psychedelic drugs, members believe they can directly experience the divine – as they define it – while gaining insight into their own and others’ well-being. Within the church, members participate in <a href="https://journal.equinoxpub.com/IJSNR/article/view/20152">collective meaning-making rituals</a> that fortify their everyday lives. </p>
<p>Distinctly, using psilocybin is not part of these activities, nor are instructions provided on conducting mushroom ceremonies. This is done on one’s own time, according to individual practices. </p>
<p>Through the church, members participate in practices to help cultivate the value of psychedelic exploration. These include a range of activities, from ice baths to meditation in a room with flashing lights. TDA also offers courses on growing psilocybin through its educational initiative “<a href="https://www.thedivineassembly.org/grow-kits">shroomiversity</a>.”</p>
<p>To borrow from its <a href="https://www.thedivineassembly.org/who-we-are">stated mission</a>, TDA works to connect “people to self, others and the Divine.” It also seeks to “protect responsible and religious use of psilocybin, and cultivate health and healing.” This mission does not deny the place of belief but highlights broader therapeutic concerns. </p>
<p>Through shared rituals, members cultivate community while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LIYS0NCoDA">enhancing their total well-being</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-LIYS0NCoDA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Magic Mushroom Church.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Mushroom churches: an American tradition</h2>
<p>Louisville, Kentucky’s <a href="https://www.psanctuary.org/">Psanctuary Church</a> brings “people together for healing and connection to divine revelation through communion with sacred mushrooms.” Nondenominational, Psanctuary defines itself as a “Constitutional Church.”</p>
<p>Indicating their legal status as a a <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicl80.pdf">nonprofit, tax-exempt, faith-based organization</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x49n90lWi0s&t=1s">Psanctuary situates itself as a uniquely</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050306124338/http:/www.robertbellah.com/articles_5.htm">American religion</a>. For Psanctuary and other psychedelic churches, the use of psychedelics is simultaneously a sacred right and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/12/985036148/can-americas-civil-religion-still-unite-the-country">an expression of political freedom</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x49n90lWi0s?wmode=transparent&start=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>As with many psychedelic churches, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwn0Jy7kKUA">Psanctuary is not atheistic</a>. It understands divinity as “pure consciousness” that “permeates all being.” Positioned this way, religion moves away from <a href="https://iep.utm.edu/god-west/#:%7E:text=Theism%20is%20the%20view%20that,to%20by%20the%20masculine%20pronoun.">monotheistic understandings of God</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, it follows non-Western, indigenous and New Age understandings that view divinity as within everyone. It also reorients people from seeking salvation in a world to come by encouraging focus on the present.</p>
<p>Like TDA, religion for Psanctuary expresses the pursuit of “pure consciousness” as “the origin of health and well-being.” By experiencing this origin through psychedelics, members are “empowered to discover our own divinity.” </p>
<p>This dual emphasis on self-divinity and healing reflects common themes across psychedelic churches. </p>
<h2>The Church of Ambrosia and Zide Door</h2>
<p>Inspired by <a href="http://ambrosia.church/">The Church of Ambrosia</a>, a nondenominational, interfaith religion, <a href="https://zidedoor.com/">Zide Door</a> in Oakland, California, supports “the safe access and use of <a href="https://doubleblindmag.com/what-does-entheogen-actually-mean/">Entheogenic Plants</a>.” Founded in 2019 by Dave Hodges, Zide Door affords space for members to “<a href="https://oaklandside.org/2022/06/10/zide-door-psycedelic-magic-mushroom-church-oakland">explore their spirituality</a>.” </p>
<p>Commonly, mainstream religion requires believers to interact with the sacred through designated leaders or texts. At Zide Door and other psychedelic churches, the emphasis is on self-realization and interconnection through direct experience. </p>
<p>Psychedelics offer members <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/292359/the-varieties-of-religious-experience-by-william-james-edited-with-an-introduction-by-martin-e-marty/">firsthand access</a> to religious understanding. Church, accordingly, becomes a place to support individual awakening.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sacredgarden.life/">Sacred Garden Community</a> captures this shift. Also located in Oakland, SGC – as it announces on its website – is a <a href="https://www.lucid.news/all-entheogens-welcome-oakland-church/">“post-modern church” based on “faith of least dogma</a>.” Through psychedelic sacraments, SGC claims to facilitate “direct experience of and relationship to Divine presence for individuals and community.” </p>
<p>Beyond the experience, SGC helps members integrate “the benefits” the “experience and relationship can bring” into everyday life. Like other psychedelic churches, <a href="https://www.berkeleyside.org/2023/01/02/psychedelic-church-sacred-garden-alameda-county">SGC highlights</a> how rejection of conventional religion is often accompanied by new avenues to pursue spirituality.</p>
<h2>Ayahuasca churches and healing</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552370/original/file-20231005-28-949qu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman seated near a tree, on grass, plays a sound bowl." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552370/original/file-20231005-28-949qu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552370/original/file-20231005-28-949qu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552370/original/file-20231005-28-949qu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552370/original/file-20231005-28-949qu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552370/original/file-20231005-28-949qu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552370/original/file-20231005-28-949qu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552370/original/file-20231005-28-949qu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A participant at an ayahuasca ceremony at a Hummingbird Church retreat in Hildale, Utah, in October 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PsychedelicChurches/c63aeefd1fbd4ed0a60cfe7f148de0cf/photo?Query=Ayahuasca%20churches&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=28&currentItemNo=13">AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski</a></span>
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<p>Ayahuasca churches rely on <a href="https://chacruna.net/indigenous-peoples-medicine-heritage-ayahuasca-globalization/">indigenous understandings of ayahuasca</a>, a plant-based psychedelic brew. For Indigenous people of South America, ayahuasca is a sacred rite based on local knowledge. They argue that <a href="https://maps.org/news-letters/v12n2/12236stu.pdf">removing ayahuasca from that context takes away its power and impact</a>. </p>
<p>Indigenous practitioners and scholars thus warn about both the <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-colonization-of-the-ayahuasca-experience/">appropriation</a> and <a href="https://chacruna.net/the-commodification-of-ayahuasca-how-can-we-do-better/">commodification</a> of indigenous practices. While such concerns should not be ignored, ayahuasca churches tell us much about contemporary religion. </p>
<p>The turn to ayahuasca rituals highlights the growing connection between spiritual needs and healing. The emergence of ayahuasca churches in the U.S. suggests that such healing requires the support of community.</p>
<p>California-based <a href="https://www.hummingbirdchurch.com/">Hummingbird Church</a>, for example, draws from <a href="https://www.hummingbirdchurch.com/faq-1">ayahuasca rituals</a> to provide “participants with opportunities to recharge their body, mind and soul with <a href="https://www.hummingbirdchurch.com/about-1-1">positive energy and reconnect with themselves</a>.” Its “<a href="https://www.hummingbirdchurch.com/about">Statement of Faith</a>” emphasizes this commitment to holistic healing. </p>
<p>It also situates the divine in “earthly” terms. Members, they believe, “should seek within Nature that which is contributory to our health and well-being.” </p>
<p>Located in Orlando, Florida, members of <a href="https://www.ayahuascachurches.org/">Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church of Mother Earth</a> believe likewise. As members contend, “What is of the Earth is our holy sacrament.” Like others, they position psychedelics “as tools” that benefit “physical health, spiritual growth, and personal evolution.”</p>
<p>Through ayahuasca, <a href="https://psychedelicspotlight.com/the-ayahuasca-experience-from-the-amazon-to-orlando/">members of both churches see psychedelic rituals</a> as aiding in individual rejuvenation. Once rejuvenated, members believe they help restore nature or assist in another’s healing. </p>
<h2>Well-being as spirituality</h2>
<p>Collectively, these churches demonstrate not a rejection of religion, as the term “none” might suggest, but an embrace of well-being as spirituality. </p>
<p>And while they are distinct in many ways, they also share some common goals: They seek to provide members and practitioners <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/08/23/ayahuasca-church-new-hampshire">ways to heal</a> <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/experiences-of-ultimate-reality-or-god-confer-lasting-benefits-to-mental-health">emotionally</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2016.00035">psychologically</a> and <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/06/26/psychedelic-healing-centers-colorado">spiritually</a>. </p>
<p>A key lesson members connect to psychedelics is the intrinsic sacredness of each person: The divine is not elsewhere but within everyone. </p>
<p>To be a none might reflect one’s total rejection of supernatural belief. But as psychedelic churches illustrate, identifying that way can also indicate spiritual pursuits that refuse to fit nicely within traditional religious categories.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207461/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgan Shipley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar who studies alternative expressions of spirituality visited secular, atheist and psychedelic churches and interacted with attendees. Here is what he found.Morgan Shipley, Foglio Endowed Chair of Spirituality & Associate Chair of Religious Studies, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112522023-10-06T13:06:23Z2023-10-06T13:06:23ZBison are sacred to Native Americans − but each tribe has its own special relationship to them<p>The American bison, or American buffalo as they are commonly called, were once close to extinction. Their numbers dropped from <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gosp/learn/nature/where-the-buffalo-roamed.htm">30-60 million</a> to around 500 because of overhunting in the 19th century.</p>
<p>But they made an unlikely comeback and continue to captivate people. At Yellowstone National Park – home to the largest bison herd in the U.S., with almost 6,000 head of wild bison – they are a major attraction for visitors. In 2023 the park attracted <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/management/delivering-a-world-class-visitor-experience.htm">more than 3 million people</a>.</p>
<p>Conservationists and Indigenous people successfully saved the American bison from complete annihilation in the 20th century, increasing their numbers from less than 500 to <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/president-bidens-investing-america-agenda-help-restore-bison-populations-and-grassland">more than 15,000 wild bison</a>, which does not include the thousands of bison living on ranches. The U.S. even designated it as the “<a href="https://www.doi.gov/blog/15-facts-about-our-national-mammal-american-bison">national mammal</a>” in 2016. </p>
<p>Over thousands of years and across diverse landscapes, Indigenous peoples developed traditional ecological knowledge about the bison and their ecosystems. Meanwhile, they also developed religious customs and sacred places important to their relationship with bison. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.rosalynlapier.com/">Indigenous scholar</a> and an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe and Métis, I am interested in how Native Americans understand the natural world. <a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496201508/">I learned from my Blackfeet grandparents</a> that bison emerged from the supernatural underwater realm and were given to humans by the Divine to use as food and as material. In return, humans are to respect and revere the bison.</p>
<h2>Thousands of years of history</h2>
<p>The modern-day American bison evolved around 10,000 years ago during the end of the Pleistocene Epoch from an ancient bison species. Over these several thousand years, according to environmental historian <a href="https://www.umt.edu/history/people/emeriti-faculty.php?ID=628">Dan Flores</a>, <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324006169">Indigenous peoples and bison “co-evolved”</a> – meaning they influenced the others’ actions and behaviors. </p>
<p>Indigenous peoples used bison meat and fat for food; hides for clothing, footwear and covering for their lodges; bones for tools; and other parts of the bison for rope, thread, glue or dyes. Along with the longtime use of bison for practical purposes, religious rituals and ceremonies also emerged. </p>
<p>Environmental historian <a href="https://history.illinois.edu/directory/profile/rmorriss">Robert Morrissey</a> writes in “<a href="https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295750880/people-of-the-ecotone/">People of the Ecotone</a>” that Indigenous peoples in what is now Illinois ritualized running, a skill necessary for hunting bison. They developed coming-of-age ceremonies that tested the ability of young people to run long distances, as well as fast, to prepare for bison hunting. </p>
<p>Indigenous peoples in what is now Alberta, Canada, constructed shrines out of rocks to offer prayers to divine entities <a href="https://www.aupress.ca/books/120137-imagining-head-smashed-in/">connected to bison hunting</a>. They left offerings of tobacco or other items at these shrines during their seasonal hunts. Some of these rock shrines still exist and are viewed as sacred places.</p>
<h2>Bison origins and sacred places</h2>
<p>Indigenous people continued to remember and revere bison in rituals and ceremonies. Every tribe on the Great Plains has its own “deep individual <a href="https://www.charkoosta.com/news/the-american-buffalo-reviews-history-renews-hope/article_0cdf03c8-0b9d-11ee-9fe1-3b4276296e25.html">connection to bison</a>,” says Whisper Camel-Means, a Salish-Kootenai tribal member and wildlife biologist working at the <a href="https://bisonrange.org/">tribe’s bison range</a>. “We are all connected, but we all have a different relationship. Native people are not all the same.”</p>
<p>The Blackfeet believe that certain <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-native-americans-a-river-is-more-than-a-person-it-is-also-a-sacred-place-85302">lakes and rivers are sacred areas</a> because they are the home of the Suyiitapi, the supernatural underwater persons, and the place where bison emerged from underneath the water. </p>
<p>The Lakota, similar to the Blackfeet, consider bison sacred and a gift from the Divine. For the Lakota, however, bison did not come out of water, they came from inside the earth.</p>
<p>According to anthropologist <a href="https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/alber033">Patricia Albers</a>, the Lakota believe that both bison and humans emerged <a href="https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/natlpark/158/">onto the Great Plains</a> from what is now <a href="https://www.nps.gov/wica/index.htm">Wind Cave National Park</a> in the Black Hills in South Dakota.</p>
<p>The Lakota believe this landscape to be their “most sacred and culturally significant” area because it is a place of genesis for humans and bison. </p>
<p>Gerard Baker, an elder from the Mandan-Hidatsa tribes, shared in a <a href="https://kenburns.com/films/the-american-buffalo/">new PBS documentary film</a> on the American bison, “When you look at a buffalo you just don’t see a big shaggy beast. You see life, you see existence, you see hope. Those are our relatives. They are a part of us.” </p>
<h2>New efforts to revive the bison</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A few bison Bison graze near a stream." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552367/original/file-20231005-23-4oag72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bison are a major attraction for visitors at Yellowstone National Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YellowstoneBisonEncounters/ab14e1b88dc140ce94e260a6f2f1f5af/photo?Query=bison%20yellowstone%20park&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=448&currentItemNo=16&vs=true">AP Photo/Robert Graves, File</a></span>
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<p>This year, the U.S. federal government <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-department-announces-significant-action-restore-bison-populations-part-new">added US$25 million</a> to “restore wild and healthy populations” of American bison on federal lands and $5 million toward accomplishing the same goal on <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/president-bidens-investing-america-agenda-help-restore-bison-populations-and-grassland">tribal lands</a>. And new legislation this fall seeks to further “<a href="https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/indian_buffalo_management_act_bill_text.pdf">develop the capacity of tribes</a>” to manage bison and bison habitat.</p>
<p>“The restoration of buffalo back to our tribes and communities and reservations is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/us/native-american-tribes-bison.html">part of our healing</a>,” Jason Baldes, a member of the Eastern Shoshone from Wyoming, and the tribal buffalo coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation, told The New York Times, emphasizing why this kind of funding is necessary. </p>
<p>As more bison are returned to tribal communities, I believe, as my grandparents did, that bison are a gift from the Divine. It is a reminder also of how Native peoples relate to and understand the natural world and its deep religious meaning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalyn R. LaPier served as an advisor and was interviewed for the PBS documentary film "The American Buffalo". </span></em></p>Efforts are being made to develop the capacity of Native tribes to manage bison and bison habitats. An Indigenous scholar explains their sacred significance.Rosalyn R. LaPier, Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2118652023-10-03T12:31:16Z2023-10-03T12:31:16ZBirds, worms, rabbits: Francis of Assisi was said to have loved them all – but today’s pet blessings on his feast day might have seemed strange to the 13th century saint<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551232/original/file-20230929-25-91togn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1024%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Each year, services on St. Francis' feast day draw humans and animals alike to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/blessing-of-the-animals-event-held-in-the-cathedral-of-news-photo/1243686159?adppopup=true">Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year, if you happen to be in New York around Oct. 4, you may catch sight of something unusual: a whole menagerie of animals being welcomed into the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, from spaniels and parrots to even <a href="https://untappedcities.com/2016/10/03/all-creatures-great-and-small-blessing-the-animals-at-new-yorks-largest-cathedral/">the occasional camel</a> or cow.</p>
<p>Since the end of the 20th century, it has become more and more common in the United States for animals and their human companions to be blessed on or around the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The focus is usually on pets, though <a href="https://www.stjohndivine.org/calendar/42476/the-feast-of-st-francis">St. John the Divine’s Episcopal service</a> is especially spectacular, with all kinds of creatures participating in a liturgy that includes a procession into the sanctuary, followed by blessings of individual animals outside.</p>
<p>What would Francis have thought? It’s hard to say – though he wasn’t a fan of his fellow friars keeping pets. But as <a href="https://english.utk.edu/people/mary-dzon/">a scholar of medieval Christianity</a>, I see a long history of people looking to Francis and other Catholic saints as models of caring for all creatures within creation.</p>
<h2>Not just Francis</h2>
<p>Outdoor <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c032134">blessings of animals</a> have been documented in Rome for at least a century, too – but on Jan. 17, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253365/photos-animals-blessed-in-st-peter-s-square-for-feast-of-st-anthony-abbot">the feast of St. Anthony the Abbott</a>, who lived in Egypt in the third and fourth centuries. A number of saints, in fact, can be associated with modern-day blessings. </p>
<p>Anthony, a hermit who lived in the desert, was not known to have been friendly with animals in the way that Francis was. Yet kindly lions dug a hole for Anthony so he could bury the body of the holy hermit Paul, then licked Anthony’s hands and feet, “begging for his blessing,” according to <a href="https://press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Desert-Fathers">the account by St. Jerome</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551234/original/file-20230929-25-llcstv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A religious icon shows a monk with a halo looking down at a group of animals while people look at him reverently." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551234/original/file-20230929-25-llcstv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551234/original/file-20230929-25-llcstv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551234/original/file-20230929-25-llcstv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551234/original/file-20230929-25-llcstv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551234/original/file-20230929-25-llcstv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551234/original/file-20230929-25-llcstv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551234/original/file-20230929-25-llcstv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A painting of St. Anthony the Abbot by the Master of St. Veronica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Master_of_St._Veronica_(German,_active_about_1395_-_1415)_-_Saint_Anthony_Abbot_Blessing_the_Animals,_the_Poor,_and_the_Sick_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg">DcoetzeeBot/Getty Center/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Medieval iconography commonly portrayed Anthony <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199596607.001.0001/acref-9780199596607">with a companion pig</a>, stemming from the fact that a medieval religious order named after him <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-singular-beast/9780231103671">bred pigs to feed people in need</a>. The creatures wore bells and were permitted to roam free in the streets to forage.</p>
<p>A well-behaved group of animals, including two pigs, is gathered before Anthony Abbot in a miniature attributed to <a href="https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/103K9K">the Master of St. Veronica</a>, a German painter in the early 15th century. Here the saint holds up his hand as if to bless the kneeling people behind him, as well as the reverent animals in front.</p>
<p>Another saint associated with animals, and known to have blessed them, is Blaise, a bishop of Sebaste. An influential 13th century collection of saints’ lives, “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691154077/the-golden-legend">The Golden Legend</a>,” recounts that Blaise took refuge in a cave to avoid persecution under the Roman Emperor Diocletian. There, “[b]irds brought him food, and wild animals flocked to him and would not leave until he had laid hands on them in blessing. Moreover, if any of them were ailing, they came straight to him and went away cured.” </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551229/original/file-20230929-15-je28lu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An icon painting with a gold background shows two men with crosses on their clothing sitting near about a dozen animals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551229/original/file-20230929-15-je28lu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551229/original/file-20230929-15-je28lu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551229/original/file-20230929-15-je28lu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551229/original/file-20230929-15-je28lu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551229/original/file-20230929-15-je28lu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551229/original/file-20230929-15-je28lu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551229/original/file-20230929-15-je28lu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Russian icon of St. Blaise and St. Spiridon, now held in the Historical Museum of Moscow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Icon_of_saint_Blaise_and_Spiridonius.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/Shakko</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A Russian icon dating to the 15th century <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/bcs.2019.0020">shows Blaise seated on a throne</a> above a gathering of animals, some of whom look up to him in awe. </p>
<h2>‘The sweetness of his love’</h2>
<p>So why is it that Francis, the founder of the Franciscan religious order, became associated with animals in America? He has long been considered <a href="https://theconversation.com/caring-for-the-environment-has-a-long-catholic-lineage-hundreds-of-years-before-pope-francis-168698">the patron saint of ecology</a>, and bird-bedecked statues of the 13th century saint are often featured in gardens.</p>
<p>Many early texts about Francis speak of his intuitive connection with and concern for animals, especially those he associated with Jesus: <a href="https://digitalcollections.franciscantradition.org/document/bx4700-f6f722-1999/francis_of_assisi_early_documents_-_the_saint/1999-00-00?pageNo=248">lambs, not surprisingly</a>, but also <a href="https://digitalcollections.franciscantradition.org/document/bx4700-f6f722-1999/francis_of_assisi_early_documents_-_the_saint/1999-00-00?pageNo=250">the worm</a>, which reminded him of Christ’s humility.</p>
<p>Today’s most popular story about the Italian saint’s interactions with animals was also the most popular in the Middle Ages, judging from the surviving iconography: his preaching to the birds.</p>
<p>Francis’ first biographer, the Franciscan brother Thomas of Celano, relates that once when Francis was traveling, <a href="https://digitalcollections.franciscantradition.org/document/bx4700-f6f722-1999/francis_of_assisi_early_documents_-_the_saint/1999-00-00?pageNo=234">he came across a “great multitude of birds</a>” and ran toward them. After he greeted them and saw that they didn’t fly away, he was filled with joy and he proceeded to preach a sermon to them, in which he told them they should praise their Creator. After mingling with them, he blessed them and made the sign of the cross, then “gave them permission to fly off.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551233/original/file-20230929-15-a1o8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A religious icon painting in faded shades of blue and tan shows a man in monk's robes land a halo looking at birds on the ground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551233/original/file-20230929-15-a1o8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551233/original/file-20230929-15-a1o8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551233/original/file-20230929-15-a1o8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551233/original/file-20230929-15-a1o8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551233/original/file-20230929-15-a1o8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551233/original/file-20230929-15-a1o8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551233/original/file-20230929-15-a1o8pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Preaching to the Birds,’ by Giotto, 1297-1300.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/preaching-to-the-birds-by-giotto-1297-1300-13th-14th-news-photo/470381184?adppopup=true">Antonio Quattrone/Electa/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Francis likewise exercised gentle authority when he chided “shrieking and chirping” swallows in Alviano, Italy, as he was about to preach to people gathered there: “My sister swallows, now it is time for me also to speak, since you have already said enough.” The swallows duly complied.</p>
<p>Thomas of Celano’s biography of Francis goes on to describe how “even irrational creatures recognized his feeling of tenderness toward them, and sensed the sweetness of his love” – as when he <a href="https://digitalcollections.franciscantradition.org/document/bx4700-f6f722-1999/francis_of_assisi_early_documents_-_the_saint/1999-00-00?pageNo=235">released a rabbit from a trap</a>, caressed it “with motherly affection,” and the creature kept coming back.</p>
<h2>Love animals – within limits</h2>
<p>The relatively small number of surviving texts that Francis himself wrote reveal his thoughts about the myriad creatures around him. In his well-known “<a href="https://digitalcollections.franciscantradition.org/document/bx4700-f6f722-1999/francis_of_assisi_early_documents_-_the_saint/1999-00-00?pageNo=113">Canticle of the Creatures</a>,” a song in Italian that praises God and celebrates the beauty of creation, Francis professes a familial relationship with everything in nature, most famously “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon.” </p>
<p>Not as well known is Francis’ “<a href="https://digitalcollections.franciscantradition.org/document/bx4700-f6f722-1999/francis_of_assisi_early_documents_-_the_saint/1999-00-00?pageNo=73">Earlier Rule</a>,” which he wrote to provide guidelines for his friars. Since their purpose in life was to spread the gospel in strict imitation of Christ, especially his poverty, Francis insisted that they not ride on horses or keep companion animals.</p>
<p>As I have learned from my research, this is a standard practice for early Christian and medieval ascetics. Keeping animals <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783275694/medieval-pets/">was seen as distracting</a>, even frivolous, and risked drawing affections away from God. While Francis seems to have had more than enough love to share, he did insist that most of the animals he interacted with go free. </p>
<h2>The haloed wolf</h2>
<p>But perhaps Francis was not as opposed to pets as it may seem. Today, probably the second-most well-known story about Francis and animals is the tale of the wolf of Gubbio. After the saint establishes a pact of peace between the hitherto ravenous wolf and the previously terrified townspeople, the wolf is essentially left in their keeping. </p>
<p>According to “<a href="https://digitalcollections.franciscantradition.org/document/bx4700-f6f722-1999-v3/francis_of_assisi_early_documents_the_prophet/1999-00-00?pageNo=603">The Little Flowers of Saint Francis</a>,” a compilation from the 14th century, “Brother Wolf” lived for two years in Gubbio after his life-changing encounter with the saint: “he tamely entered the houses, going from door to door … and he was kindly fed by the people.” As far as the people were concerned, he was a living embodiment, almost a relic, of the “virtue and holiness of Saint Francis.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551273/original/file-20231001-23-ogzqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting shows a woman in blue leading a small child away from a wolf who is calmly receiving food from a butcher." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551273/original/file-20231001-23-ogzqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551273/original/file-20231001-23-ogzqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551273/original/file-20231001-23-ogzqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551273/original/file-20231001-23-ogzqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551273/original/file-20231001-23-ogzqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551273/original/file-20231001-23-ogzqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551273/original/file-20231001-23-ogzqoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Wolf of Gubbio,’ by Luc-Olivier Merson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-wolf-of-gubbio-1877-news-photo/71901320?adppopup=true">Culture Club/Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A 19th century painting by Luc-Olivier Merson provides a fascinating depiction of the wolf, endowed with a golden halo. He is seen placidly getting food from the butcher, as he stands on his doorstep, while a cat looks on and a little girl strokes his back.</p>
<p>While Francis and his fellow friars did not embrace the idea of pets, he did promote harmony among animals and humans, making him a fitting source of inspiration for blessings today. As <a href="https://www.southwestern.edu/live/profiles/25828-laura-hobgood">religion scholar Laura Hobgood-Oster</a> <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c032134">has noted</a>, it is remarkable that the many animals gathered in St. John the Divine for over two hours each year behave so well. Perhaps they sense the sacred and are attracted to the Franciscan ideal of harmony: all members of creation, joyfully coming together to praise God.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211865/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Dzon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Medieval monastics were often discouraged from owning companion animals, which were viewed as a distraction, a religion scholar explains.Mary Dzon, Associate Professor of English, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116222023-09-06T13:17:55Z2023-09-06T13:17:55ZCharms and rituals are used by criminals in Nigeria – should police deploy spiritual security too?<p>Crime is among the major <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/7491/crime-in-nigeria/#topicOverview">challenges</a> confronting Nigeria as a nation. The <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/NGA/nigeria/crime-rate-statistics">pervasiveness</a> of crime has repeatedly <a href="https://jpd.gipa.ge/index.php/jpd/article/view/6904">called</a> into <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1350/pojo.2014.87.1.651">question</a> the effectiveness and efficiency of the Nigeria Police Force. This is despite their exclusive reliance on modern policing strategies and techniques. </p>
<p>Traditionally, crime-related matters have been handled through what’s known as “spiritual security”. This is a knowledge system that involves the use of amulets, charms, rituals and talismans for protection, power and clairvoyance. </p>
<p>As sociologists <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=dWhu1Y8AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">specialising</a> in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=39bhsloAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">criminology</a>, we were interested in what the Nigerian police personnel had to say about these mechanisms of protection. </p>
<p>We conducted a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14725843.2021.2024068">study</a> of their perceptions and attitudes. Many told us that they believed criminals used spiritual security for power and protection. Some officers confirmed that they themselves used charms and the like to help in their jobs. </p>
<p>Nigerians use spiritual security mechanisms in other areas of social life such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09709274.2015.11906872">healthcare delivery</a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336591851_Charms_and_Amulets">conflict resolution</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09735070.2011.11886392">household crime</a> control. But they’ve been overlooked in formal policing. </p>
<p>We conclude that this indigenous approach to crime fighting could prove useful to the police, particularly in intelligence gathering, crime investigation and crime control. Traditional belief systems could complement the country’s colonially based law enforcement and social control systems and improve their efficiency.</p>
<h2>Traditional belief systems</h2>
<p>Spiritual security is a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336591851_Charms_and_Amulets">traditional knowledge system</a> that dates from precolonial times. It was a way that Nigerian people dealt with social issues. Not only for security, but also to settle disputes and for social control, conflict resolution, justice administration, peace engineering and social harmony. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/ecu.2019.0042">knowledge system</a> of most African societies is generally predicated on a belief system that’s divided into the physical (visible and seen) and the spiritual (mysterious and unobservable). History <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2021.2024068">tells us</a> that African people gave high credence to this system of knowledge. </p>
<p>Although mystical, preternatural and esoteric powers are virtually inexplicable, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09735070.2011.11886392">many</a> Nigerians <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-8215-4_17">believe</a> that they know when they are being manipulated by those who have access to such powers. </p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>Our research was carried out among police officials serving at the Oyo State Police Command. We interviewed 35 police officers belonging to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department and the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/10/22/sars-a-brief-history-of-a-rogue-unit">Special Anti-Robbery Squad</a>. </p>
<p>We wanted to know to what extent the police were aware of criminals using spiritual security mechanisms. And we asked for their views on the police using them too. Should they be integrated into police operations?</p>
<p>Most police officers acknowledged that the system of spiritual security mechanisms was part of a cultural heritage which many Africans employed. They explained that people did so to protect themselves from their enemies’ spiritual attacks and to neutralise the impact of deadly weapons such as guns, machetes and knives. </p>
<p>Participants said that their professional experiences in the field showed that criminals routinely used spiritual security mechanisms. They did so to strengthen and protect themselves when perpetrating crime such as armed robbery, kidnapping, rape and homicide. </p>
<p>There was no clear consensus about whether the mechanisms were effective or not. But many officers said they believed that the criminals’ use of spiritual security was capable of compromising police operations. One police officer <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14725843.2021.2024068">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Criminals, especially armed robbers, usually rely on it. Some time around 2003 … we arrested four armed robbers and handcuffed them. Can you believe that two of them who were handcuffed together disappeared? … What happened that day was like a miracle. It was only after making consultation from the people who are knowledgeable that we were told that one of them deployed egbe (a spiritual device for disappearance).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our research also established that some police officers were secretly consulting custodians of the traditional knowledge system to enhance their performance and safety on the job.</p>
<p>Our respondents, however, expressed differing opinions about whether spiritual security mechanisms should be integrated into modern police work. Those who supported the idea believed it could improve crime fighting and help keep officers safe.</p>
<p>Others dismissed the idea. They stressed the value of modern policing strategies and technology. Some said their religion (both Christian and Muslim) expressly forbade them from associating with traditional charms. Some felt it went against police culture and codes.</p>
<h2>Physical security and spiritual security</h2>
<p>The work experiences of police officers, however, generally demonstrated the importance of a knowledge system that recognises a connection between physical security and spiritual security. </p>
<p>Modern policing strategies are not adequately dealing with Nigeria’s crime and insecurity crisis. Notorious criminals are combining the use of sophisticated weapons with spiritual charms. </p>
<p>We recommend that Nigeria’s police force should explore any potential advantages that the system of spiritual security mechanisms might offer. If well applied, this hybridisation could boost intelligence gathering capacity and crime control efforts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Usman A. Ojedokun does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous knowledge of spiritual protection could help fight crime.Usman A. Ojedokun, Sociologist/Criminologist, University of IbadanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2115872023-08-23T12:26:21Z2023-08-23T12:26:21ZNavigating the intersection between AI, automation and religion – 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542839/original/file-20230815-23-3fs34t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">AI is slowly becoming part of the religious sphere. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/rosary-prayer-online-holy-mass-conducted-online-royalty-free-image/1221601837?phrase=religion+and+technology&adppopup=true">robertprzybysz/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a era marked by rapid technological advancement, we are seeing everything from artificial intelligence to robots slowly seep into our everyday lives. But now, this technology is increasingly making inroads into a realm that has long been uniquely human: religion. </p>
<p>From the creation of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-church-protestants-chatgpt-ai-sermon-651f21c24cfb47e3122e987a7263d348">ChatGPT sermons</a> to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/robots-are-performing-hindu-rituals-some-worshippers-fear-theyll-be-replaced">robots performing sacred Hindu rituals</a>, the once-clearer boundaries between faith and technology are blurring. </p>
<p>Over the last few months, The Conversation U.S. has published a number of stories exploring how AI and automation are weaving themselves into religious contexts. These three articles from our archives shed light on the impacts of such technology on human spirituality, faith and worship across cultures. </p>
<h2>1. Prophets come to life</h2>
<p>As one of the most prominent religious figures in the world, Jesus has been continually reinterpreted to fit the norms and needs of each new historical context, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/panama-celebrates-its-black-christ-part-of-protest-against-colonialism-and-slavery-122171">Cristo Negro</a> or “Black Christ” to being depicted as a Hindu mystic. </p>
<p>But now the prophet is on Twitch, a video live-streaming platform. And it’s all thanks to an AI chatbot. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bearded white man wearing a brown hooded jacket has a halo around him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">AI Jesus provides insight on both spiritual and personal questions users ask on his channel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ask_jesus">Twitch user ask_jesus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Presented as a bearded white man wearing a brown hood, “AI Jesus” is available 24/7 on his Twitch channel “<a href="https://www.twitch.tv/ask_jesus">ask_Jesus</a>” and is able to interact with users who can ask him anything from deep religious-in-nature questions to lighthearted inquiries. </p>
<p>AI Jesus represents one of the newest examples in the growing field of AI spirituality, noted Boston College theology faculty member <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joseph-l-kimmel-1441171">Joseph L. Kimmel</a>, and may help scholars better understand how human spirituality is being actively shaped by the influence of AI.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-chatbot-willing-to-take-on-questions-of-all-kinds-from-the-serious-to-the-comical-is-the-latest-representation-of-jesus-for-the-ai-age-208644">A chatbot willing to take on questions of all kinds – from the serious to the comical – is the latest representation of Jesus for the AI age</a>
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<h2>2. Robotic rituals</h2>
<p>A unique intersection of religion and robotic technology has emerged with the introduction of robots performing Hindu rituals in South Asia. While some have welcomed the technological inclusion, others express worries about the future that ritual automation could lead to. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LH5yqpCWKqs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A robotic arm performs “aarti” — a Hindu practice in which light is ritually waved for the veneration of deities.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many believe that the growth of robots within Hindu practices could lead to an increase in people leaving the religion, and question the use of robots to embody religious and divine figures.</p>
<p>But there is another concern: whether robots could eventually replace Hindu worshippers. Automated robots would be able to perform rituals without a single error. This is significant because religions like Hinduism and Buddhism emphasize the correct execution of rituals and ceremonies as a means to connect with the divine rather than emphasizing correct belief. </p>
<p>It’s a concept referred to as orthopraxy, according to Wellesley College anthropology lecturer <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/holly-walters-1406163">Holly Walters</a>. “In short, the robot can do your religion better than you can because robots, unlike people, are spiritually incorruptible,” she explained. “Modern robotics might then feel like a particular kind of cultural paradox, where the best kind of religion is the one that eventually involves no humans at all.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/robots-are-performing-hindu-rituals-some-devotees-fear-theyll-replace-worshippers-197504">Robots are performing Hindu rituals -- some devotees fear they'll replace worshippers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. AI preachers</h2>
<p>According to College of the Holy Cross religious studies scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joanne-m-pierce-156953">Joanne M. Pierce</a>, preaching has always been considered a human activity grounded in faith. But what happens when that practice is taken over by an AI chatbot? </p>
<p>In June 2023, hundreds of Lutherans gathered in Bavaria, Germany, for a service designed and delivered by ChatGPT. But many are cautious about using AI to conduct these religious practices. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xmXghWi2lf8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">St. Paul’s Church in Fürth, Bavaria was packed with over 300 Lutherans who attended a church service generated almost entirely by artificial intelligence.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In their sermons, preachers not only offer advice, but “speak out of personal reflection in a way that will inspire the members of the congregation, not just please them,” Pierce said. “It must also be shaped by an awareness of the needs and lived experience of the worshiping community in the pews.”</p>
<p>For the time being, it seems as though the inability to understand the human experience is AI’s biggest flaw within the preaching sphere. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-chatbots-write-inspirational-and-wise-sermons-208825">Can chatbots write inspirational and wise sermons?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211587/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The merging of technology and faith is sparking a transformative shift in redefining spirituality and religious practices.Meher Bhatia, Editorial Intern, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2088252023-07-06T12:28:14Z2023-07-06T12:28:14ZCan chatbots write inspirational and wise sermons?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535891/original/file-20230705-22346-guktbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=62%2C44%2C5892%2C3910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">AI-created sermons have proved controversial for some religious leaders.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/june-2023-bavaria-f%C3%BCrth-visitors-and-attendees-during-the-news-photo/1258555134?adppopup=true">Daniel Vogl/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When several hundred Lutherans in Bavaria, Germany, attended a service on June 9, 2023, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-church-protestants-chatgpt-ai-sermon-651f21c24cfb47e3122e987a7263d348">designed by ChatGPT</a>, the program not only selected hymns and prayers, but also composed and delivered a sermon, delivered by an avatar on a big screen. </p>
<p>Indeed, programs like ChatGPT, that can produce a sermon in seconds, might seem attractive to busy clergy. But several religious leaders, including rabbis serving Jewish congregations as well as Christian Protestant pastors, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-artificial-intelligence-kentucky-religion-65822bf1c46de7630d3441e9ff4ff41a">have conflicting feelings</a> about utilizing chatbots in preparing sermons. </p>
<p>There may be several reasons for being cautious. From my perspective, as <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">a specialist in Catholic liturgy and ritual</a>, the most important critique has to do with true intent of preaching – to offer insight and inspiration on the human experience of faith.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xmXghWi2lf8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">More than 300 people attended an experimental Lutheran Protestant church service almost entirely generated by artificial intelligence in Germany on June 9, 2023. (AP video: Daniel Niemann)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Historical practice</h2>
<p>In the early centuries of Christianity, <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07443a.htm">preaching was largely reserved for bishops</a>, considered to be the successors to Jesus’ apostles. During the Middle Ages, priests were also allowed to preach, although their chief responsibility was to say the Mass – ritually consecrating the offerings of bread and wine – especially on Sundays. </p>
<p>In some religious orders, priests <a href="https://www.op.org/history/">became famous traveling preachers</a>, although much of the time they were preaching in other settings, not during Mass. <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/15499">The Franciscan</a> and <a href="https://exhibitions.lib.cam.ac.uk/dominicans/case/medieval-preachers-and-teachers/">Dominican</a> orders, for example, would send priests to preach on the streets and in city centers, traveling from town to town in fulfillment of this ministry. </p>
<p>During the next few centuries, preaching brief sermons or homilies became increasingly important during the celebration of Sunday Mass. The Second Vatican Council, convened in 1962, <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/vatican-ii-council-60th-anniversary-video-history-background.html">took a fresh look at all the church’s rituals</a> and stressed the role of preaching at worship, especially at Mass. </p>
<p>These principles have been <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20140629_direttorio-omiletico_en.html#I._THE_HOMILY">reaffirmed in more recent documents</a> that guide Catholic preachers when writing a sermon. In essence, preaching was always believed to be a human activity grounded in faith. </p>
<h2>Insight and inspiration</h2>
<p>Preaching as a human activity has a special meaning for Catholics – and most Christians – because they believe that Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God, who <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1J.HTM">came into human life to save all of humanity from their sins</a> and gave his <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+16%3A15&version=NRSVCE">apostles the commandment to preach the gospel</a> about this “good news” to people of all nations. </p>
<p>In the decades since Vatican II ended in 1965, preaching in the Catholic tradition has been emphasized as a “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651207_presbyterorum-ordinis_en.html">primary duty</a>” of all priests. </p>
<p>The sermon is meant to <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20140629_direttorio-omiletico_en.html#I._THE_HOMILY">inspire people</a> in their ordinary lives of faith. The preacher must spend time in preparing the sermon, but this does not just mean compiling theological quotes or doing research on the history of the Bible. </p>
<p>A good sermon is not just a classroom lecture. In fact, several contemporary popes have stressed that the language of sermons should avoid technical or obscure terminology. In 1975, Pope Paul VI wrote that the language of preaching should be “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi.html">simple, clear, direct, well-adapted</a>” for the congregation in the pews. And in 2013, Pope Francis echoed these same words in his observation that “<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html#_ftn125%5D">simplicity has to do with the language we use</a>.”</p>
<p>But preaching is not just about offering pious mottoes or generic religious formulas. The preacher’s experience, insights and emotions all come into play when composing the homiletic text.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo of Billy Graham preaching to a packed audience. Graham stands at a lectern in front of many onlookers, with his hands raised above his head" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535893/original/file-20230705-26-esx3zq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evangelist Billy Graham reached millions who were attracted by his charisma and preaching style.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/evangelist-billy-graham-preaches-to-a-crowd-of-21-000-in-st-news-photo/515575744?adppopup=true">Bettmann / Contributor via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The preacher is not simply offering good advice, but speaking out of personal reflection in a way that will inspire the members of the congregation, not just please them. It <a href="https://www.mccrimmons.com/shop/homilies/preaching-as-paying-attention--theological-reflection-in-the-pulpit/">must also be shaped</a> by an awareness of the needs and lived experience of the worshipping community in the pews. </p>
<h2>Use with caution</h2>
<p>In practice, chatbots might help clergy save time by finding sources and compiling relevant facts, but the results would need to be <a href="https://mashable.com/article/microsoft-bing-ai-chatbot-weird-scary-responses">checked for errors</a>. Chatbots have been known to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/09/ai-blunders-google-chatbot-chatgpt-cause-trouble-more-firms">make some factual blunders</a> or <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/lawyer-who-cited-cases-concocted-by-ai-asks-judge-spare-sanctions-2023-06-08/">invent sources completely</a>. </p>
<p>Above all, I believe chatbots, as of now, are not capable of preparing a text suitable for being offered as a sermon. From what we know about chatbots, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-isnt-close-to-becoming-sentient-the-real-danger-lies-in-how-easily-were-prone-to-anthropomorphize-it-200525">they cannot know</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-a-body-to-understand-the-world-why-chatgpt-and-other-language-ais-dont-know-what-theyre-saying-201280">what it means to be human</a>, to experience love or be inspired by a sacred text. </p>
<p>Perhaps Baptist pastor Hershael York, Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has put it best. He has noted that the ultimate failure of a chatbot’s sermon lies in the fact that it “lacks a soul.” Without that empathetic consciousness, a chatbot-composed sermon cannot include genuine insights based on personal spiritual experience. And without that essential element of embodied human awareness, true preaching is simply not possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne M. Pierce does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not quite, writes an expert on Christian worship. Chatbots do not have human experience of love – and, above all, they lack a soul.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2054012023-05-16T02:59:48Z2023-05-16T02:59:48ZIllegal, occasionally deadly, and not much fun. What is the frog toxin Kambô and why do people use it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526073/original/file-20230515-175760-zv2sde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C0%2C6463%2C4305&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kambô is an oozy substance harvested from the defensive skin secretions of the Amazonian giant monkey tree frog. In the traditional medicine of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.89.22.10960">some indigenous peoples of the Amazon</a>, Kambô is applied to superficial burns on the skin of participants to produce an intense purging effect. </p>
<p>In the past decade, Kambô use has also been <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/amazonian-tree-frogs-poison-part-latest-super-cleanse/story?id=46431345">on the rise</a> in neo-shamanic or complementary medicine in Western countries. Many users say they experience positive after-effects, but bad outcomes ranging from prolonged vomiting to seizures and even death have also been reported.</p>
<p>In Brazil, it’s <a href="https://www-bbc-com.translate.goog/mundo/noticias/2016/04/160425_salud_kambo_veneno_sapo_amazonico_medicina_polemica_lv?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp">illegal to sell or market Kambô</a>. In Australia, where <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/13/alternative-reality-two-kambo-deaths-spark-soul-searching-in-australias-counter-culture-capital">two deaths after Kambô rituals</a> have led to coronial inquests, it was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/06/kambo-a-lethal-frog-mucous-used-in-shamanic-rituals-banned-by-tga-after-reports-of-deaths">listed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in 2021 as a Schedule 10 poison</a>: “a substance of such danger to health as to warrant prohibition of sale, supply and use”.</p>
<p>Despite government bans and several fatalities, Kambô use in Western countries still seems to be going strong. So what does Kambô do, and what do users get out of it?</p>
<h2>The Kambô ritual</h2>
<p><a href="https://journals.openedition.org/pontourbe/2384">Kambô comes from the giant monkey tree frog</a> (<em>Phyllomedusa bicolor</em>) which lives in the Upper Amazon rainforest. The frogs are captured and their limbs are tied with thread to four vertical twigs, to enable harvesting of their secretions by gentle scraping. The frogs are then released, physically unharmed.</p>
<p>The clear mucus-like secretion is typically spread onto bamboo sticks and air-dried for storage and transport. The Kambô is then prepared by reconstituting with water before application.</p>
<p>Kambô contains a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23978473221085746">range of biologically active molecules</a> that most likely provide the frogs with defences against predators.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526064/original/file-20230515-167825-t81es0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo showing a frog stretched out between some sticks while a person runs another stick along its body." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526064/original/file-20230515-167825-t81es0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526064/original/file-20230515-167825-t81es0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526064/original/file-20230515-167825-t81es0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526064/original/file-20230515-167825-t81es0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526064/original/file-20230515-167825-t81es0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526064/original/file-20230515-167825-t81es0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526064/original/file-20230515-167825-t81es0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To harvest Kambô, the defensive secretions of the frog are scraped off before the frog is released, unharmed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the ritual, superficial burns are first made on the recipient’s skin, then Kambô is applied to the burns using a short length of rainforest vine. Next, the thick red sap of the “dragon’s blood” tree (<em>Croton lechleri</em>) is applied to the burns as an antiseptic.</p>
<p>Traditionally, among the indigenous Amazonian tribes that use Kambô, there is virtually no ceremony involved. It plays more of a role in their traditional medicine and hunting practices than in informing their cosmology.</p>
<p>In Kambô rituals catering to Westerners, the practice is often carried out in a ceremony involving songs, musical instruments, burning of incense, and prayers.</p>
<p>Traditionally, three to five small burns are made with a smouldering stick on the upper arm or lower leg of the recipient. </p>
<p>In Western neo-shamanic practice, however, Kambô is often applied to a larger number of burns. The burns may be located elsewhere on the body, including the neck, upper back, chest, and the Yogic chakra locations.</p>
<h2>What Kambô does to the body</h2>
<p>Following introduction via the small burns, the active ingredients of the Kambô pass rapidly into the body. They move through the lymphatic system – essentially the body’s drainage system, running parallel to the blood circulatory system – and thence into the bloodstream.</p>
<p>As a result, participants experience a short, intense purgative experience. The <a href="https://www.clinmedjournals.org/articles/iacp/international-archives-of-clinical-pharmacology-iacp-4-017.php?jid=iacp">physiological effects are complex</a>, rapid and sometimes paradoxical.</p>
<p>Typically, the first symptoms reported are an initial rush of heat and redness of the face. Nausea and vomiting are often experienced within several minutes, accompanied by general malaise, racing heart, dizziness and swelling of the face, and sometimes an urge to defecate.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526065/original/file-20230515-163795-uqhdtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a person's shoulder with four dark dots on a patch of reddened skin." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526065/original/file-20230515-163795-uqhdtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526065/original/file-20230515-163795-uqhdtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526065/original/file-20230515-163795-uqhdtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526065/original/file-20230515-163795-uqhdtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526065/original/file-20230515-163795-uqhdtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526065/original/file-20230515-163795-uqhdtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526065/original/file-20230515-163795-uqhdtl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kambô is typically applied to superficial burns, which are then covered with an antiseptic sap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.peertechzpublications.com/articles/OJPM-2-107.php">Further effects</a> include the feeling of a lump in the throat or difficulty swallowing, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, runny nose and tears, swollen lips, eyelids or face, and occasionally a swollen tongue or throat.</p>
<p>These physiological effects are generally expected, and indeed sought, by those performing and undergoing the Kambô ritual.</p>
<p>Aside from the range of physiological effects discussed above, Kambô is not regarded as exerting any direct psychedelic or hallucinogenic effects. Nor is it known to be used by anyone for this purpose.</p>
<h2>What can go wrong?</h2>
<p>The duration of the physical effects is usually 15–30 minutes. However, individual responses vary considerably and, on occasion, the symptoms may last several hours.</p>
<p>Kambô has caused harm in only a very limited number of documented cases, although the documented harms <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1556-4029.13641">have included death</a>. A handful of case reports describe incidents of hepatitis, psychosis, prolonged vomiting, hyponatremia (low blood sodium), seizure, rupture of the oesophagus and cardiac arrest.</p>
<p>Those extreme consequences are particularly few relative to the presumably large number of administrations globally, in both the traditional indigenous and the recent Western contexts.</p>
<p>Accurate figures about usage are impossible to obtain, but <a href="https://neip.info/texto/o-kambo-na-rede-divulgacao-de-uma-pratica-tradicional-indigena-na-internet/">one academic source</a> notes over 6,000 members of various closed Facebook groups devoted to Kambô, and the International Association of Kambô Practitioners’ Facebook page has over 2,500 followers.</p>
<h2>What are the perceived benefits of Kambô?</h2>
<p>Despite the documented harms, the great majority of users of Kambô <a href="https://juniperpublishers.com/jojcs/JOJCS.MS.ID.555739.php">anecdotally report</a> positive physical, emotional and spiritual after-effects.</p>
<p>In Western societies, including Australia, the use of Kambô for healing or wellness has risen rapidly in recent years. The rise has coincided with the emergence of a subculture that questions the merits of the Western medical model and embraces alternative modes of health and medicine.</p>
<p>However, there is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-78527-4">limited evidence</a> of the directly measurable health benefits of Kambô in the peer-reviewed academic literature. The putative benefits claimed by the Kambô community largely remain to be substantiated by clinical research.</p>
<p>The actual or potential health benefits conferred by Kambô treatment can be difficult to distinguish from the anticipated or perceived benefits related to psychological effects. These psychological effects in turn may relate to the belief or faith systems that may be involved.</p>
<p>One important aspect of the Kambô experience is purging, particularly by way of vomiting but also defecation. </p>
<p>Many advocates see purging as representing a means of personal transformation through cleansing or detoxification. Purging may also be thought to expel various harmful, negative or generally undesirable aspects of both an emotional and a spiritual nature.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ayahuasca-the-shamanic-brew-that-produces-out-of-body-experiences-52836">Ayahuasca: the shamanic brew that produces out-of-body experiences</a>
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<p>Participants may also feel a benefit from the overall “ordeal” or “challenge”. In this regard, significant parallels may be drawn between the purging elicited by Kambô and that associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112532">the psychoactive brew ayahuasca</a>.</p>
<p>To understand what people gain from Kambô, we may need to move into the domain of philosophical speculation. However, the concepts of personal transformation and spiritual growth are very real to many adherents, and their role in Kambô’s perceived benefits should not be discounted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People have died after taking the banned frog secretion Kambô, and even when things go right there’s a lot of vomiting.Martin Williams, Research fellow, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013362023-05-10T12:29:19Z2023-05-10T12:29:19ZJudaism’s rituals to honor new mothers are ever-rooted, ever-changing – from medieval embroidery and prayer to new traditions today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523694/original/file-20230501-1446-1rui3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1024%2C672&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jewish mothers have created ways to celebrate childbirth with rituals old and new.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/young-indian-jewish-child-naomi-is-carried-by-her-mother-as-news-photo/76710231?adppopup=true">Pal Pillai/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reading the Torah, there is no doubt about motherhood’s important role in Jewish literature and life.</p>
<p>The Hebrew Bible is replete with stories of women who feel incomplete without children, although Orthodox interpretation holds that <a href="https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1005203/jewish/Be-Fruitful-and-Multiply.htm">only men</a> are commanded to “<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.1.29?lang=bi&aliyot=0">be fruitful and multiply</a>.” Unable to bear children, Sarah <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.16?lang=bi&aliyot=0">offers her handmaid Hagar</a> to her husband, Abraham, so he can father a child. Rachel <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.30.2?lang=bi&aliyot=0">longs for deliverance from infertility</a>, saying “Give me children or I shall die,” and Hannah provides a model for Jewish personal prayer when she <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/I_Samuel.1.13?lang=bi">fervently prays for a child</a> on the steps of the Temple in Jerusalem. </p>
<p>Women are not, however, expected to place motherhood ahead of their own well-being. For example, Jewish law not only permits but requires that <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/jewish-experience/social-justice/2022/june/abortion-judaism-joffe.html">a pregnancy be terminated</a> when it jeopardizes the life of the mother. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523696/original/file-20230501-757-a8daie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A colored illustration of two women in robes, one of whom holds a child, while the other looks downcast." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523696/original/file-20230501-757-a8daie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523696/original/file-20230501-757-a8daie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523696/original/file-20230501-757-a8daie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523696/original/file-20230501-757-a8daie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=873&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523696/original/file-20230501-757-a8daie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523696/original/file-20230501-757-a8daie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523696/original/file-20230501-757-a8daie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1097&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An illustration of Rachel, right, next to her sister Leah and one of Leah’s children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/biblical-illustration-news-photo/90008983?adppopup=true">Buyenlarge/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Of course, many stories in Jewish sacred texts celebrate women for reasons that have nothing to do with parenting – from Queen Esther’s bravery in <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Esther.1?lang=bi">the Book of Esther</a> to <a href="https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/deborah-bible#:%7E:text=Deborah%20is%20one%20of%20the,as%20performing%20a%20judicial%20function.">the powerful judge Deborah</a> in the Book of Judges and <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/269955?lang=bi">wise women like Beruriah</a>, who is quoted in the Talmud. Yet the value placed on motherhood is clear – not only in Jewish texts, but also in Jewish traditions. For centuries, ritual practices have celebrated the birth of children. Yet they have not always given new mothers an opportunity to celebrate on their own terms or share their own feelings. As <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=5582082465f93a9a0dfd4438912f554a0f5856bc">a scholar of Judaism and gender</a>, though, I have seen how this is changing, as Jewish women reinvent meaningful traditions or develop new ones.</p>
<h2>Medieval mothers</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://en.jewish-history.huji.ac.il/people/elisheva%C2%A0-baumgarten">historian Elisheva Baumgarten</a>, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691130293/mothers-and-children">medieval Jewish women in northern and eastern Europe</a> observed a monthlong period of lying-in after the birth, where they were cared for at home by friends. </p>
<p>Upon its conclusion, the new mother would then go to synagogue on the Sabbath to say prayers of thanks and have special tunes sung in her honor. If she had borne a boy, she might <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691130293/mothers-and-children">craft an embroidered wimpel</a> – a band used to bind a Torah scroll closed when it is not being read – made from a strip of the cloth used to swaddle her son during his circumcision ceremony, often called a bris or brit milah.</p>
<p>In her book “<a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469660639/painted-pomegranates-and-needlepoint-rabbis/">Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis</a>,” <a href="https://religion.cas.lehigh.edu/content/dr-jodi-eichler-levine">religion scholar Jodi Eichler-Levine</a> analyzes this practice as a way for new mothers, confined to the women’s section of the synagogue, to insert themselves into what is otherwise an all-male ritual space. </p>
<p>Describing the emergence of a modern <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469660639/painted-pomegranates-and-needlepoint-rabbis/">Jewish crafting movement</a>, Eichler-Levine also notes that “in recent years, the wimpel has made a comeback,” created by mothers and grandmothers <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/new-life-for-wimpels">to honor the birth of children</a> regardless of their sex. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524684/original/file-20230505-25-ai89q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women arrange a baby on a white pillow one of them is holding, amid a crowd in a large tent." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524684/original/file-20230505-25-ai89q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524684/original/file-20230505-25-ai89q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524684/original/file-20230505-25-ai89q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524684/original/file-20230505-25-ai89q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524684/original/file-20230505-25-ai89q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524684/original/file-20230505-25-ai89q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524684/original/file-20230505-25-ai89q6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A woman places her newborn son on a pillow held by her mother during a brit milah, a Jewish circumcision ceremony, in Israel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IsraelMixedCityViolence/de321d0e9906401281ee6a9125b0a537/photo?Query=jewish%20son&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=459&currentItemNo=49">AP Photo/David Goldman</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Behind the mehitza</h2>
<p>When my oldest child was born 26 years ago, options for celebrating her birth in the Jewish community in Johannesburg, South Africa, were limited. After we brought her home from the hospital, my husband and I attended Shabbat services at the Orthodox synagogue he had grown up in. </p>
<p>As I looked on from behind the mehitza, the screen that separates men’s and women’s areas in Orthodox congregations, he was honored by being called up to the Torah during the service, and our daughter’s name was announced to the community. </p>
<p>I, on the other hand, was encouraged to privately “<a href="https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/115308/jewish/Birkat-Hagomel.htm">bentsch gommel</a>”: recite the prayer for having survived an illness or a perilous journey. </p>
<p>Then we went home. And that was it. This seemed an underwhelming way to acknowledge her arrival and my having given birth to her. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, Jewish feminists had begun creating new rituals to mark moments in women’s and girls’ lives – but in the late 1990s, that innovation was not yet felt in Johannesburg.</p>
<p>I located a copy of “<a href="https://anitadiamant.com/books/the-new-jewish-baby-book/">The New Jewish Baby Book</a>,” imported from the United States. Written by essayist and novelist Anita Diamant, the guide included sample rituals for welcoming the birth of a girl. </p>
<p>Together with my mother-in-law, a psychoanalyst who loved to cater a stylish celebration, and my sister-in-law, a journalist with a gift for powerful public speech, we crafted a ritual to take place in my in-law’s home that announced our daughter’s name and offered the women in our family a more significant role. It was an opportunity for me, as her mother, to acknowledge the beloved grandmothers and biblical figures for whom she was named and to express my hopes that a life of meaning, connection and community lay ahead of her.</p>
<h2>Tradition for the 21st century</h2>
<p>Though we didn’t realize it at the time, the ritual we created reflected many themes of contemporary Jewish feminist innovation. </p>
<p>In the book “<a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/jps/9780827608344/">Inventing Jewish Ritual</a>,” anthropologist <a href="https://jewishstudies.as.virginia.edu/faculty/profile/vanessa">Vanessa Ochs</a> describes how a movement among liberal Jews to engage in ritual innovation began in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Alongside secular do-it-yourself texts like “<a href="https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/about-us/our-history/">Our Bodies, Ourselves</a>,” which urged women to take ownership over their sexual and reproductive health, Jewish women began to design novel rituals that marked <a href="https://www.mayyimhayyim.org/ceremonies/">transformative moments in women’s lives</a>. These included moments that had long gone unremarked in Jewish public life, including the onset of menstruation, pregnancy, birth, miscarriage, infertility, abortion and menopause.</p>
<p>Our family ritual shared many features with those being developed by other Jewish parents around the world. My daughter’s naming ceremony was created from a template that allowed for improvisation and personalization. It enabled a new shared experience, and it took place outside the synagogue, in the less regulated space of a private home. </p>
<p>Rituals to mark the birth of girls are now widely accepted across all Jewish denominations. Templates and sample prayers are available in books like Israeli professor and politician Aliza Lavie’s anthology, “<a href="https://www.jta.org/2008/12/08/lifestyle/new-prayer-books-revive-forgotten-womens-liturgy">A Jewish Woman’s Prayer Book</a>,” and websites like <a href="https://ritualwell.org/">ritualwell.org</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523664/original/file-20230501-1435-frdgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stone steps in a high, vaulted, narrow passageway lead to arched windows with sunlight streaming in." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523664/original/file-20230501-1435-frdgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523664/original/file-20230501-1435-frdgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523664/original/file-20230501-1435-frdgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523664/original/file-20230501-1435-frdgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523664/original/file-20230501-1435-frdgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523664/original/file-20230501-1435-frdgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523664/original/file-20230501-1435-frdgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A medieval mikveh, a bath used for ritual immersion in Judaism, in Speyer, Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/ancient-mikvah-a-jewish-ritual-bath-in-speyer-royalty-free-image/1283727309?phrase=mikvah&adppopup=true">Rudolf Ernst/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>More recently, new rituals have been created to allow a woman to reflect upon the impact that becoming a mother has on her life. The mikveh, or ritual bath, plays a central role in <a href="https://www.benyehudapress.com/books/chanahs-voice/">observance of Jewish laws relating to family purity</a>, which may involve women immersing after menstruation and after giving birth.</p>
<p>Jewish feminists have sought to reclaim the practice of ritual immersion to mark other developments in women’s lives, including becoming a mother, and to shift the focus of ritual from the moment of transition in status to the shift in perspective brought by occupying a new role. </p>
<p>The poet Hila Ratzabi, for example, created “<a href="https://ritualwell.org/ritual/rebirth-mikveh-ritual-mothers/">A Rebirth Ritual for Mothers</a>” to be used at any time after a birth, providing an opportunity to reflect on how becoming a mother has transformed one’s life. The ritual includes sharing reflections on the challenging and empowering moments in the birth, the experience of motherhood and the experience of immersion, and includes these touching words:</p>
<p><em>As I step toward these healing waters, I acknowledge the great transitions I underwent in becoming a mother.</em></p>
<p><em>I come to the mikveh to acknowledge that these powerful birth experiences made me a mother, and I choose to step into my power.</em></p>
<p><em>I come to the mikveh to remind myself that I am always loved, always held, always growing, always whole.</em></p>
<p>Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the name of the author of “Inventing Jewish Ritual.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201336/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Fishbayn Joffe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent generations of Jewish women have looked to reinvent rituals marking the most meaningful moments in their lives, especially childbirth and motherhood.Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, Director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1975042023-03-08T13:40:23Z2023-03-08T13:40:23ZRobots are performing Hindu rituals – some devotees fear they’ll replace worshippers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513699/original/file-20230306-18-wqvorn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C831%2C422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A robotic arm (below on right) is used to worship by maneuvering a candle in front of the Hindu god Ganesha.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1pwR5yABnY&t=4s">Monarch Innovation</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It isn’t just artists and teachers who are losing sleep over advances in automation and artificial intelligence. Robots are being brought into Hinduism’s holiest rituals – and not all worshippers are happy about it.</p>
<p>In 2017, a <a href="https://patilautomation.com/">technology firm in India</a> introduced a robotic arm to perform “aarti,” a ritual in which a devotee offers an oil lamp to the deity to symbolize the removal of darkness. This particular robot was unveiled at the Ganpati festival, a yearly gathering of millions of people in which an icon of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, is taken out in a procession and immersed in the Mula-Mutha river in Pune in central India.</p>
<p>Ever since, that robotic aarti arm has inspired several prototypes, a <a href="https://www.monarch-innovation.com/ganesh-aarti-with-robotic-arm-technology/">few of which</a> continue to regularly perform the ritual <a href="https://www.deccanchronicle.com/technology/in-other-news/140918/techno-artistic-ganesha-watch-lord-ganesha-levitate-robot-conduct-aa.html">across India today</a>, along with a variety of other religious robots <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/rrcs/7/1/article-p120_120.xml?language=en">throughout East Asia</a> and <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-cow-in-the-elevator">South Asia</a>. Robotic rituals even now include <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/kerala-temple-elephant-robot-peta-b2291054.html">an animatronic temple elephant</a> in Kerala on India’s southern coast.</p>
<p>Yet this kind of religious robotic usage has led to <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-that-matters/hindu-epics-are-full-of-ai-robots-legend-has-it-that-they-guarded-buddhas-relics/articleshow/68648962.cms">increasing debates</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/meenakandasamy/status/1577242445913370624">about the use of AI</a> and robotic technology in devotion and worship. Some devotees and priests feel that this represents a new horizon in human innovation that will lead to the betterment of society, while others worry that <a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/assr.27792">using robots to replace practitioners</a> is a bad omen for the future. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jUOo9sXdU2g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ganesha aarti being done by a robotic arm.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d_8EGoUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">anthropologist who specializes in religion,</a> however, I focus less on the theology of robotics and more on what people actually say and do when it comes to their spiritual practices. My current work on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxfYcSC-MRY">religious robots</a> primarily centers on the notion of “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/717110">divine object-persons</a>,” where otherwise inanimate things are viewed as having a living, conscious essence. </p>
<p>My work also looks at the uneasiness Hindus and Buddhists express about ritual-performing automatons replacing people and whether those automatons actually might make <a href="https://www.globalbuddhism.org/article/view/1285">better devotees</a>. </p>
<h2>Ritual automation is not new</h2>
<p>Ritual automation, or at least the idea of robotic spiritual practice, isn’t new in South Asian religions. </p>
<p>Historically, this has included anything from special <a href="https://www.hindu-blog.com/2012/09/symbolism-in-water-pot-above-shivling.html">pots that drip water continuously</a> for bathing rituals that Hindus routinely perform for their deity icons, called abhisheka, to <a href="https://rubinmuseum.org/collection/artwork/wind-powered-prayer-wheel-20.406">wind-powered Buddhist prayer wheels</a> – the kinds often seen in yoga studios and supply stores. </p>
<p>While the contemporary version of automated ritual might look like downloading a <a href="https://appadvice.com/apps/hindu-prayer-apps">phone app that chants mantras</a> without the need for any prayer object at all, such as a mala or rosary, these new versions of ritual-performing robots have prompted complicated conversations.</p>
<p>Thaneswar Sarmah, a Sanskrit scholar and literary critic, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/69030981">argues that the first Hindu robot</a> appeared in the stories of King Manu, the first king of the human race in Hindu belief. Manu’s mother, Saranyu – herself the daughter of a great architect – built an animate statue to perfectly perform all of her household chores and ritual obligations. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513705/original/file-20230306-22-u4zgsi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A male figure wearing a crown and holding a red bag in one hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513705/original/file-20230306-22-u4zgsi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513705/original/file-20230306-22-u4zgsi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513705/original/file-20230306-22-u4zgsi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513705/original/file-20230306-22-u4zgsi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513705/original/file-20230306-22-u4zgsi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513705/original/file-20230306-22-u4zgsi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513705/original/file-20230306-22-u4zgsi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Visvakarman, considered to be the architect of the universe in Hindu belief.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1880-0-2021">British Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Folklorist <a href="https://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Mayor.html">Adrienne Mayor</a> <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691183510/gods-and-robots">remarks similarly</a> that religious stories about mechanized icons from Hindu epics, such as the mechanical war chariots of the Hindu engineer god Visvakarman, are often viewed as the progenitors of religious robots today.</p>
<p>Furthermore, these stories are sometimes interpreted by modern-day nationalists as evidence that ancient India has previously invented <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/all-that-matters/hindu-epics-are-full-of-ai-robots-legend-has-it-that-they-guarded-buddhas-relics/articleshow/68648962.cms">everything from spacecraft to missiles</a>.</p>
<h2>Modern traditions or traditionally modern?</h2>
<p>However, the recent use of AI and robotics in religious practice is leading to concerns among Hindus and Buddhists about the kind of future to which automation could lead. In some instances, the debate among Hindus is about whether automated religion promises the arrival of humanity into a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Digital-Hinduism/Zeiler/p/book/9781032086484">bright, new, technological future</a> or if it is simply <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768616652332">evidence of the coming apocalypse</a>. </p>
<p>In other cases, there are concerns that the proliferation of robots might lead to greater numbers of people leaving religious practice as temples begin to rely more on automation than on practitioners to care for their deities. Some of these concerns stem from the fact that many religions, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/06/13/young-adults-around-the-world-are-less-religious-by-several-measures/">both in South Asia</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/33489?login=false">globally</a>, have seen significant decreases in the number of young people willing to dedicate their lives to spiritual education and practice over the past few decades. Furthermore, with many families living in a diaspora scattered across the world, priests or “pandits” are often serving smaller and smaller communities.</p>
<p>But if the answer to the problem of <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/why-not-rituals-with-robotic-precision-/articleshow/60214893.cms">fewer ritual specialists is more robots</a>, people still question whether ritual automation will benefit them. They also question the concurrent use of robotic deities to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-019-00553-8">embody and personify the divine</a>, since these icons are programmed by people and therefore reflect the religious views of their engineers.</p>
<h2>Doing right by religion</h2>
<p>Scholars often note that these concerns all tend to reflect one pervasive theme – an underlying anxiety that, somehow, the robots are better at worshipping gods than humans are. They can also raise inner conflicts about the meaning of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/122339/the-religion-of-technology-by-david-f-noble/9780307828538">life and one’s place in the universe</a>. </p>
<p>For Hindus and Buddhists, the rise of ritual automation is especially concerning because their traditions emphasize what religion scholars <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-3881.2011.00188.x">refer to as orthopraxy</a>, where greater importance is placed on correct ethical and liturgical behavior than on specific beliefs in religious doctrines. In other words, perfecting what you do in terms of your religious practice is viewed as more necessary to spiritual advancement than whatever it is you personally believe.</p>
<p>This also means that automated rituals appear on a spectrum that progresses from human ritual fallibility to robotic ritual perfection. In short, the robot can do your religion better than you can because robots, unlike people, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768616683326">spiritually incorruptible</a>. </p>
<p>This not only makes robots attractive replacements for dwindling priesthoods but also explains their increasing use in everyday contexts: People use them because no one worries about the robot getting it wrong, and they are often better than nothing when the options for ritual performance are limited.</p>
<h2>Saved by a robot</h2>
<p>In the end, turning to a robot for religious restoration in modern Hinduism or Buddhism might seem futuristic, but it belongs very much to the present moment. It tells us that Hinduism, Buddhism and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-019-00753-9">other religions in South Asia</a> are increasingly being <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4623070">imagined as post- or transhuman</a>: deploying technological ingenuity to transcend human weaknesses because robots don’t get tired, forget what they’re supposed to say, fall asleep or leave. </p>
<p>More specifically, this means that robotic automation is being used to perfect ritual practices in East Asia and South Asia – especially in India and Japan – beyond what would be possible for a human devotee, by linking impossibly consistent and flawless ritual accomplishment with an idea of better religion. </p>
<p>Modern robotics might then feel like a particular kind of cultural paradox, where the best kind of religion is the one that eventually involves no humans at all. But in this circularity of humans creating robots, robots becoming gods, and gods becoming human, we’ve only managed to, once again, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197549803.013.3">re-imagine ourselves</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Holly Walters does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The use of AI and robotic technology in worship is raising profound questions about its long-term consequences. Will it lead to the betterment of society or replace practitioners?Holly Walters, Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology, Wellesley CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1984702023-02-23T13:15:46Z2023-02-23T13:15:46ZSage, sacred to Native Americans, is being used in purification rituals, raising issues of cultural appropriation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511784/original/file-20230222-22-nhg75m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5630%2C3728&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">White sage is being commonly used for purification rituals.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/midsection-of-sage-holding-feather-with-smudge-royalty-free-image/1207222673?phrase=sage%20smudging&adppopup=true">Stevica Mrdja / EyeEm via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>White sage, which is sacred to a number of Native American tribes in the southwest United States, has been adopted by both some contemporary Pagans and New Age practitioners <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/01/12/witches-urge-alternatives-to-sage-amid-concern-about-appropriation-overharvesting/">for purification rites</a>. As Emily McFarlan Miller reported in a recent Religion News Service article, this is resulting in overharvesting and shortages of the plant, making it harder for Native Americans to find enough for their sacred ceremonies. </p>
<p>In her groundbreaking book “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Purity-and-Danger-An-Analysis-of-Concepts-of-Pollution-and-Taboo/Douglas/p/book/9780415289955">Purity and Danger</a>,” anthropologist <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0075.xml">Mary Douglas</a> illustrates how purity and its maintenance are central to religion. It is a way to keep danger at bay as well as provide a way to separate the sacred from the mundane.</p>
<p>As a <a href="http://www.helenaliceberger.com/">sociologist of religion</a> who has studied contemporary Paganism for more than 30 years, I am aware of how important both contact with the spirit world and purification are in this religion. Contemporary Paganism is a set of religions that base their practice on what is known about pre-Christian religions in Europe, mixed with literature, science fiction and personal inspiration.</p>
<p>Within these religions <a href="https://uscpress.com/A-Community-of-Witches">nature is viewed as sacred</a>, to be celebrated and protected. The celebration of nature takes several forms, the most common being a series of rituals that commemorate the changing seasons. Cleansing is a way to provide a safe place to interact with the spirit world, which is always part of Pagan rituals. </p>
<p>Purification can be done using a number of substances, including salt, rosemary and sometimes white sage. When purification includes the use of sage, it raises the issue of appropriation, as it has traditionally been used by Native Americans in their rituals. </p>
<h2>Protection and cleansing</h2>
<p>Pagan rituals take place outdoors, when possible, or sometimes in people’s homes or in occult bookstores. There is no set liturgy that everyone follows, and it is possible for people to create their own rituals. </p>
<p>Because there is no dedicated sanctified place, cleansing and protection become <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Community_of_Witches.html?id=H7p1mwEACAAJ">particularly important within Paganism</a>. More mainstream religions have buildings, such as churches or synagogues, where they maintain sanctuaries for religious purposes only. </p>
<p>Pagans, to the contrary, have ritual areas that must be transformed from mundane to sacred use. Possibly more importantly, rituals are meant to open up the individual to the spiritual or other world. Magic, the process of changing reality to your will through incantations, is done in this realm. </p>
<p>As I learned <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Community_of_Witches.html?id=H7p1mwEACAAJ">when I was doing my research</a>, most Pagans believe entering this realm holds both great possibilities and dangers. The cleansing and purification of the place and the participants are meant to protect them by keeping out unsavory spirits. </p>
<p>Purification can be done in several ways. When I began my research in 1986, it was most commonly done using salt and water. At Pagan ceremonies that I attended as a researcher, those leading the ritual would “cut” a sacred circle. This entailed walking around the circle carrying a ritual knife known as an athame while chanting an incantation that marked the area as a safe place that only the spirits called would enter. They then used salt and water to purify the circle.</p>
<p>In some of the rituals participants were already standing in the circle when this part of the ritual was done; in others they entered afterward. The participants were also purified, with salt, water, smoke from a candle, incense or rosemary and a crystal or rock, symbolizing Mother Earth. </p>
<h2>White sage and cultural appropriation</h2>
<p>Sometimes white sage was used for purification in a ritual. It was used because it was associated with Native American practice. As religious studies scholar <a href="https://www.csuchico.edu/corh/people/faculty/sarah-pike.shtml">Sarah Pike</a> found among contemporary Pagans, cultural borrowing from Native Americans was seen as <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520220867/earthly-bodies-magical-selves">connecting the participants to the spirits</a> that lived in the land around them. </p>
<p>Participants believed they were honoring the first people on the continent by incorporating elements of their spiritual practice. Some of the Pagan practitioners had received training from a Native American teacher. For many contemporary Pagans, Native American spirituality was a practice they wanted to emulate because of its connection to the land, to a spirit world, and because it predates Christianity and is native to the region. As contemporary Pagans often piece together different elements to create their spirituality, for many it seemed natural to include Native American practices. </p>
<p>As Pike notes, in the early 1990s Native Americans from several tribes began to express their rage at what they saw as “cultural strip mining,” the stealing and watering down of their culture and their spirituality, which they described as an extension of colonization that had stripped them of their original lands. The use of sage was not the only cultural artifact that these Native American spokespeople objected to being used by nonnatives. Traditional dress and eagles’ feathers were two other examples of <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520220867/earthly-bodies-magical-selves">commonly appropriated items</a>. </p>
<p>As Pagans pride themselves on being sensitive to practices of diverse cultures, most quickly gave up the use of sage; the use of other Native American artifacts in Pagan practices became less common as well. Those who had been using sage returned to using either salt and water or rosemary for purification. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510709/original/file-20230216-18-5za3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C8%2C5542%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a sun hat and white t-shirt sitting in a field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510709/original/file-20230216-18-5za3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C8%2C5542%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510709/original/file-20230216-18-5za3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510709/original/file-20230216-18-5za3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510709/original/file-20230216-18-5za3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510709/original/file-20230216-18-5za3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510709/original/file-20230216-18-5za3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510709/original/file-20230216-18-5za3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman harvesting sage in a field.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/june-2020-saxony-freital-cindy-richter-field-worker-news-photo/1216875633?phrase=sage%20&adppopup=true">Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The use of sage by non-Native Americans is again becoming more prevalent. I noticed while doing my research in 1986 that white sage was sold at stores catering to the occult. It is now being more widely marketed by stores such as Walmart and Anthropologie. </p>
<p>The market has become larger as aspects of Pagan or New Age practices have seeped into more general practice and the <a href="https://bigthink.com/the-present/modern-paganism/?fbclid=IwAR220aeQVXJjYP3r8eP0xfYsvbWERyb-ZkWt5ZxyIa17co4y9guUdPYuEKg">number of Pagans has increased</a>. It has become common, for example, for younger Americans to <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/01/12/witches-urge-alternatives-to-sage-amid-concern-about-appropriation-overharvesting/">cleanse their homes of bad spirits</a> with white sage even if they do not identify as Pagans. Added to this, those who are new to Paganism are often unaware of the history of appropriation and are repeating the errors of an earlier generation of Pagans and <a href="https://bigthink.com/the-present/modern-paganism/?fbclid=IwAR220aeQVXJjYP3r8eP0xfYsvbWERyb-ZkWt5ZxyIa17co4y9guUdPYuEKg**">using sage in their rituals</a></p>
<p>Native Americans who normally pick the herb as they need it are complaining that they are unable to find enough for their spiritual needs. Fears have also been raised that overharvesting could result in the plant’s becoming extinct, <a href="https://medium.com/the-reynolds-media-lab/the-current-popularity-of-white-sage-is-causing-its-extinction-on-the-border-of-mexico-and-the-63f9527a8d3a">resulting in the extinction of the animals</a> that are dependent on it as well. </p>
<p>It would be both ironic and sad if in celebrating Mother Earth, Pagans helped to make a sacred herb extinct.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198470/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen A. Berger receives funding from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Association for the Sociology of Religion, and West Chester University.</span></em></p>Native Americans are struggling to find sage for their spiritual practices as the plant is being overharvested for sale to the wider public.Helen A. Berger, Affliated Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1939512022-12-26T20:51:52Z2022-12-26T20:51:52ZRituals have been crucial for humans throughout history – and we still need them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502293/original/file-20221221-16-kz3paq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=62%2C26%2C5898%2C3941&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each December, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, among others, take over our thoughts and our wallets as we participate in ceremonies our ancestors have practised for as long as we can remember. These are all example of traditions. And in most cases, traditions are accompanied by rituals. </p>
<p>What’s the difference?</p>
<p>In scientific terms, a “tradition” refers to the passing down of customs and beliefs from one generation to the next. A “ritual”, on the other hand, is a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order, and which is often embedded in a larger symbolic system, such as religion or philosophy. </p>
<p>For example, while celebrating birthdays is a tradition, blowing out the candles on a cake is a ritual. Similarly, while getting married is a tradition, exchanging vows is a ritual. </p>
<p>New rituals can be created at any time. To become tradition they only need to be understood and replicated by a wider community. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502295/original/file-20221221-20-fi43dc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old photo from around 1975 shows newlyweds drinking together at their wedding." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502295/original/file-20221221-20-fi43dc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502295/original/file-20221221-20-fi43dc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502295/original/file-20221221-20-fi43dc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502295/original/file-20221221-20-fi43dc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502295/original/file-20221221-20-fi43dc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502295/original/file-20221221-20-fi43dc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502295/original/file-20221221-20-fi43dc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Communities around the world have different rituals practised during weddings, often passed down through generations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And it’s not just in grand gestures that humans practise rituals; some are so embedded into our everyday lives we no longer recognise them. The very particular way someone makes their tea or coffee in the morning is a ritual they enact daily.</p>
<p>Basically, rituals are everywhere. That raises the question: why do we have them at all?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-story-of-legends-families-and-capitalism-a-candid-history-of-the-christmas-tree-196278">A story of legends, families and capitalism: a candid history of the Christmas tree</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Archaeological evidence for the earliest rituals</h2>
<p>Ritual behaviour has very deep origins in humanity. However, tracking these origins and their development is difficult as rituals often leave little or no physical traces behind for archaeologists to find.</p>
<p>Thus far, the best evidence for ancient rituals is the deliberate burial of loved ones. The oldest example is found at Mt Carmel in Israel, where some 130,000 years ago a <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html">Neanderthal woman</a> was laid to rest by her community. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500553/original/file-20221212-24-83uis7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500553/original/file-20221212-24-83uis7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500553/original/file-20221212-24-83uis7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500553/original/file-20221212-24-83uis7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500553/original/file-20221212-24-83uis7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500553/original/file-20221212-24-83uis7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500553/original/file-20221212-24-83uis7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500553/original/file-20221212-24-83uis7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mt Carmel in Israel is the site of the oldest known human burial. A Neanderthal woman was laid to rest here some 130,000 years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michelle Langley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Archaeologists also suggest the extensive use of coloured pigments (particularly bright red) to paint bodies, objects and rock walls points to the practice of “symbolic” behaviour, including ritual. The oldest reliable evidence for colourant use dates to between <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/686484">500,000 and 310,000 years ago</a> and comes from several archaeological sites in southern Africa.</p>
<p>Another type of evidence that is often intrinsically tied to rituals and traditions is musical instruments. Bone flutes dating back to <a href="https://www.livescience.com/20563-ancient-bone-flute.html">about 42,000 years ago</a> have been found in Western Europe. How long people have used the very first instruments – the human voice, clapping hands and stomping feet – remains unknown.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502283/original/file-20221221-18-n138xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502283/original/file-20221221-18-n138xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502283/original/file-20221221-18-n138xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502283/original/file-20221221-18-n138xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=195&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502283/original/file-20221221-18-n138xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502283/original/file-20221221-18-n138xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502283/original/file-20221221-18-n138xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This bone flute, found at the German Palaeolithic site of Hohle Fels, is at least 42,000 years old.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jensen/University of Tubingen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-invented-music-the-search-for-stone-flutes-clay-whistles-and-the-dawn-of-song-185285">Who invented music? The search for stone flutes, clay whistles and the dawn of song</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why do we have rituals?</h2>
<p>Rituals play a very important role in human communities for a number of reasons.</p>
<p>First, rituals help reduce individual and collective anxieties, especially when we ourselves, our family, or our whole community is facing uncertain times or crisis.</p>
<p><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2019.0431">Research has shown</a> that by praying or singing together we feel connected and supported and our anxiety is reduced. This may explain why Parisians were moved to sing together as they watched their beloved Notre Dame Cathedral burn in 2019.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/323MpjYoQxE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Parisians sing together as Notre Dame burns – a spontaneous ritual to deal with an unexpected crisis.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rituals also help reduce anxiety by allowing us to feel control over our surroundings. For instance, new parents may be anxious about protecting their baby. Rituals that welcome the infant into the family and community help them feel they’ve done everything possible – including drawing on supernatural protection – to ensure their child’s wellbeing.</p>
<p>Second, rituals bring people together to celebrate or otherwise mark important life milestones. Births, graduations, marriages and deaths are all marked by rituals and traditions across the globe. These events provide a time and place to gather and encourage people to renew their bonds with friends and family.</p>
<p>These bonds are especially important in times of bad luck, which helps explain why the incentive to maintain them has endured through human history.</p>
<p>Imagine living tens of thousands of years ago, when human communities were much smaller and often lived farther apart. If a volcano erupted, the resulting destruction could mean plant and animal resources – essential food and materials needed for survival – would not be available for months, or perhaps years. </p>
<p>You would then have to rely on the bonds you maintained with neighbouring communities through shared rituals. Such bonds would encourage the sharing of resources until circumstances improve.</p>
<p>Finally, rituals help us remember and share huge amounts of cultural information. By learning a format or pattern of behaviour through ritual, we can absorb information and recall it later more easily. </p>
<p>This approach works astonishingly well to ensure information is passed down orally over long periods. Thus far, the oldest story dated using scientific methods is the Aboriginal Gunditjmara people’s story of the Budj Bim volcano eruption, which occurred <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told">37,000 years ago</a> in what is now south-western Victoria.</p>
<p>Being able to retain information about changes in the landscape, its plants, animals and people ultimately increased the likelihood that your family would not only survive – but thrive.</p>
<h2>Rituals will remain</h2>
<p>Without rituals, and the traditions in which they become embedded, it is unlikely humanity would have advanced to its current state of cultural and technological development. </p>
<p>We wouldn’t have been able to continually gather and share information, maintain bonds over extensive geographical areas, or make it through difficult periods.</p>
<p>Despite being surrounding by increasingly complex technologies, rituals today remain more important than ever. With extreme weather events and conflicts continuing to displace people all over the globe, they will act as an essential social glue that holds our communities together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Langley is an Associate Professor of Archaeology in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE) and the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University.</span></em></p>Rituals have been around for hundreds of thousands of years – but are they still useful today?Michelle Langley, Associate Professor of Archaeology, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1951692022-12-05T13:25:42Z2022-12-05T13:25:42ZThe 4 biggest gift-giving mistakes, according to a consumer psychologist<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498749/original/file-20221202-20-li3d7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=104%2C7%2C4823%2C3313&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If only little Gregory got a gift card ...</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/boy-hitting-toy-on-wrapping-paper-royalty-free-image/sb10063020h-002?phrase=bad+holiday+gift">Philipp Nemenz/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A good gift can elicit a surge of happiness and gratitude in the recipient. It also feels great to give, <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-holiday-gifts-173306">with psychologists finding</a> that the joy of giving a gift is more pronounced than the pleasure of receiving one.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are times when you receive a gift and you have to force a smile and fake your gratitude.</p>
<p>I’m a consumer psychologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wjAq_TcAAAAJ&hl=en">who specializes in gift-giving research</a> – in particular, gift-giving mistakes. </p>
<p>Here are four of the most common ones.</p>
<h2>1. Prioritizing the big reveal</h2>
<p>One way givers can err is by focusing too much on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721416656937">the moment the recipient will open the gift</a>.</p>
<p>Givers want their gift to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/675737">desirable</a>. They hope <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.03.015">to surprise</a> the recipient and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2733341">put a smile</a> on their face. </p>
<p>A chocolate fondue fountain might meet these criteria – it’s quirky and sure to elicit curiosity and smiles from onlookers.</p>
<p>However, when people receive a gift, they care less about the moment the bow comes off, and instead think about the weeks and months ahead. </p>
<p>People want gifts that are <a href="https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1023703/volumes/v45/NA-45">useful</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/675737">reliable</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.03.015">meet their needs</a>.</p>
<p>How often would a chocolate fondue fountain realistically be used? </p>
<p>Compare that to a new coffee maker, which could see action every day. Sure, it isn’t a novelty – and probably won’t elicit “oohs” and “ahhs” on Christmas Day – but the recipient will be quite happy to have it on hand when their alarm rings each morning.</p>
<h2>2. Unique and new are overrated</h2>
<p>Another factor that can lead givers to go wrong involves unwritten rules for what constitutes good gift-giving practices. </p>
<p>Givers often focus on these rules more than they should. For example, they may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.023">avoid giving the same gift</a> to someone in back-to-back years because this goes against the norm of giving a unique gift each year. Givers also often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1348/014466604x23428">refrain from giving used products</a> as gifts because this violates the unspoken rule that a gift should be brand new.</p>
<p>In contrast, recipients are quite open to gifts that violate these norms. </p>
<p>If someone loves a certain type of wine, they’re <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.023">more than happy to receive it</a> in subsequent years. And if one digital camera is lightly used but possesses several innovative features, while another is new but has fewer features, people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1348/014466604x23428">are happy to receive the used one</a>. </p>
<h2>3. Being risk-averse</h2>
<p>Givers can make missteps when they avoid gifts that they see as too risky. </p>
<p>Consider sentimental gifts, like a scrapbook or a nostalgic memento.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that recipients <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2017.06.002">love these gifts</a>; they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000036">elicit happiness for extended periods of time</a>. </p>
<p>Givers, however, tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2017.06.002">shy away from sentimental gifts</a> because they see them risky – sure, they could be a home run, but they could also whiff. Doubts can creep into shoppers’ heads as they consider sentimental gifts: What if it comes across as sappy? What if the recipient thinks I’m being cheap? </p>
<p>And so people tend to opt for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105774081730044X">safer, superficial gifts</a> that they assume will be at least somewhat well-liked. Or, to continue with the baseball analogy, givers are happy to take the sure single.</p>
<p>As another example, consider material goods versus experiences. </p>
<p>When giving gifts, people often opt for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucy010">tangible objects over experiences</a> because material goods are on the safer side – almost everyone could use a new appliance or a new shirt. Experiences are trickier; they require a bit more of an understanding of who the recipient truly is – not everyone loves going to see the symphony. </p>
<p>Yet recipients tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1281">more open to experiences than givers anticipate</a> – and these gifts <a href="https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1017575/volumes/v42/NA-42">are actually more likely to make people happier</a> than material goods.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Disappointed man sits on couch holding a pair of socks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498750/original/file-20221202-18-1tm3zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498750/original/file-20221202-18-1tm3zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498750/original/file-20221202-18-1tm3zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498750/original/file-20221202-18-1tm3zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498750/original/file-20221202-18-1tm3zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498750/original/file-20221202-18-1tm3zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498750/original/file-20221202-18-1tm3zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sometimes it’s better to go with Boston Red Sox tickets over a pair of socks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-sitting-on-sofa-holding-sock-portrait-royalty-free-image/sb10063020j-004?phrase=bad%20holiday%20gift&adppopup=true">Philipp Nemenz/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Does the thought really count?</h2>
<p>Givers can also err by wanting their gift to appear especially thoughtful.</p>
<p>Of course, recipients appreciate thoughtfulness – but not when it comes at the expense of receiving something that’s actually useful.</p>
<p>This plays out when givers are shopping for multiple people. They’ll often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/674199">choose unique gifts for each recipient</a>, rather than give the same gift to everyone, because a distinct gift for each person will make them feel as though they put more time and effort into gift selection. People do this even if they realize that some recipients will be receiving less desirable gifts. </p>
<p>You’ll also see this happen with <a href="https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1020146/volumes/v43/NA-43">gift cards</a>. Givers often choose specific gift cards – to a particular clothing store or restaurant, for example – that reflect the interests or tastes of the recipient. </p>
<p>But recipients are more open to gift cards that give them more flexibility and freedom – think an Amazon or Visa gift card. That way, they can decide whether to splurge on a new sweater, dine out at their favorite restaurant – or do both.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Givi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Finding good gifts can be tricky. Here are some research-backed tips to help you with your holiday shopping.Julian Givi, Assistant Professor of Marketing, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936972022-11-09T13:38:32Z2022-11-09T13:38:32ZWhy magical thinking is so widespread – a look at the psychological roots of common superstitions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494147/original/file-20221108-20-jowi62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C0%2C5623%2C3797&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lucky charms help us feel safer in an uncertain world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/inside-of-a-taxi-royalty-free-image/80486695?phrase=superstition%20mirror&adppopup=true">Image Source via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Growing up in Greece, I spent my summers at my grandparents’ home in a small coastal village in the region of Chalkidiki. It was warm and sunny, and I passed most of my time playing in the streets with my cousins. But occasionally, the summer storms brought torrential rain. You could see them coming from far away, with black clouds looming over the horizon, lit up by lightning.</p>
<p>As I rushed home, I was intrigued to see my grandparents prepare for the thunderstorm. Grandma would cover a large mirror on the living room wall with a dark cloth and throw a blanket over the TV. Meanwhile, Grandpa would climb a ladder to remove the light bulb over the patio door. Then they switched off all the lights in the house and waited the storm out.</p>
<p>I never understood why they did all this. When I asked, they said that light attracts lightning. At least that was what people said, so better to be on the safe side.</p>
<p>Where do these kinds of beliefs come from?</p>
<p>My fascination with <a href="https://www.littlebrownspark.com/titles/dimitris-xygalatas/ritual/9780316462402/">seemingly bizarre cultural beliefs and practices</a> eventually led me to become an anthropologist. I have come across similar superstitions around the world, and although one may marvel at their variety, they share some common features.</p>
<h2>The principles of magical thinking</h2>
<p>At the core of most superstitions are certain intuitive notions about how the world works. Early anthropologists described these intuitions in terms of principles such as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006294">similarity” and “contagion</a>.” </p>
<p>According to the principle of similarity, things that look alike may share some deeper connection, just as the members of a family tend to resemble each other both in appearance and in other traits. Of course, this is not always the case. But this inference feels natural, so we often abuse it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494150/original/file-20221108-16-od04xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of a black cat, a broken mirror and the words, Friday the 13th." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494150/original/file-20221108-16-od04xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494150/original/file-20221108-16-od04xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494150/original/file-20221108-16-od04xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494150/original/file-20221108-16-od04xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494150/original/file-20221108-16-od04xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494150/original/file-20221108-16-od04xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494150/original/file-20221108-16-od04xm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At the core of most superstitions are intuitive notions about how the world works.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/friday-the-13th-black-cat-royalty-free-illustration/1285396482?phrase=superstition%20broken%20mirror&adppopup=true">Andry Djumantara/ iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<p>Case in point: The light reflected on the surface of a mirror is not related to the light resulting from the electrical discharges produced <a href="https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/239-lightning-explained">during a thunderstorm</a>. But because they both seem to give off light, a connection between the two was plausible enough to become <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1Mc4qPiICvcC&pg=PT1100&lpg=PT1100&dq=mirrors+%22attract+lightning%22+superstition&source=bl&ots=LVd49J3fHl&sig=ACfU3U3sbqS-vHXpUTiXa-ytwQ9HJ_qShg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiPlYGxgp_7AhXEkokEHTcFAVg4FBDoAXoECD8QAw#v=onepage&q=mirrors%20%22attract%20lightning%22%20superstition&f=false">folk wisdom</a> in many parts of the world. Likewise, because our reflection on the mirror closely resembles our own image, many cultures hold that breaking a mirror brings bad luck, as if damage to that reflection would also mean <a href="http://www.mirrorhistory.com/mirror-facts/broken-mirror/">damage to ourselves</a>.</p>
<p>The principle of contagion is based on the idea that things have internal properties that can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/demolishing-schools-after-a-mass-shooting-reflects-humans-deep-rooted-desire-for-purification-rituals-184826">transmitted through contact</a>. The heat of a fire is transferred to anything it touches, and some illnesses can spread from one organism to another. Whether consciously or unconsciously, people in all cultures often expect that other kinds of essences can also be transferred through contact. </p>
<p>For example, people often believe that certain essences can “rub off” on someone, which is why casino players sometimes touch someone who is on a winning streak. It is also why, in 2014, a statue of Juliet, the Shakespearean character who fell madly in love with Romeo, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/veronas-juliet-statue-damaged-beyond-repair-love-seeking-tourists">had to be replaced</a> due to excessive wear caused by visitors touching it to find love.</p>
<h2>A search for patterns</h2>
<p>These kinds of superstitions betray something more general about the way people think. To make sense of our world, we look for patterns in nature. When two things occur at around the same time, they may be related. For instance, black clouds are associated with rain.</p>
<p>But the world is far too complex. Most of the time, <a href="https://www.statology.org/correlation-does-not-imply-causation-examples/">correlation does not mean causation</a>, although it may feel like it does. </p>
<p>If you wear a new shirt to the stadium and your team wins, you might wear it again. If another victory comes, you begin to see a pattern. This now becomes your lucky shirt. In reality, myriad other things have changed since the last game, but you do not have access to all those things. What you know for sure is that you wore the lucky shirt, and the result was favorable.</p>
<h2>Superstitions are comforting</h2>
<p>People really want their lucky charms to work. So when they don’t, we are less motivated to remember them, or we may attribute our luck to some other factor. If their team loses, they might blame the referee. But when their team wins, they are <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-bias">more likely to notice the lucky shirt</a>, and more likely to declare to others that it worked, which helps spread the idea.</p>
<p>As a social species, so much of what we know about the world comes from common wisdom. It would therefore seem safe to assume that if other people believe in the utility of a particular action, there might be something to it. If people around you say you should not eat those mushrooms, it’s probably a good idea to avoid them. </p>
<p>This “better safe than sorry” strategy is one of the main reasons superstitions are so widespread. Another reason is that they simply feel good. </p>
<p>Research shows that rituals and superstitions <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-people-need-rituals-especially-in-times-of-uncertainty-134321">spike during times of uncertainty</a>, and performing them can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0431">help reduce anxiety</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00116.x">boost performance</a>. When people feel powerless, turning to familiar actions provides a sense of control, which, even if illusory, can still be comforting.</p>
<p>Thanks to these psychological effects, superstitions have been around for ages, and will likely be around for ages to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193697/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dimitris Xygalatas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An anthropologist explains why we all have some irrational beliefs and the reason they give us comfort.Dimitris Xygalatas, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Psychological Sciences, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936982022-11-08T13:42:01Z2022-11-08T13:42:01ZHalloween without kids and Christmas without Christ take hold in Asia, with uniquely local twists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493881/original/file-20221107-22-bg8cmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C0%2C8034%2C5316&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Halloween in Korea is celebrated primarily by young adults.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SouthKoreaDailyLife/4a1d6fa24440434493f725930ce09c01/photo?Query=halloween%20south%20korea&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=241&currentItemNo=214">AP Photo/Lee Jin-man</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Halloween is supposed to be fun, a night to put on costumes and publicly celebrate with friends and strangers. Its traditional past as a festival for the dead lives on mainly in spooky decorations and scary movies.</p>
<p>But Halloween horror became all too real this year when a sudden stampede swept through the crowds celebrating the festivities in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/29/world/asia/itaewon-halloween-south-korea.html">trendy neighborhood</a> of Itaewon in Seoul, South Korea, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/10/29/world/korea-halloween-stampede-itaewon">leaving more than 150 people dead</a> and nearly as many injured. </p>
<p>Virtually nonexistent in Korea a decade ago, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/31/1132670315/itaewon-seoul-halloween-stampede">Halloween’s popularity has grown</a> in recent years. In Itaewon, the holiday brings a large foreign-born population together with young, educated, culturally savvy locals, many of whom have spent time abroad. Rather than being a holiday for kids, Halloween in Korea is celebrated primarily by young adults, who enjoy it as a night on the town. </p>
<p>As a scholar who researches <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-has-halloween-become-so-popular-among-adults-104896">Halloween and young adults</a>, I am not surprised by the festival’s popularity in Korea. In a globalizing world, fueled by social media, holidays cross borders, sometimes ending up in very unlikely places. </p>
<h2>Crossing borders</h2>
<p>Halloween has a long history of globe-trotting. Despite the holiday’s being seen as American, its <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-was-halloween-invented-once-a-celtic-pagan-tradition-the-holiday-has-evolved-to-let-kids-and-adults-try-on-new-identities-192379">true origins go back to the Celtic festival of Samhain</a>. When Irish immigrants brought Halloween to America in the mid-19th century, many of their new neighbors initially viewed the mix of ancient rituals and Catholic practices as “un-American.” </p>
<p>With time, however, Halloween gained acceptance, becoming a popular American tradition. But the holiday lost much of its religious and supernatural significance in becoming palatable to a larger population. Mass-produced costumes replaced simple homemade ones, and the range of options exploded from just ghosts and goblins to include favorite characters from movies and television.</p>
<p>This commercialized version of the holiday has continued to expand into the rest of the world. In Korea and Japan, it is most enthusiastically embraced by young adults. Halloween came to Japan via American pop culture in the late 20th century and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2017.1290189">has exploded in popularity in recent years</a>. Neither a religious festival nor a children’s holiday, Halloween in Japan is a time for adults to dress in creative costumes and go to parties. It is now the second-largest consumer holiday in Japan after Christmas.</p>
<p>Despite Christians being only a small minority in Japan, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10253860500160361">Christmas thrives</a> as an entirely secular holiday, without nativity scenes, but symbolized by reindeer, snowmen and Christmas trees. Like Halloween, Christmas came to Japan through the media and multinational corporations seeking to profit from holiday spending.</p>
<h2>Travel and transformation</h2>
<p>At first glance, this may looks like a perfect example of globalization – of Western commercialism finding new audiences for meaningful traditions. A closer look reveals a more complex picture. </p>
<p>Commercialization pulls holidays from their roots, allowing them to travel the globe. When they land, however, locals transform them into something that works for them. Globalization is met with localization, a process researchers call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9558.00185">glocalization</a>.” </p>
<p>Whatever its origins, Christmas in Japan is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10253860500160361">distinctly Japanese</a>. It complements traditional December gift-giving traditions, as well as drawing on existing cultural norms for how to wrap and present gifts. Additionally, the Japanese have created their own traditions related to the holiday. They celebrate with elaborate and expensive Christmas cakes. For them, Christmas is more like Valentine’s Day, with the focus on romance rather than the family, as it is in the West. Additionally, they celebrate the day on the 24th. By the next day, the Japanese are already putting away their decorations. </p>
<p>Japanese Halloween also has its own <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03612112.2017.1290189">unique characteristics</a>. For example, Japanese costumes are informed by local cultural traditions, both traditional folklore and contemporary pop culture cosplay. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse perform with Santa Claus" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493883/original/file-20221107-11-2oql7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Christmas has taken a uniquely local color in Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/JapanDailyLife/1a4864e8b6d543378d61c4e37f35ddb4/photo?Query=christmas%20japan&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=276&currentItemNo=9">Yoshikazu Tsuno/Pool Photo via AP</a></span>
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<p>Global holidays are not always welcomed in new contexts. Although many in the West now view <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/24/world/asia/india-christmas.html">Christmas</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/12/why-theres-a-war-on-valentines-day-in-india/">Valentine’s Day</a> as fully secularized and commercial holidays, their historical ties to Christianity can spark strong resistance from religious groups in countries outside the U.S. In India, Hindu conservatives have been opposing the celebration of Christmas. </p>
<p>In Pakistan, religious groups have pushed back against Valentine’s Day celebrations. Some have also rejected it for the <a href="https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2015/02/12/is-there-a-globalization-of-commodified-love/">crass commodification of love</a>. </p>
<h2>Cultural exchanges</h2>
<p>Increasingly, global culture flows in multiple directions. The same night that Koreans dressed up like Americans for Halloween, many Americans put on costumes of their favorite characters from the hit show “<a href="https://variety.com/2022/shopping/news/squid-game-halloween-costume-1235080321/">Squid Game</a>,” a Korean program that has gained widespread popularity in the U.S. </p>
<p>Often holidays travel most smoothly when reduced to primarily commercial expressions, freed from religious beliefs and national context. After all, one doesn’t need to believe in ghosts to wear a Halloween costume, or in Jesus to buy a Christmas gift.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linus Owens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Halloween was virtually nonexistent in South Korea until about a decade ago. But commercialization is taking popular holidays to unlikely places across the globe.Linus Owens, Associate Professor of Sociology, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1913002022-10-24T12:27:11Z2022-10-24T12:27:11ZHalloween’s celebration of mingling with the dead has roots in ancient Celtic celebrations of Samhain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489639/original/file-20221013-22-tnrhsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C25%2C2095%2C1384&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How did Halloween get associated with the spooky?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/group-of-friends-dancing-together-royalty-free-image/1144985881?phrase=halloween%20party&adppopup=true">SolStock/Collection E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Halloween approaches, people get ready to celebrate the spooky, the scary and the haunted. Ghosts, zombies, skeletons and witches are prominently displayed in yards, windows, stores and community spaces. Festivities center around the realm of the dead, and some believe that the dead might actually mingle with the living on the night of Halloween. </p>
<p>Scholars have often noted how these modern-day celebrations of Halloween have origins in Samhain, a festival <a href="https://theconversation.com/tricking-and-treating-has-a-history-85720">celebrated by ancient Celtic cultures</a>. In contemporary Irish Gaelic, <a href="https://www.focloir.ie/en/dictionary/ei/O%C3%ADche+Shamhna">Halloween is still known as Oíche Shamhna, or Eve of Samhain</a></p>
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<p>As a <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1012737">folklorist with a special interest in Celtic culture</a>, I find it interesting to note the longevity of this holiday: The celebration of the dead on Halloween is not a recent innovation, but rather one of the oldest surviving traditions that continues today as a vibrant part of many peoples’ lives.</p>
<h2>Early evidence from archaeology</h2>
<p>In ninth century Irish literature, Samhain is mentioned many times as an integral part of the Celtic culture. It was <a href="https://sites.uwm.edu/barnold/2001/10/31/halloween-customs-in-the-celtic-world/">one of four seasonal turning points</a> in the Celtic calendar, and perhaps the most important one. It signaled the end of the light half of the year, associated with life, and the beginning of the dark half, associated with the dead. </p>
<p>Archaeological records suggest that commemorations of Samhain can be traced back to the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/inside-irelands-gate-to-hell-that-birthed-halloween">Neolithic period, some from 6,000 years ago</a>. Neolithic Ireland had no towns or cities, but did craft huge architectural monuments, which acted as seasonal gathering spots, and housed the remains of the societies’ elites. </p>
<p>These megalithic sites, from the Greek “mega” and “lithos,” meaning big stone, would at times host vast numbers of people, gathered together for brief periods around specific calendar dates. Archaeological records reveal evidence of massive feasts, yet little to no evidence of domestic use. If people did live year-round at these sites, they would have been a select few.</p>
<p>Data from animal bones can reveal approximate time periods of the feasts, and further data comes from the monuments themselves. Not only are the monuments situated in key places in the landscape, but they are also carefully celestially aligned to allow the sun or moon to shine directly into the center of the monument on a particular day.</p>
<p>These sites connect the landscape to the cosmos, creating a lived calendar, scripted in stone. The UNESCO World Heritage monument of Newgrange, for example, is built so that a <a href="https://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/built-heritage/newgrange/">shaft of sunlight illuminates the innermost chamber</a> precisely on the day of winter solstice. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489642/original/file-20221013-13-phcvnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A front view of the Newgrange monument in Ireland taken from outside the grounds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489642/original/file-20221013-13-phcvnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489642/original/file-20221013-13-phcvnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489642/original/file-20221013-13-phcvnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489642/original/file-20221013-13-phcvnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489642/original/file-20221013-13-phcvnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489642/original/file-20221013-13-phcvnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489642/original/file-20221013-13-phcvnq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ancient monuments such as the Newgrange have been carefully celestially aligned.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Irelands_history.jpg">Tjp finn via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Less than 30 miles away lies the hill of Tara, another massive megalithic site. The Mound of Hostages, the oldest extant megalithic structure at Tara, <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Samhain/">is aligned to Samhain</a>. Tara is known as the traditional spiritual and political capital of Ireland, and here, too, archaeologists have found evidence of <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/archirel.34.1">mass seasonal gatherings of people, with the remains of feasts and great bonfires</a>.</p>
<h2>The spirits of the dead</h2>
<p>According to early Irish literature, as well as traditional folklore collected in the 19th century, Samhain of long ago was a time for people to come together, under a command of peace, to feast, tell stories, make social and political claims, engage in important sacred rituals and, perhaps most importantly, <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Samhain/">to commune with the dead</a>. </p>
<p>The traditional, pre-Christian realm of the dead was referred to as the Otherworld. The Otherworld was not somewhere far away, but rather overlapping with the world of the living. The Irish beliefs about the Otherworld were detailed and complex. It is full of magic, of witchcraft, of speaking with the dead as well as <a href="https://sites.uwm.edu/barnold/2001/10/31/halloween-customs-in-the-celtic-world/">seeing into the future</a>. The dead were traditionally believed to continue to see the living, although the living could only occasionally see them. The most prominent occasion would be on Samhain itself, when lines between the Otherworld of the dead and the realm of the living were weakened.</p>
<p>Not only were there particular days that one might encounter the dead, but particular places as well, these being the same megalithic sites. These sites are known in Irish Gaelic as “sí” sites, but there is another meaning of the word sí in Irish, <a href="https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/s%c3%ad">that being the spirits of the mounds</a>. This is often translated into English as “fairies”, which loses a great deal of meaning. “Fairies” in Ireland are spirits deeply connected with the realm of the dead, the mounds, and, perhaps most especially, Samhain. </p>
<p>The connection can be witnessed in the figure of the banshee – or bean sí, in Irish – an important mythological figure in Irish folklore, believed to be heard wailing with grief directly before the death of a family member. With Irish “bean” meaning simply “woman”, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20177501">banshee is thus a female spirit of the mounds</a>, and a ruler of the realm of the dead. </p>
<p>The sí spirits are not only spirits of the dead, but they are also a particular aristocracy of the dead, who host the dead with feasting, merriment and eternal youth, often at the age-old megalithic sites. In Irish lore, they are powerful and dangerous, able to give great gifts or exact great damage. They once ruled Ireland, according to folklore, and now they rule the world of the dead.</p>
<p>The Otherworld is always there, but it is on the beginning of the dark half of the year, the evening of Samhain, now Halloween, when the dead are at their most powerful and when the lines between this world and the next are erased.</p>
<p>As the light of summer fades and the season of darkness begins, the ancient holiday of Halloween continues to celebrate the dead mingling with the world of the living once again, as it has for thousands of years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191300/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tok Thompson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A folklorist explains how Halloween continues an ancient Celtic tradition of the celebration of the dead.Tok Thompson, Professor of Anthropology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.