RITES OF PASSAGE:


Culturally  defined activities associated with the transition from one place or stage of life to another.

SOURCES:  www.highered.mheducation.com

                     Cultural Anthropology, 9/e

                     Conrad P. Kottak, University of Michigan.

Rite of passage, ceremonial event, existing in all historically known societies, that makes the passage from one social or religious status to another. this article describes these rites among various societies throughout the world, giving greatest attention to the most common types of rites; explains their purposes from the viewpoints of the people observing the rites; and discuss their social, cultural, and psychological significance as seen by scholars seeking to gain an understanding of human behaviour. 

SOURCES:  www.britannia.com

                     Encyclopaedia Britannica.

 REFLECTION ON YANOMANO.

Napoleon Chagnon known as one of the most controversial anthropologists spent more than 60 months in Yanomani, which is a tribe in Amazon, which is one of the isolated places and the widely known places in the world. He went there to study about the people of Yanomani, known as the “Yanomamo’’, their culture and their society. The people of Yanomano are very simple since they are tribal. Like all the other anthropologist even Chagnon felt vey difficult to adjust to their society in the beginning, but later as the time passed by he felt like he belonged there. The Yanomamo fall into the category of tropical forest Indian called Foot people. The Yanomamo are described pretty clearly by the author. We get to know a about how they live in their tribe which is different from how we live our life. The Yanomamo have a rich and complex language. When it comes to clothing, it’s more about the decorations than the protection. Dress code seems neutral for both the boys and the boys. Their daily life envolved gardening, hunting, collecting wild foods and firewoods, fetching water, gossiping and also making their own material possession such as bows, hammers, arrows and colourful pigment that they colour themselves with. They work for 3 hours a day. Their villages are spacious and have open grounds for their own adventures. They are also very public. Some villages are very small with just 40 to 50 people and of the larger area they can be up to 300 people or more. Their life expectancy is short because most deaths are the results of evil spirits, which means that superstition plays a very important role in the lives of the Yanomamo. Many deaths have been occurred due to the influence of the evil spirits. The young boys and men are taught to be fierce and are rewarded. Whereas for young girls, they take up duties from a very young age and their future entirely depends on the adults and their families. She is given for marriage for the benefit of her family. Further we understand that war and warfare, is also very common. But what the author noticed was that the war was mostly over women. We see how women play an important life in the men’s life. They were also very much concerned about their status.  Napoleon, the author was impressed about the importance that aggression played in shaping their culture. He also left that as the time went by things also changed among the Yanomamo during his research. Lastly, I  realized how different we are from other cultures which we never even knew existed. It’s always interesting to know and learn new things. I feel that the Yanomamo are satisfied with what they have and they believe what they do like all the other cultures. The article about the Yanomamo was like a story, interesting and simply beautiful.