Body Ritual among the NaciremaHORACE MINERSummary Miners classic satirical article describes the - FinalQuiz

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Body Ritual among the Nacirema
HORACE MINER
Summary Miner's classic, satirical article describes the body ritual of a North American people called the Nacirema. Driven by a cultural value of the fragility and importance of their bodies, they engage in a series of daily rituals designed to make their bodies more presentable and long lasting. Underlying body ritual is a cultural perception that the human body is ugly with a tendency toward debility and disease. The Nacirema engage in complex rituals to cover up bodily imperfections and slow the body's deterioration. They have a household shrine with a chest full of magical charms, and a holy font located below the charm box. Charms come in many forms and are used for many specific purposes.
There are medicine men to guide the Nacirema in the use of charms, and "holy-mouth-men" that use various tools to purify and maintain the mouth; this in addition to the twice-daily mouth rite done at home that involves the use of a special brush.
More elaborate ceremonies are performed in a local temple, the latipsoalthough that is often viewed as a place to die. Those entering the latipso are often stripped of their clothing, handled by vestal virgins, and made to do their bodily functions in a sacred vessel and in public. Normally, however, excretory functions are ritualized and relegated to secrecy, as are natural reproductive functions.
There is also another practitioner, called a "listener," who has the power to exorcise the devils that lodge in the heads of people who have been bewitched. Parents, especially mothers, are often suspected of putting a curse on their children. For a large gift, a witch doctor will conduct exorcism sessions, when he or she listens to the other's troubles and fears from childhood.
Miner concludes that from the evidence above, the Nacirema are a magic-ridden people.
According to Miner in "Body Ritual among the Nacirema," men engage in a daily ritual that involves scraping and lacerating the face with a sharp object.

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