Nacirema Culture and Body Rituals

• The Nacirema are a poorly understood North American group.
• They live between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumara of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles.
• Tradition states that they came from the east.
• Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy in a rich natural habitat.
• A considerable portion of their day is spent in ritual activity focused on the human body.
• The appearance and health of the body is a major concern in the people’s belief.

Core Beliefs

• The main belief underlying their ritual activity is that the human body is ugly and prone to weakness and disease.
• Ritual and ceremony are seen as the only way to avert these characteristics.
• Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose.
• More powerful individuals have several shrines, and the grandeur of a house is often determined by the number of ritual centers it has.

Shrines

• The focal point of the shrine is a charm-box built into the wall.
• The box contains charms and magical potions believed to be essential for survival.
• These preparations are obtained from specialized practitioners.
• The most powerful practitioners are the medicine men, who are rewarded with large gifts.
• Medicine men decide on potion ingredients and write them down in an ancient and secret language understood only by them and herbalists.
• Herbalists provide the required charms for another gift.
• Beneath the charm-box is a small font.
• Family members bow before the charm-box, mingle holy water in the font, and perform a cleansing rite.
• Holy water is secured from the Water Temple, where priests conduct elaborate purification ceremonies.

Latipso (Temple)

• Medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community.
• Elaborate ceremonies for treating very sick patients are performed at the latipso.
• These ceremonies involve the medicine man and assistants in distinctive costumes and headdresses.
• Latipso ceremonies are so harsh that many patients do not recover.
• Sick adults are willing to undergo the ritual purification if they can afford it.
• Guardians of many temples require a rich gift before admitting a client.

Oral Obsession

• The Nacirema have an unrealistic horror of and fascination with the mouth.
• The condition of the mouth is believed to have a supernatural influence on social relationships.
• They perform rituals of the mouth to prevent teeth from falling out, gums from bleeding, jaws from shrinking, and friends from deserting them.
• They believe there is a strong relationship between oral and moral characteristics.
• A ritual cleansing of the mouth for children is supposed to improve their moral character.
• The daily body ritual includes a mouth-rite involving inserting a bundle of hog hairs into the mouth with magical pastes and moving it in a formalized manner.
• They visit a holy-mouth-man once or twice a year.
• These practitioners use augers, awls, probes, and prods.
• The use of these items in removing the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client.
• The holy mouth-man enlarges any holes created by decay in the teeth and puts magical materials into these holes.
• If there are no naturally occurring holes, sections of teeth are gouged out to apply the supernatural substance.
• The purpose of these religious functions is to arrest decay and to draw friends.

Conclusion

• The Nacirema are a magic-ridden people.
• It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens they have imposed upon themselves.

Explore the fascinating Nacirema culture, a North American group with unique body-focused rituals. Their core belief centers on the human body's ugliness and vulnerability, driving daily ritualistic activities. Shrines in households reflect their devotion to averting weakness and disease.