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Creatinga Ritual. Social Sciences Research Paper Essay

Essay Instructions:

Barry Stephenson describes (p. 109) the idea of "ritual impoverishment," that "one of the ills of Western culture is the absence of ritual, and the recovery of ritual is a cure to what ails us."
Your assignment is to create a ritual (please note: not to analyze an existing ritual).
Choose an event—whether one shared by all of us or one shared by only some people—that either (1) lacks a ritual entirely but, in your estimation, should have one; or (2) already has a ritual attached to it, but which in your estimation should be replaced by something better or more meaningful. Describe your event: when does it happen? Where? To whom does it occur?
Then generate a ritual to go with it. What actions occur? These can be physical (processions, investing with specific clothes, etc.), performative utterances (specific words spoken), or anything else you deem appropriate. What, if any, music would be performed? What role would music play in your ritual? Would it be central to the action, play a minor role, would there be none at all? Why?
An important note: be sure that you are creating and describing a ritual and not merely a behavior (or series of behaviors). Review the "What is Ritual?" section of Lesson 7 if necessary.
Finally, identify what broad genre of ritual your new rite belongs to; and highlight which of the six characteristics of ritual that we've discussed appear in yours. There should be at least a few, and quite possibly all six.

Essay Sample Content Preview:
Music and Wedding Ceremony
Name:
Institution:
Creating a Ritual
Music is universal. Many communities think of music as the most integral part of performing arts. Also, most rituals carried by communities around the globe involve several aspects of music. Music is a way of retelling the history of the community, praising a person and praising a supreme being, to mention a few functions. As a form of entertainment, music is mostly performed in ceremonies such as marriages, funerals, and festivities worldwide. The ritual I am going to create will replace the traditional wedding ceremony in the Yoruba community in Nigeria. The traditional wedding ceremony requires participants to be early to the ceremony, if not; they are supposed to pay a fine. Also, the preparations and the food prepared at the ceremony are costly. People who cannot afford the preparations will feel as if they are not good enough and may lower their self-esteem. In my new ritual, the family will prepare a celebration that they can afford.
A wedding ceremony is a way of celebrating two people who have come together to form a family. In most cases, the family has to approve the marriage first. However, in this case, the elders of the community will be in charge of vetting the union although the parents will receive the bride. After the elders have approved the marriage, the groom’s family, excluding the groom, will head to the bride’s family to present the dowry. Here, they will be required to arrive early in the morning, exactly two weeks before the ceremony happens.
Since the elders are in charge of deciding whether the groom is fit for marriage, the interested party must be from another village. The purpose of this rule is to create diversity. There are specific people supposed to take part in the payment of the dowry. These people are the closest relatives from both families. Here, they will give out what they came with. After that, the bride to be is blindfolded and masked. This particular mask is made up different figures like the horsemen and women, to mention a few.
The multiple forms of art represented in the mask are to regulate the l...
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