Body Ritual, Among the Nacirema

The Nacirema people have a completely different culture then the rest of society. Some cultures go to temples, or churches, to worship and have holy water, as the Nacirema people do. The people perform many rituals in order to keep the human body healthy. The Nacirema people perform rituals in a shrine, in which each house has at least one, and do this privately. However, the rituals they perform ultimately result in torturing themselves. Women bake their heads in an oven for an hour as part of their body ritual. People go to a Holy-Mouth-Man at least once a year to tell their fears. Once they reveal their fears, the Holy-Mouth-Man will use magical materials to rip out their teeth. They believe this will remove the evils from their mouth; however the Nacirema people are being tortured. There is also a ceremony, Latipso, where people go to the temples in order to recover from a serious illness. The medicine man will perform a ritual purification, but must first bring a gift to the custodian. Often times those who enter the temple do not survive and if they do, they were not healed from their illness.

In the houses, the Nacirema people also worship a box that contains charms and powerful potions. The medicine men are the only people who can receive these gifts because they are considered the most powerful practitioners. The medicine men will then write out the ingredients in a secret language, then place the charm back into the charm-box in the shrine. The medicine men don’t use the ingredients for their clients because understanding the ingredients provides another charm for the box. Although this box is overflowing, the Nacirema people believe that all the charms hold magical materials and are afraid to throw them away.

Due to lack of education and not being aware of the new technologies, the Nacirema people believe that these practices help them, even if it requires pain. These rituals are part of their culture that they were brought up to believe in. Therefore, it is not their fault for continuing the rituals even if they don’t work and even kill some of their people. If they were exposed to how others live to keep themselves healthy, it is possible they would no longer continue the rituals.