Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

BODY RITUAL AMONG THE NACIREMA Revised from “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace

Miner, American Anthropologist Magazine 58(3), 1956, pp. 503–7 The ritual of the Nacirema was first

brought to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago, but the culture of this people is still very

poorly understood. They are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree,

the Yaqui and Tarahumara of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is known of their

origin, although tradition states that they came from the east. Nacirema culture is characterized by a

highly developed market economy, which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the

people’s time is devoted to economic pursuits, a considerable portion of their day is spent in ritual

activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which appear as a

major concern in the people’s belief. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial

aspects and associated philosophy are unique. The main belief underlying this ritual activity appears to

be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to weakness and disease. Captive in such

a body, man’s only hope to avert these characteristics is through the use of ritual and ceremony. Every

household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the

society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the grandeur of a house is often referred to in

terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest,

which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which

no native believes he or she could live. These preparations are obtained from a variety of specialized

practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose help must be rewarded with

large gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the potions for their clients, but decide what the

ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is

understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required

charm. Beneath the charm-box is a small font. Each day every member of the family enters the shrine

room, bows his or her head before the charm-box, mingles different sorts of holy water in the font, and

proceeds with a brief rite of cleansing. The holy waters are secured from the Water Temple of the

community, where the priests conduct elaborate ceremonies to make the liquid ritually pure. The

medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community of any size. The more elaborate

ceremonies required to treat very sick patients can only be performed at this temple. These ceremonies

involve not only the miracle-worker, but also a group of assistants who move quietly about the temple

chambers in distinctive costume and headdress. The latipso ceremonies are so harsh that a fair

proportion of the really sick natives who enter the temple never recover. Despite this fact, sick adults

are not only willing, but eager to undergo the long and drawn-out ritual purification, if they can afford to

do so. No matter how ill or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a

client if he or she cannot offer a rich gift. The Nacirema have an unrealistic horror of and fascination

with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social

relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their

gums bleed, their jaws shrink, and their friends desert them. They also believe that there is a strong

relationship between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual cleansing of the

mouth for children, which is supposed to improve their moral character. The daily body ritual includes a

mouth-rite. This rite involves a practice which strikes the unfamiliar stranger as revolting. It was

reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along

with certain magical pastes, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures. In

addition to the private mouth-rite, the people seek out a holy-mouth- man once or twice a year. These

practitioners have an impressive set of tools, consisting of a variety of 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 holymouth-man opens the client’s mouth and, using the abovementioned tools, enlarges

any holes which decay may have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes. If

there are no naturally occurring holes in the teeth, large sections of one or more teeth are gouged out

so that the supernatural substance can be applied. In the Nacirema’s view, the purpose of these

religious functions is to arrest decay and to draw friends. Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema

has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden people. It is hard to understand how they have managed

to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon them