Movement

Flying Orbs

The Nacirema are dedicated to things they are passionate about. They believe you will never be good at something unless you work at it.

There are many organizations of Naciremas who find pleasure in flying, multicolored, orbs. They use their upper body to send such orbs high into the air. There is a specific pattern they must follow in order to have the best chance at receiving a single number to add to their total. The first step is used with their forearms, then the fingertips of another. Finally, the ball is sent over a tall barrier as fast as a cheetah. Each step and motion is calculated with extreme precision to achieve just the right placement. All mistakes are accounted for, but other people in their organization still put their hands together and forgive one another.

I spoke to some of the Nacirema about why they do this. One said, “It gives me something to do in my freetime.” While the other simply mentioned, “It is fun”. When I asked what they think might happen if they stop doing this, one said, “I would lose my spot in the organization.” The other said, “I would fall behind all my other friends who do this.” They also spoke about what it shows about the Nacirema. “You have to stay athletic so you can be strong, and you can use strength in everyday life.” One said, while the other had a different opinion saying, “We work hard for things we are passionate about.”

The Nacirema have very interesting and bizarre rituals. It really makes me wonder how they stay persistent and dedicated to such rituals for this long. At the end of the day, the Nacirema believes nothing worthwhile comes easily.

~ Kyle L.

Squishy Rugs

The Nacirema, a tribe north of Mexico, worry a lot about their lives and find comfort in things like this time-consuming ritual. They have extremely stressful lives and must take time to relax and re-think their struggles. My research that I gathered from my time spent in a Nacirema house-hold shows exactly the process in which they do this ritual.

The routine I observed is not done by all Nacirema, but some use it as a way to calm down and de-stress. They each have different colored squishy rugs that they pull out and sit down on. Some Nacirema families have sessions in which a highly-trained master of this art shows them how to do this ritual. Others, like the one I observed earlier this week, watch magical programs projected onto a small surface. These programs show the Nacirema what to do, because their minds are not intuitive enough to know on their own.

After pulling out their rugs, the family sits down, one per person of course, and begin their ritual. Everyone has a different set of ritual steps depending on what they want to improve. Some Nacirema do the rituals together, as a sort of bonding experience. Others use it as a way to stretch and contort their bodies to workout and/or relax. I watched a Nacirema family member do her ritual. She put her hands in a prayer position and muttered something like ‘Namaste.’ It must be an enchantment or incantation of some sort. She continued to move her body and follow along until she was sweating and sore. I couldn’t see a major difference in her physical appearance, so I took to talking to her.

As I attempted to make contact with her, I could make out some of the things she felt like she must do. She explained how a lot of Nacirema people do these rituals as a way to de-stress in their busy lives. She (and many others) worry that if they stop these rituals, they shall become frail and weak. I asked if it was punishment, but she told me she chose to do it. All though it may be hard, she says it is a form of relaxation. Of course, it seemed extremely strange that causing pain relaxed her, but I followed along anyway.

After spending time with the Nacirema, I can only gather that they worry a lot about strength in their society. All though their ways are wildly different to mine, I can only hope that this is the way they please their elders. I’m glad to see that my research paid off in the assumption that the Nacirema calm down with this ritual. It is a strange way to do things, but it seems that the Nacirema who participate pass it on to their children, so that must be how it has survived all these years. I wonder if this strange incantation will live on, or if it will be replaced by something down the road.

~ Hannah G.

Dangerous Fights

The Nacirema believe that if they don’t do fun things the entire culture will collapse and people will head different ways.

The Nacirema host fights with different tribes from all the villages. The fights have a lopsided orb that each tribe is trying to take to their side of the arena. They have people in striped costumes running around who rule and they make rules for the fight. I was able to go to one of these exotic games to see. The members of the tribes yelled commands to each other right before the orb went into play. They do this ritual many times in autumn and continue into winter. The Tribe that has one the most fights at the end will be in another tournament with a tribe. The winner of that fight will move on to the best event of the year. The winner of that fight will be presented with generous gifts if shiny material shaped into objects.

The Nacrema believe that without fun everything will fall apart and collapse. We wonder why the Nacirema have managed this long while they do these dangerous fights.

~ Brandon B.

Sphere Carvings

The Nacirema should stay strong and athletic. So instead of doing nothing all day, they could practice a sport! Where you try to throw the holy sphere with carvings into the hovering circle with a colorful tangled up mess. Then, you can toss your holy sphere with carvings into that tangled mess and woosh! You win a marking for your clan of others!

Outside of almost every home, there is a dedicated little area, where you have space to put up a circle with a dangely colorful tangled hole. You can have say, six people and split up into two tribes. In those two tribes you battle against the other tribe to win a marking for your own tribe.

The rules of this ritual is to battle against the other tribe, trying to claim victory for your own tribe. You have a holy sphere with carvings, that you have to maneuver. You can either maneuver it through your legs, or around your waist, but you can also pass it to another on your tribe. When you have the ball, you have to try to get it into the colorful, floating, hole, and that counts as a marking for your team!

At the end of the ritual, for whomever team won they would normally get a reward. It could be a sugary liquid substance, or triangle shaped corn crunchies that have orange and red powder coated on the outside. The winning tribe also can get a miniature gold statue, as a mark of the battle you just won. As for the other tribe, they get nothing. For they are the ones who did not win!

In conclusion, working hard to practice strength and athleticism, can lead you to more victories with your tribe! You just have to practice throwing the holy sphere with carvings into the floating colorful tangled hole, and you will win a marking for your tribe. And in the end, you could get a small gold statue, for reminding you of your victory, and your participation.

~ Taryn T.

Paddle Battles

The Nacirema tribe believes that one way to be healthy and prepare for war is to do practice rounds of an intense war-like game that uses holy orbs and a religious paddle weapon with strong netting. It is said that this ritual keeps them from getting depressed and that it is quite addictive.

The battlefield is described as a rectangular, solid, field with holy white war pigments surrounding it and a couple of pigmented lines inside of it, dividing it into 3 parts. There is another line of pigment that goes down the center of the field intersecting some of these holy lines. Then finally, a long sacred mesh fabric goes down the very middle of this field, dividing the opponents and preventing them from making actual contact with each other.

One or two members of the Nacirema tribe goes on each side of this battle ground. They are said to be wearing loose garments with godly symbols on them and special magical tight slippers. Also, some of them are seen in a light helmet and face goggles to protect themselves. The only thing that each member on the battlefield is allowed to carry is a religious paddle weapon with strong netting.

The rules for this practice battle are so: Each player hits a holy orb back and forth using their paddle, trying to make them incapable of reaching the ball or making them miss it. Watching them play, I noticed that the intensity was high while battling, they both tried to hit the orb as hard as they possibly could into the corners of the field. Both of them ran at full speed to get the orb, torturing their feet and making them burn and get small bumps at the bottom. Each of them emitted piercing war-like screams as they swung at the orb, supposedly to help you relax and distract the opponent.

The Nacirema tribe has shown me that they are tough and enjoy doing war games like this. I have observed that they do 100+ more battle games similar to this game. I wonder how they have managed to do these body torturing rituals for so long.

~ Maanasi K.

Underwater Dances

As you may know the Nacirema conduct rituals for the body to make it better, well anthropologists have learned of another one of their strange rituals. This ritual is placed by a large hole of freezing waters which are believed to be from the gods, in which people of all ages jump into. The Nacirema believe that this helps the body stay fresh and healthy. This ritual is not performed by everyone in the village but it is quite a popular ritual therefore many other villages perform it.

When performing this ritual, the people in the freezing waters do sacred dances under the water, coming up for a breath of air every few seconds. The Nacirema believe these dances must be performed the right way or the spirits of the waters will punish you greatly until you have mastered them. As I said before, the Nacirema do this ritual because they believe it will keep the body fresh and healthy. But also as I have said, some people do not take part in this ritual and choose to perform a different type of ritual that is believed to have roughly the same outcome. After the ritual is over the people go back to their homes and bathe in warm waters because it is forbidden to keep the waters of the gods on you for too long. The Nacirema follow this act because they fear that the water will damage their skin. Another reason they do this is that they are afraid of what they might become with such overwhelming power that they are not worthy to hold.

But let us not forget why they do this ritual, it is to purify, to keep their bodies fresh, and to keep them healthy. I bet you are wondering how people do not die from these freezing waters, well i can answer that for you. Do you remember when i said that the Nacirema bathe in warm waters when they return to their homes, well that is the answer. They do not freeze because of the warm waters. But I bet there's still one more thing on your mind and that's how they have survived this long through these brutal rituals.

~ Mayla C.

Flying Down Mountains

The Nacirema believe that they need to be active and compete against other nacirema otherwise they will become out of shape, and will forget how to do things.

The nacirema have a practice where they have two pieces of some type of solid natural material they strap onto their feet and use it to compete with others while flying down great big mountains. They move swiftly and extremely fast, and it sounds like a big gust of wind coming by. They always move side to side to move faster and faster to beat the other person. They worry that they might lose knowledge on it and not be able to participate in this ritual if they don't and that people wont think of them in such a high position. The Nacirema selects the top few people to compete to win and it's a complicated ritual. They show this ritual to young people and explain how to do it so they can grow skill for the ritual in hopes of becoming one of the top few to compete.

The nacirema compete in an extremely difficult ritual where they strap a solid material onto their feet and race down a mountain to see who is the best. It is a very hard demanding task and very few can compete, which makes it a very hard ritual to practice for so many years.

~ Jae L.

"Get Hurt!"

Nacirema people feel as if to perform a dance they must wear bright colors and a lot of makeup and also wear bright outfits and skin tight shoes. They also believe that all this must be done for the performance to be worthy.

The Nacirema do many things one of the things they like to do to make people happy and perform on a stage is dancing. First they must get dressed into seacret undercover outfits that must be covered by another jacket so no one can see what they are wearing. They go to a stage and get ready to take the jackets off so they can do what they love. They turn off all the lights and run on to a stage with 3 or 4 other people sometimes more sometimes less. Before they do that they tell each other to get hurt and say something like break a leg. Then run on stage and boom they have all different costumes on and you see an explosion of colors depending on what type of performance it is they might wear a super bright costume or one that goes with the song and is less bright. They are also wearing magical shoes that are tan and made of animal skin to give them powers like jumping and turning powers. They wear the hair on their head in a little ball held tightly together with magical spray and sharp pins that they stick in their hair. Still doing all of this and being on the stage with all of the rituals they have done so far you hear a loud sound of someone singing and then music starts and the group of people who had run on stage before now start moving to the music sometimes all at the same time and sometimes only one at a time. There's hundreds of people in chairs staring at them from a distance but they do all of this to make other people happy. When they are done moving to the music they get the people from the chairs to stand up and they start clapping and the people in costumes dash off stage.

The Nacirema believe that if they stop doing these rituals then they would not be good at dance and would lose all their skill. They all work with each other to make sure that they have finished each ritual before it is time for them to go on stage and time for them to show what they have learned throughout the year of working on their skills and trying to improve.

The Nacirema people may do a lot of strange things but dance is one of the most unusual. Because there are many things all together for one reason. They do it to make others happy and also to make themselves happy. So it's easy to think that the Nacirema people don’t take dancing seriously because of how many different types of rituals they have but in real life they find dance as a sport and can compete against other teams of dancers to show who the most skilled and best is.

~ Molly K.

Up in the Air

The nacirema are a very interesting culture. If they don't do a few things their human body will be known as ugly. I will explain one thing that some naciremas do to improve the human body.

This ritual is a very tricky one that some nacirema do to improve looks of the body. They throw their bodys up in the air and try not to land on their head. There are four different types of this one you do on a 4 inch wide surface that is raised off the ground to make hurting themselves more likely. Another one they use are the two wooden sticks that go across that they swing from and they are close enough that they can kick it everyday. The last one they use is this big heavy object that sits on the ground that they run full sprint at.

They do this ritual to help the human body look better and they get so many broken bones from doing this ritual. Some worry that if they don't do this that they will get body shamed. For they will get judged before anyone gets to know them. They also assume that they will be known as lazy by elders who watch over them.

They do that ritual so the human body doesn't get known as ugly. Also doesn't get known as lazy.

~ Lily H.

Clear Blue Liquid

The Nacirema like to dip themselves into this clear blue liquid that is loud, big, and scary. When I went to go meet the Nacirema, they splashed and made big terrifying waves through-out this blue clear liquid, which I have learned that it is a way to appreciate the gods for the things they have given us.

This clear blue liquid is very smooth and flowy but also can be dangerous and submerge you deep down. Why do you submerge into this blue liquid you may ask well, I have interviewed a few Nacirema citizens and they said that it is because it is a great way to get exercise and the Nacirama believe, being overweight is shamed upon. It is also a way to show the gods that we are grateful for the liquid they have given us. This blue liquid can be a loud and large, terrifying, deep, whirlpool, that can bring you down to the deep dark bottom of the liquid. The liquid can make and multiply ripples through-out the entire liquid.

What will happen if you stop going into this liquid, another Nacirema citizen said, you won’t be able to get normal exercise and you will be shamed for being overweight. Then this will show the gods that we don’t appreciate them because we are not dipping and submerging ourselves into the blue clear liquid. Which then the gods will be furious that they have stopped going into this ritual liquid.

Lastly, Why do they go into this ritual liquid, the last Nacirema citizen I interviewed had said, they go into this liquid to get exercise so that they do not be overweight and to not be shamed upon. They also said it shows that they love and appreciate the gods for the liquid they have supported them with, and lastly because it shows that they are active people.

In conclusion, this has been about the Nacirema routine of submerging into this blue clear liquid, that has given us exercise and shows that we are appreciative for the things the gods give us. Lastly, think about this, how might the Nacirema manage to keep this routine of dipping or submerging themselves into a ritual blue clear liquid.

~ Kai S.

Polished Wooden Slate

The Nacirema have an unusual mode of transportation called Draobetaks. It Has a polished wooden slate with ornate carvings, with circular spheres attached to the bottom, which makes it roll.

These particular Nacirama are called Sretaks. These elite group of tribespeople generally wear tight jeans, flat-soled shoes in a bright or neutral color, and casual, somewhat fitted tees. You can put on a leather jacket and a beanie for a more hipster look, or you can wear a snapback of your choice to keep it casual. They ride on top of Neatly cut, and polished wood called droab. Upon initiation, a newly Sretak will go through the process of selecting any color in the rainbow with any pattern you can think of. Very many different wheel types of wheels. There are also there are very many different sizes and shapes. There is a longer on a regular sized one and a regular one. You also have to go to the outside shrines all over the world and believe to get better at Gnitaks. We interviewed two people and these were their answers. Gnidraobetaks is something I do for fun more than it's routine. Gnitaks feels like a puzzle you solved and gives me the ability to hang out with my friends And Bond over this shared common interest. Gnidraobetaks is just a really fun way to get outside and do things Its also a really good source of activity. Worries of not continuing are lack of mobility and loss of the ability to endure challenges and I would forget and it would take a long time to get back to where I am right now and I would also lose a way to get around places. The general American public views skateboarding as a reckless, injury-prone sport. However, amongst Skinner's, it is well known that people reading is fundamental in the development of perseverance a growth mindset, and self-confidence. It shows that we like to hang out and show off what we can do.

Skateboarding continues to be such an important part of the growing experience for the Nacirema. It continues to be popular today because it’s fun and it’s a good way to show off your athleticism and creativity. Along with those reasons its a cheap way of transportation.

~ Hayden L.

Hot Demon Fireballs

The Nacirema bend their body in all these different ways is all because they are bending out of the evil demon's hot fireballs that it shoots at them.

At a specific time, the Nacirema people start bending their bodies in all these different ways, trying to avoid fireballs from the evil demon. They have to keep bending for about 5 minutes before they all drop to the ground and make a bridge with their body and they bend their elbows to make the bridge go up and down to try to make the evil demon fall off them. Other times they hold a sturdy bridge for a couple of minutes then drop down to trick the evil demon to fall off. If that doesn't work, the evil demon chases them for a while, while the Nacirema run away from it. The chase can take up to 2 hours! Eventually, the evil demon leaves, leaving the Nacirema to catch their breath and go back to their village. Once the Nacirema people get back to their huts, they stand in a rectangular cube and holy water from the priests comes out the top and cleanses the Nacirema. Once they are done cleansing themselves, they wrap themselves in furry animal skin which absorbs the holy water.

I am thinking about how bad the evil demon is to the nacirema to the point that the evil demon is trying to kill them. I wonder how the Nacirema have managed by dodging the evil demon every day

~ Justin B.

Spiritual Chants

The nacirema can make people challenged in ways. We are challenged in many ways but a couple ways really stand out more than the rest.

My friend does competitive spiritual chants shouting out inspiring words . People think it is an activity that you can do with big poofy spheres. But it is much more than that. you are throwing people that weigh 100 pounds into the air!!! Everyone also thinks that you just are standing on the sidelines of another activity and screaming letters and numbers out loud. But she told me that it isn’t just that, there is more to it. She explained one of the hardest parts first, she explained that everyday you have to learn a new part of the routine every day.

She says they have to do an activity in chanting, that is they have to work hard and be challenged if they really want something. She told me she really wanted to make the group that gets to go places and present. To do that she has to step up and work even harder, by staying up in the dark practicing the presentation you have for the coaches.

In conclusion, the nacirema makes people challenged. It's crazy that they are so smart and have been doing this for so long.

~ Mia W.

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