The Nacirema people, who live north of the Tarahumara people of Mexico, have many interesting beliefs and rituals. One of their beliefs is that you should get exercise and have fun and the only way to do that is to do rituals and ceremonies and dances.

The one main rule of the Nacirema is that they can’t use their hands except for the tribe leaders. If a person disrespects the rules then they can not participate for a whole week and if you get this punishment then you would be frowned upon. One of the Nacirema's dances involves them running with an orb made out of animal skin and then moving side to side with special shoes on. Then they use their special shoes to hit the ball at the tribe leader all while making a special noise. If the tribe leader can’t get the ball then the person that hit the ball would do another secret dance. The Nacirema also like to play with others and they would have as many as 22 people playing at once all with special shoes and garments made out of animal skin, when they would play they would use their special shoes to hit the ball to each other and that person would start doing the secret dance mentioned earlier. Another one of the dances that the Nacirema do is they take the orb made out of animal skin and run with it and when they get close to the tribe leader then they hit it into the middle. 

In conclusion the Nacirema like getting exercise and having fun and the only way to do that is to do rituals and ceremonies and dances. How have the Nacirema been able to keep up with these rituals and ceremonies and dances?

~ Bryce F.

The Nacirema tribe, who live just north of the Tarahumara people, is a collection of people and entities who practice many rituals. The Nacirema, to protect themselves from the dangers of being unable to perform daily tasks, provide and put themselves through many tortures, but one specific one is most popular as it appears lately. The Nacirema believe that sacred games and rituals are critical and must be done. 

First, to protect themselves from warring tribes, the tribes will shove hard pieces of material in between the front of their legs and the back of their extra tight tubes of what seems of ratty fabric. To prevent slipping on large fields, tribes will wear special boot-like objects on their feet, even though these protect the tribe members, they will cause extreme pain, almost torturous to one’s feet. Along with the painful accessories the Nacirema already wear, they cover themselves in unflattering fabric with bright colors that supposedly prevent the sun. Most of the attire they wear is somewhat significant to what they are competing in, besides the fact they look extremely bright, they have a purpose. All of these garments protect the tribe members. 

Each tribe has competitors, and each tribe member has an owner, who will heavily support their tribe member. Owners will start fights with the three people who seem to control this holy game by calling out what they see as wrong, these people’s names almost directly translate to holy shouter, and on occasion, the owner who starts a fight with sacred yeller will get in trouble and almost seem to get penalized from spectating this exotic ritual of a game. 

Since each tribe can’t command themselves, they are required to have some sort of a director, also known as holy shouter. The holy shouter will demonstrate behavioral patterns like yelling at competitors to move from spot to spot, go faster, go forward, in some cases throwing down whatever they have, in anger. 

All sorts of games have objectives, and this one seemed to have the goal of kicking this strange marked ball into a large opening that appears to be an intricate netting. As these tribes kick the ball around, they are either trying to prevent it going into the netted opening they seem to own for the game and try to get it into the opposing tribes netted opening.

While observing this spectacle of a ritualistic game, it shows how much the Nacirema value torturing themselves just to maintain a body and life that will last them long. The Nacirema seem to believe that if these routines aren’t performed something horrendous might happen, while staying unknowing of what it is. It’s clear to anybody aside of the Nacirema culture that this routine is beyond insane, and must strike thoughts of how this large gathering of a tribe has managed to stay alive this long. 

~ Eleanor O.

The Nacirema believe that It is important to have fast reflexes and have developed a ritual that trains someone's reaction time by kicking an orb at them, they must attempt to block it with their hands.

It seems like the Nacirema highly value fast reflexes as they have a ritual that forces a person standing in a net to block a heavy orb with their hands or it will hurt them when it hits them this ritual is seemingly intended to do 2 things entertain the crowd that is watching and to improve their reflexes the more common variant of this ritual is where there are 2 sides and they are fighting for the orb when one of them gets the orb near the net they kick the orb at the person in the net and attempt to hit them with it the second variant is where the ruler of the fight who is commonly dressed in yellow or blue occasionally places the orb on the dot near the net and one of the fighters from the other team kicks the orb straight at the person in the net.

In conclusion, it is hard to imagine how the Nacirema have survived this long under these burdens they have imposed upon themselves It makes me wonder how they chose who the ones who sharpen their reflexes. And the others.

~ Caleb M.

The Nacirema are a civilization living in the lands South of the Naidanac people. The Nacirema believe that for children to fulfill their destiny they must participate in festivals where they run and try to kick a magical sphere. Many children will participate in one of these festivals at one point or another.

When I was in the lands of the Nacirema studying the beliefs of the natives, I observed an interesting ritual practiced by all ages of the Nacirema people. Many small children participate in this ritual at least once in their lives, and lots of children continue to participate in this ritual as they get older, and some fully grown natives still participate in this ritual.

Now, the way this festival goes is really very interesting. Two different clans of natives gather in a clearing covered in ceremonial markings. These clans are preparing to fight by gathering in a cult-like circle around their all knowing leader who chants special chants to prepare the natives for the fight. The magical judge man summons the natives’ leaders to the center of the clearing to decide who gets to start the fight at an advantage. The magical judge man dresses in ceremonial clothing, he must wear a garment that is covered in black and white stripes. Once it has been decided the leaders of the clan gather back with their all knowing leader on the edge of the clearing. Once their all knowing leader has chosen who of the clan is worthy enough to start in the battle, the first natives from each clan line up in the ceremonial starting position. The magical judge man exhales hard into the ceremonial shell that screeches, signaling the clan members to start the fight. The clan member at the top of the formation hits the ceremonial sphere to another member of their clan, and then the fight starts. 

I observed how the clans speed up and slow down, based on their location in relation to the ceremonial sphere. If it is coming towards them, at the feet of another native, they might speed up in their running. The goal of this battle is to make sure the opposite clan stays away from the ceremonial mesh tent that the native clan is guarding. When in the lands of the Nacirema people I saw how they believe that to perform this ritual, the clans wear ceremonial boards on their lower legs, and it is bad luck to have these boards showing and they must be covered at all times with fiber sleeves that go on the natives' feet. At a certain point, when the clans have achieved an inner balance, the magical judge man once again exhales hard into the ceremonial shell to signal that it is time for a rest. Once the rest is over the natives come back into the clearing and keep fighting until the magical judge man tells them to stop with his ceremonial shell. The natives congratulate each other on a good fight and then disperse. 

Now that is only the most serious of these gatherings, multiple times a week I observed the clans gathering in a central clearing to work on their fighting skills. To start off this preparation of sorts, the clan will gather in a circle or line and begin a series of steps that almost seem to form a dance. They continue to perform routines like this until the all knowing leader decides they are ready. The clan will finish this preparation ritual by standing in a circle and chanting a rhythmic chant. 

Though there are many curious habits that this civilization harbors, this may be the strangest of all. The Nacirema people believe their children must participate in this sacred ritual to fulfill their life. It brings one to wonder how the Nacirema have managed to continue to practice this sacred festival.

~ Corrine S.