REALITY AS A COLLECTIVE HUNCH

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

Horace Miner

The anthropologist has become so familiar culture hero, Notgnihsaw, who is otherwise
with the diversity of ways in which differ known for two great feats of strength-the
ent peoples behave in similar situations that throwing of a piece of wampum across the
he is not apt to be surprised by even the river Pa-To-Mac and the chopping down of
most exotic customs. In fact, if all of the a cherry tree in which the Spirit of Truth
logically possible combinations of behavior resided.
have not been found somewhere in the world, Nacirema culture is characterized by a
he is apt to suspect that they must be pre highly developed market economy which
sent in some yet undescribed tribe. This has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While
point has, in fact, been expressed with re much of the people's time is devoted to
spect to clan organization by Murdock (1949, economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits
p. 71). In this light, the magical beliefs and of these labors and a considerable portion
practices of the Nacirema present such un of the day are spent in ritual activity. The
usual aspects that it seems desirable to de focus of this activity is the human body, the
scribe them as an example of the extremes appearance and health of which loom as a
to which human behavior can go. dominant concern in the ethos of the peo
Professor Linton first brought the ritual ple. While such a concern is certainly not
of the Nacirema to the attention of anthro unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associ
pologists twenty years ago (1936, p. 326), ated philosophy are unique.
but the culture of this people is still very The fundamental belief underlying the
poorly understood. They are a North Ameri whole system appears to be that the human
can group living in the territory between body is ugly and that its natural tendency
the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahu- is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in
mare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak such a body, man's only hope is to avert
of the Antilles. Little is known of their ori these characteristics through the use of the
gin, although tradition states that they came powerful influences of ritual and ceremony.
from the east. According to Nacirema my Every household has one or more shrines
thology, their nation was originated by a devoted to this purpose. The more power
ful individuals in this society have several
shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opu
lence of a house is often referred to in terms
"Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by H. Miner, of the number of such ritual centers it pos
1956. Reproduced by permission of the American
Anthropological Association from American
sesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub
Anthropologist 5S(3), 503-507,1956. Not for further construction, but the shrine rooms of the
reproduction. more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer

42 Introduction
families imitate the rich by applying pot ferent sorts of holy water in the font, and
tery plaques to their shrine walls. proceeds with a brief rite of ablution. The
While each family has at least one such holy waters are secured from the Water Tem
shrine, the rituals associated with it are not ple of the community, where the priests con
family ceremonies but are private and se duct elaborate ceremonies to make the liquid
cret. The rites are normally only discussed ritually pure.
with children, and then only during the In the hierarchy of magical practitioners,
period when they are being initiated into and below the medicine men in prestige, are
these mysteries. I was able, however, to es specialists whose designation is best trans
tablish sufficient rapport with the natives lated "holy-mouth-men." The Nacirema have
to examine these shrines and to have the an almost pathological horror of and fasci
rituals described to me. nation with the mouth, the condition of which
The focal point of the shrine is a box or is believed to have a supernatural influence
chest which is built into the wall. In this on all social relationships. Were it not for
chest are kept the many charms and magi the rituals of the mouth, they believe that
cal potions without which no native be their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed,
lieves he could live. These preparations are their jaws shrink, their friends desert them,
secured from a variety of specialized prac and their lovers reject them. They also be
titioners. The most powerful of these are lieve that a strong relationship exists be
the medicine men, whose assistance must tween oral and moral characteristics. For
be rewarded with substantial gifts. How example, there is a ritual ablution of the
ever, the medicine men do not provide the mouth for children which is supposed to
curative potions for their clients, but decide improve their moral fiber.
what the ingredients should be and then The daily body ritual performed by ev
write them down in an ancient and secret eryone includes a mouth-rite. Despite the
language. This writing is understood only fact that these people are so punctilious
by the medicine men and by the herbalists about care of the mouth, this rite involves a
who, for another gift, provide the required practice which strikes the uninitiated stranger
charm. as revolting. It was reported to me that the
The charm is not disposed of after it has ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of
served its purpose, but is placed in the charm- hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain
box of the household shrine. As these magi magical powders, and then moving the bun
cal materials are specific for certain ills, and dle in a highly formalized series of gestures.
the real or imagined maladies of the people In addition to the private mouth-rite,
are many, the charm-box is usually full to the people seek out a holy-mouth-man once
overflowing. The magical packets are so nu or twice a year. These practitioners have an
merous that people forget what their pur impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting
poses were and fear to use them again. While of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and
the natives are very vague on this point, we prods. The use of these objects in the exor
can only assume that the idea in retaining cism of the evils of the mouth involves al
all the old magical materials is that their most unbelievable ritual torture of the client.
presence in the charm-box, before which The holy-mouth-man opens the client's mouth
the body rituals are conducted, will in some and, using the above-mentioned tools, en
way protect the worshipper. larges any holes which decay may have cre
Beneath the charm-box is a small font. ated in the teeth. Magical materials are put
Each day every member of the family, in into these holes. If there are no naturally
succession, enters the shrine room, bows occurring holes in the teeth, large sections
his head before the charm-box, mingles dif of one or more teeth are gouged out so that

Reality as a Collective Hunch 43

 the supernatural substance can be applied.
In the client's view, the purpose of these spite this fact, sick adults are not only will
ministrations is to arrest decay and to draw ing but eager to undergo the protracted
ritual purification, if they can afford to do
friends. The extremely sacred and traditional
so. No matter how ill the supplicant or how
character of the rite is evident in the fact
that the natives return to the holy-mouth- grave the emergency, the guardians of many
man year after year, despite the fact that temples will not admit a client if he cannot
their teeth continue to decay. give a rich gift to the custodian. Even after
one has gained admission and survived the
It is to be hoped that, when a thorough
ceremonies, the guardians will not permit
study of the Nacirema is made, there will be the neophyte to leave until he makes still
careful inquiry into the personality struc
another gift.
ture of these people. One has but to watch
The supplicant entering the temple is
the gleam in the eye of a holy-mouth-man,
as he jabs an awl into an exposed nerve, to first stripped of all his or her clothes In
suspect that a certain amount of sadism is everyday life the Nacirema avoids expo
sure of his body and its natural functions.
involved. If this can be established, a very
Bathing and excretory acts are performed
interesting pattern emerges, for most of the only in the secrecy of the household shrine,
population shows definite masochistic ten where they are ritualized as part of the body-
dencies. It was to these that Professor Lin
ton referred in discussing a distinctive part rites. Psychological shock results from the
of the daily body ritual which is performed fact that body secrecy is suddenly lost upon
entry into the latipso. A man, whose own
only by men. This part of the rite involves wife has never seen him in an excretory act
scraping and lacerating the surface of the
face with a sharp instrument. Special women's suddenly finds himself naked and assisted
rites are performed only four times during by a vestal maiden while he performs his
each lunar month, but what they lack in natural functions into a sacred vessel. This
sort of ceremonial treatment is necessitated
frequency is made up in barbarity. As part
of this ceremony, women bake their heads by the fact that the excreta are used by a
diviner to ascertain the course and nature
in small ovens for about an hour. The theo
of the client's sickness. Female clients, on
retically interesting point is that what seems the other hand, find their naked bodies are
to be a preponderantly masochistic people
have developed sadistic specialists. subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation, and
The medicine men have an imposing prodding of the medicine men.
Few supplicants in the temple are well
temple, or latipso, in every community of
any size. The more elaborate ceremonies enough to do anything but tie on their hard
beds. The daily ceremonies, like the rites of
required to treat very sick patients can only the holy-mouth-men, involve discomfort and
be performed at this temple. These ceremo
nies mvolve not only the thaumaturge but torture. With ritual precision, the vestals
a permanent group of vestal maidens who awaken their miserable charges each dawn
move sedately about the temple chambers and roll them about on their beds of pain
in distinctive costume and headdress. while performing ablutions, in the formal
The latipso ceremonies are so harsh that movements of which the maidens are highly
it is phenomenal that a fair proportion of framed. At other times they insert magic
the really sick natives who enter the temple wands m the supplicant's mouth or force
ever recover. Small children whose indoc him to eat substances which are supposed
trination is still incomplete have been known to be healing. From time to time the medi
to resist attempts to take them to the temple cine men come to their clients and jab magi
because "that is where you go to die " De- cally treated needles into their flesh. The
fact that these temple ceremonies may not
44 Introduction
 cure, and may even kill the neophyte, in no Reference has already been made to the
way decreases the people's faith in the medi fact that excretory functions are ritualized,
cine men.
There remains one other kind of practi routinized, and relegated to secrecy. Natu
ral reproductive functions are similarly dis
tioner, known as a "listener." This witch torted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and
doctor has the power to exorcise the devils scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to
that lodge in the heads of people who have avoid pregnancy by the use of magical ma
been bewitched. The Nacirema believe that terials or by limiting intercourse to certain
parents bewitch their own children. Moth phases of the moon. Conception is actually
ers are particularly suspected of putting a
curse on children while teaching them the very infrequent. When pregnant, women
dress so as to hide their condition. Parturi
secret body rituals. The counter-magic of tion takes place in secret, without friends or
the witch-doctor is unusual in its lack of relatives to assist, and the majority of women
ritual. The patient simply tells the "listener" do not nurse their infants.
all his troubles and fears, beginning with Our review of the ritual life of the
the earliest difficulties he can remember. Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a
The memory displayed by the Nacirema in
these exorcism sessions is truly remarkable. magic-ridden people. It is hard to under
stand how they have managed to exist so
It is not uncommon for the patient to be
moan the rejection he felt upon being weaned long under the burdens which they have
as a babe, and a few individuals even see imposed upon themselves. But even such
exotic customs as these take on real mean
their troubles going back to the traumatic
effects of their own birth. ing when they are viewed with the insight
In conclusion, mention must be made of provided by Malinowski when he wrote
certain practices which have their base in (1948, p. 70):
native esthetics but which depend upon the
Looking from far and above, from our high
pervasive aversion to the natural body and places of safety in the developed civiliza
its functions. There are ritual fasts to make tion, it is easy to see all the crudity and
fat people thin and ceremonial feasts to make irrelevance of magic. But without its power
thin people fat. Still other rites are used to and guidance early man could not have mas
make women's breasts larger if they are tered his practical difficulties as he has done,
small, and smaller if they are large. General nor could man have advanced to the higher
dissatisfaction with breast shape is symbol stages of civilization.
ized in the fact that the ideal form is virtu
ally outside the range of human variation. References
A few women afflicted with almost inhuman Linton, R. (1936). The study of man. New York:
hypermammary development are so idolized Appleton-Century.
that they make a handsome living by simply Malinowski, B. (1948). Magic, science, and
going from village to village and permitting religion. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
the natives to stare at them for a fee. Murdock, G. P. (1949). Social structure. New
York: Macmillan.

Reality as a Collective Hunch 45