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Overview
The "myth and ritual school" is the name given to a series of authors who have focused their philological studies on the "ritual purposes of myths".Encyclopaedia Britannica entries on Myth and Ritual School (religion) Some of these scholars (e.g., W. Robertson-Smith, James Frazer, Jane Ellen Harrison, S. H. Hooke) supported the "primacy of ritual" hypothesis, which claimed that "every myth is derived from a particular ritual and that the syntagmatic quality of myth is a reproduction of the succession of ritual act".Meletinsky, p.117 Read full entryThis entry is from Wikipedia,the leading user-contributed encyclopedia.It may not have been reviewed by professional editors(See full disclaimer)
- 1.Myth and ritual - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- In traditional societies, myth and ritual are two central components of religious practice. ... The "myth and ritual school" is the name given to a series of ...
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yth_and_ritual
- 2.Myth & Ritual
- http://www.mythandritualclothi
ng.com/
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What is an example of a Please?
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The myth-ritual theory According to another school of thought, myths arose as an expression of or justification for ritual practices. This interpretation of myth was particularly popular among 19th century anthropologists such as Sir James Frazer and William Robertson Smith. Smith introduced the myth-ritual theory in his Lectures on the Religion of the Semites. In this work, he argued that people developed myths in order to explain the rituals they were already performing. As an example, Smith cited the ancient Near Eastern practice of mourning for the god Adonis. Originally, Smith conjectured, people simply mourned the annual death of vegetation out of "natural sympathy"; later they tried to explain this custom by saying that they were mourning the death of a vegetation god (Adonis).[23] Frazer similarly argued that myth developed out of ritual. He famously claimed that human thought progresses from magical rituals, through religion, to science.[24] According to Frazer, religious rituals did not involve a belief in gods. In particular, according to this view, people did not perform rituals in order to appease a god. Rather, people believed that rituals allowed them to harness magical laws that operate without any divine intervention. Later, when belief in these magical laws had waned, people began to explain religious behavior as an interaction with supernatural beings. According to Frazer's theory, the rituals surrounding Adonis would have originally been performed to magically make the earth grow; later, the practitioners explained their ritual as a mourning for Adonis.[25] Some more recent scholars have also supported versions of the myth-ritual theory. One example is Robert Graves, who said, "True myth may be defined as the reduction to narrative shorthand of ritual mime performed on public festivals, and in many cases recorded pictorially."[26] However, according to Yeleazar Meletinsky, the myth-ritual theory has never been proved and is not currently sup |
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In your opinion, what came I believe that rituals came
about as a way to cellabrate
and ensure the future. Someone
would do something specific
and then, by chance or
otherwise, a good growing
season would take place. The
next year, the person would
repeat what he did the
previous year with the hope of
a similar outcome. Myth began
as an explanation of how the
ritual came about (usually in
a supernatural way). So, I
guess that I believe that
ritual came first. Any
thoughts. I just read my
question, and I didn't really
express myself very well, but
you should get the main idea
of what I'm trying to say I
guess.
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Read James Cambell's works, or see if you can find Fraser's "The Golden Bough"...it is possible that totem, ancestor worship and other forms of "primitive" worship came first and then both the ritual and the mythos developed around them... Or that they were concurrent developments that fused as social structures allowed...for instance, the development of agriculture, warfare, towns....etc etc etc all contributed to both ritual and rite...shamen....mythos |
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Which of the following is an A. Greek dramas
B. July 4th celebrations in
America
C. the Eucharist
D. Jewish Seder meal
E. All of the above
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The only one which is questionable is B. Greek Dramas were performed at a Festival of Dionysius so by definition they were acts of ritual worship. Myths are defined, among other ways, as origin stories told in religious terms. By this definition it is possible to accept the Last Supper AND the flight from Egypt as myths while accepting them as historical--the Flight from Egypt is the Origin of the Jews, and the Passion, Death and Resurrection are supposed to in some ways complete Creation for Christians. So A. C. and D. are definitely examples. If you can explain B as one then the answer is E, but I can't. |
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