Understanding the Shirbit Culture: Beliefs and Rituals
The Shirbit culture holds unique beliefs about the human body, engaging in elaborate rituals to counter its perceived weaknesses and maintain social well-being. This culture's practices include secretive ceremonies, reverence for a charm box, and self-mutilation rituals for both men and women, all based on their complex beliefs.
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Welcome to Sociology Virtual Priestley TASK 3 Meet the team Libby Holt Claire Colwell On the next slide, there are some questions to get you thinking about Sociology, followed by your task and some ideas to help you get started. Have fun!
Sociology VP Task 3 As we already know, Sociology is the study of society And part of society is culture But What is culture ? Are cultures the same across the world? Can there be different cultures within the same culture? What does multi-cultural mean? What is a sub-culture? How does our culture impact us as individuals Carefully consider these questions before you move on to the next slide. You could maybe even discuss them with a friend or family member.
So, what is culture? Culture is the way of life of a group of people. Some aspects of culture are more obvious than others. For example, different cultural foods are easier to see than the beliefs of a group of people. Try to think of other aspects of culture and whether they are easy to see or not.
TASK: Please read the following information about the Shirbit culture. The Shirbit culture believes that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to feebleness and disease. The Shirbit therefore indulge in rituals and ceremonies designed to avoid this, and consequently every household has a shrine devoted to the body. The rituals associated with the shrine are private and secret. Adults never discuss the rituals and children are told only enough for them to be successfully initiated. The focal point of the shrine is a box built into a wall in which are kept charms and magical potions for the face and body. These are obtained from the medicine men who write down the ingredients in an ancient and secret language which is only understood by the herbalist who prepare the potion. These potions are kept in the charm-box for many years. Beneath the charm box is a small font. Every day, twice a day, every member of the family enters the shrine room in succession and bows his or her head before the charm box, mingles different sorts of holy water in the font and proceeds with a brief write of ablution. The Shirbit have an almost pathological 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 their teeth would fall out, their friends would desert them and their lovers would reject them. Finally, men and women indulge in barbaric acts of self mutilation. Men engage in a daily body ritual of scraping and lacerating their faces with a sharp instrument, whilst women bake their heads in a small oven once a month.
The Shirbit culture believes that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to feebleness and disease. The Shirbit therefore indulge in rituals and ceremonies designed to avoid this, and consequently every household has a shrine devoted to the body. The rituals associated with the shrine are private and secret. Adults never discuss the rituals and children are told only enough for them to be successfully initiated. The focal point of the shrine is a box built into a wall in which are kept charms and magical potions for the face and body. These are obtained from the medicine men who write down the ingredients in an ancient and secret language which is only understood by the herbalist who prepare the potion. These potions are kept in the charm-box for many years. Beneath the charm box is a small font. Every day, twice a day, every member of the family enters the shrine room in succession and bows his or her head before the charm box, mingles different sorts of holy water in the font and proceeds with a brief write of ablution. The Shirbit have an almost pathological 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 their teeth would fall out, their friends would desert them and their lovers would reject them. Finally, men and women indulge in barbaric acts of self mutilation. Men engage in a daily body ritual of scraping and lacerating their faces with a sharp instrument, whilst women bake their heads in a small oven once a month. Read the passage again and answer the following two questions: 1. What aspects of Shirbit cultural behaviour seem alien to you? 2. In what ways might Shirbit behaviour be thought to resemble British culture?
Are you any good at anagrams? Is Shirbit an anagram of something?...
Well done, if you guessed correctly! Shirbit is an anagram of British Re-read the Shirbit culture but this time think about British culture. Do you recognise it? Could that be how an outsider might describe our society?
Task: Write your own account of an aspect of British culture from the point of view of an alien (ET) from another planet (e.g. sun bathing, clubbing). 250 words Here s an example to get you thinking: These beings, they transport themselves in an upright position, generally dashing here and there. Smaller and much noisier versions are paraded around in contraptions, sometimes with 3 but usually 4 round twirling objects which roll across the floor. However, there are occasions, generally after the big ball has gone into the sky, or as it starts to disappear, similarly clad, adorning similar boxes in their talons, they come from their private boxes and where they enter a procession. I see them disappear before my very eyes. I follow, and see that they are on a descending jagged slope where they must Keep Left . Once fully descended, they pause, until a wave of warmth and a long mechanical snake fills the hole. What is completely absurd, is when they enter the snake, which begin to move at speeds faster than their personal vessels can sustain. Here they actually travel without moving. This is an inconceivable notion on our home planet. At irregular moments, the snake speeds, slows, consumes and spits out beings and vessels. When the snake can go no further, its tail becomes its head and it slithers and clinks in the opposite direction. Once spat out of the mechanical snake, the shades of grey come back up to earth up another jagged mountain, once they see the true sky above, their procession is over and they flee to various shared boxes, bigger than their own private boxes, where they ll endure several rounds of the ticking machine before reversing the whole process, and repeating almost every time the big ball lights their sphere.
