Sacred groves of Manipur,northeast India:biodiversity value,status and strategies for their conservation

The people of Manipur, a state in northeast India, follow ancestral worship and animism in the form of deity worship, with the central focus on worship in forest patches. The beliefs and taboos associated with the Sylvan deities (Umanglais) in the forest patches are restricted to any sort of disturbance of flora and fauna. These social boundaries help to conserve the entire organism as a whole, which stand the concept of sacred groves. The pleasing of deities is performed every year by the Meiteis, a dominant community of Manipur, in honour of the deities and to gain their favour. Indigenous cultural and rituals practices of the local people in sacred groves serve as a tool for conserving biodiversity. Sacred groves are distributed over a wide ecosystem and help in conservation of rare and endemic species. Well-preserved sacred groves are store houses of valuable medicinal and other plants having high economic value, and serve as a refuge to threatened species. One hundred and sixty-six sacred groves were inventoried in Manipur valley that comprises Imphal east, Imphal west, Thoubal and Bishnupur districts of the state. Detailed studies were carried out in four selected sacred groves, to know the importance of biodiversity status and vegetation characteristics. A total of 173 plant species representing 145 genera under 70 families were recorded through baseline floristic survey. The species diversity indices were compared among the four studied groves. The vegetation composition and community characteristics were recorded. Ethnobotanical uses of species were examined, which reveal that 96% of the species were used as medicine for the treatment of various ailments. Utilization of herbal medicine by the Meiteis is closely related to the cultural and ritual practices. A few of the medicinal plants which have disappeared from the locality are now confined only to the groves. Socio-cultural aspects were investigated taking into account the attitudes of local people, which indicate social beliefs and taboo are eroding, simultaneously degrading the degree of protection of sacred groves. Therefore, conservation measures of sacred groves need to be formulated considering the factor of degradation and the basic necessities of the local people. Until and unless a viable option is provided to the local people (especially those who habitat nearby the adjoining areas) for sustaining their economic condition, no step for conservation of biodiversity will be successful.     

Placebo studies and ritual theory: a comparative analysis of Navajo, acupuncture and biomedical healing

Using a comparative analysis of Navajo healing ceremonials, acupuncture and biomedical treatment, this essay examines placebo studies and ritual theory as mutually interpenetrating disciplines. Healing rituals create a receptive person susceptible to the influences of authoritative culturally sanctioned 'powers'. The healer provides the sufferer with imaginative, emotional, sensory, moral and aesthetic input derived from the palpable symbols and procedures of the ritual process-in the process fusing the sufferer's idiosyncratic narrative unto a universal cultural mythos. Healing rituals involve a drama of evocation, enactment, embodiment and evaluation in a charged atmosphere of hope and uncertainty. Experimental research into placebo effects demonstrates that routine biomedical pharmacological and procedural interventions contain significant ritual dimensions. This research also suggests that ritual healing not only represents changes in affect, self-awareness and self-appraisal of behavioural capacities, but involves modulations of symptoms through neurobiological mechanisms. Recent scientific investigations into placebo acupuncture suggest several ways that observations from ritual studies can be verified experimentally. Placebo effects are often described as 'non-specific'; the analysis presented here suggests that placebo effects are the 'specific' effects of healing rituals.     

Hunter-Gatherers and the Origins of Religion

Recent studies of the evolution of religion have revealed the cognitive underpinnings of belief in supernatural agents, the role of ritual in promoting cooperation, and the contribution of morally punishing high gods to the growth and stabilization of human society. The universality of religion across human society points to a deep evolutionary past. However, specific traits of nascent religiosity, and the sequence in which they emerged, have remained unknown. Here we reconstruct the evolution of religious beliefs and behaviors in early modern humans using a global sample of hunter-gatherers and seven traits describing hunter-gatherer religiosity: animism, belief in an afterlife, shamanism, ancestor worship, high gods, and worship of ancestors or high gods who are active in human affairs. We reconstruct ancestral character states using a time-calibrated supertree based on published phylogenetic trees and linguistic classification and then test for correlated evolution between the characters and for the direction of cultural change. Results indicate that the oldest trait of religion, present in the most recent common ancestor of present-day hunter-gatherers, was animism, in agreement with long-standing beliefs about the fundamental role of this trait. Belief in an afterlife emerged, followed by shamanism and ancestor worship. Ancestor spirits or high gods who are active in human affairs were absent in early humans, suggesting a deep history for the egalitarian nature of hunter-gatherer societies. There is a significant positive relationship between most characters investigated, but the trait “high gods” stands apart, suggesting that belief in a single creator deity can emerge in a society regardless of other aspects of its religion.     

Is it God Speaking? Agency of Deities in the Western Himalaya

ABSTRACT

In many ethnographies, deities reflect social structures, represent power relations, or serve as a resource for individuals. However, believers usually do not doubt the existence of deities and their agency: that is, their ability to act and initiate change. The gap between these points of view narrows in the religious experiences in the Indian Himalayas. There, the local population, who communicate with local deities via mediums, face an epistemological problem: how to be certain that they are, indeed, talking with their gods. Furthermore, the believers are aware that they play a role in the decisions of the gods. These two aspects of the religious experience are expressed in the gradual transition of the gods from a Pahā?ī to a pan-Hindu identity, an indication of the way in which the agency of the gods is being challenged and is subject to negotiation by the locals.     

Yoruba customs and beliefs pertaining to twins.

The Yoruba are an important ethnic group mainly occupying Southwestern Nigeria. Mainly for genetic reasons, this very large tribe happens to present the highest dizygotic twinning rate in the world (4.4 % of all maternities). The high perinatal mortality rate associated with such pregnancies has contributed to the integration of a special twin belief system within the African traditional religion of this tribe. The latter is based on the concept of a supreme deity called Olodumare or Olorun, assisted by a series of secondary gods (Orisha) while Yoruba religion also involves immortality and reincarnation of the soul based on the animistic cult of ancestors. Twins are therefore given special names and believed to detain special preternatural powers. In keeping with their refined artistic tradition, the Yoruba have produced numerous wooden statuettes called Ibejis that represent the souls of deceased newborn twins and are involved in elaborate rituals. Among Yoruba traditional beliefs and lore some twin-related themes are represented which are also found in other parts of the world. Basic features of the original Yoruba beliefs have found their way into the religious traditions of descendants of African slaves imported in the West Indies and in South America.     

The evolution of costly displays,cooperation and religion: credibility enhancing displays and their implications for cultural evolution

This paper lays out an evolutionary theory for the cognitive foundations and cultural emergence of the extravagant displays (e.g., ritual mutilation, animal sacrifice and martyrdom) that have so tantalized social scientists, as well as more mundane actions that influence cultural learning and historical processes. In Part I, I use the logic of natural selection to build a theory for how and why seemingly costly displays influence the cognitive processes associated with cultural learning — why do “actions speak louder than words?” The core idea is that cultural learners can both avoid being manipulated by their models (those they are inclined to learn from) and more accurately assess their belief commitment by attending to displays or actions by the model that would seem costly to the model if he held beliefs different from those he expresses verbally. Part II examines the implications for cultural evolution of this learning bias in a simple evolutionary model. The model reveals the conditions under which this evolved bias can create stable sets of interlocking beliefs and practices, including quite costly practices. Part III explores how cultural evolution, driven by competition among groups or institutions stabilized at alternative sets of these interlocking belief-practice combinations, has led to the association of costly acts, often in the form of rituals, with deeper commitments to group beneficial ideologies, higher levels of cooperation within groups, and greater success in competition with other groups or institutions. I close by discussing the broader implications of these ideas for understanding various aspects of religious phenomena.     

Plant knowledge of the Shuhi in the Hengduan Mountains, Southwest China

The Shuhi are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group of around 1,500 people living exclusively in the Shuiluo Valley, southwest China. We documented their plant knowledge concerning wild collected species, and analyzed food, medicine, and ritual uses. Overall, uses, collection sites, and use frequencies of 136 plant species were documented. The plants were divided in fodder (46 spp.), food (43 spp.), medicine (27 spp.), ritual plants (20 spp.), fuelwood (17 spp.), plants used for construction (8 spp.), ornamentals (2 spp.), and "others" (34 spp.). Food plants mainly consist of fruits and leafy vegetables, and the uses are comparable with those of other ethnic groups in the area. Knowledge about medicinal plants is relatively limited, since traditional Shuhi healers use ritual and other healing methods instead of medicinal plants. Ritual plants play an important role relative to human well-being. Villagers and ritualists use them to keep the environment clean of malevolent spirits and to maintain a good relationship with the deities. All habitats, from the dry shrub vegetation at the valley bottom up to the alpine shrub, are used for plant collection, but 87% of all species are collected in the near vicinity of the villages around the fields and in the dry shrub vegetation. Finally, we postulate two main factors influencing wild plant use among the Shuhi: cultural values and accessibility.     

The Maleny ‘Fire Event’: Rehearsals Toward Neo-liminality

Although the anthropological literature on ritual is extensive, little theoretical attention has been paid to recent attempts to (re)create rituals among mainstream groups in post-industrial, secularised societies. The authors address this issue by examiuning the annual Fire Event, which is constructed as a ritual climax to the Maleny Folk Festival in southern Queensland, Australia. Using the work of Victor Turner and John MacAloon as a point of departure, we argue that at best such celebrations constitute a neo-liminal framework within which participants can achieve a consensus of belief and action. By showing that some Fire Events have been more successful ‘rituals’ than others, we also highlight the factors which tend to impede participation and ‘con-subjectivity’ in such settings. In the process we identify some of the cultural divisions at Maleny, such as those between artists and ‘folk’, feral hippies and ‘hoons’, Aboriginals and Anglos, and begin to reflect on how these may relate to more general patterns of interaction in Australian society at large.     

Ritual, Risk, and Danger: Chain Prayers in Fiji

Rituals that defuse immediate senses of danger can perpetuate senses of powerlessness. Ambiguous language used in defensive rituals can heighten people's senses of the risks they are confronting and also compel people to perform those rituals again in the future. In this article, I illustrate this argument by examining Fijian Methodist masu sema (chain prayers), which are conducted to defuse the dangers that beset society, including curses from demonic ancestors. I argue that Fijian cultural themes of present-day human powerlessness are generated largely by competition between Methodist and chiefly authorities. "Chain prayers" are attempts to negate the power of dangerous ancestors, but in requesting God's help, ritual participants cast themselves as powerless. Verbal ambiguity in chain prayers gives "demons" lives of their own, compelling their future circulation.     

Syncretic Persons: Sociality,Agency and Personhood in Recent Charismatic Ritual Practices among North Mekeo (PNG)

This paper explores the syncretic accommodations made by North Mekeo (PNG) villagers arising from recent historical encounters with Catholic (Sacred Heart) missionaries over issues of ritual authenticity and effectiveness, personhood, and agency in a wider field of Christian evangelism and globalisation. Through a careful examination and comparison of pre‐existing ritual notions and practices (e.g., sorcery techniques, mortuary ritual performance, gender rituals) and the recent trends of commodification and enthusiastic Catholic charismatic performance, what might appear to be incongruous religious beliefs and practices are shown to possess numerous remarkably compatible similarities at the level of explicit cultural categorisation and ritual enactment. In accord with long‐standing anthropological arguments, recent North Mekeo syncretism thus consists of an integrated, albeit transformed rather than ‘confused’, mixing of indigenous and exogenous religious elements. Further, in this analysis of recent Melanesian religious change syncretism implies a novel conceptual convergence between syncretic processes and the dynamics of personhood, sociality and agency as construed in the framework of the ‘new Melanesian ethnography’.     

Social inequality and signaling in a costly ritual

Evolutionary perspectives suggest that participation in collective rituals may serve important communicative functions by signaling practitioners' commitment to the community and its values. While previous research has examined the effects of ritual signals at the individual and collective level, there has been limited attention directed to the impact of socio-environmental factors on the quality of ritual signaling. We examined this impact in the context of the Thaipusam Kavadi, a collective ritual performed by Tamil Hindus worldwide that involves body piercings and other costly activities. We show that participants' relative position in the social hierarchy systematically affects the form of ritual signaling. Specifically, we found that low-status participants are more likely to engage in signaling modalities that require somatic and opportunity costs in the form of body piercings and cumulative effort, while high-status individuals are more likely to use financial capital, in the form of more elaborate material offerings to the deity. Moreover, signaling in each particular modality is stronger among individuals who participate in more public (but not private) rituals, corresponding to their long-term commitment to the community. In sum, our results demonstrate that social hierarchies exact unequal requirements on ritual participants, who in turn modify their signaling strategies accordingly.     

Blood,War, and Ritual: Religious Ecology, ‘Strong’ Culture,and Human Sacrifice in the Premodern World

What social factors predict human sacrifice in premodern societies? After summarising key insights from competing theoretical perspectives that seek to explain the presence of human sacrifice in premodern societies, we empirically assess the explanatory utility of each theory. We draw from Stark's ‘moral communities’ argument and Alexander and Smith's insights regarding cultural autonomy to highlight how the macro-level organisation of premodern societies impacted the practice of human sacrifice. Using data from Murdock and White's Standard Cross-Cultural Sample, logistic regression models suggest that premodern societies that expressed community ties through religious ceremonies were more likely to engage in human sacrifice, while beliefs in spirit aggression are correlated with lower likelihood of human sacrifice. In terms of non-religious factors, societies that experienced frequent famine were slightly less likely to activity in the ancient world are partly a function of societal complexity. We conclude by specifying the theoretical implications of these findings.     

Classic Maya Bloodletting and the Cultural Evolution of Religious Rituals: Quantifying Patterns of Variation in Hieroglyphic Texts

Religious rituals that are painful or highly stressful are hypothesized to be costly signs of commitment essential for the evolution of complex society. Yet few studies have investigated how such extreme ritual practices were culturally transmitted in past societies. Here, we report the first study to analyze temporal and spatial variation in bloodletting rituals recorded in Classic Maya (ca. 250–900 CE) hieroglyphic texts. We also identify the sociopolitical contexts most closely associated with these ancient recorded rituals. Sampling an extensive record of 2,480 hieroglyphic texts, this study identifies every recorded instance of the logographic sign for the word ch’ahb’ that is associated with ritual bloodletting. We show that documented rituals exhibit low frequency whose occurrence cannot be predicted by spatial location. Conversely, network ties better capture the distribution of bloodletting rituals across the southern Maya region. Our results indicate that bloodletting rituals by Maya nobles were not uniformly recorded, but were typically documented in association with antagonistic statements and may have signaled royal commitments among connected polities.

No longer can evolutionists dismiss such works [of ritual sacrifice] as scholarly, but irrelevant, esoterica–explorations of the bizarre but insignificant elements of Precolumbian culture…we must address this ideological data base with the same interest that we would give to studies of settlement patterns, subsistence systems, or political institutions [1].

     

Rewarding the good and punishing the bad: The role of karma and afterlife beliefs in shaping moral norms

Moralizing religions encourage people to anticipate supernatural punishments for violating moral norms, even in anonymous interactions. This is thought to be one way large-scale societies have solved cooperative dilemmas. Previous research has overwhelmingly focused on the effects of moralizing gods, and has yet to thoroughly examine other religious moralizing systems, such as karma, to which more than a billion people subscribe worldwide. In two pre-registered studies conducted with Chinese Singaporeans, we compared the moralizing effects of karma and afterlife beliefs of Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, and the non-religious. In Study 1 (N = 582), we found that Buddhists and Taoists (karmic religions) judge individual actions as having greater consequences in this life and the next, compared to Christians. Pointing to the specific role of karma beliefs in these judgements, these effects were replicated in comparisons of participants from the non-karmic religions/groups (Christian and non-religious) who did or did not endorse karma belief. Study 2 (N = 830) exploited religious syncretism in this population by reminding participants about either moral afterlife beliefs (reincarnation or heaven/hell), ancestor veneration beliefs, or neither, before assessing norms of generosity in a series of hypothetical dictator games. When reminded of their ancestor veneration beliefs, Buddhists and Taoists (but not Christians) endorsed parochial prosocial norms, expressing willingness to give more to their family and religious group than did those in the control condition. Moral afterlife beliefs increased generosity to strangers for all groups. Taken together, these results provide evidence that different religious beliefs can foster and maintain different prosocial and cooperative norms.     

Selling with the san: Representations of bushman people and artefacts in South African print advertisements

This paper examines the use of visual images of the Bushman peoples (San) and their cultural objects in contemporary South African advertising. As an image is a site of meaning, the relationship between the people represented in the advertisement and the culture for which the advertisement is produced demonstrates strategies of subjection and power. Within the context of the advertisement, I explore the extent to which San people are appropriated by the consumer society and their ritual objects reduced or altered to a Western aesthetic dimension. The contexts and ideas of the producing society determine production of the visual object.

The relationship between the San “artefact” and the advertisement as a work of “art” reflects a dimension of South African social and political processes. Representations of the two juxtaposed societies suggest that the value systems and cultural attitudes of the dominant group present contested domains which are explored. Bushmen represent a malleable signifier which is used to promote an apparently/ ostensibly applied vision of an emerging non‐racial country.     

The implications of ritual practices and ritual plant uses on nature conservation: a case study among the Naxi in Yunnan Province,Southwest China

Background

Conservation of biodiversity is primary important of today’s critically vulnerable environment. Efficient conservation can be possible only with the long-term participation and understanding of the communities. Ritual beliefs of the indigenous people are one of the important tools to understand the local communities and aid the nature conservation. In this paper, we documented contemporary ritual practices and ritual plant uses among the Naxi people and discussed the importance of traditional knowledge on ritual practice in the conservation of plants in the mountains presenting a case study of the Dongba culture.

Methods

This study was carried out from July in 2013 to July in 2014. To document and analyze the present state of the ritual plant used by the Naxi people we conducted an ethnobotanical survey. We interviewed local people including Dongba priests using the semi-structured questionnaire. During the field study, we participated in the local religious activities to witness the use of different plants in ritual activities of the Naxi people. We interviewed twenty-two key informants and eleven of them were male. All the specimens of documented species were collected and deposited at the herbarium of Kunming Institute of Botany.

Results

The survey results revealed the Naxi people possessed sound knowledge of the traditional ritual plants and great diversity of plants used in many of Naxi rituals and festivals. From the survey, we documented 32 ritual plant species belonging to 24 genera of 17 families used in various ritual activities. The ritual plants were grouped into two categories, namely those burned as incense, and those used for decoration. The incense plants like Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata and Pistacia weinmanniifolia were probably promising natural aromatic resource. Plants of genus Quercus were the most frequently used species. The places for ritual activities were diverse, such as the incense burners inside and outside the house and sacred trees at the Baishuitai. Local people except the young generation had an abundant of traditional knowledge.

Conclusions

Our study shows the live ritual activities and the beliefs of the residents are keeping the plant diversity and the entire forest preserved as sacred mountains. Our study emphasizes traditional belief and an alternative view of conservation that is not led mainly by governmental policies, as local practices and ritual plants uses play as constant reminders to the Naxi on nature conservation. However, further research is recommended for in-depth understanding the role of traditional belief in biodiversity conservation.

     

The Materiality of Relational Transformations: Propositions for Renewed Analyses of Life-Cycle Rituals in Melanesia and Australia

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces this special issue and analyses Papua New Guinea and Australian initiation and death rituals as moments of relational transformations. Although the general argument is not completely new, it has often remained an undemonstrated statement. The paper hence focuses on the specific ways people make these changes effective and express them in their rituals. It is suggested that an invariant modus operandi is in play in which, for a relation to be transformed, its previous state must first be ritually enacted. Towards the end of the ritual, the new state of the relationship is itself publicly enacted through a manifestation of the form the relation takes after the ritual. The paper suggests that a relationship cannot be transformed in the absence of the persons concerned. The relational components need to be either directly present, such as in initiations, or mediated through objects, such as in death rituals.     

Painful Memories: Ritual and the Transformation of Community Trauma

This paper explores the question of how ritual can heal community pain or trauma. Drawing together recent insights into the ideological nature of healing with a focus on ritual process, I argue that in cases of social violence and healing, ritual's ability to assuage pain is linked to the ways in which it draws pain into the process of reconstructing memory. The argument is illustrated through an examination of how the Betsimisaraka of east Madagascar used rituals of cattle sacrifice to transform the pain they experienced during an anticolonial rebellion that took place in 1947.     

Shown but not Shared,Presented but not Proffered: Redefining Ritual Identity among Warlpiri Ritual Performers, 1990–2000

Little has been written on the construction and projection of indigenous social identity in public (‘non‐restricted’) ritual among Aboriginal Australians. Elsewhere, I have analysed nearly half a century of such public rituals (1946–1990) among the Warlpiri of Yuendumu in Central Australia, concentrating on the shifting forces of gender and kinship. This paper focuses on the key moments motivating senior Warlpiri women, since the 1990s, to reconfigure their ritual participation and roles in inter‐indigenous ceremonial events. I analyse how these women participate in inter‐Aboriginal performances, exhibiting the iconic and sensory virtues of the Dreaming and weaving new forms of political identity, shaped by the pressures of neo‐colonialism, with female ambassadors of other Aboriginal groups. I argue that in this performative process women are reconfiguring the meanings of Aboriginalities and rearticulating their connectedness to one another, a connectedness rooted in their beliefs and responsibilities towards the Dreaming.     

The shadow of life: Psychosocial explanations for placenta rituals

Culturally determined patterns of behavior associated with placenta disposal are characteristic of many modern and ancient societies. This paper defines this type of placenta disposal as a ritual event that delimits a portion of reality; explanations are provided leading to the conclusion that placenta rituals operate as anxiety releasing mechanisms that provide a means of control over the future health and welfare of mother, child, and community. The question of why the placenta figures so prominently in folk beliefs and practices has previously been attributed to its morphological and physiological properties; this paper argues that attributes associated with it from a psychosocial model are equally important. The data for this study were drawn from a compilation of ethnographic reports of post-partum practices in African, Asian, European, and Latin American societies. Additional information on placenta disposal was derived from interviews with 1,859 Peruvian informants. Analysis of the data obtained from the Peruvian studies show a significant difference between rural and semi-urban patterns of placenta disposal.I am using the term ritual to refer to the culturally determined behavioral sequences that relate to the placenta. The basis of the explanatory system that I have proposed in this article to account for its cross-cultural importance is that these behavioral sequences are examples of secular rituals as defined by Moore and Meyerhoff 1977: 3–24.