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You will prepare and submit a term paper on Religion, Culture, and Identity. Your paper should be a minimum of 1750 words in length.
You will prepare and submit a term paper on Religion, Culture, and Identity. Your paper should be a minimum of 1750 words in length. Religion is a synthesis of symbolic or sacramental consciousness, a mystical quest for the union, return to silence, and exhortation to action (p. 81). These four elements are linked to what we have learned about religion: symbolism is shown in the sacramentals, mystical union comprises the belief, the action is seen in the rituals, and ethics comprises the silence of meditation and contemplation of what is right and true.
Recently, I had been fortunate enough to be invited by a friend to their small community. My friend (we shall call him Igme, although he wouldn’t mind being called Keanu, after his movie idol) belongs to a group called the Igorots, a mountain-dwelling, rice-planting, once head-hunting, tribe in the Far East. Once separated from civilization, he explained to me that he and his clansmen have adapted to the modern ways, and having lived closely with the Americans when the latter had military bases in his country, they understand the cosmopolitan ways, that is why they have traveled to another country and began a new life. But at heart, he says, he is still Igorot, and his family still practice many of the old ways.
The old Igorots practiced animism, or spiritual belief, although the younger generations have combined their old ways with a belief in one God, and they do not see any conflict in the two concepts. Like the Jews, Igorots circumcise their male children (a ritual), between the ages of 4 to 7. they believe that such is pleasing to the spirits, and failure to cut the foreskin will cause it to grow like a vine. (One thing I noticed about their religion is that there are plenty of references to things in nature.) There is symbolism in their belief, as the older members have their bodies tattooed with symbols that have meanings for the tribe. Mysticism likewise characterizes their beliefs, since they feel that animals and plants have a soul that one connects with. Igorots also believe in the spirit of their dead staying with them to help the generations along.
There are other rituals included in this form of animism, especially when it comes to marriage. In the older generations, marriage was arranged by the parents. today, a blessing by the parents of both the man and woman is sufficient.
