PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Ceremonial Behavior”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

Therapeutic aspects of Puerto Rican cult practices.

This paper seeks to explore the phenomenon of possession trance in the ritual context from still another tack, complementary to the studies cited above, by analyzing it as an active and perhaps necessary component in the development of significant personal relationships basic to the organization and goals of some religous cults.-1 This view has been suggested by data gathered in study of social process in Puerto Rican Spiritist cults-2 which examined the relationship between patterns of cult social organization and the cult execution of a culturally patterned psychotherapeutic process for committed adherents whose emotional problems are diagnosed by cult headers as manifestations of developing "faculties" for communication with the spirit world-3 (see Koss; Rogler and Hollingshead, 1965, pp. 244-254; Seda Bonilla, 1964).

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1985

In search of the saddiq: visitational dreams among Moroccan Jews in Israel.

Folk veneration of saints (hagiolatry) plays a major role in the lives of many Moroccan Jews living in Israel and constitutes a basic ingredient of their distinctive ethnic identity. In this context, pilgrimages to the saint's tomb and visitational dreams, in which he appears in person or in some symbolic guise, are related phenomena through which the linkage to the saint is maintained and his blessing is granted to his adherents. This paper is concerned with visitational dreams collected among Moroccan Jews in a major pilgrimage center in northern Israel. An attempt is made to show how personal concerns of the dreamers are mediated through the culturally shared idiom of the saint. We discuss the basic structure of visitational dreams, the major life problems conveyed by them (drawing on illustrations from the dream collection), their therapeutic qualities and their significance in the framework of the pilgrimage to the saint's sanctuary.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Perceived stress and support of the Chinese postpartum ritual "doing the month".

"Doing the month" is the traditional ritual for Chinese postpartum women. A qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 20 Hong Kong Chinese women was conducted to examine the women's perceptions of stress and support in "doing the month." Four central themes were identified as follows: bound by the environmental constraints, difficulties in following the prescriptions of the rituals, conflicts between the parties involved, and attainment of the maternal role. The study revealed that "doing the month" is not necessarily protective and supportive of the postpartum women. It raises the critical question of how women can adapt the ritual to fit modern life. The study findings suggest that midwives and health care providers should provide culturally appropriate advice for new mothers. Suggestions are given on bridging the gap between traditional and modern postpartum practices.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Letting go of preconceptions: a novel approach to creating memorial services.

This article presents a novel application of grounded theory (GT) to the creation of memorial services. Several relevant aspects of GT methodology are presented that have made a positive and significant contribution to the creation of relevant, meaningful, and hopeful memorial services. The relevance of the GT (the story) that emerges as the memorial service lies in the very manner in which the story is created. Here the story itself is the means of responding to the problem, the basic social and psychological process of dealing with loss. "Letting go of preconceptions" is the core variable. It provides the means whereby the energy invested in responding to the problem is best guided in creating meaningful and hopeful stories. Suggested areas of applications and relevance for this methodology, within areas where creating stories of meaning and hope are essential to healing, also are presented.

Anniversaries and Special Events↗
PubMed2006

Personal reflections of funeral rituals and spirituality in a Kentucky African American family.

This article introduces the authors' experiences and observations as grief/bereavement counselors participating in urban and rural funerals. A vignette illustrates the use of rituals and spirituality of one African American family, living in a rural area of Kentucky, and their efforts to cope with their own grief and loss of a loved one. The article describes why it is important for professional practitioners to have awareness about a range of diverse funeral events and traditions that can take place in the African American community. Funeral practices and customs are discussed as well as suggestions for culturally competent practice in working with those who have experienced loss and grief.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2005

Rules of engagement: structuring sex and damage in men's prisons and beyond.

This paper analyses data from a recent study of ex-prisoners and prisoners in Gauteng Province, South Africa, to consider the moral economy established by hegemonic inmate culture in which sexual interactions are negotiated. It argues that while this system is based on outside norms of heterosexism, ruptures with these norms occur. Male prison populations are rearranged into gendered categories through intricate inmate rituals, causing dramatic breaks in the ways that some prisoners are understood by others and themselves. The rituals and rules involved in the constructions appear to be unfamiliar from an 'outside' perspective, but have roots beyond prison walls. Similarly, the gendered positions generated are distinct from those they imitate, but also emerge in relation to them, beyond mere imitation. Even as new structures of identity emerge then, breaks with the outside are never total. Neither is the hold of the moral economy that inmate culture works so hard to create. Another order of rupture happens when prisoners transgress the rules of this economy, and subvert the meanings on which both the oppressive gender-sex status quo of the inside and that of the outside, rely.

Ceremonial Behavior↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Virginity testing in South Africa: re-traditioning the postcolony.

Umhlanga is a ceremony celebrating virginity. In South Africa, it is practiced, among others, by the Zulu ethnic group who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu Natal. After falling into relative disuse in the Zulu community, the practice of virginity testing made a comeback some 10 years ago at around the time of the country's first democratic election and coinciding with the period when the HIV pandemic began to take hold. In July 2005 the South African Parliament passed a new Children's Bill which will prohibit virginity testing of children. The Bill has been met with outrage and public protest on the part of Zulu citizens. Traditional circumcision rites are also addressed in the new bill but are not banned. Instead, male children are given the right to refuse to participate in traditional initiation ceremonies which include circumcision. This paper asks why the practice of virginity testing is regarded as so troubling to the new democratic order that the state has chosen to take the heavy-handed route of banning it. The paper further asks why the state's approach to traditional male circumcision has been so different to its approach to virginity testing. Finally, the paper asks what these two challenging cases in the country's new democracy tell us about the nature of liberal democratic citizenship in South Africa 10 years after apartheid's formal demise.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Filipino experience of ritual male circumcision: knowledge and insights for anti-circumcision advocacy.

Male circumcision is a well-publicised phenomenon, but much of what is known at the international level concerns neonatal medical circumcision in some Western countries and ritual circumcision among young men entering into adulthood in certain countries in Africa. This paper aims to add to this understanding by focusing on Filipino men's experience of ritual circumcision. Data were derived from a 2002 Philippine circumcision study-a component in a Southeast Asian research study of genital enhancement practices with an advocacy purpose. As part of the study, interviews were conducted with 114 circumcised Filipino males, of varying ages, who were selected purposively. The report highlights the important links in this context between circumcision, masculinity and male identity. It points too the role of the broader community in sustaining such practices and the challenges that must be faced by anti-circumcision campaigners in making their efforts culturally appropriate.

Adolescent↗