Sweating as Relaxation?

I knew at some point in the semester I was going to write about some sort of folk architecture because I had an interesting experience with one a few years back. When I was a little younger, I went to Camp Palawopec, an outdoorsy camp in Brown County in southern Indiana. The session lasted for a week, and on the last night, all the girls went into what was called a sweat lodge. It was like a dome shaped structure that looked like it was made out of clay or something with that consistency. Inside, there was a center pit with stones and a little water that the counselors poured over the stones to create the steam to make everyone sweat. We were told that the purpose of this experience was to sweat out all the “bad stuff” and then after a while we’d jump in the lake to cool ourselves off. I thought it was kind of silly, but I really did feel relaxed after the whole situation was over. I guess I felt more or less completely exhausted, so I slept amazingly well that night! If you are interested in learning more about the camp, check out their website at http://www.camppalawopec.com.
This experience spurred me to learn more about sweat lodges and where they really come from. I learned that it is difficult to find the real origin of this type of architecture, but generally they are part of the Native American culture (www.wikipedia.com). They can be made from several different kinds of things, including clay, wood, willow tree branches, etc. The shapes of the lodge can also vary from being dome above ground to being an area that has been dug out and had branches placed over it. The idea of heating stones and then placing them in the center of the lodge seems to be universal with sweat lodges (www.wikipedia.com). It seems that the legend or notion behind the reasons for the sweat lodge is that it was given to the people by their Creator in order to provide direct communication between each other. Similarly, the lodge is seen as a womb, bringing both life and death to the people (www.wikipedia.com). It can involve very sacred rituals and traditions that involve cleansing the body, mind, spirit and heart. It seems that all the essential parts involved in the creating of the lodge and the ceremonies are extremely important to the people who participate in these activities. They give thanks for all the blessings they receive (www.wikipedia.com).
What was really interesting to me was the amount of ritual and tradition involved in the whole experience. Traditionally, the door faces the fire, the people who build the lodge do so in silence--some groups may have a drum playing and others may not eat while it is being built (www.wikipedia.com). Although nowadays, people may wear whatever they want to inside, traditionally people went in without any clothes on. Often people present offerings such as tobacco or sweet grass as a way of giving thanks for the blessings given to them. It seems that one of the most important aspects of the lodge is to show immense respect towards the lodge leader. This is why people often are silent during the ceremony, or maybe chanting quietly. This can also help show thanks for the leader and support for the group within the lodge. It seems that overall, the idea of the sweat lodge is to be thankful for everything one is given to live and survive. It clearly can be a religious experience for some, and for others maybe just a ritualistic tradition to purify everyone. Either way, it definitely calmed me down and helped to relax me. The information about the sweat lodge can be found at www.Wikipedia.com. The photo is of a sweat lodge from Abram's Creek Retreat & Campground in West Virginia. It can be found at http://www.abramscreek.com/images2/lodge_Picture%20083.jpg. This post is my response to the Architecture Encounter Project.

Performances

If you asked me about performance before taking this class or reading this book, I probably would have only responded about it in terms of grand, formal public situations. I used to think that “performances” were just like musicals, concerts, football games, plays, etc. I thought of them as these huge, planned, public occurrences where people gathered to watch something being done. I was reading in the book about “performing proverbs” and to be honest, I never would have considered joking around with one of my friends any sort of performance. I guess now I realize that a performance can sort of be anything as long as it follows some basic rules. I know that there has to be some sort of framing, or something marking when the performance will begin and when it will end (Sims and Stephens, pp. 141). This shows me that framing a performance can be anything from the announcer at a football game bellowing out the names of the players to a friend framing the beginning of a joke. I just realize how you have to look at the context of a situation to figure out what is going on exactly.
I thought about the idea of performances having a reflexive quality after reading the chapter. It really makes sense to me that if your family is talking and someone frames the beginning of a joke, but the joke may be sort of private or misunderstood by other people, yet everyone understands it. I think that the reflexive part of the performance is that the family is so close-knit that they allow for the private quality of the joke to be experienced. If the group was not that close or familial, the performance would not have made sense or been as successful. I guess overall, I just realize how there are SO many situations that I would not have considered performances, but they are because there is probably an audience and someone performing something. I just know that now I can open my eyes up a little more and be more open and willing to see things even when I haven’t been “trained” to see them. This post is my response to the Chapter 5 Reflection Question.

Rituals...Festivals...Football?

A few weeks ago I was thinking of the perfect encounter project to do and I just remembered I did it. I was thinking about what kind of ritual, festival or celebration I could encounter, and I realized IU has this big thing called Homecoming. I thought this whole idea was interesting because not only does the university have rituals that fit in to this large festival that encompasses the whole celebration of IU, but students have their own unique rituals as well. There are the obvious parts of Homecoming that seem like rituals or parts of rituals to me. These include the ideas that the whole week is dedicated to Homecoming, which gives a starting point and an ending point like the book discussed, while each event within the week also has a specific time frame during which they occur. Events like the parade involve people wearing uniforms that signify they are a part of the ritual, like people in the band, cheerleaders, etc. I bet that these folk groups also have little rituals within themselves that they perform before the games (especially the Homecoming game). Not to mention this is clearly part of a festival because there is a marching band blasting music through the streets for the public to hear. There is also the pep rally where the coach and maybe captains on the team speak to the crowd to get everyone pumped up for the big game. I think that is like a ritual because someone specific is leading the event, not just any student or staff member, but a leader of the team, or THE leader of the team (the coach). Now, there are other events going on for people to attend if they want to, but the culmination of the week is the Homecoming football game. This is a special game because alumni come back, true fans and “kind of” fans all attend the game and I think people want to win this game more than any other one sometimes. Once again there are rituals within the game (time frame, uniforms, kickoff, certain rules are followed, etc.) but this game is more of a huge celebration to end the week of Homecoming. Now, depending on how well the football team does, the festival week may not end for another couple of days, but it also may end that night. I guess I just think its really strange and cool that there are pieces of folk lore throughout the world and throughout my own life. I never would have thought going to a parade or a football game would involve me in any sort of ritual or festival, but clearly I was wrong. This is my response to the Ritual, Festival and Celebration Encounter Project.

Graduation!

The most notorious situation that I can think of that involved ritual within my life was my high school graduation. The book talks about rituals being framed, and this event definitely was framed (Sims and Stephens p. # 97). Not only were there specific times for it to start and end, but it was also framed with the opening comments from the principal. I think at that point, even if some people were a little late, they knew things were starting so they had to find seats and quiet down. I think another way that it was framed was with our caps and gowns. They signified something was occurring that was different than everyday life, and showed people that we were ending one stage of our lives and getting ready to begin a new one. I also think that this is a high-context ritual because it is a big, formal event that is time specific, has very specific purposes and most definitely requires specific attire. (Sims and Stephens p. # 99). Not only do the graduates wear special outfits, but those who receive special honors wear extra pieces, like a gold sash (in my school that was for the Top 10% of the class) or a different colored tassel (those who did community service). Another characteristic of this type of ritual, along with my graduation, is that it was lead by the administrative staff (Sims and Stephens p. #99). The group that leads the school in everyday affairs lead the graduating class through this special ritual. I believe that the graduation ceremony, and the moving of the tassel at the end, is a rite of passage ritual (Sims and Stephens p. # 110). I think this because it is marking the end of high school and adolescence and moving into the next stage of college and adulthood. I think this is why the book explains it as occurring during a change or transition period in someone’s life (Sims and Stephens p. # 110). The book explains three stages of rites of passage as separation, transition and reincorporation (Sims and Stephens p. # 111). I think with my example, the separation is when you literally separate the graduates from the rest of the school and family members to recognize them as about to go through this change. I think the transition involves getting ready with the cap and gown and getting any extra sashes or tassels, along with the actual ceremony and moving of the tassel. I think that’s like acknowledgement from the community and school that these students have transitioned from teenagers to young adults. The last part could either be the students becoming a part of the community in a new way by going to college and showing they are young adults or the end of the ceremony where everyone meets up again and the new graduates are flooded with congratulations from friends and family. That is when they are brought back into the whole of the community as “graduates.” I am still getting surprised during these reflections because I never realized how much folklore was involved in my life, so I’m learning more about my family, friends and life each time I do one. This post is my response to the Chapter 4 reflection question.