At the base of these rites lie myths which help us to understand the teaching aspect of religious rites. Myths provide background and insight into the meaning of rites and behind these rites lie the realities of past struggles and events and the myths recount these events. Without these myths to help support the rituals and rites, the people will eventually let it die out or lose its true essence over years and years of interpretation. These rites help transfer the religious tradition from one generation to the next in a fluid way so there is a definite continuation. These rites are performed with the community present- this helps to celebrate the relationships that everyone shares with each other. Throughout this theology course this semester
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Sometimes we can extract the rites from the religious aspect and place them into a different perspective. For example, rites do not have to be solely religious but social too, circumcision in Africa is seen as a mode of the boys becoming men. If a boy does not maintain a stoic manner then he shames his family, however, if he does then he is a man and he has brought good fortune to the family. In America, there isn’t as much of a need for public circumcisions or “family honor” because there are such widely different groups of people that do not relate to any religion in particular. Currently in the mainstream media there is a lot of talking that America needs to return to God and get away from the moral corruption it is seeing. African people and American people view God and religion very differently both in how he should be celebrated and how he should be brought into someone’s life. This separation of religious rites from its myth can cause a reduction in the way a religion is practiced. If that reduction were to happen in Africa, the religion might become as it is here in America- people being “lukewarm” about what they practice and how they practice it. Rites then become the bridge, or direct link, to the ancestors
Sometimes we can extract the rites from the religious aspect and place them into a different perspective. For example, rites do not have to be solely religious but social too, circumcision in Africa is seen as a mode of the boys becoming men. If a boy does not maintain a stoic manner then he shames his family, however, if he does then he is a man and he has brought good fortune to the family. In America, there isn’t as much of a need for public circumcisions or “family honor” because there are such widely different groups of people that do not relate to any religion in particular. Currently in the mainstream media there is a lot of talking that America needs to return to God and get away from the moral corruption it is seeing. African people and American people view God and religion very differently both in how he should be celebrated and how he should be brought into someone’s life. This separation of religious rites from its myth can cause a reduction in the way a religion is practiced. If that reduction were to happen in Africa, the religion might become as it is here in America- people being “lukewarm” about what they practice and how they practice it. Rites then become the bridge, or direct link, to the ancestors