Nacirema Body Ritual Analysis

When I was reading and trying to imagine “Nacirema’s Body Ritual” for the first time I couldn’t relate with any aspect of the culture. I found the Nacirema’s cultural practices as estrange behaviors. This culture was very distant, unusual and different from mine. Magical and exotic traditions and rituals were unnecessary for me and I could not understand why these people were so devoted to them. “Several shrines”, “charm-box” and “holy-mouth-men” were new words for me that represented very foreign ideas (Miner 1956). When I read it for the second time, I stopped to think and analyze for a while and started to compare all these rituals with my everyday life. Suddenly the culture and rituals of the Nacirema were not foreign but also, sounded …show more content…
I find this description as a picture of our society nowadays. In a world where power and money are the drivers for a better life and where the physical appearance is what matter the most, its difficult to go back to our roots and not get lost in this “perfect” model that the society presents. We are dominated by what commercials, fashion, famous people, trend and social media show. What is wrong or right should be defined by …show more content…
Before dinnertime, both of the parents get reunited and have a small conversation. Usually they consult with their children about what they talked but most of the times the opinion of the kids is not that important to change the parents decision. After that, the mother goes away and grabs a “magic block” that is in a platform that is used to communicate with other people. The mother seems to have a conversation with the air, but the “magic block” that is next to her ear replies to all her questions. When she finished to speak, she tells to her family that the “fount of energy” is on the way. After waiting for a while, a estrange noise resounds all over the house and all the members of the family start to do different activities. The father moves fast to the door and opens it. Behind the door is the “mysterious man” with a box in his hands. As he doesn’t want to be seen, the “mysterious man” gives the box quickly to the father and receives a gift in exchange. When the father goes back into the house, all the family is waiting sitting on the table to open the box. When the box is open a fantastic smell invades the room and smiley faces appears on the family when the fount of energy is ready to be taken out of the