Essay on the meaning and functions of ceremonial

Meaning of Ceremonial

Explaining the meaning of ceremonial at the end of fifth chapter of his book “The Andaman Islanders” Radclifie Brown has written, “The chapter has shown that what I have denoted as ceremonial consists of 1. Collective actions. 2. Required by custom, 3. Performed on occasions of changes in the course of social life, and 4. Expressing the collectivc sentiments relating to such social change.”

Thus ceremonials do not include the magical practices of the medicine men. Brown admits that the above mentioned definition of ceremonial does not give a very clear distinction between ceremonial on the one hand and art, play and morals on the other. He regards painting of the body with white clay after marriage or initiation as a ceremonial. On the other hand, the painting of a new bow or canoe with the same clay in the pattern should be called art. Besides painting, dancing is a ceremonial.

It is a ceremony at the end of mourning but then objection may be raised in calling ordinary dance a ceremonial. Brown admits that it is difficult to distinguish between ceremonials art play and morals. But he point out that though the modern man distinguishes between all these in primitive societies they were undifferentiated.

Therefore the distinction of ceremonials from art, play, and morals is not necessary. In the words of Radcliffe Brown, “Those elements of culture that we now differentiate and call by different names were, in primitive societies, undifferentiated and not clearly to be distinguished from one another, and a striving after too great a precision of definition in dealing with such a culture as that of the Andamans leads, I think, not to a clearer understanding, but to the opposite.” Functions of Ceremonial

1. Social Education

Thus the function of a ceremonial is primarily social or moral function. It is a means of providing social education. For example, the initiation ceremony constitutes a sort of moral or social education.

It is recognition of the change of status of the initiate. Similarly, marriage ceremony is the social recognition of the change of status of the bride and bride-groom. Thus the ceremonials provide social education.

2. Moral education

Besides social education, ceremonials are important means of moral education. Initiation ceremony teaches self- control and self-restraint. It teaches control of hunger. It teaches endurance of pain. Secondly, the ceremonials teach the initiate for the first time in life to view life and its duties and obligations seriously.

In the words of Radcliffe Brown, “It is in the initiation ceremonies that the moral force of the society, acting through foods is chiefly felt, and the same experience is repeated in a less intense form in the rite of painting the body after food.” Thus ceremonial is the means by which individual is made to feel the moral force of the society acting upon him either directly or in some instances indirectly through those things that have important effects on the social life.

3. Socialization

Thus ceremonials are important means of socialization. They modify primary instincts. They increase the feeling of social dependence.

They make him realise that dangers can only be avoided by the help of the society and by confirmity with social customs. In the words of Radcliffe Brown, “By its action upon the individual the ceremonial develops and maintains in existence in his mind and organised system of dispositions by which the social life, in the particular form it takes in the Andamans is made possible, using for the purpose of maintaining the social cohesion of all the instinctive tendencies of human nature, modifying and combining them according to its needs.”

4. Social Solidarity

The ceremonials increase social solidarity. In the words of Radcliffe Brown, “An important law of sociology is that the solidarity of a group is increased when the group as a whole finds itself opposed to some other group; so, enmity between two tribes or nations increases the solidarity of each, and so also,, the antagonism between the society of the living and the world of the dead increases the solidarity of the former.” This clearly applies to the function of ceremonials in Andaman.

Social solidarity also increases by expression of collective emotions at the time of mourning, war or social ceremonies.

5. Social control

Radcliffe Brown has maintained, “I have tried to show that the ceremonials and customs are the means by which the society acts upon its individual members and keeps alive in their minds a certain system of sentiments.”

The ceremonials give birth to the sentiments and keep them alive. Social control is exercised through a system of social obligations. Ceremonials are the means by which the individual experiences the moral force of the society through the feeling of moral obligation. The power of the ceremonials compels him to subordinate his egoistic desires to social demands.

Thus ceremonials are the means by which society maintains important social sentiments necessary to maintain social control. The rules of prohibition concerning the ceremonials also serve this purpose.

The above functions of the ceremonials may be observed in the case of collective weeding, dancing, adornment etc. on the occasion of different ceremonies such as that of initiation, marriage, death ceremony etc.