Word: ritual
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...provocative thesis with evidence drawn from biology, archaeology and anthropology. Humans may be innately selfish, he argues, but early hunter-gatherers needed to subordinate self-interest to the will of the group in order to survive, and "the solution that evolved was religious behavior"--humankind's best organizing principle. Ritual chants and dances fostered kinship and inspired tribes to battle outside threats. As language developed, people ascribed their good fortune to the supernatural, and efforts to please a deity later kept order in nascent civil societies. As our ancestors learned to read, they wrote sacred texts; as they created social...
Once again, Annie turns to her universal metaphor: dancing. In “Heartbeat,” the movements were nostalgic even as they happened—a perfect moment, never to be experienced again. Here, dancing’s role is the more traditional one of a courtship ritual: “If we put our hands together / Yeah, we’re all here for the better / In the music you might discover / And your pulse and your beat and your laugh.” The second track, “My Love is Better...
...feels like a swarm of African killer bees conducted a violent mating ritual on my face in an attempt to escape the Cambridge chill...
...pervading and going nowhere fast,” since we are far from an era in which “sexuality is a genuine non-issue.” But the way to phase out flawed social constructions is hardly to indulge them. Coming out has become a highly ritualized process, an often-traumatic coming-of-age requirement for all those who deviate from arbitrary societal norms for sexual behavior. Rather than demanding, as glbtq, Inc. seems to, that people partake in this ritual in order to be true activists for issues important to the gay community, the process...
Will Swine Flu kill sportsmanship as we know it? In order to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus, several sports entities have either actively encouraged or outright ordered that athletes ditch that time-tested, germ-infested ritual, the handshake before or after a game. The Swedish soccer association, Canadian Olympic Committee, Ohio State football team and New England Small College Athletic Conference are among those trying to kibosh the palm-to-palm. "Shaking hands is just a way for us to increase the risk of getting ill," says Bob McCormack, the chief medical officer for the Canadian Olympic team...