Word: rituals
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Indeed, the practice has fallen on hard times in the wake of Vatican II. Candidates for the Catholic priesthood no longer pass through the minor order of exorcist en route to ordination. The official baptism ritual, which included an ancient exorcism formula ("Accursed devil, come forward and acknowledge your condemnation . . ."), today concentrates on asking God to / fill the child with his grace rather than expelling the power of darkness...
Holiday even got her nickname, "Lady Day", because of her quest for dignity. Traditionally, female singers in nightclubs would go from table to table and collect tips by pulling up their dresses and grabbing outstretched monetary offerings with their labia. Holiday attempted this ritual a few times but found it too degrading, and thus the other singers sarcastically started calling her "Lady...
...yearly ritual, almost as reliable as geese flying south for the winter and north in spring...
During dinner, McGuane sips nonalcoholic beer and talks about an upcoming cutting-horse competition in Billings. Cutting, a highly stylized ritual in which a horse and rider "work" a cow in much the same way a defensive guard tries to block a basketball, is a dear topic for the McGuanes. They also happen to be formidably good at it. Laurie is Montana's defending cutting- horse champion, Tom was No. 1 the year before, and the two are the leading contenders for the 1989 trophy. "We take turns," Laurie laughs...
...aristocratic as a hash-house waitress. Alexander ably sketches differences among the dowager's airhead sister, mean daughter and timid nurse, but, as the last, lapses into a singsong that has become her trademark shorthand for innocence. Adding to the problem, Robert Allan Ackerman's archly formal staging emphasizes ritual over a sense of place. Still, the two women establish an ever shifting power dynamic. In the last fantasy, when they embrace fondly in an imagined courtyard, their warmth and urgency enable the audience to share in an emotional payoff...