sacredact is symbolic of the bride’s devotion and fidelity to her husband. Since
females are excluded from the normal initiation ceremony, marriage
functions as their passage into adulthood.Further reading: Davis (1991); Pandey (1969); Shurden (1999); White (1999)SACRED
This concept possesses Latin roots with terms such as sacer (holy),
sacrare (to devote), sancire (to make holy), and hieros (holy or sacred).
In the early Jewish tradition, it signifies something that is set apart from
other things. There are not necessarily precise equivalent terms in the
language of other cultures, although there are similar concepts.
In his work on the sociology of religion entitled The Elementary Forms
of the Religious Life (1912), Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) defines reli-
gion as the sacred, which is something completely set apart from its exact
opposite the profane and eventually equated with society. A different line
of conceptualization is evident in the studies of religious phenomena by
Mircea Eliade (1907–1986), a historian of religions, who conceptualizes
the sacred as something supernatural. Before defining the sacred further,
Eliade begins by indicating that it is qualitatively different from the pro-
fane. Eliade continues to unravel the nature of the sacred by indicating
that it is that which is strong, efficacious, durable, real, powerful, and
wholly other. Moreover, the sacred is equivalent to a power, is saturated
with being, and is equated with reality. According to Eliade, the sacred
is dialectical because it represents a reality not of this world yet is mani-
fested in things of this profane world, and possesses the power to trans-
form a natural object into something else. If one considers a sacred object,
it possesses this exalted status because its source is a superior force and
it shares in the power of this source. Thus, every sacred object is based
on a hierophany, a manifestation of the sacred, and every hierophany is a
kratophany, a manifestation of power. Particular instances of the sacred
and power are part of a total system. A religious person wants to be near
the source of power, to participate in it, and to be immersed in it because
proximity to the sacred sustains a person’s existence and benefits the
welfare of others. Once the sacred is established by revealing itself, it
makes special orientation possible, which suggests that it establishes the
world by fixing limits and establishing order. Nonetheless, the sacred is
also ambivalent because it both possesses the ability to attract and also
repel a person. It is thus useful and dangerous.