sacraments
Most of the theorists would agree that ritual is a way of communicat-
ing with the divine for the purpose of changing or maintaining, assuming
that it is a positive condition, the human situation. Ritual actions accom-
plish practical things, such as curing illness, increasing fertility, defeating
enemies, changing one’s social status, removing impurity, or revealing
the future. Ritual also informs us why a particular group communicates
with the divine beings, settles moral conflicts, manipulates sacred power,
and controls and renews the flow of time. Ritual accomplishes these
things often periodically at, for instance, the start of the agricultural
cycle, marking the end of the harvest, or the formation of a community.
The Bladder festival of the Alaskan Eskimo attempts to repair relation-
ships between hunter and game owners for the next hunting season.
Inflated, painted bladders, which symbolize the souls of all birds and
animals slain during the year, are returned to their spiritual homes by
either being placed on a fire or in a hole in the ice. In contrast, the Ihamba
rite of the Ndembu of Africa is intended to cure illness caused by neglect-
ing a deceased relative, who punishes the victim by inflicting him/her
with an invisible tooth under the skin. The ritual consists of washing the
body of the victim with medicines and using cupping horns to suck out
the tooth of the dead person.
Further reading: Bataille (1962); Bell (1992, 1997); Gill (1982); Girard (1989);
Grimes (1990); Humphrey and Laidlaw (1994); Rappaport (1999); Staal (1989);
Tambiah (1990); Turner (1967, 1968, 1969)
SACRAMENTS
The word sacraments comes from the Greek mysterion that is translated
into Latin as the term sacramentum. Although it is thus a Western notion,
it is possible to find a rough equivalent in Hinduism. Within the Christian
context, sacraments are considered visible forms of invisible grace by
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in the fourth century. Although there is his-
torically some disagreement about the precise number of sacraments,
their number is fixed at seven by the time of Peter Lombard in the twelfth
century: baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, penance, extreme unction,
ordination, and marriage. In theory, these sacraments are grounded in
actions by Jesus in the New Testament.
According to Roman Catholic sacramental theology, the sacraments
operate and confer grace ex opera operato, which means by the work
performed or by force of the action itself. In short, the sacraments are