"covered now by three days, we saw shadows of the morning light, the shadows of the evening sun, til the shadows and the light were one" Eh what's a blog without some Jane's Addiction, Ritual De Lo Habitual (funny, I know someone who thinks Perry Farrell is a satyr). Three days, three days in an ordinary mythology. Cyclical and ritual, forever paying homage to Order. I wake up at 5:30 in the morning. Feed the cats. Smoke. Clean litter box. Get ready for work and school. Brush my cat. Make sure all doors and widows are locked. Upon exiting I check 5 times to see if the garage door is shut, once in each mirror and twice over the shoulder.
Once I get in my car the all day music worship begins. At work, we all have various morning rituals for the purposes of cleanliness and order (music is worshipped faithfully all day, by all present). Work. Class. Shower. Dinner. Homework. Cartoons, dessert, and vitamins. Bed. Three days go by without variation. All other days the variation is slight. What is the point of all this repetition? Why carry on the same tasks in the same order day after day, faithfully and continually? Order. Ritual is a way of bringing order to the chaos that is life. Performing rituals is a way of exercising control over our lives and actively participating in our existence.
Rituals are performed often at or soon after birth in the form of naming ceremonies or christenings. Rituals are performed to restore or renew the land. Rituals are performed at death, but from birth until death rituals are a part of our lives. Rituals can bring us closer to our environment, our families, our communities, and even ourselves.
The reasons why rituals are performed and how they are performed is very complex. Inspired by this complexity I chose the Japanese ritual of Seppuku to present in class. Seppuku was a form of ritual suicide reserved for the Samurai class in ancient Japan. Seppuku is currently illegal in Japan and the last Seppuku was committed in 1970 as a protest. Seppuku, also know as Hara-kiri or Hari-kari, literally means "stomach cutting" and was an key part of the Bushido or warrior code. Seppuku was used by warriors to keep from falling into enemy hands or to rid oneself of shame. Warriors could be ordered to commit Seppuku by their feudal lords or could use Seppuku as the ultimate protest when their morals stood in the way of executing a master's order. Seppuku is very complex, has many forms, and is of course different for women.
I decided to focus on the most formal performance of Seppuku. Dressed ceremonially with his sword in front of him the participant writes his death poem. After completing the poem, with his selected attendant or his second standing behind him, he wraps a cloth around the base of his sword then opens his kimono and plunges the sword into his abdomen. First he cuts right to left, then slightly upward. After the upward cut he lowers his head and his second, usually a trusted warrior and friend, then cuts off his head. In battle or other less formal settings the second may or my not be a part of the ritual. Like most rituals Seppuku produces more questions, for those outside of its practice, than answers.
Rituals are not only something that is done, but something that is done to exercise power over our lives and ourselves. Through the practice of rituals we are active participants in our existence and not mere bystanders witnessing the drama of the gods played out in an endless cyclical narrative.
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