Describe the three rituals you have chosen (Puja, Buddhist & Shinto), providing hard data on each from primary or secondary sources. Include the religion to which the ritual belongs, the place where the ritual occurs, and other basic facts, such as the number of participants, the leader(s) of the ritual, and so forth.
Interpret one ritual from a Religionist perspective. You might include questions such as (a) What religious symbols are used in this ritual, and their meaning to the participants? (b) What ritual actions performed by the people (or religious specialists) are supposed to prolong a hierophany or kratophany?, and (c) What are some of the religious experiences had by participants in the ritual? How might these reflect the mysterium tremendum and the mysterium fascinans?
Interpret another ritual from the Reductionist perspective. You might include questions such as, (a) Was the ritual performed by a certain social class, or for a particular political end? (b) What else was happening in the culture at the time the ritual was created or performed? and (c) Did this ritual serve to bolster the political interest of the status quo?
Interpret a third ritual from your own methodology. You might include some of the questions from both Religionist and Reductionist perspectives, or you might adopt and adapt the approach of one of the theorists we looked at in the first weeks of the class.
Use and incorporate your nine examples of course vocabulary throughout your paper from the chart in part 2. Render all of these terms in boldface, ALL CAPS or underline them. See module 1 and module 2 vocabulary flashcards for most definitions.
At the end of the essay, reflect some on your own method of looking at the ritual. Base your reflections on questions such as, (a) What biases do I bring to these rituals? (b) Have I viewed the rituals as an insider or as an outsider?
A suggested way to organize your paper is as follows:
Introduction
