The Nacirema Culture

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Professor Demark first brought attention to the Nacirema 6 years ago. Anthropologist like Horace Miner have also conducted research on the Nacirema. Which lead me to further study different aspects of their culture and rituals. They are a North American group residing in between the Ottawa and Chatino. Their culture was created by the Snaitpyge back 12,000 years ago. The Snaitpyge is an ethnic group who created the very ritual of Puekam, which is a ritual the Nacirema perform every day to which is known as what extreme human behavior can go to. This culture described as a fast developed economy, very self-oriented, much of people times goes in taking part in daily rituals and ceremonies. Most rituals include of self-appearance. The Nacirema …show more content…
The very last step is the most important step; it is the finishing touch in their beauty regimen. They sprinkle holy water directly on their face to keep it from melting throughout the day. And that’s the end of Nacirema bizarre puekam ritual. The Nacirema has to handle these ritual with many precautions. Each night after they performed the ritual in the morning they have to cleanse themselves of the waxes, oils, pigments, preservatives, and paints. Or it might result in very bad. This ceremony will increase the chances for eye infections, and if not removed properly, it will also increase your chances for sores and inflamed sebaceous glands on the face. At night before going to sleep, many Nacirema female smear round giblets right on their face! They use the fleshy red ridge that runs along the center of roosters' heads to hydrate their skin. It is said to calm the skin after a long day. Once they have “cleaned” themselves they’re prepared for the next day’s ritual. Without this ritual, women believe they can’t get married, have children or friends. These Nacirema women do these practices also because it’s a mythical thinking that their primary function is to be decorative and thus appealing to …show more content…
They might be running late to an event, loohcs, which is their education foundation but take their time to go through their daily routine. As I was so curious and stunned by their practices I asked one of the Nacirema women why she does this every day and she replied it’s first and foremost for herself. It is how she speak to their inner magic, honors her creativity and evokes her confidence. She also says that this this ritual is a ritual of self-love, reclamation, and empowerment. And not always for men. The pioneering research by Horace Miner lead me the way to explore different facets of the fascinating Nacirema culture. I have had a special opportunity to study and live among the Nacirema for the past four years and gain insight into their lives. My study of the bizarre ritual of the Nacirema has proven they’re an image-centric people. Who can go into any circumstance for beauty and to strive to achieve an ideal of perfection. This is a very understudied culture and very hard culture to study and to comprehend too. But yet people of this culture are striving in numbers, and a much more detailed studies are to be
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