I found this quote in Calasso to be very relevant to the topic of ritual, which we've been discussing in class. We talked about how rituals were mythological, and were offered the question which one came first myths or rituals. This quote, however, is suggesting that myth and ritual are something completely different. Most importantly, myths are not limited like rituals are. Myth is never-ending and always present.
Today in class i presented my ritual. I chose Rain-making off of the online Eliade.
AUSTRALIA
It is universally believed by the tribes of the Karamundi nation, Of the Darling River, that rain can be brought down by the following ceremony. A vein in the arm of one of the men is opened and the blood allowed to drop into a piece of hollow bark until there is a little pool. Into this is put a quantity of gypsum, ground fine, and stirred until it has the consistency of a thick paste. A number of hairs are pulled out of the man's beard and mixed up with this paste, which is then placed between two pieces of bark and put under the surface of the water in some river or lagoon, and kept there by means of pointed stakes driven into the ground. When the mixture is all dissolved away, the blackfellows say that a great cloud will come, bringing rain. From the time that this ceremony takes place until the rain comes, the men are tabooed from their wives, or the charm will be spoiled, and the old men say that if this prohibition were properly respected, rain would come every time that it is done. In a time of drought, when rain is badly wanted, the whole tribe meets and performs this ceremony.
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