Essays on Ceremony

Introduction Death or mortuary rites is a ceremony or group of ceremonies held in connection with the burial or cremation of a dead person. Throughout the history and in every human society, the disposal of the dead has been given special significance. Death rites comprise...

American popular culture pervades not only America itself, but many other cultures as well, and it says so much about the people and society as a whole that it attempts to define. American Indians are a group not usually connected with the network of popular...

Ceremony is a tale from a community that is marginalized. For many years, the interactions between the Native Indians and the White people destroy the Natives. The Native Indians suffer because of genocide, racism and exile and all these are attributed to the white people....

Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony is a multidimensional novel full of Laguna symbols and themes that are easily overlooked in a superficial reading. Like many of the elements in this work, Josiah’s spotted cattle can be interpreted in multiple ways: as cultural metaphors, water spirits, and...

Tayo, the protagonist of Ceremony, lives in more than just one reality; he lives in worlds that exist once you begin to feel their touch on your skin. Worlds where nightmares occur while you’re awake, people and animals that say and do things you see...

Intrinsically tied to Native American culture is the concept of the journey. For millennia, the indigenous people of the Americans took part in nomadism and often journeyed across miles of rough and challenging terrain to reach their destination. In Ceremony, however, by Leslie Marmon Silko,...

In her novel Ceremony Leslie Silko overtly breaks from the conventional “Western” narrative. The narrative form that she utilises is broken, merging prose where time is fluid with poetry and stories based in Laguna culture. What she creates is a vivid, idiosyncratic, and often times...

In her novel Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko subverts trends of the conventional Western narrative through her descriptions of time. Rather than telling the story of Tayo in a linear chronology, Silko instead creates a more authentic experience by constantly shifting in between moments. In addition...

All throughout our lives, especially today in modern culture we rely ourselves on our identity, because it makes us who we are and will either consciously or subconsciously make decisions for us; who we hang out with, what we eat, what books we read, what...

Selection: Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 Composer: Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934) This listening selection can be found in the lesson on “Can Music Have a Specific Purpose”. The title of this piece comes from a line in Shakespeare’s Othello (“Pride, pomp, and circumstance of...

As Silko’s Ceremony moves along, the problem of poverty among the Native Indian becomes evident. The white people subject the Native Indians by stealing their land and cattle. Tayo focuses on economic-self-reliance as part of his healing when he focus of seeking and returning his...

The art of drinking and serving tea plays a very vital cultural role in China. It inspires a lot of artists that the Chinese tea ceremony, as it is called, has been written in songs and poetry. The ritual of preparing and serving tea has...

Leslie Marmon Silko’s poem, “Ceremony,” is a prime example of how poetry, even simpler to understand ones, can be productive. The poem is productive because it conveys a message: stories are powerful. The message a poem conveys can be used justly, or unjustly. Whether or...

In Silko’s Ceremony, Tayo’s healing process is very extensive, and he faces many crucial challenges in order to let go of traumatic past events. While on this journey, Tayo encounters many symbols that aid him in developing a sense of appreciation and freedom. As a...

Japanese Tea Ceremony Preparing for the Ceremony Chaji is a full tea presentation with a meal. As in virtually every tea ceremony, the host may spend days going over last minute details to insure that this ceremony will be perfect. Through tea, recognition is given...