Essay - Cultural Anthropology Journal Entry: Relationships Between Religion & Health Cultural...

Cultural Anthropology Journal Entry: Relationships Between Religion & Health

Cultural Anthropology Journal *****: Intersections of Religion and Health in American Society

***** first it might appear that there are no intersections whatsoever of religion and health in our society, but when one thinks about it, actually there may be quite a few. The subject is broad because there are many ways of looking at religion (e.g., in terms ***** particular religions, like Christianity; Judaism, Buddhism; Hinduism, etc., that ***** may believe in practice) and health (***** terms of mental or physical health, or overall holistic health, which connects the mental, physical, ***** spiritual aspects ***** living).

I think religious practices, ***** praying, going to church every Sunday (or ***** Temple ***** Friday night, ***** whatever), and following dietary laws some people in some religions follow, like the way, for example, ***** both Jewish people ***** Muslim people do *****t eat pork or shellfish) ***** arguably contri*****e to *****, ***** maybe more accurately to a psychological feeling of good health, by cr*****ing a regular, predictable, routine, and set of rules for daily living, so people are more certain what they are *****ing on particular days, holidays, weeks of the year, etc.

Some ***** ***** cultural practices (although not all that many that I can think of) seem to actually have the qualities of health, endurance, and physical and ***** strength built into them, in certain ways. For example, in *****e Native ***** culture that ***** know *****, the Apache *****, ***** adolescent girls traditionally prep***** *****, and then take part *****, a several day-long "Sunrise Ceremony," which serves to then initiate ***** in***** Apache womanhood. Here, religion ***** culture are explicitly connected to both strong mental and strong ***** health, s*****ce the Apache girl participating in the "Sunrise Ceremony" must, among other things, run long distances at sunrise each morning (running first to the north, then to the south, then ***** the east, then to the west. The Apache girls ***** in the Sunrise ***** also have to dance for long periods each night: two h*****s the first night; four hours the second night; six hours the third night; ***** four hours ***** *****th night. Each girl has a sponsor throughout the ceremony, an older ***** woman who serves as her mentor during this initiation ceremony and at the beginning of the four day ***** ceremony, the sponsor paints ***** ***** with a thick yellowish brown m*****terial that then hardens ***** makes the girl look like a clay mask. After this, the girl cannot scratch *****self, except with a special "scratching stick" that will not remove the paint, for the whole four days. She has to sit, stand, and lie in ***** special, difficult positions, supervised by her sponsor, throughout the four *****, ***** ***** ***** time ***** sponsor, family, friends, and others in the tribe are continually watching to make sure the girl stays ***** good cheer, even tempered, does ***** positions properly, and does not give in to any