rituals

Pōwhiri and Hongi of New Zealand’s Māori: a Sacred Ritual

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New Zealand Maori exchanging the sacred act of hongi, the breath of life.

New Zealand Maori sharing in the sacred act of hongi, exchanging the ha or breath of life.

The title is a bit of a mouthful, but let me explain.

I have been a ballroom dancer since I was about 12 years old, or about 15 years.  It has been quite an experience being involved with this subculture of ballroom dance, which has made up a large portion of my life.  During the summer of 2005 I had the opportunity to tour with the BYU Ballroom Dance Company to the South Pacific, during which we visited Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, and Tahiti.  My wife was also fortunate to join us on the trip.  It was a singular experience which has burned a place in my memory.

Naturally, as part of these tours we were also able to learn much about the locations and people of the places we visited.  One of the places that really struck me for its beauty and uniqueness was New Zealand.  Going to New Zealand was like stepping into a different world.  The indigenous people of New Zealand are known as the Maori, and the customs and traditions of these people were quite different than what we were accustomed to.  Some of the things we experienced with the Maori were very spiritual in nature, which immediately caused me to ponder, and which I have had opportunity to think about for several years now.  Specifically, the Maori ceremonial greeting tradition that they conducted with our BYU group as we arrived in New Zealand was one of the most significant experiences I had with the group.  This rite or ceremony is known as the powhiri, and has insightful elements for Latter-day Saints to consider.  [Read more…]

Nüwa and Fuxi in Chinese Mythology: Compass & Square

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An ancient painting of Nüwa and Fuxi unearthed in Xinjiang.

An ancient painting of Nüwa and Fuxi unearthed in Xinjiang, holding the tools of creation - compass and square.

Hugh Nibley gave a lecture in 1975 on “Sacred Vestments” which was later transcribed and included in the collected works volume Temple and Cosmos (pgs. 91-132).  The entire paper is fascinating, and highly recommended reading.  One of the things he wrote about were certain Chinese artifacts which had been found depicting two mythological gods, Nüwa and Fuxi, and the tools they hold:

Most challenging are the veils from Taoist-Buddhist tombs at Astana, in Central Asia, originally Nestorian (Christian) country, discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in 1925… We see the king and queen embracing at their wedding, the king holding the square on high, the queen a compass. As it is explained, the instruments are taking the measurements of the universe, at the founding of a new world and a new age. Above the couple’s head is the sun surrounded by twelve disks, meaning the circle of the year or the navel of the universe. Among the stars depicted, Stein and his assistant identified the Big Dipper alone as clearly discernable. As noted above, the garment draped over the coffin and the veil hung on the wall had the same marks; they were placed on the garment as reminders of personal commitment, while on the veil they represent man’s place in the cosmos. (pg. 111-12)

Nibley included drawings of this depiction found on veils in the Astana Tombs in Xinjiang, China, with a caption that reads:

In the underground tomb of Fan Yen-Shih, d. A.D. 689, two painted silk veils show the First Ancestors of the Chinese, their entwined serpect bodies rotating around the invisible vertical axis mundi.  Fu Hsi holds the set-square and plumb bob … as he rules the four-cornered earth, while his sister-wife Nü-wa holds the compass pointing up, as she rules the circling heavens.  The phrase kuci chü is used by modern Chinese to signify “the way things should be, the moral standard”; it literally means the compass and the square. (pg. 115)

See the photos at the end of the post for more examples of this icon.  The veil redrawn in Temple and Cosmos is shown photographed in the second row, fourth from the left.  [Read more…]

The Rainbow – A Token of the Covenant

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Noah's Thanksoffering (c.1803) by Joseph Anton Koch. Noah builds an altar to the Lord after being delivered from the Flood; God sends the rainbow as a sign of his covenant (Genesis 8-9). (click for larger view)

Noah's Thanksoffering (c.1803) by Joseph Anton Koch. (click image for larger view)

This morning I was listening to the ABC News report on the incoming hurricane Ike, which is heading straight towards the Galveston/Houston area of Texas, and the forecast of widespread destruction that it is provoking.  The news anchor was reporting from Galveston Island, Texas, where the brunt of the storm is said to be bearing down quickly.  The reporter ended his news clip by saying that there was a rainbow directly over Galveston Island.

It is destructive times like these that cause us to reflect on God, and His place in our world.  It seems like cruel irony that the rainbow was placed as a sign of the covenant that God made with man that He would not flood the earth again.  But then again, that was surely a deliberate decision, that each time we witness these horrific natural events like hurricanes we remember God is still there, and that He knows our trials and tribulations (cf. Hel. 12:3).  Yes, even “if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7).  Events like these turn us back to God, and remind us to worship Him who is the Creator of heaven and earth.  It is only by obeying God’s commandments and enduring trying times such as these that we can “triumph over all [our] foes” (D&C 121:7-8):  [Read more…]

Seven Parts of Every Covenant – Victor Ludlow

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Dr. Victor Ludlow, Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU

Dr. Victor Ludlow, Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU

Yesterday Dr. Victor Ludlow presented an address about covenants at BYU Education Week.  It was reported on by Sean Walker at BYU NewsNet, from which I reference the elements below.

In his presentation Dr. Ludlow explained what a covenant is and how it has been used throughout history in making promises between man and God, and also between man and man; in addition to religious covenants, these types of agreements are also used to seal secular and political deals.

Dr. Ludlow listed seven elements that are part of every covenant-making process (not necessarily in chronological order):

  1. Begins with a preface to explain the covenant and those involved.
  2. Historical context of covenant is explained.
  3. Stipulations are given, or what each party agrees to do.
  4. Ritual act, or some symbolic occurrence that shows that each party has entered into the covenant.
  5. Rewards and punishments, or blessings and cursings, for obeying or breaking the covenant.
  6. Witnesses must be present.
  7. The covenant continues for a determined length of time. Covenants with God that can be for “even eternity.”

When studying any covenant, whether secular or spiritual, it would be good to break it down into these seven elements in order to better understand it, particularly if you are the one entering into the promises.

“Temples and Ritual in Antiquity” SANE Symposium at BYU

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David Larsen posted a great notice over at Heavenly Ascents of the upcoming “Temples and Ritual in Antiquity” Symposium that will be held at BYU on November 7th, 2008.  It is being presented by the Students of the Ancient Near East (SANE), and will have both students and top scholars presenting papers on the temple in antiquity.  In fact, David will be presenting there too, as well as Andrew Miller.  I will certainly be going to this symposium!  It will be like Christmas morning, a smorgasbord of insight in temple studies.

I will see if I can liveblog the event here on TempleStudy.com.  The FAIR Conference liveblog (Day 1 & Day 2) seemed to work out well and was beneficial to many people.  Unfortunately, they have three speakers going at once, so we’ll only be able to attend 1/3 of all the exceptional presentations that will be presented.  It’s a shame they had to consolidate since all of the presentations are no doubt going to be excellent.  It appears that a selection will be “printed in a publication from the Religious Studies Center, and several others will be printed in Studia Antiqua” (link).  (I’m still trying to find a way to go to Margaret Barker’s Temple Study Symposium in Oxford the next day, November 8th, and Bill Hamblin’s Temple Study SBL group in Boston a couple weeks later).

[Update 8/19/08: Dan McClellan has posted a nice schedule of the presentations, as well as short bios of the presenters, on his blog here.]

See the poll below (viewable only from the website):

Which presentations interest you most? (Pick one from each time slot, 8 total)

  • 9:00-9:30 - Andrew Miller–”The Mysteries in Pauline Christianity” (11%, 25 Votes)
  • 10:30-11:00 - Dr. John Gee–”Rituals of the Egyptian Temple: An Orientation” (10%, 23 Votes)
  • 10:00-10:30 - David Larsen–”Two High Priesthoods? Evidence for Changes in the Priesthood from First to Second Temple Judaism” (10%, 23 Votes)
  • 12:45-1:15 - Matthew Brown–”Kingship Initiation Motifs in Ancient Israel” (7%, 17 Votes)
  • 11:15-11:45 - James Carroll–”An Expanded View of the Israelite Scapegoat” (6%, 15 Votes)
  • 12:15-12:45 - Scott Preston Sukhan Nibley–”Ancient Southeast Asian Temples” (6%, 14 Votes)
  • 11:45-12:15 - Dr. David Seely–”Josephus and the Temple” (6%, 14 Votes)
  • 11:45-12:15 - Mark Wright–”The Cultural Context of Nephite Apostasy” (5%, 12 Votes)
  • 9:30-10:00 - Doug Marsh–”The Microcosmic Egyptian Temple” (5%, 12 Votes)
  • 12:45-1:15 - Joseph Petramalo–”The Samaritan Temple and Priesthood” (5%, 11 Votes)
  • 12:15-12:45 - Justin Robinson–”Covenants and Simile Curses” (4%, 10 Votes)
  • 9:30-10:00 - Dr. Dan Belnap–”The Role of Scent in the Rituals of Ancient Israel” (3%, 8 Votes)
  • 10:00-10:30 - Daniel Becerra–”The Chrism in Early Christianity” (3%, 8 Votes)
  • 10:30-11:00 - Dr. Bill Hamblin–TBA (3%, 8 Votes)
  • 10:30-11:00 - Rachel A. Grover–”The Paradise Garden and Messianic Age Imagery in the 5th to 7th Century Church Floor Mosaics of Jordan” (3%, 7 Votes)
  • 11:15-11:45 - Chris Dawe–”The Deification of Romulus” (3%, 6 Votes)
  • 11:45-12:15 - Dr. Bryan Benson–”The Treatment of Temples in Plato’s Republic and Laws“ (2%, 5 Votes)
  • 12:15-12:45 - Dustin Simmons–”Emperor as God: Roman Imperial Cult Worship & Implications for Early Christians” (2%, 5 Votes)
  • 11:15-11:45 - Jacob Moody–”Philistine Ritual Artifacts” (2%, 4 Votes)
  • 10:00-10:30 - Elliott Wise–”An Odor of Sanctity: The Iconography, Magic, and Liturgy of Egyptian Incense” (2%, 4 Votes)
  • 12:45-1:15 - Keith Fairbank–”The Eleusinian Mysteries: Greatest Conquest of Demetrios Poliorketes” (1%, 3 Votes)
  • 9:30-10:00 - Aaron Snyder–”The Prayer Circle in Early Christianity” (0%, 1 Votes)
  • 9:00-9:30 - Donald Parry–”Eve, Eden, and the Temple” (0%, 1 Votes)
  • 9:00-9:30 - Kerry Muhlestein with Alyssa Lewis–”The Role of Violent Rituals in the Egyptian Temple” (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 236

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