Matt Warner

Project #1 cultural activity

Intercultural Communications 2150
Fall 2015

For my cultural Activity I chose to attend a ceremony put on by a friend

that is a practicing Pagan. Paganism is a very broad term, mostly used to
describe those of a non-Christian faith, and in this case, much of the
ceremony put emphasis on the Grecian Gods. This ceremony was held after
my friends grandmother passed away last week. It was a very interesting
ceremony in that I am Christian and have never thought of a loved ones
death in the way that she does.
Paganism as a whole is very difficult to define. Unlike the more
prominent religions in the world, not all pagans believe in the same root
power. Whereas Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and
that he died to redeem their sins, Pagan is an umbrella term that captures
many cultures from many time periods. Many define it as a religion outside of
Christianity, Judaism, Hindu, Islam, or Buddhism; That would put the Greek
Gods, the Roman Gods, the Norse Gods, the Egyptian Gods, and so forth in
the category of paganism. Being that it is a fairly loose term, many pagans
may even cross boundaries of cultures in their polytheistic faith, this was the

case for the ceremony that I attended. From what I learned, most pagans do
believe in an afterlife but tend to focus on now and the living. Some pagans
are very open to any form of deity where others are dedicated to a few select
ones. My friend and her husband described it that if you ask 10 pagans a
question, you will have 11 different answers.

Cultural Function:
The function that I was able to attend was very intimate and not a lot
of people were involved in it. My friend who was the one actually performing
the ceremony was doing so for the benefit of her grandmother who recently
passed away. The ceremony was simple, yet reverent, and was supposed to
be to help her grandmothers spirit to find its way safely in the afterlife. It
involved an altar where she placed representations of four deities that she
worships which were: Hades (the Greek God of the underworld), Eros (Greek
God of love), Bast (Egyptian God of protection and joy), and Hecate (a Greek
Goddess associated with crossroads and the dead, as well as with herbs and
witchcraft). She had a small glass in front of each of these with a small
offering in each as she filled them up with spring water. In preparation, she
had let a white candle burn all the way down and kept the wax from it to put
into a glass container along with some flowers picked from her grandmothers
rose garden. She then lit another candle and let it drip on the flowers and the
other wax in this container until it went out and once this happened she

sealed the container and put it up on a mantle with several other objects
that were similar. The purpose of keeping these containers is to remember
the loved one and to let the loved one know they are remembered. They
explained that at other holidays, they will set a plate for all those who have
passed to remember them as well.
Value Theory and Analysis:
I decided to relate this experience with the kluckhohn and strodtbeck
value orientations. Basically this value theory helps to understand a culture
better by answering 5 questions which are

What is human nature?

What is the relationship between humans and nature?
What is the relationship between humans?
What is the preferred personality?
What is the orientation toward time?

When they were creating this value theory, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck were
studying Navajo descendants in the U.S.. According to the text, They
emphasized the centrality of cultural values in understanding cultural
groups. The 5 questions mentioned before help accomplish that. By
understanding these cultural values, we can see why people do the things
that they do and find ways to communicate between cultures in order to
coexist better together.
Analysis:

The pagan group that I participated with believed that human nature
is generally good but can be corrupted through their own choices. They
believe that nature is sacred and that everything was created for a purpose,
for example the spring water was an important aspect because the spring is
where the water is most pure and would be a good offering for their deities.
The spring water used was even bottled by hand from the spring. They
believe that we need to coexist and improve as humans in our own ways,
their deities that they choose to worship help them develop the personalities
that they believe will help them accomplish this. This groups preferred
personality is one that is understanding and non judgemental, one who can
be devoted but not overly zealous. The general view of pagans on time is
that one doesnt stop existing when they have passed on from this life but
one must still make the most of their life here and now. They dont worry so
much about what has passed but what they can do now to be happy in the
future.
Reflection:
This assignment has really pushed me outside of my comfort zone and
caused me to see things in a different light. I was very apprehensive about
this project, partly because I have done missionary work where I focused on
sharing my religion with others so much that I didnt stop to really look into
others. I was pleasantly surprised that some of the same principles applied
to their religion as they do to my own. It was really interesting to see the
relationship that they have with their deities and how it is so different than

the relationship that I have with my God. My attitude changed during this
project in the way that now I see that a lot of what religion does for people is
to teach them to be kind, I guess I had a little tunnel vision on my own faith. I
felt like the application of the value theory did help me understand their
culture as a whole because I got to see past the ceremony that was being
held in front of me and understand who they are better. I will incorporate this
lesson in my future by taking a step back and looking at where someones
opinion is coming from in order to improve my relationships with them.

References

Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in

Contexts. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.
http://www.allaboutspirituality.org/paganism.htm