Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen
I don't think the ephemerality is the cause of me thinking that sand paintings are freakin' awesome. The sand paintings in the movie "Kundun" were by far the best part.
(That may be another reason to have rituals: To impress people.)
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An art form or any ritual looks different to "outsiders" then to "insiders". It is hard for many moderns to identify with the central point of "The Battle of Maldon" for instance(doomed loyalty to a flawed yet magnificient leader) and a lot of people will just think, "Cool! Swords! Blood! Unpronouncible Names! Heroic chanting!"
Rituals are also there to habituate people into being part of a society. They are kind of a symbol of a given group.