Extraordinary Rituals

Episode
Episode 3 - Changing World
Broadcast Info
2018 (59 mins)
Description
This episode explores how rituals adapt in our changing world. How do ancient ceremonies stay relevant and when do we invent new rituals to answer our needs? In India, Bhumi is a 24 year-old business graduate, yet she is giving it all up to become a Jain nun. Bhumi wants a life that avoids all suffering and to liberate her soul, but to become a nun she must reject all possessions, her family and personal desires. For her initiation she has every hair on her head pulled out by hand. In Senegal a young wrestler is hoping rituals can help him escape poverty. Wrestling is the biggest sport in Senegal, with fame and fortune for champions. Every fighter uses rituals to call on their ancestors for courage in the modern arena. In Greenland Inuit customs are threatened by social change, but also by global warming. Traditionally a rite of passage proved a boy was a hunter when he killed his first seal on the sea ice. With the ice melt, finding seals is getting harder. Can a boy prove himself, like generations before him? As globalisation connects us more than ever before, it has never been easier to share our rituals with the rest of the world. In Gaza, the conflict with Israel impacts everyone’s lives. People are trapped, but they’ve adopted a new ritual to give young people a sense of hope, freedom and escape. Rituals can bind us together in strong teams. In Taiwan military training has adapted ancient rituals to create elite warriors. Extreme, repetitive and gruelling ritual drills push their mental and physical resilience to the limit and demand teamwork. Those that make it join a band of brothers willing to trust each other with their lives.
Genre
Culture; Religion; Philosophy

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Extraordinary Rituals". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/230137 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)