Details

Fasting in Islam – Ramadan

1. First choose a religious or secular ritual that you have an opportunity to attend as a participant-observer during this course. For example: Mass/Holy Communion or some other church service, Muslim Friday prayers, a wedding, a baby shower or bridal shower, a funeral, a tangi, an unveiling, a christening/baptism/naming ritual, a kava ceremony, a stag or hen/bachelorette party, a 21^st birthday, some other major birthday celebration, an engagement party, an important sporting event or award ceremony, or some other ritual.
2. Observe the ritual closely and make detailed field notes about it. If it is not appropriate to make notes at the time (perhaps because you are participating fully), write up the notes as soon after the event as you can.  Use these notes to help you write your essay and hand them in with the hard copy of your essay. The notes can be hand-written and do not have to be written in perfect sentences, because they are supposed to be recorded during or immediately after your field observation of the ritual.
3. Write an essay of approximately3,000 words describing and analyzing the ritual. (Field-notes are not counted as part of the 3,000 words)

• Describe the setting, the reason for the ritual, who was there, what happened.
• Describe the structure of the ritual, the order of events.
• If the ritual was a rite of passage, identify and discuss the various stages (pre-liminal, liminal, post-liminal).
• Discuss the symbols associated with the ritual and their meanings and functions in this ritual.
• Discuss why this ritual was important for the people who participated.
• What did it mean for them?
• What is the socio-cultural or religious significance of the ritual?

NOTES: 

• You need to spend about half of your essay describing the ritual and about half analysing the ritual’s social and cultural importance, especially for the participants. Both description and analysis are important elements of anthropological research.
• You need to attach a list of references used in writing your essay. Some of these references will be specific to the particular ritual you choose, and some will be anthropological sources which discuss ritual. There is no set number of references you need to use (but fewer than five is too few).  Some useful readings for analysing rituals are included on this Stream site above under ‘Extra Resources’. The course textbook is also a useful reference.
• Use ‘I’ (not the third person) when writing your essay.

APA reference :

should be more than five resource