Maintenance, Perpetuation, and Ideology

Ritual can help maintain the structure of a culture. We can see this in the four rituals that are practiced by the Femme-cats. In the first ritual for the institution of marriage, the ritual is performed in hopes of creating a lasting bond between the couple, but also to grant fertility amongst the couple. This performance helps maintain the structure of marriage and family. Without this continuing practice there would be a loss of the  family structure. In the ritual for the institution of economy, or the catnip ritual, the main goal is to induce growth to the catnip. In order to do this one must consult with Catalonia. This maintains the important aspect of Catalonia. It exemplifies that she is a part of every structure in the community. The ritual also aims to maintain the culture's economy by accumulating more resources, or catnip. By maintaining the resources the community can continue to prosper and provide to it's societal members. In the ritual for the government, we see the main goal is to initiate a member to become a board member. The ritual does maintain the structure of government and its emphasis on equality. By all the board members working together to untangle their body puzzle they exemplify the interconnected structure of their government. This helps ensure that they will remain interconnected or dependent on each other, and a sense of unity and equality. In the ritual of religion the main goal is to gain a closer bond to Catalonia. Creating this bond is very important in this culture because it maintains the continued help of Catalonia in all aspects of life. With this continued help, only then is our culture able to maintain our government, our resources, our family, and many other aspects or structures of our society. Ritual can also help in the perpetuation of a community. Ritual allows for cultural continuity through traditions and celebrations. In our society the ritual ensures the continuity of many different aspects of our culture. It helps to continue the production of our resources in our catnip ritual. It can also help in continuing a family bond that can then become fertile and continue the cycle of the community  through it's children. We see that it can help in continuing the bond between us and Catalonia, which then helps us to continue our life and cultural structures. We also see that it helps continue the interconnected bond between board members. It helps to continue their reliability amongst each other. This continuity of interconnectedness helps continue the basic value of equality in our community. This brings me to my next point on how a ritual can reflect a culture's norms and values. It is said that ritual is the acting out of a belief or value. All four rituals practiced by the Femme-cats exemplify just that. In the ritual of marriage we see the value of equality played out within the ritual. The couple walk down the aisle together creating equality between the couple. In our culture the bride is not given away from the father to the groom because that would put the groom at a superior stance to the bride. By having them walk together they are on the same playing field as to say. In the catnip ritual we see the values and norm of trusting Catalonia to give life. The participant must ask Catalonia to give life to the catnip, this shows the cultures dependence upon Catalonia and their belief of her ability to give life.  In the ritual of Catalonia we see the strong value of maintaining a connection to Catalonia. It exemplifies their belief of how Catalonia is important in every aspect of their life and community. It shows the norm of depending upon Catalonia for the societies' growth and continuity. I would say; however, that the values and norms of the society are most exemplified by the ritual for the government. It is very clear in this ritual that it is to reinforce the values and norms of the society. It is a true ritual of intensification. The ritual where the board member to be and the other board members join together to make a human body puzzle and then must work together to undo the puzzle really exemplifies the value of equality. In fact the puzzle can only be solved if they work together and realize that they are all connected. This reinforces the value and also sets the example for the community on the importance of maintaining equality in their community.

Field Work 2

http://democraticrepublicofsati.blogspot.com/2012/06/ritual-process.html?showComment=1341073243876#c8459178382106813

Ritual Classification

Our ritual of marriage can be an example of a rite of exchange and communion. A rite of exchange and communion is a rite where you get something for doing something in return. Our ritual of marriage gives each partner a promise of being together for the remainder of their lives. With the giving of this promise to each other, they are given the hope for fertility. This hope though is only cemented when they have raised their first kitten that was given to the couple at the wedding. In other words they get hope of fertility, after giving a promise to each other and raising their first kitten.

Our ritual for the institution of our economy, our catnip ritual, can be an example of a technological ritual. A technological ritual reaches to influence or control nature. Technological rituals are typically used for the production of resources or in many hunting and gathering societies. We perform our catnip ritual to ensure the production of the resource catnip. We plant the catnip a certain way, and follow our ritual to a tee in hopes of a better crop production. In this way we are trying to control nature to give us the flourished fields of catnip, which helps in the preservation of our society.

For the institution of government, the ritual we perform when a person becomes a board member can be an example of an ideological ritual, and more specifically a rite of intensification. A rite of intensification unifies a community by reinforcing the values and norms of the community. In our ritual the participant goes around the community and gives thanks to every member of the community. This unifies the community and strengthens it. The body puzzle the board members perform exemplifies the value of unity and equality to the community. The ritual serves to unite the community and reinforce their values.

In the institution of religion, the daily ritual to Catalonia is an example of a protective ritual. A protective ritual serves for activities that are seen as unpredictable or dangerous, but mostly grants the feeling of safety to people. We perform our daily ritual to gain a connection to our Catalonia. We strive for this connection because Catalonia protects us and has the ability to revive life. This ritual that captures the connection to Catalonia gives the participant the feeling of hope, but more importantly the feeling of safety. If one is connected to Catalonia they are protected and safe from the unpredictable aspects of life.

Ritual Process

For the institution of marriage, there is a ritual that most be followed when wedding two people. The groom and bride walk down the aisle together as their parents follow behind them. This act is to show our value of equality. As the couple reach the altar, they must join hands and recite their vows to each other. The administrator of the wedding then must circle the couple eight times, each passing he throws catnip around the couple. He circles them eight times because it is believed that this can help the couple get through any tough years that lie ahead. There are four seasons in a year and since this is joining two people, the couple must be circled eight times to ensure a long a prosperous marriage. The administrator asks the couple if they take each other as husband and wife. After the agreement, a kitten is walked down the aisle with a tie as its collar towards the couple. The kitten is then given to the couple as their first cat together. This symbolizes the couples' fertility. It is believed that only after a couple can successfully raise their first can the couple reach fertility. Once this is done the ceremony is complete, and the couple are bound in marriage.

For the institution of economy, there are certain rituals that are practiced to ensure production of resources. The most popular ritual is our catnip ritual. This ritual starts before the seeds are even planted. To grow catnip, one must first plant the seeds in front of a Catalonia shrine or statue and ask Catalonia for life to the catnip. As this is asked one must also fast the day they ask as a form of sacrifice. The participant can only drink milk the day of the asking. This is due to Catalonia surviving weeks on just milk and is a symbol of her everlasting strength that she instills in all of our people. One must ask for life, because it is Catalonia who can give life. After the asking, the seeds are planted. For the next four days the participant must visit the plant twice a day. Each time they visit they must pray to Catalonia for her continued help in giving life to the seeds. After the four days, if the asking and praying was done properly the plant will sprout from the ground. Once it sprouts and grows, the participant must also give thanks to Catalonia. The participant will cut the first bud and place it by the shrine he used for the asking. This is to ensure Catalonia's help in the future.

In our government, there is a ritual that must be performed to make someone a board member. The ritual is a nine day ritual. The nine days symbolizes the nine lives of a cat. During the first three days the participant fasts, and can only drink milk. This is symbol to Catalonia, and hopes to give the participant the strength that Catalonia had, but also it serves to humble the participant. The next three days the participant must gather all of their personal belongings and put them all in a pile in the middle of town. They must also go around and give thanks and love to each person of the community. This is to build the connection between individual and the community. The last three days are the most important. First the participant must burn all of their personal belongings in front of the whole town. This is to show his sacrifice to the community. It also serves to show that the participant is there to serve the community and not themselves. After this is done the participant is sent to the coronation ceremony. Here each existing board member and the participant make a body puzzle. They must each hold hands with others. Each hand holding a different person's hand. This creates a puzzle, where the board members must untangle themselves without letting go of their hands. This serves to create an interconnectedness between the members. It signifies that the board members must work as whole and not individually. Once they complete the puzzle, the participant is proclaimed a board member.

In our religion of Catalonia, there are also many different rituals that are performed. The most practiced is the daily ritual to Catalonia. A devout follower of Catalonia will practice this ritual every night before going to sleep. This ritual accomplishes the continuous support of Catalonia, but also cements the relationship between Catalonia and her followers. A participant must sit before their Catalonia statue in complete silence for at least fifteen minutes. During the time of silence one must clear their mind and only think of Catalonia. They must give silent thanks to her. This is thought to be your own personal conversation with Catalonia. After the silence the participant must kiss the forehead four times. Between each kiss they must give audible thanks to Catalonia. The silence thanks represents the individual while the audible thanks represents our community. After this the ritual is complete and the participant has gained a closer bond to our Catalonia.

We also have rites of passage in our community. One of the main rites of passage is becoming a parent. First a couple finds out they are pregnant. At this stage the couple tells their friends and family of their pregnancy. This strips their previous status. After this they enter the next stage, which is the actual pregnancy. Over the next nine months, the couple are taught all the ways of being a parent. The father to be and the mother to be are taught together how to feed, bath, bath, change diapers, and all of the essentials of being a parent. In this stage it is somewhat ambiguous in how the couple is treated by others. At one point they are on their way to higher responsibilities, but in the process of learning from their family and peers, the couple is somewhat still treated as a child going to school. Not yet responsible, but not really a child either.  At this point there is great potential for the couple. In this stage the couple can make many different choices in their ambiguous status. After the nine months of pregnancy, the child is born. The parents are given the status of parents once they give the name to the child. Once this happens, the couple will then become peers or advisors for pregnant couples to come.

Field Work

http://doesthissuffice.blogspot.com/2012/06/pacuare-people.html?showComment=1339881458856#c2512436662003218587

Symbol Theory

Our flag symbol is a great example of condensation. Condensation means the ability to represent many things at once, and our flag does just that. The flag which is in the shape of cat, at one end can represent our beliefs and customs that come along with our religion of Catalonia. The flag also has equal signs as the whiskers of the cat. This represents the strong value of our society of equality. But those aren't the only things our flag represents. It also refers to unity, freedom, honor, and the collective. Those are the most straight forward of representations drawn from the flag, but it can also represent more ambiguous things like everything we enjoy in our culture like fun, sports, or entertainment. These are all great representations, but maybe the most important of all is how it represents hope. When our citizens look at our flag they are inspired by our hope to create equality, but also to maintain it.

Our symbol of the leaves and flowers that make a peace sign expresses unification of disparate significata. The significata or the underlaying meanings of the symbol are interconnected by virtue of their common analogous qualities. Our subsistence symbol that is made up of flowers, leaves, and assorted plants all interconnecting together to form a unifying symbol. It represents in the broad form our subsistence of horticulture, but it also interconnects analogous meanings of the symbol itself. It interconnects vegetarianism, organic growing, the combination of plants to sustain a society, and the connection that each plant has to another. The interconnectedness of all these meanings is shown as how all the plants interconnect to each other to create one form. They connect together to create this unifying symbol, a circle,  that has no direct end. Which also represents the continuity of our society. With our subsistence we can sustain our society, and hope to always be able to sustain our population.

Our Catalonia symbol demonstrates the polarization of meaning a symbol can have. Polarization refers to a symbol having two distinct poles of meaning, the ideological pole and the sensory pole. When examining the ideological pole, which refers to components of the moral and social order, we see that our Catalonia symbol represents our morals of equality, being selfless, and understanding. It represents our basic social order of equality in our marriage, government, sexuality, and gender. When examining the sensory pole, which refers to components of physiological phenomena that provokes a societies' desires and emotions, we see that this symbol invokes the emotions of being together, faith, hope, and security. Catalonia gives us hope of belonging, and if deserving enough hope of a better life. The hope of a better life is represented in the pedals that are surrounding her, which refers to the many lives that Catalonia has to give.

This is our flag. It is in the shape of a cat's head to represent Catalonia. The cat has equal signs as whiskers to represent our strive for equality. This symbol encompasses both our religion and government institutions.

This symbol represents our government. Each side represents one of the eight board members. All equal in size. The lines that connect them in the shape itself represents the interconnectedness of the members. Each not having all the power, each having to consult each other.

2012 Google. http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/journals/JIS/sommars/Image3.gif, accessed June 9, 2012.

This symbolizes our goddess Catalonia. There are many different representations of her, but this is by far the most famous in our community. It shows Catalonia in her human form, with two of her feline disciples. The pedal surrounding her represent her many lives that she can give. She has her arms open to present equality to all.

2012. Google. http://www.fantasy-goddess-art.com/images/bast.jpg, accessed June 9, 2012.

This symbolizes our subsistence. We are horticulturalists and vegetarians. We only produce vegetables, fruits, and grains. This use of mostly plants encompasses our whole community. The symbol is presented in a circle to represent how our vegetables help in the process of the circle of life.

We are the Femme-Cats

We are the  feminists cat lovers! There's a common misconception that feminist are lonely female cat spinsters, but this is not the case. This blog gives us a safe space free from ridicule and narrow-mindedness. We are a group of like-minded people who emphasize the importance of sexual equality. We consist of both men and women, although slightly more females than males. We believe that all men and women should be treated equally. Double standards are strictly forbidden, especially the "he's a stud, she's a slut" double standard. As a tribute to our success in creating equality, our culture has been built upon a glass ceiling. This glass ceiling also houses as a green house underneath. We are able to grow all of our food right below us. And as vegetarians we institutionalize the horticulture subsistence beneath us, which creates plenty of resources for the whole community. Our biggest cash crop is contraceptives. Since we believe the government has no place in a woman's ovaries, we have long been advocates for contraceptives and have developed highly advanced technology for it. This has helped to boost our institution of economy. We also are the leading manufacturers of catnip. Originally we grew catnip for all of our cats, but eventually we saw that we could expand that to create revenue for our community. Our government consists of six board members that hear the words of the people and represent them in a democratic fashion. The board members are elected into office every six years. There is not a single leader in our community. Each member serves as a balancing system, to avoid too much power in one person's hands. The government itself strives for equality in all walks of life, and it is the utter most important value of our community. Our community has learned many values from teachings of our praised goddess, Catalonia. Catalonia is of feline nature who walks the earth as a human companion, but can transform into human form when necessary. Catalonia protects all of us with her grace, and can even give away one of her many lives to save a life. In tribute to Catalonia, all cats are sacred animals to us. Cats can be found in every home, and typically multiple cats in married households. Our institution of religion is centered on Catalonia. However, we do not believe Catalonia was our creator. We believe that humans came about in a very long process of evolution. We also institutionalize marriage. We do not restrict marriage in anyway. Due to our strive for equality, any person can get married to another no matter the race, class, or sexuality. Due to our open policies in marriage we have been able to reduce the divorce rate as well. In our culture only one out of every ten cultures gets a divorce. But even though divorce is very minimal in our community, you will not be shunned if you get one. In fact there is a strict law against shunning in our society. So if you are tired of the double standards, the government in your vagina, if you have an immense love for the beautiful animals that are cats, or not being able to surpass the glass ceiling come to our community where you can literally be on top of the glass ceiling!