Mating Ceremonies of the Nacirema

Upon hearing of the strange culture of the Nacirema people, I made a spontaneous decision to visit these people for myself, disguised as one of their own in order to observe them in their natural environment.

I set off for a town in the southeast region of the Nacirema territory, and found myself drawn to a building with a peculiar four-sided spire that towered above the surrounding skyline and seemed to have no purpose whatsoever. This building was bustling with activity, and as I came closer to investigate, I found myself swept inside on a tide of Nacirema.

Their clothing was highly decorative and of the variety used in the most important of Nacirema rituals. Inside the building, most of the space was taken up by seating, but the front included a raised dais probably used for many different rituals. Decorations and offerings in the forms of flowers and ribbons adorned the place, and the Nacirema were chattering excitedly. I took my place near the back and tried to be unnoticeable.

Before too long, the chatter subsided and the crowd was silent, craning their necks back towards the entrance of the building. In a highly formulaic way, Nacirema came walking towards the dais in ones and twos. These Nacirema were in the most formal dress of all the assembled people, and they all matched. I assumed this meant that they would be leading whatever ritual was to come.

Before too long, a pair of small Nacirema children made their way to the dais. One spread flower petals on the ground, most probably another expression of offering. The other carried a small box on a decorative pillow. I could only assume that the contents of this box would be used in whatever was to come.

As one, the Nacirema all rose to their feet, and I was quick to follow suit. The mood quickly got more excited, and I realized that the climax of the ritual was coming. A woman in a closely-fitted white dress slowly walked towards the men and women already standing on and around the dais. The dress was so enormous that a good amount of it dragged on the ground behind her, and several young children were holding it up. I could only make sense of this by guessing that the dress was probably passed down from generation to generation because of strong sentimental or magical value, and it had originally belonged to a very tall woman. Besides this, her face was covered with a translucent shroud, most probably to assert purity or religiosity.

Once she reached the dais, she joined hands with one of the men standing there, and when an old shaman came out with a large book of magic and read passages about joining the two together forever, I realized that this was a mating ceremony, and this man was taking her as his own. The man appeared to be a friendly fellow, but because of the spontaneous crying and wailing that broke out among the female members of the audience, I suppose he must actually be a very mean or abusive man for them to mourn for her fate so.

At the end of the ceremony, the two Nacirema exchanged small metal bands, I assume so that everyone could see that she was his, and the pair had a brief moment of lip contact, sealing the agreement. After this, the Nacirema left to take part in celebration rites. Many of the women hung tearfully on the woman in white, probably giving her encouragement to be strong, even though they knew she would have a terrible life now that she was joined with this man.

Teenage Pregnancy in Williamston, SC

For the first week of class, we read a piece by Edin and Kefalas detailing the reasons behind why lower-class women get pregnant at a young age. They attributed this phenomena mostly to: women believing that a baby is the most important thing they can have, women believing that a baby will solve all of their problems, and women using the baby as a way to test men as possible father-figures.

I agree that these are probably leading reasons in most areas, but I believe that my hometown might be different.

I am from a little town called Williamston, SC. It is halfway between Greenville and Anderson, SC and has a population of about 4,000. My high school has about 900 students, and teenage pregnancy is the biggest issue. In the class of 2008, of the 100 females enrolled, 20 of them were pregnant or already had a child at one count. This number was not particularly shocking, as this appears to be the trend. Keep in mind that this number only applies to known pregnancies and does not include abortions or miscarriages.

The pregnancies at Palmetto High School seemed to be, for the most part, planned. In a school where the majority of students were from low-income families, those girls who ended up pregnant were treated almost reverently once they had announced that they were expecting. Pregnancy was viewed as something to be desired, and girls who weren’t pregnant could often be heard expressing the desire to be so as soon as possible.

Bizarrely, many of the teachers encouraged this behavior and would often be the first to hear of the girls’ pregnancies. The school also failed to take a negative stance on the issue. The idea of condom or contraceptive giveaways has been vetoed again and again for no apparent reason. The Palmetto girls are not getting told that their choices are wrong or could have long-lasting negative effects later in their lives.

Groups of friends would often get pregnant right around the same time and then spent their class time discussing the play-dates their children would have with one another.

Luckily, these girls almost always continued school after having their babies, and their parents supplied childcare during the school day. More often than not, their boyfriends stayed with them (since the babies were usually planned by both involved parties), and in many cases, even proposed.

So I’m left wondering what motivating factors were and are driving the teenage girls at my high school. It almost seems to be a simple case of mimicry; the girls seemed to be hemmed in on all sides by this one example of life. In most cases, their mothers followed the same patterns-- most got pregnant in their teens before establishing a career or getting married and then became stay-at-home moms or pursued minimum wage careers. They also see their peers following this trend.

With no other example prominently displayed to them, it seems to be the most logical thing in the world that they would follow this path.

Here is a link to general teen pregnancy statistics in South Carolina. Notice that teen pregnancy has been on the rise since 2004.

http://www.teenpregnancysc.org/documents/Simply+Stated+-+2007+new+data.pdf