RJ 18

Chapter 6: This chapter is all about language. I found it very interesting. How do you read people? By looking at body language, spacial arrangement (use of space), and dress/adornment, you can learn a lot about a culture. Adding these extras in your fieldnotes will really help out your ethnography! “Listening to the spoken language of your informant is an important way to learn about a culture. One key word can unlock information about the habits, beliefs, geography, and history of a whole group of people. Your job as a fieldworker is to act as a cultural  translator, recording and questioning the meanings of key words, phrases, and ideas that might serve as clues to step in to your informant’s culture.” I think slang terms are so interesting, such as “cheek” that used to mean “attitude.” We have so many new slang terms in this day and age. I chose to do box 25 because I thought there are many terms Catholics use that other people probably do not know what they mean, or they may think they know what they mean but it may really mean something else. So I have compiled a short GLOSSARY of my insider lingo. I hope you all learn something by reading it. One last note- I found the “performance” section interesting because I can relate that to the Catholic church – looking at each mass as if it were a performance. But also each individual as they perform in their own little way – interesting to think about and observe.

Box 25 [page 314]: CATHOLIC GLOSSARY:

• ABORTION: Briefly defined as ‘the loss of a fetal life.’
• ADVENT: a period beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle and embracing four Sundays.
• BAPTISM: One of the Seven Sacraments of the Christian Church; frequently called the ‘first sacrament’, the ‘door of the sacraments’, and the ‘door of the Church.’
• CANON LAW: Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members.
• CHALISE: Occupies the first place among sacred vessels, and by a figure of speech the material cup is often used as if it were synonymous with the Precious Blood itself.
• CONFESSION: A sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed after baptism is granted through the priest’s absolution to those who with true sorrow confess their sins and promise to satisfy for the same.
• DEACONS: The name means only minister or servant, and is employed in this sense both in the Septuagint (though only in the book of Esther, and in the New Testament).
• EUCHARIST: Since Christ is present under the appearances of bread and wine in a sacramental way, the Blessed Eucharist is unquestionably a sacrament of the Church; the word Mass (missa) first established itself as the general designation for the Eucharistic Sacrifice in the West after the time of Pope Gregory the Great, the early Church having used the expression the ‘breaking of bread’ (fractio panis) or ‘liturgy.’
• FAST: abstinence of food or drink.
• HALLOWEEN: Celebrated on the first of November. Instituted to honour all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful’s celebration of saints’ feasts during the year.
• LENT: forty days of fasting before Easter
• SABBOTH: The seventh day of the week among the Hebrews, the day being counted from sunset to sunset, that is, from Friday evening to Saturday evening.
• SACRAMENTS: Sacraments are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification. There are seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Confession, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Marriage, and Eucharist.
• TABERNACLE: Vessel holding the Blessed Sacrament.
• TRINITY (Blessed Trinity): The term employed to signify the central doctrine of the Christian religion, the truth that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these three persons being truly distinct one from another.

These are just a few of the many, many definitions and lingo used within the lovely Catholic church. Researching these, I even learned new terms, and I hope you all do as well. This will help immensely on my ethnography.

Add a comment October 28, 2009