Pilgrims: A Documentary Analysis

Every Culture has a set of rituals that they partake in, that are often constructed over a long period of time. Simple Actions, and special moments contain so much meaning and make everlasting memories. All rituals despite the locations they originate from, or the location they are carried out in contain the same components, they are repetitive, symbolic, remind a certain group of people about their values and beliefs, and these rituals commemorate a significant moment. For example christians commemorate the birth of christ by attending mass, and many other cultures celebrate this moment in many different ways that have in depth symbolic meaning. In the book “Guests of the Sheik” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea rituals play a major role. Fernea’s husband Bob is an anthropologist studying the occupants of a small village named El Nahra and their culture. Fernea has documented her experiences, and adventures, and her perspective of the many rituals that the townspeople participate in such as, Ramadan, Muharram, weddings, and pilgrimages. In Muslim culture pilgrimages are immensely important and can even lead to an elevated status. Such as the pilgrimage to Mecca. Fernea is able to participate in a pilgrimage to Karbala with a couple of the towns women she had befriended. The Pilgrimage to Karbala is a symbolic, and cultural ritual in the aspect that it is reenacted every year, and is full of symbolic meaning, commemorates an important occasion and reminds a culture about their

Answer the following questions based on the video we watched. Remember to answer in complete sentences using part of the question in the answer. Make sure you answer all parts of each question. Change your answer to an easy to read color (anything but black).

The Pilgrims were the england men and women that sailed to North America. They also were the people that helped establish North America.

It was easy to see the culture of not only Orthodox Jews, but of people in the middle east. I thought the scene where Mali runs out of Moshe’s and her village was really interesting because the whole time I figured it was a dated movie, but once Mali gets to the street there are big buildings and cars. It just goes to show the way Orthodox Jews believe in the law of the Lord and how they interpret the word more literally and fear God enough to keep the word, law and life the

Seven Essays: Philbrick, Nathaniel. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. New York: Viking, 2006. Print.

Due to my limited exposure to the religion of Hinduism, I found both of the videos to be incredibly interesting. The part I found the most interesting in the first video, My Life, My Religion, was when Simran and Vraj attended the Hindu festival of Diwali. At Holi, the two children participated in a ritual in which they covered one another in colorful paints and created rangoli patterns. I had never heard of rangoli before and found it to be a very beautiful form of art, and it is particularly interesting that it serves as a functional piece to try and entice the goddess Lakshmi to visit their houses.

Coming out of the harsh winter almost killed the entire pilgrim village. It was not until Natives of the land help the Pilgrim people. This was the route to their survival. It was, "The Wampanoag who lived in the area taught the Pilgrims how to smoke and dry indigenous meat and fish and how to plant the three sisters - corn, beans, and squash - in mounds fertilized by fish and blessed by powdered tobacco, which is also a natural insect repellent." (post-gazette.com). The enormous help not only gave the pilgrims a fighting chance to live but a step to follow their dream. To go from, sea to shining sea, without the Natives, the Pilgrims would not have been able to keep their dream going and would have died or worse, giving up on their dream.

The last part of the video shows the lost boys being re-united with their family. This is probably the most heartwarming part of the documentary. Back in Africa, children are shown singing songs upon one of their arrival. One of the lost boys shares a picture of a woman who was chosen for him to marry. The aftermath of the film shares their upcoming success upon moving to the United States. This shows different cultures can be adapted no matter how different they are from each

I chose this ritual observation because I feel like there is a lot of negativity about Muslims in the media, and I want to engage with this community in order to have a better understanding of who they are as a people. I don’t know much about the religion of Islam, and I guess you can

The film itself is a documentary, meaning every moment has historically happened. The film is full of facts and elements that touches the heart. A reliable christian company has produced the movie, and has won many awards making it trustworthy. Though there are some facts there are also drama and opinions. Glady the movie uses facts to prove their opinions. The design of the movie feels very organized and formal. The film is a reliable source for the movie itself is just a visual record of historical events.

The film was well made and appeared to be a pretty authentic representation of the minimal amount of information that they was trying to get across. While to actions of the Islamic Empire against their own kind might have been shown to be slightly violent, I think the actions of the empire against outsiders and conquered areas might have been played down a bit. Positive spin was definitely placed upon the contributions made by the Empire. While I am not saying these additions to world society were not great, I am sure there was more than enough conflict in the Empire to place a counterpoint somewhere in the film if it had been desired. The cinema experience was pleasant, with the quality of the cut scenes done with attention to detail. The narration by Ben Kingsley was spot on and he is always a good listen. I would however like to see a bit more

Hey Daniel, I was surprised that Huston was so with it and had such an amazing memory being in his nineties. I also found his sense of humor very funny and enjoyed his comments and ideas he put out on the table in his interview. I also wrote about how as children we have a “romanticized” feeling about our childhood because everything is so new and interesting. I believe that we all can still feel this way to an extent if we continue to challenge ourselves and try to see things in a positive light. I likewise wrote about his explanation of Islam and how we are uneducated about their practices. I believe that if we learned a little more about each others customs then there would be less conflict and judgement.

that Mary told Bernadette to find a spring. She did and in 1862 it was

There was nothing in the movie that made the religion bad or not good in any way. The music in the movie also played a role, it gave it the positivity.

The book of Acts describes how Paul was ministering in Antioch with Barnabas, when he was directed by the Holy Spirit to be released from his Church duties. The Holy Spirit had another assignment for Paul, and that was to go and take the Gospel more widely. Some believe that this notion came from the Holy Spirit through fasting and prayer. Paul began his first missionary in the town of Antioch. Throughout Paul’s first missionary journey he was accompanied by Barnabas and Barnabas cousin John Mark.