Zuni Pueblos: Apollonian And Dionysian

5. Explain Ruth Benedict’s culture types which she calls Apollonian and Dionysian. Why does she classify the Zuni Pueblos as Apollonian?

The terms Apollonian and Dionysian come from the names of the two sons of Zeus, Apollo and Dionysus. They were both very different one being the god of the sun, Apollo, and the other being the god of the wine, Dionysus. Their specific traits and behavior helped shape the identification of both Apollonian and Dionysian. Apollonian are rational, logical, self-controlled and ordered civilization.1 These are the types of people who can be viewed as the more responsible ones because of their traits of having things in order and being in control of what will happen next. Dionysian in the other end are passionate,

The Zuni had a fear of individualism so they would not encourage it, they feared that individuality would affect the traditions that had been established already. They feared change and did not want people to change what they had worked on for years. They had an “Insistence upon sinking the individual in the group.”4 The Zuni believed that to achieve the best results they had to work in groups because this way they would be able to combine everyone’s strengths. Benedict categorized The Zuni as apollonian because of the way they behaved and responded to problems. One example is how they handled their emotions like anger, love, and jealousy. If a Zuni man cheated on his wife his wife would not wash his clothes. They would not argue or make a huge deal of the situation they would just handle their emotions in a way that was rational to them. Opposite of what would had happen if they were Dionysian, they would not be so civilized about the situation and that would led to a bigger problem. The Zuni did not go out looking for more land and go out being disruptive they were very clam and orderly. The traits they had resembled those of

The structure of the ceremonies was of dancers, kachina priests and medicine societies.2 As part of the kachina priest the men would memorize the words to each of the different prayers that went along with the specific ceremony that has being held. For each ceremony they had an outline of the steps and details that would be needed for the ceremony to be made. They not only had prayers but also mask and costumes that they would use. The procedures were not simple and for that a lot of memorizing had to be done because each prayer had to be “letter perfect’.4 Dancers would wear a mask to impersonate the kachina priest. The ritual known as the Rites of Passage is made to show the movement from one social state to another. The most common example is the ritual for the young boys that will soon take the job of the older men. In this ritual the boys would wear a kachina mask to impersonate the gods. During this ritual the boys are whipped with yucca whips as a form of taking the bad luck away from them. All of the boys in the tribe would have to go through this ceremony to show they were growing and had to take responsibility of the role of the men in the