Beautiful article! I’ve had some friends in Cape Town conduct similar ceremonies as a coming-of-age ritual. Additionally you’ll see a lot of babies who wear protective necklaces and bracelets to ward off bad spirits. Could be interesting to document perceptions of rituals and spirits in children as they grow up and incorporate themes of your previous article?
Thanks! We actually have a section in the new TICS paper about the role of religious experience in the lives of children across cultures -- there's good evidence of (ritualized, probably) handprints from children in Paleolithic caves, and kids often take part in all the same ceremonies and dances as adults (i.e. babies carried on the backs of dancers during the San ritual). So I've definitely wondered what those rituals are like for kids. We don't know much, unfortunately. I would suspect that kids are more prone to supernatural experiences than adults -- but not sure if there's good data, beyond the obviously suggestive similarities between talking to ghosts and inventing imaginary friends (for instance).
Beautiful article! I’ve had some friends in Cape Town conduct similar ceremonies as a coming-of-age ritual. Additionally you’ll see a lot of babies who wear protective necklaces and bracelets to ward off bad spirits. Could be interesting to document perceptions of rituals and spirits in children as they grow up and incorporate themes of your previous article?
Thanks! We actually have a section in the new TICS paper about the role of religious experience in the lives of children across cultures -- there's good evidence of (ritualized, probably) handprints from children in Paleolithic caves, and kids often take part in all the same ceremonies and dances as adults (i.e. babies carried on the backs of dancers during the San ritual). So I've definitely wondered what those rituals are like for kids. We don't know much, unfortunately. I would suspect that kids are more prone to supernatural experiences than adults -- but not sure if there's good data, beyond the obviously suggestive similarities between talking to ghosts and inventing imaginary friends (for instance).