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The Maori Race
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Historical SummaryThe desire to regularize one’s self is one of the urges to confession. The development of confession as a pattern of control is, however, associated with the concept that conscience is a symptom of spiritual displeasure at the violation of tabus, and is an anticipation of spiritual punishment. Disasters will further happen to the whole group if the individual offender is not regulated, and this regulation consists of a purification. This may be in the form of a physical purgation, through an emetic, but usually the verbal confession is a purification, and sometimes the confession of an evil practice, say destructive magic, may be all that society requires. This point is referred to by Parsons in a comparison of Zuñi and Aztec practices:
Confession "to escape worldly punishment" was an Aztec practice of which the nature was puzzling to the Catholic friar [Sahagun], just as it is puzzling to us that after a Zuñi witch has confessed punishment does not always follow. Confession is sometimes all that the war chiefs wish. . . . Here is a suggestion of why Catholic confession did not "take" among the Pueblo. (Only at Isleta is there any suggestion of acculturation between Catholic and Indian confessional practices.) Formally, there may have been an opening, but psychologically there was nothing in common.1
1Parsons, E.C.n/an/an/an/a, "Some Aztec and Pueblo Parallels," Amer. Anth. N.S., 35: 619.
[The confession "to escape worldly punishment" mentioned by Sahagun refers to the fact that the temporal courts were not permitted to prosecute a man who had confessed to a priest, but the priests assessed punishments in the way of penance and sacrifice. Cf. Sahagun, B. de, History of Ancient Mexico (tr. Bandelier) 1: 32–33.]
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Chicago: "The Maori Race," The Maori Race in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed April 24, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=TQHEN87G885RE6S.
MLA: . "The Maori Race." The Maori Race, Vol. 35, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 24 Apr. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=TQHEN87G885RE6S.
Harvard: , 'The Maori Race' in The Maori Race. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 24 April 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=TQHEN87G885RE6S.
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