Date of Award

Spring 5-11-2012

Degree Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Anthropology and Sociology

First Advisor

Jeffrey Kaufmann

Advisor Department

Anthropology and Sociology

Abstract

Limpiezas are a form of ritual used around the world for healing and diagnosis illness. In a lot of cases, rituals such as these are used with other objects such as bones, flowers, eggs, or animals. Within the Santeria and Andean cultures, limpiezas are performed using animals; it is the goal of this research paper to determine why certain animals are used and how they complement the healing process. Research included an exploration of contextual data and cross-cultural analysis of the different populations. It was found that the differences found in the cosmologies of the separate cultures can be referred to describe the differences in the limpiezas.

Included in

Anthropology Commons

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