In the article "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" Horace Miner goes over the various facts about the Nacirema tribe. This is a very exotic tribe found on North American and of thought to have originated from the East. They are a tribe that has heavy beliefs in magical practices and rituals and shrines. .
This tribe's fundamental belief is that the human body is ugly and that it's naturally susceptible to disease. This to me is a very strange belief because it is defacing the human body, which all humanity is based on. In each household all families have certain shrines and wealth can be characterized by how large or how many items are in a persons" shrine. The shrines also contain magical powders that the tribe uses to cure certain illnesses.
Another very interesting fact about the Nacirema is their "holy-mouth-men" beliefs. The Nacirema believe that the mouth is most sacred part of the human body, and should be kept neat and clean to keep friends, or a significant other. People in the tribe go to a holy-mouth-man once to twice a year to get their mouths inspected. The holy-mouth-man will fix any holes in the teeth, gums and lips using magical powder. Like Miner says the tribe people continue to go this holy-mouth-man yearly although their teeth continue to decay worse and worse. .
The "listener" is another interesting tradition by the Nacirema, this someone who listens to peoples" problems and tries to get the devil out of their head. This is kind of like Catholicism in trying to expunge the devil out of Catholics lives. This to me is very interesting because it is sort of like Catholicism. .
If I had a chance to encounter a Nacirema tribe member I would want to know more about their fascinating culture. Although some of it I do find incredibly odd I would like to meet them to see why they believe it so deeply. I would also ask them why they subject themselves to pain as shown in the article.