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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.

Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it is the largest independent oceanographic research institution in the U.S., with staff and students numbering about 1,000.

Constitution
The institution is organized into six departments, the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research, and a marine policy center. Its shore-based facilities are located in the village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States and a mile and a half away on the Quissett Campus. The bulk of the institution's funding comes from grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation and other government agencies, augmented by foundations and private donations.

WHOI scientists, engineers, and students collaborate to develop theories, test ideas, build seagoing instruments, and collect data in diverse marine environments. Ships operated by WHOI carry research scientists throughout the world's oceans. The WHOI fleet includes two large research vessels (Atlantis and Neil Armstrong), the coastal craft Tioga, small research craft such as the dive-operation work boat Echo, the deep-diving human-occupied submersible Alvin, the tethered, remotely operated vehicle Jason/Medea, and autonomous underwater vehicles such as the REMUS and SeaBED.

WHOI offers graduate and post-doctoral studies in marine science. There are several fellowship and training programs, and graduate degrees are awarded through a joint program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). WHOI is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. WHOI also offers public outreach programs and informal education through its Exhibit Center and summer tours. The institution has a volunteer program and a membership program, WHOI Associate.

WHOI shares a library, the MBLWHOI Library, with the Marine Biological Laboratory. The MBLWHOI Library holds print and electronic collections in the biological, biomedical, ecological, and oceanographic sciences. The library also conducts digitization and informatics projects.

On October 1, 2020, Peter B. de Menocal became the institution's eleventh president and director.

History
In 1927, a National Academy of Sciences committee concluded that it was time to "consider the share of the United States of America in a worldwide program of oceanographic research." The committee's recommendation for establishing a permanent independent research laboratory on the East Coast to "prosecute oceanography in all its branches" led to the founding in 1930 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

A $2.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation supported the summer work of a dozen scientists, construction of a laboratory building and commissioning of a research vessel, the 142 ft ketch RV Atlantis, whose profile still forms the institution's logo.

WHOI grew substantially to support significant defense-related research during World War II, and later began a steady growth in staff, research fleet, and scientific stature. From 1950 to 1956, the director was Dr. Edward "Iceberg" Smith, an Arctic explorer, oceanographer and retired Coast Guard rear admiral.

In 1977 the institution appointed oceanographer John Steele as director, and he served until his retirement in 1989.

On 1 September 1985, a joint French-American expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel of IFREMER and Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution identified the location of the wreck of RMS Titanic, which sank off the coast of Newfoundland 15 April 1912.

On 3 April 2011, within a week of resuming of the search operation for Air France Flight 447, a team led by WHOI, operating full ocean depth autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) owned by the Waitt Institute discovered, by means of sidescan sonar, a large portion of debris field from flight AF447. In March 2017 the institution effected an open-access policy to make its research publicly accessible online.

In 2019, reported that China's hackers had launched cyberattacks on dozens of academic institutions in an attempt to gain information on technology being developed for the United States Navy. Some of the targets included the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The attacks had been underway since at least April 2017.

In August 2024, institution researchers are scheduled, pending approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to conduct a $10 million ocean alkalinity enhancement experiment partially funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that will release 6,000 gallons of a liquid solution of sodium hydroxide into the ocean 10 miles south of Martha's Vineyard in an attempt to remove 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Military contracting
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution develops technology for the United States Navy, including ocean battlespace sensors, unmanned undersea vehicles, and acoustic navigation and communication systems for operations in the Arctic. The institution is also working on Project Sundance for the Office of Naval Research.

B. H. Ketchum Award
The B. H. Ketchum award, established in 1983, is presented for innovative coastal/nearshore research and is named in honor of oceanographer Bostwick H. "Buck" Ketchum. The award is administered by the WHOI Coastal Ocean Institute and Rinehart Coastal Research Center.

Recipients:

 * 2017: Don Anderson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
 * 2015: Candace Oviatt, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island
 * 2010: James E. Cloern, United States Geological Survey
 * 2007: Richard Garvine, University of Delaware
 * 2003: John Farrington, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
 * 2003: Nancy Rabalais, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium
 * 1999: Willard Moore, University of South Carolina
 * 1996: Ronald Smith, Loughbororugh University
 * 1995: Christopher Martens, University of North Carolina
 * 1992: Scott Nixon, University of Rhode Island
 * 1990: Daniel Lynch, Dartmouth College
 * 1989: William Boicourt, University of Maryland
 * 1988: Alasdair McIntyre, Aberdeen University (Emeritus)
 * 1986: John S. Allen, Oregon State University
 * 1985: Thomas H. Pearson, Oban, Argyll, Scotland
 * 1985: Michael Moore, Plymouth, UK
 * 1984: Edward D. Goldberg, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Henry Bryant Bigelow Medal in Oceanography
The Henry Bryant Bigelow Medal in Oceanography was established in 1960 in honor of the first WHOI Director, biologist Henry Bryant Bigelow.

Recipients: Source:
 * 2004 David M. Karl (Professor of Oceanography, University of Hawaii) – for "his contributions to microbial oceanography, especially the development and leadership of long-term, integrated studies of chemical, physical, and biological variations in oceanic environments."
 * 1996 Bill J. Jenkins (Senior Scientist, Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry, WHOI) – for "his outstanding contributions to the development of the tritium-helium dating technique and its application to problems in ocean physics and biology and geochemistry, as well as his exceptional character and selfless dedication to the advance of science at WHOI."
 * 1993 Robert Weller (Senior Scientist, Physical Oceanography; Director, CICOR; WHOI)
 * 1992 Alice Louise Alldredge (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Mary Wilcox Silver (University of California, Santa Cruz) – for "their creative contributions to biological and chemical oceanography, particularly in demonstrating the importance of ‘marine snow’ as a major contributor to the vertical flux of particulate matter throughout the worlds oceans."
 * 1988 Hans Thomas Rossby (University of Rhode Island) and Douglas Chester Webb (Webb Research) – for "Their creative contributions to ocean technology and oceanography, particularly in the development of the SOFAR float and advancing out knowledge of Lagrangian ocean dynamics."
 * 1984 Arnold L. Gordon (Columbia University) for his "dedication in completing the Antarctic Circumpolar Survey"
 * 1980 Holger W. Jannasch (WHOI) – for his "creative contributions to marine microbiology by providing us with an understanding of the fundamentals of microbial processes in the sea and the dynamics of oceanic food chains."
 * 1979 Wolfgang Helmut Berger (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego) – for his "creative contributions to paleoceanography by opening the doors of perception on the controlling factors governing carbonate sedimentation in the oceans, and for providing us with a unifying conceptual model for interpreting the geological evolution of ocean basins."
 * 1974 Henry M. Stommel (WHOI)
 * 1970 Frederick J. Vine (WHOI) – In recognition of his "imaginative and sound contributions to man’s understanding of the formative processes active within the earth."
 * 1966 Columbus O'D. Iselin (WHOI)
 * 1964 Bruce C. Heezen (WHOI)
 * 1962 John C. Swallow (WHOI)
 * 1960 Henry Bryant Bigelow

Scientists
Over the years, WHOI scientists have made seminal discoveries about the ocean that have contributed to improving US commerce, health, national security, and quality of life. They have received awards and recognition from scientific societies such as The Oceanography Society, the American Geophysical Union, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, and several others.

Notable scientists include:

 * Amy Bower, senior scientist, blind oceanographer
 * Stan Hart, scientist emeritus, William Bowie Medal recipient
 * Elizabeth Kujawinski, American oceanographer, Woods Hole Senior Scientist
 * Loral O’Hara, research engineer, NASA astronaut
 * Christopher Reddy, senior scientist, oil spill researcher
 * Alfred C. Redfield (1890 – 1983), oceanographer. Discovered the Redfield ratio and served as WHOI senior biologist from 1930 to 1942, and associate director between 1942 and 1957. The Institute's Redfield Laboratory was named in his honor in 1971.
 * Mary Sears, senior scientist in marine biology who served at the Naval Hydrographic Office in World War II compiling oceanographic intelligence for the Pacific Campaign
 * Heidi Sosik, senior scientist in Biology, inventor
 * Klaus Hasselmann, Doherty Professor at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1970 to 1972
 * Robert Ballard, oceanographer, retired US Navy officer, explorer and maritime archeologist who found the wreck of the Titanic

Ships
WHOI operates several research vessels, owned by the United States Navy, the National Science Foundation, or the institution:
 * R/V Atlantis (AGOR-25) – 274 feet long, mothership of the Alvin submarine
 * R/V Tioga (WHOI-owned) – 60 feet long
 * R/V Neil Armstrong (AGOR-27) – 238 feet long

WHOI formerly operated R/V Knorr, which was replaced by R/V Neil Armstrong in 2015.

Small boat fleet
WHOI operates many small boats used in inland harbors, ponds, rivers, and coastal bays. All are owned by the institution itself.
 * Motorboat Echo – 29 feet long (mainly used as a work boat to support dive operations, also the newest small research craft at WHOI)
 * Motorboat Mytilus – 24 feet long (mainly used in water too shallow for larger craft and is a versatile coastal research boat)
 * Motorboat Calanus – 21 feet long (mainly used in local water bodies such as Great Harbor, Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay)
 * Motorboat Limulus – 13 feet long (mainly used to shuttle equipment to larger craft and as a work platform for near-shore research tasks)
 * Rowboat Orzrus – 12 feet long (mainly used in harbors and ponds where motor craft are not permitted)

Underwater vehicles

WHOI also has developed numerous underwater autonomous and remotely operated vehicles for research:
 * Alvin (DSV-2) – human-occupied vehicle, the institution's most well-known equipment
 * Deepsea Challenger – human-occupied vehicle designed, field-tested, and later donated to the WHOI by Canadian film director James Cameron
 * Jason – a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)
 * Sentry – an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and successor to ABE
 * Nereus – A hybrid remotely operated vehicle (HROV); lost on 5/10/14 while exploring the Kermadec Trench.
 * Remus – Remote Environment Monitoring UnitS, a family of autonomous underwater vehicles
 * Mesobot - an autonomous underwater vehicle built to track sea life in the mesopelagic zone
 * SeaBED – an autonomous underwater vehicle optimized for high-resolution seafloor imaging
 * Spray Glider – a remotely operated vehicle, used to collect data about the salinity, temperature, etc. about an area
 * Slocum Glider – another remotely operated vehicle, with functions similar to the functions of the Spray Glider
 * CAMPER – a towed vehicle used to collect samples from the seabed of the Arctic Ocean
 * Seasoar – a submarine towed by a ship
 * TowCam – a submarine with cameras that is towed by a ship along the ocean floor to take photographs
 * Video Plankton Recorder – a submarine with microscopic camera systems, towed along by a ship to take videos of plankton
 * Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE) – an autonomous underwater vehicle

Notable people

 * Lisan Yu – known for serving on the Earth Science Advisory Committee (ESAC), and on the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committee of NASA.

title: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution


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Ritual

A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or revered objects. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, but not defined, by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance.

Rituals are a feature of all known human societies. They include not only the worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also rites of passage, atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals and more. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying "hello" may be termed as rituals.

The field of ritual studies has seen a number of conflicting definitions of the term. One given by Kyriakidis is that a ritual is an outsider's or "etic" category for a set activity (or set of actions) that, to the outsider, seems irrational, non-contiguous, or illogical. The term can be used also by the insider or "emic" performer as an acknowledgement that this activity can be seen as such by the uninitiated onlooker.

In psychology, the term ritual is sometimes used in a technical sense for a repetitive behavior systematically used by a person to neutralize or prevent anxiety; it can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder but obsessive-compulsive ritualistic behaviors are generally isolated activities.

Etymology
The English word ritual derives from the Latin ritualis, "that which pertains to rite (ritus)". In Roman juridical and religious usage, ritus was the proven way (mos) of doing something, or "correct performance, custom". The original concept of ritus may be related to the Sanskrit ṛtá ("visible order)" in Vedic religion, "the lawful and regular order of the normal, and therefore proper, natural and true structure of cosmic, worldly, human and ritual events". The word "ritual" is first recorded in English in 1570, and came into use in the 1600s to mean "the prescribed order of performing religious services" or more particularly a book of these prescriptions.

Characteristics
There are hardly any limits to the kind of actions that may be incorporated into a ritual. The rites of past and present societies have typically involved special gestures and words, recitation of fixed texts, performance of special music, songs or dances, processions, manipulation of certain objects, use of special dresses, consumption of special food, drink, or drugs, and much more.

Catherine Bell argues that rituals can be characterized by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism and performance.

Formalism

Ritual uses a limited and rigidly organized set of expressions which anthropologists call a "restricted code" (in opposition to a more open "elaborated code"). Maurice Bloch argues that ritual obliges participants to use this formal oratorical style, which is limited in intonation, syntax, vocabulary, loudness, and fixity of order. In adopting this style, ritual leaders' speech becomes more style than content. Because this formal speech limits what can be said, it induces "acceptance, compliance, or at least forbearance with regard to any overt challenge". Bloch argues that this form of ritual communication makes rebellion impossible and revolution the only feasible alternative. Ritual tends to support traditional forms of social hierarchy and authority, and maintains the assumptions on which the authority is based from challenge.

Traditionalism

Rituals appeal to tradition and are generally continued to repeat historical precedent, religious rite, mores, or ceremony accurately. Traditionalism varies from formalism in that the ritual may not be formal yet still makes an appeal to the historical trend. An example is the American Thanksgiving dinner, which may not be formal, yet is ostensibly based on an event from the early Puritan settlement of America. Historians Eric Hobsbawm and Terrence Ranger have argued that many of these are invented traditions, such as the rituals of the British monarchy, which invoke "thousand year-old tradition" but whose actual form originate in the late nineteenth century, to some extent reviving earlier forms, in this case medieval, that had been discontinued in the meantime. Thus, the appeal to history is important rather than accurate historical transmission.

Invariance
Catherine Bell states that ritual is also invariant, implying careful choreography. This is less an appeal to traditionalism than a striving for timeless repetition. The key to invariance is bodily discipline, as in monastic prayer and meditation meant to mold dispositions and moods. This bodily discipline is frequently performed in unison, by groups.

Rule-governance
Rituals tend to be governed by rules, a feature somewhat like formalism. Rules impose norms on the chaos of behavior, either defining the outer limits of what is acceptable or choreographing each move. Individuals are held to communally approved customs that evoke a legitimate communal authority that can constrain the possible outcomes. Historically, war in most societies has been bound by highly ritualized constraints that limit the legitimate means by which war was waged.

Sacral symbolism

Activities appealing to supernatural beings are easily considered rituals, although the appeal may be quite indirect, expressing only a generalized belief in the existence of the sacred demanding a human response. National flags, for example, may be considered more than signs representing a country. The flag stands for larger symbols such as freedom, democracy, free enterprise or national superiority. Anthropologist Sherry Ortner writes that the flag "does not encourage reflection on the logical relations among these ideas, nor on the logical consequences of them as they are played out in social actuality, over time and history. On the contrary, the flag encourages a sort of all-or-nothing allegiance to the whole package, best summed [by] 'Our flag, love it or leave.'"

Particular objects become sacral symbols through a process of consecration which effectively creates the sacred by setting it apart from the profane. Boy Scouts and the armed forces in any country teach the official ways of folding, saluting and raising the flag, thus emphasizing that the flag should never be treated as just a piece of cloth.

Performance
The performance of ritual creates a theatrical-like frame around the activities, symbols and events that shape participant's experience and cognitive ordering of the world, simplifying the chaos of life and imposing a more or less coherent system of categories of meaning onto it. As Barbara Myerhoff put it, "not only is seeing believing, doing is believing."

Genres
For simplicity's sake, the range of diverse rituals can be divided into categories with common characteristics, generally falling into one three major categories:
 * rites of passage, generally changing an individual's social status;
 * communal rites, whether of worship, where a community comes together to worship, such as Jewish synagogue or Mass, or of another character, such as fertility rites and certain non-religious festivals;
 * rites of personal devotion, where an individual worships, including prayer and pilgrimages, pledges of allegiance, or promises to wed someone.

However, rituals can fall in more than one category or genre, and may be grouped in a variety of other ways. For example, the anthropologist Victor Turner writes:

"Rituals may be seasonal, or they may be contingent, held in response to an individual or collective crisis. Other classes of rituals include divinatory rituals; ceremonies performed by political authorities to ensure the health and fertility of human beings, animals, and crops in their territories; initiation into priesthoods devoted to certain deities, into religious associations, or into secret societies; and those accompanying the daily offering of food and libations to deities or ancestral spirits or both."

Rites of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's transition from one status to another, including adoption, baptism, coming of age, graduation, inauguration, engagement, and marriage. Rites of passage may also include initiation into groups not tied to a formal stage of life such as a fraternity. Arnold van Gennep stated that rites of passage are marked by three stages:
 * 1. Separation: Wherein the initiates are separated from their old identities through physical and symbolic means.
 * 2. Transition: Wherein the initiated are "betwixt and between". Victor Turner argued that this stage is marked by liminality, a condition of ambiguity or disorientation in which initiates have been stripped of their old identities, but have not yet acquired their new one. Turner states that "the attributes of liminality or of liminal personae ("threshold people") are necessarily ambiguous". In this stage of liminality or "anti-structure" (see below), the initiates' role ambiguity creates a sense of communitas or emotional bond of community between them. This stage may be marked by ritual ordeals or ritual training.
 * 3. Incorporation: Wherein the initiates are symbolically confirmed in their new identity and community.

Rites of affliction
Anthropologist Victor Turner defines rites of affliction actions that seek to mitigate spirits or supernatural forces that inflict humans with bad luck, illness, gynecological troubles, physical injuries, and other such misfortunes. These rites may include forms of spirit divination (consulting oracles) to establish causes—and rituals that heal, purify, exorcise, and protect. The misfortune experienced may include individual health, but also broader climate-related issues such as drought or plagues of insects. Healing rites performed by shamans frequently identify social disorder as the cause, and make the restoration of social relationships the cure.

Turner uses the example of the Isoma ritual among the Ndembu of northwestern Zambia to illustrate. The Isoma rite of affliction is used to cure a childless woman of infertility. Infertility is the result of a "structural tension between matrilineal descent and virilocal marriage" (i.e., the tension a woman feels between her mother's family, to whom she owes allegiance, and her husband's family among whom she must live). "It is because the woman has come too closely in touch with the 'man's side' in her marriage that her dead matrikin have impaired her fertility." To correct the balance of matrilinial descent and marriage, the Isoma ritual dramatically placates the deceased spirits by requiring the woman to reside with her mother's kin.

Shamanic and other ritual may effect a psychotherapeutic cure, leading anthropologists such as Jane Atkinson to theorize how. Atkinson argues that the effectiveness of a shamanic ritual for an individual may depend upon a wider audiences acknowledging the shaman's power, which may lead to the shaman placing greater emphasis on engaging the audience than in the healing of the patient.

Death, mourning, and funerary rites
Many cultures have rites associated with death and mourning, such as the last rites and wake in Christianity, shemira in Judaism, the antyesti in Hinduism, and the antam sanskar in Sikhism.

Calendrical and commemorative rites
Calendrical and commemorative rites are ritual events marking particular times of year, or a fixed period since an important event. Calendrical rituals give social meaning to the passage of time, creating repetitive weekly, monthly or yearly cycles. Some rites are oriented towards a culturally defined moment of change in the climatic cycle, such as solar terms or the changing of seasons, or they may mark the inauguration of an activity such as planting, harvesting, or moving from winter to summer pasture during the agricultural cycle. They may be fixed by the solar or lunar calendar; those fixed by the solar calendar fall on the same day (of the Gregorian, Solar calendar) each year (such as New Year's Day on the first of January) while those calculated by the lunar calendar fall on different dates (of the Gregorian, Solar calendar) each year (such as Chinese lunar New Year). Calendrical rites impose a cultural order on nature. Mircea Eliade states that the calendrical rituals of many religious traditions recall and commemorate the basic beliefs of a community, and their yearly celebration establishes a link between past and present, as if the original events are happening over again: "Thus the gods did; thus men do."

Rites of sacrifice, exchange, and communion

This genre of ritual encompasses forms of sacrifice and offering meant to praise, please or placate divine powers. According to early anthropologist Edward Tylor, such sacrifices are gifts given in hope of a return. Catherine Bell, however, points out that sacrifice covers a range of practices from those that are manipulative and "magical" to those of pure devotion. Hindu puja, for example, appear to have no other purpose than to please the deity.

According to Marcel Mauss, sacrifice is distinguished from other forms of offering by being consecrated, and hence sanctified. As a consequence, the offering is usually destroyed in the ritual to transfer it to the deities.

Rites of feasting, fasting, and festivals

Rites of feasting and fasting are those through which a community publicly expresses an adherence to basic, shared religious values, rather than to the overt presence of deities as is found in rites of affliction where feasting or fasting may also take place. It encompasses a range of performances such as communal fasting during Ramadan by Muslims; the slaughter of pigs in New Guinea; Carnival festivities; or penitential processions in Catholicism. Victor Turner described this "cultural performance" of basic values a "social drama". Such dramas allow the social stresses that are inherent in a particular culture to be expressed and worked out symbolically in a ritual catharsis; as the social tensions continue to persist outside the ritual, pressure mounts for the ritual's cyclical performance. In Carnival, for example, the practice of masking allows people to be what they are not, and acts as a general social leveller, erasing otherwise tense social hierarchies in a festival that emphasizes play outside the bounds of normal social limits. Yet outside carnival, social tensions of race, class and gender persist, hence requiring the repeated periodic release found in the festival.

Water rites
A water rite is a rite or ceremonial custom that uses water as its central feature. Typically, a person is immersed or bathed as a symbol of religious indoctrination or ritual purification. Examples include the Mikveh in Judaism, a custom of purification; misogi in Shinto, a custom of spiritual and bodily purification involving bathing in a sacred waterfall, river, or lake; the Muslim ritual ablution or Wudu before prayer; baptism in Christianity, a custom and sacrament that represents both purification and initiation into the religious community (the Christian Church); and Amrit Sanskar in Sikhism, a rite of passage (sanskar) that similarly represents purification and initiation into the religious community (the khalsa). Rites that use water are not considered water rites if it is not their central feature. For example, having water to drink during or after ritual is common, but does not make thar ritual a water ritual unless the drinking of water is a central activity such as in the Church of All Worlds waterkin rite.

Political rituals

According to anthropologist Clifford Geertz, political rituals actually construct power; that is, in his analysis of the Balinese state, he argued that rituals are not an ornament of political power, but that the power of political actors depends upon their ability to create rituals and the cosmic framework within which the social hierarchy headed by the king is perceived as natural and sacred. As a "dramaturgy of power" comprehensive ritual systems may create a cosmological order that sets a ruler apart as a divine being, as in "the divine right" of European kings, or the divine Japanese Emperor. Political rituals also emerge in the form of uncodified or codified conventions practiced by political officials that cement respect for the arrangements of an institution or role against the individual temporarily assuming it, as can be seen in the many rituals still observed within the procedure of parliamentary bodies.

Ritual can be used as a form of resistance, as for example, in the various Cargo Cults that developed against colonial powers in the South Pacific. In such religio-political movements, Islanders would use ritual imitations of western practices (such as the building of landing strips) as a means of summoning cargo (manufactured goods) from the ancestors. Leaders of these groups characterized the present state (often imposed by colonial capitalist regimes) as a dismantling of the old social order, which they sought to restore. Rituals may also attain political significance after conflict, as is the case with the Bosnian syncretic holidays and festivals that transgress religious boundaries.

Functionalism

Nineteenth century "armchair anthropologists" were concerned with the basic question of how religion originated in human history. In the twentieth century their conjectural histories were replaced with new concerns around the question of what these beliefs and practices did for societies, regardless of their origin. In this view, religion was a universal, and while its content might vary enormously, it served certain basic functions such as the provision of prescribed solutions to basic human psychological and social problems, as well as expressing the central values of a society. Bronislaw Malinowski used the concept of function to address questions of individual psychological needs; A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, in contrast, looked for the function (purpose) of the institution or custom in preserving or maintaining society as a whole. They thus disagreed about the relationship of anxiety to ritual.

Malinowski argued that ritual was a non-technical means of addressing anxiety about activities where dangerous elements were beyond technical control: "magic is to be expected and generally to be found whenever man comes to an unbridgeable gap, a hiatus in his knowledge or in his powers of practical control, and yet has to continue in his pursuit.". Radcliffe-Brown in contrast, saw ritual as an expression of common interest symbolically representing a community, and that anxiety was felt only if the ritual was not performed. George C. Homans sought to resolve these opposing theories by differentiating between "primary anxieties" felt by people who lack the techniques to secure results, and "secondary (or displaced) anxiety" felt by those who have not performed the rites meant to allay primary anxiety correctly. Homans argued that purification rituals may then be conducted to dispel secondary anxiety.

A.R. Radcliffe-Brown argued that ritual should be distinguished from technical action, viewing it as a structured event: "ritual acts differ from technical acts in having in all instances some expressive or symbolic element in them." Edmund Leach, in contrast, saw ritual and technical action less as separate structural types of activity and more as a spectrum: "Actions fall into place on a continuous scale. At one extreme we have actions which are entirely profane, entirely functional, technique pure and simple; at the other we have actions which are entirely sacred, strictly aesthetic, technically non-functional. Between these two extremes we have the great majority of social actions which partake partly of the one sphere and partly of the other. From this point of view technique and ritual, profane and sacred, do not denote types of action but aspects of almost any kind of action."

As social control

The functionalist model viewed ritual as a homeostatic mechanism to regulate and stabilize social institutions by adjusting social interactions, maintaining a group ethos, and restoring harmony after disputes.

Although the functionalist model was soon superseded, later "neofunctional" theorists adopted its approach by examining the ways that ritual regulated larger ecological systems. Roy Rappaport, for example, examined the way gift exchanges of pigs between tribal groups in Papua New Guinea maintained environmental balance between humans, available food (with pigs sharing the same foodstuffs as humans) and resource base. Rappaport concluded that ritual, "...helps to maintain an undegraded environment, limits fighting to frequencies which do not endanger the existence of regional population, adjusts man-land ratios, facilitates trade, distributes local surpluses of pig throughout the regional population in the form of pork, and assures people of high quality protein when they are most in need of it". Similarly, J. Stephen Lansing traced how the intricate calendar of Hindu Balinese rituals served to regulate the vast irrigation systems of Bali, ensuring the optimum distribution of water over the system while limiting disputes.

Rebellion
While most Functionalists sought to link ritual to the maintenance of social order, South African functionalist anthropologist Max Gluckman coined the phrase "rituals of rebellion" to describe a type of ritual in which the accepted social order was symbolically turned on its head. Gluckman argued that the ritual was an expression of underlying social tensions (an idea taken up by Victor Turner), and that it functioned as an institutional pressure valve, relieving those tensions through these cyclical performances. The rites ultimately functioned to reinforce social order, insofar as they allowed those tensions to be expressed without leading to actual rebellion. Carnival is viewed in the same light. He observed, for example, how the first-fruits festival (incwala) of the South African Bantu kingdom of Swaziland symbolically inverted the normal social order, so that the king was publicly insulted, women asserted their domination over men, and the established authority of elders over the young was turned upside down.

Structuralism
Claude Lévi-Strauss, the French anthropologist, regarded all social and cultural organization as symbolic systems of communication shaped by the inherent structure of the human brain. He therefore argued that the symbol systems are not reflections of social structure as the Functionalists believed, but are imposed on social relations to organize them. Lévi-Strauss thus viewed myth and ritual as complementary symbol systems, one verbal, one non-verbal. Lévi-Strauss was not concerned to develop a theory of ritual (although he did produce a four-volume analysis of myth) but was influential to later scholars of ritual such as Mary Douglas and Edmund Leach.

Structure and anti-structure
Victor Turner combined Arnold van Gennep's model of the structure of initiation rites, and Gluckman's functionalist emphasis on the ritualization of social conflict to maintain social equilibrium, with a more structural model of symbols in ritual. Running counter to this emphasis on structured symbolic oppositions within a ritual was his exploration of the liminal phase of rites of passage, a phase in which "anti-structure" appears. In this phase, opposed states such as birth and death may be encompassed by a single act, object or phrase. The dynamic nature of symbols experienced in ritual provides a compelling personal experience; ritual is a "mechanism that periodically converts the obligatory into the desirable".

Mary Douglas, a British Functionalist, extended Turner's theory of ritual structure and anti-structure with her own contrasting set of terms "grid" and "group" in the book Natural Symbols. Drawing on Levi-Strauss' Structuralist approach, she saw ritual as symbolic communication that constrained social behaviour. Grid is a scale referring to the degree to which a symbolic system is a shared frame of reference. Group refers to the degree people are tied into a tightly knit community. When graphed on two intersecting axes, four quadrants are possible: strong group/strong grid, strong group/weak grid, weak group/weak grid, weak group/strong grid. Douglas argued that societies with strong group or strong grid were marked by more ritual activity than those weak in either group or grid. (see also, section below)

Anti-structure and communitas
In his analysis of rites of passage, Victor Turner argued that the liminal phase - that period 'betwixt and between' - was marked by "two models of human interrelatedness, juxtaposed and alternating": structure and anti-structure (or communitas). While the ritual clearly articulated the cultural ideals of a society through ritual symbolism, the unrestrained festivities of the liminal period served to break down social barriers and to join the group into an undifferentiated unity with "no status, property, insignia, secular clothing, rank, kinship position, nothing to demarcate themselves from their fellows". These periods of symbolic inversion have been studied in a diverse range of rituals such as pilgrimages and Yom Kippur.

Social dramas
Beginning with Max Gluckman's concept of "rituals of rebellion", Victor Turner argued that many types of ritual also served as "social dramas" through which structural social tensions could be expressed, and temporarily resolved. Drawing on Van Gennep's model of initiation rites, Turner viewed these social dramas as a dynamic process through which the community renewed itself through the ritual creation of communitas during the "liminal phase". Turner analyzed the ritual events in 4 stages: breach in relations, crisis, redressive actions, and acts of reintegration. Like Gluckman, he argued these rituals maintain social order while facilitating disordered inversions, thereby moving people to a new status, just as in an initiation rite.

Symbolic approaches to ritual
Clifford Geertz also expanded on the symbolic approach to ritual that began with Victor Turner. Geertz argued that religious symbol systems provided both a "model of" reality (showing how to interpret the world as is) as well as a "model for" reality (clarifying its ideal state). The role of ritual, according to Geertz, is to bring these two aspects – the "model of" and the "model for" – together: "it is in ritual – that is consecrated behaviour – that this conviction that religious conceptions are veridical and that religious directives are sound is somehow generated."

Symbolic anthropologists like Geertz analyzed rituals as language-like codes to be interpreted independently as cultural systems. Geertz rejected Functionalist arguments that ritual describes social order, arguing instead that ritual actively shapes that social order and imposes meaning on disordered experience. He also differed from Gluckman and Turner's emphasis on ritual action as a means of resolving social passion, arguing instead that it simply displayed them.

As a form of communication
Whereas Victor Turner saw in ritual the potential to release people from the binding structures of their lives into a liberating anti-structure or communitas, Maurice Bloch argued that ritual produced conformity.

Maurice Bloch argued that ritual communication is unusual in that it uses a special, restricted vocabulary, a small number of permissible illustrations, and a restrictive grammar. As a result, ritual utterances become very predictable, and the speaker is made anonymous in that they have little choice in what to say. The restrictive syntax reduces the ability of the speaker to make propositional arguments, and they are left, instead, with utterances that cannot be contradicted such as "I do thee wed" in a wedding. These kinds of utterances, known as performatives, prevent speakers from making political arguments through logical argument, and are typical of what Weber called traditional authority instead.

Bloch's model of ritual language denies the possibility of creativity. Thomas Csordas, in contrast, analyzes how ritual language can be used to innovate. Csordas looks at groups of rituals that share performative elements ("genres" of ritual with a shared "poetics"). These rituals may fall along the spectrum of formality, with some less, others more formal and restrictive. Csordas argues that innovations may be introduced in less formalized rituals. As these innovations become more accepted and standardized, they are slowly adopted in more formal rituals. In this way, even the most formal of rituals are potential avenues for creative expression.

As a disciplinary program

In his historical analysis of articles on ritual and rite in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Talal Asad notes that from 1771 to 1852, the brief articles on ritual define it as a "book directing the order and manner to be observed in performing divine service" (i.e., as a script). There are no articles on the subject thereafter until 1910, when a new, lengthy article appeared that redefines ritual as "...a type of routine behaviour that symbolizes or expresses something". As a symbolic activity, it is no longer confined to religion, but is distinguished from technical action. The shift in definitions from script to behavior, which is likened to a text, is matched by a semantic distinction between ritual as an outward sign (i.e., public symbol) and inward meaning.

The emphasis has changed to establishing the meaning of public symbols and abandoning concerns with inner emotional states since, as Evans-Pritchard wrote "such emotional states, if present at all, must vary not only from individual to individual, but also in the same individual on different occasions and even at different points in the same rite." Asad, in contrast, emphasizes behavior and inner emotional states; rituals are to be performed, and mastering these performances is a skill requiring disciplined action.

"In other words, apt performance involves not symbols to be interpreted but abilities to be acquired according to rules that are sanctioned by those in authority: it presupposes no obscure meanings, but rather the formation of physical and linguistic skills."

Drawing on the example of Medieval monastic life in Europe, he points out that ritual in this case refers to its original meaning of the "...book directing the order and manner to be observed in performing divine service". This book "prescribed practices, whether they had to do with the proper ways of eating, sleeping, working, and praying or with proper moral dispositions and spiritual aptitudes, aimed at developing virtues that are put 'to the service of God.'" Monks, in other words, were disciplined in the Foucauldian sense. The point of monastic discipline was to learn skills and appropriate emotions. Asad contrasts his approach by concluding: "Symbols call for interpretation, and even as interpretive criteria are extended so interpretations can be multiplied. Disciplinary practices, on the other hand, cannot be varied so easily, because learning to develop moral capabilities is not the same thing as learning to invent representations."

As a form of social solidarity
Ethnographic observation shows ritual can create social solidarity. Douglas Foley Went to North Town, Texas, between 1973 and 1974 to study public high school culture. He used interviews, participant observation, and unstructured chatting to study racial tension and capitalist culture in his ethnography Learning Capitalist Culture. Foley refers to football games and Friday Night Lights as a community ritual. This ritual united the school and created a sense of solidarity and community on a weekly basis involving pep rallies and the game itself. Foley observed judgement and segregation based on class, social status, wealth, and gender. He described Friday Night Lights as a ritual that overcomes those differences: "The other, gentler, more social side of football was, of course, the emphasis on camaraderie, loyalty, friendship between players, and pulling together". In his ethnography Waiting for Elijah: Time and Encounter in a Bosnian Landscape, anthropologist Safet HadžiMuhamedović suggests that shared festivals like St George's Day and St Elijah's Day structure interfaith relationships and appear as acts of solidarity against ethno-nationalist purifications of territory in Bosnia.

Ritualization
Asad's work critiqued the notion that there were universal characteristics of ritual to be found in all cases. Catherine Bell has extended this idea by shifting attention from ritual as a category, to the processes of "ritualization" by which ritual is created as a cultural form in a society. Ritualization is "a way of acting that is designed and orchestrated to distinguish and privilege what is being done in comparison to other, usually more quotidian, activities".

Sociobiology and behavioral neuroscience
Anthropologists have also analyzed ritual via insights from other behavioral sciences. The idea that cultural rituals share behavioral similarities with personal rituals of individuals was discussed early on by Freud. Dulaney and Fiske compared ethnographic descriptions of both rituals and non-ritual doings, such as work to behavioral descriptions from clinical descriptions of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). They note that OCD behavior often consists of such behavior as constantly cleaning objects, concern or disgust with bodily waste or secretions, repetitive actions to prevent harm, heavy emphasis on number or order of actions etc. They then show that ethnographic descriptions of cultural rituals contain around 5 times more of such content than ethnographic descriptions of other activities such as "work". Fiske later repeated similar analysis with more descriptions from a larger collection of different cultures, also contrasting descriptions of cultural rituals to descriptions of other behavioral disorders (in addition to OCD), in order to show that only OCD-like behavior (not other illnesses) shares properties with rituals. The authors offer tentative explanations for these findings, for example that these behavioral traits are widely needed for survival, to control risk, and cultural rituals are often performed in the context of perceived collective risk.

Other anthropologists have taken these insights further, and constructed more elaborate theories based on the brain functions and physiology. Liénard and Boyer suggest that commonalities between obsessive behavior in individuals and similar behavior in collective contexts possibly share similarities due to underlying mental processes they call hazard precaution. They suggest that individuals of societies seem to pay more attention to information relevant to avoiding hazards, which in turn can explain why collective rituals displaying actions of hazard precaution are so popular and prevail for long periods in cultural transmission.

Ritual as a methodological measure of religiosity
According to the sociologist Mervin Verbit, ritual may be understood as one of the key components of religiosity. And ritual itself may be broken down into four dimensions; content, frequency, intensity and centrality. The content of a ritual may vary from ritual to ritual, as does the frequency of its practice, the intensity of the ritual (how much of an impact it has on the practitioner), and the centrality of the ritual (in that religious tradition).

In this sense, ritual is similar to Charles Glock's "practice" dimension of religiosity.

Religious perspectives
In religion, a ritual can comprise the prescribed outward forms of performing the cultus, or cult, of a particular observation within a religion or religious denomination. Although ritual is often used in context with worship performed in a church, the actual relationship between any religion's doctrine and its ritual(s) can vary considerably from organized religion to non-institutionalized spirituality, such as ayahuasca shamanism as practiced by the Urarina of the upper Amazon. Rituals often have a close connection with reverence, thus a ritual in many cases expresses reverence for a deity or idealized state of humanity.

Christianity

In Christianity, a rite is used to refer to a sacred ceremony (such as anointing of the sick), which may or may not carry the status of a sacrament depending on the Christian denomination (in Roman Catholicism, anointing of the sick is a sacrament while in Lutheranism it is not). The word "rite" is also used to denote a liturgical tradition usually emanating from a specific center; examples include the Roman Rite, the Byzantine Rite, and the Sarum Rite. Such rites may include various sub-rites. For example, the Byzantine Rite (which is used by the Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Lutheran, and Eastern Catholic churches) has Greek, Russian, and other ethnically based variants.

Islam
For daily prayers, practicing Muslims must perform a ritual recitation from the Quran in Arabic while bowing and prostrating. Quranic chapter 2 prescribes rituals such as the direction to face for prayers (qiblah); pilgrimage (Hajj), and fasting in Ramadan. Iḥrām is a state of ritual purity in preparation for pilgrimage in Islam.

Hajj rituals include circumambulation around the Kaʿbah. ... and show us our rites - these rites (manāsik) are presumed the rituals of ḥajj. Truly Ṣafā and Marwah are among the rituals of God Saʿy is the ritual travel, partway between walking and running, seven times between the two hills.

Freemasonry
In Freemasonry, rituals are scripted words and actions which employ Masonic symbolism to illustrate the principles espoused by Freemasons. These rituals are progressively taught to entrusted members during initiation into a particular Masonic rite comprising a series of degrees conferred by a Masonic body. The degrees of Freemasonry derive from the three grades of medieval craft guilds; those of "Entered Apprentice", "Journeyman" (or "Fellowcraft"), and "Master Mason". In North America, Freemasons who have been raised to the degree of "Master Mason” have the option of joining appendant bodies that offer additional degrees to those, such as those of the Scottish Rite or the York Rite.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Ritual


text:
Habit (disambiguation)

A habit is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

Habit or Habits may also refer to:

Apparel

 * Religious habit, a distinctive dress worn by the members of a religious order
 * Riding habit, women's clothing for horseback riding
 * Keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress, sometimes called a habit
 * Sudarium, worn by Jewish men after wedding.

Film

 * Habit (1921 film), an American silent film
 * Habit (1997 film), an American horror film
 * Habit (2021 film), an American drama film

Music

 * Habit (album), by U;Nee, 2007
 * Habits (album), by Neon Trees, 2010
 * "Habit" (Sekai no Owari song), 2022
 * "Habit", a 2012 song by Adler from Back from the Dead
 * "Habit", a 2011 song by Alexis Jordan from Alexis Jordan
 * "Habit", a 2018 song by Andrew Hyatt from Cain
 * "Habit", a 2010 song by Cathy Davey from The Nameless
 * "Habit", a 2010 song by Curve from Rare and Unreleased
 * "Habit", a 2006 song by Elvira Nikolaisen from Quiet Exit
 * "Habit", a 1999 song by Enuff Z'Nuff from Paraphernalia
 * "Habit", a 2018 song by Lil Durk from Signed to the Streets 3
 * "Habit", a 2020 song by Louis Tomlinson from Walls
 * "Habit", a 2008 song by the Movement from Set Sail
 * "Habit", a 1996 song by Pearl Jam from No Code
 * "Habit", a 1999 song by Sarah Slean from Blue Parade
 * "Habit", a 2017 song by Seventeen from Al1
 * "Habit", a 2012 song by Tulisa from The Female Boss
 * "Habit", a 2017 song by Uniform from Wake in Fright
 * "Habits (Stay High)", a 2013 song by Tove Lo
 * "Habits", a 2017 song by Day6 from Moonrise
 * "Habits", a 2024 song by Eminem from The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)
 * "Habits", a 1992 song by Fred Frith and François-Michel Pesenti from Helter Skelter
 * "Habits", a 2024 song by Gary Clark Jr. from JPEG Raw
 * "Habits", a 1984 song by Grace Slick from Software
 * "Habits", a 2010 song by the Grand Opening from In the Midst of Your Drama
 * "Habits", a 2012 song by Katie Kim from Cover & Flood
 * "Habits", a 2017 song by Machine Gun Kelly from Bloom
 * "Habits", a 2011 song by Maria Mena from Viktoria
 * "Habits", a 2018 song by Marmozets from Knowing What You Know Now
 * "Habits", a 2023 song by NLE Choppa from Cottonwood 2
 * "Habits", a 1996 song by No Knife from Drunk on the Moon
 * "Habits", a 2022 song by PUP from The Unraveling of PUPTheBand
 * "Habits", a 2006 song by Tomi Swick from Stalled Out in the Doorway
 * "Habits", a 1965 song by The Wailing Wailers with Junior Braithwaite

Science and technology

 * HABIT (HabitAbility: Brine, Irradiation and Temperature), an instrument designed to harvest water from the Mars atmosphere
 * Habit (biology), aspects of behaviour or structure
 * Crystal habit, the characteristic external shape of an individual crystal
 * Drug habit, drug addiction

Other uses

 * Habit, Kentucky, a place in the United States
 * Habit evidence, a term used in the law of evidence

title: Habit (disambiguation)


text:
Zambezi

The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers 1,390,000 km2, slightly less than half of the Nile's. The 2,574 km river rises in Zambia and flows through eastern Angola, along the north-eastern border of Namibia and the northern border of Botswana, then along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe to Mozambique, where it crosses the country to empty into the Indian Ocean.

The Zambezi's most noted feature is Victoria Falls. Its other falls include the Chavuma Falls at the border between Zambia and Angola, and Ngonye Falls near Sioma in western Zambia.

The two main sources of hydroelectric power on the river are the Kariba Dam, which provides power to Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the Cahora Bassa Dam in Mozambique, which provides power to Mozambique and South Africa. Additionally, two smaller power stations are along the Zambezi River in Zambia, one at Victoria Falls and the other in Zengamina, near Kalene Hill in the Ikelenge District.

Origins

The river rises in a black, marshy dambo in dense, undulating miombo woodland 50 km north of Mwinilunga and 20 km south of Ikelenge in the Ikelenge District of North-Western Province, Zambia, at about 1524 m above sea level. The area around the source is a national monument, forest reserve, and important bird area.

Eastward of the source, the watershed between the Congo and Zambezi Basins is a well-marked belt of high ground, running nearly east–west and falling abruptly to the north and south. This distinctly cuts off the basin of the Lualaba (the main branch of the upper Congo) from the Zambezi. In the neighborhood of the source, the watershed is not as clearly defined, but the two river systems do not connect.

The region drained by the Zambezi is a vast, broken-edged plateau 900–1,200 m high, composed in the remote interior of metamorphic beds and fringed with the igneous rocks of the Victoria Falls. At Chupanga, on the lower Zambezi, thin strata of grey and yellow sandstones, with an occasional band of limestone, crop out on the bed of the river in the dry season, and these persist beyond Tete, where they are associated with extensive seams of coal. Coal is also found in the district just below Victoria Falls. Gold-bearing rocks occur in several places.

Upper Zambezi
The river flows to the southwest into Angola for about 240 km, then is joined by sizeable tributaries such as the Luena and the Chifumage flowing from highlands to the north-west. It turns south and develops a floodplain, with extreme width variation between the dry and rainy seasons. It enters dense evergreen Cryptosepalum dry forest, though on its western side, Western Zambezian grasslands also occur. Where it re-enters Zambia, it is nearly 400 m wide in the rainy season and flows rapidly, with rapids ending in the Chavuma Falls, where the river flows through a rocky fissure. The river drops about 400 m in elevation from its source at 1500 m to the Chavuma Falls at 1100 m, over a distance of about 400 km. From this point to the Victoria Falls, the level of the basin is very uniform, dropping only by another 180 m across a distance of around 800 km.

The first of its large tributaries to enter the Zambezi is the Kabompo River in the North-Western Province of Zambia. The savanna through which the river flows gives way to a wide floodplain, studded with Borassus fan palms. A little farther south is the confluence with the Lungwebungu River. This is the beginning of the Barotse Floodplain, the most notable feature of the upper Zambezi, but this northern part does not flood so much and includes islands of higher land in the middle.

About 30 km below the confluence of the Lungwebungu, the country becomes very flat, and the typical Barotse Floodplain landscape unfolds, with the flood reaching a width of 25 km in the rainy season. For more than 200 km downstream, the annual flood cycle dominates the natural environment and human life, society, and culture. About 80 km further down, the Luanginga, which with its tributaries drains a large area to the west, joins the Zambezi. A short distance higher up on the east, the main stream is joined in the rainy season by overflow of the Luampa/Luena system.

A short distance downstream of the confluence with the Luanginga is Lealui, one of the capitals of the Lozi people, who populate the Zambian region of Barotseland in the Western Province. The chief of the Lozi maintains one of his two compounds at Lealui; the other is at Limulunga, which is on high ground and serves as the capital during the rainy season. The annual move from Lealui to Limulunga is a major event, celebrated as one of Zambia's best-known festivals, the Kuomboka.

After Lealui, the river turns south-southeast. From the east, it continues to receive numerous small streams, but on the west, it is without major tributaries for 240 km. Before this, the Ngonye Falls and subsequent rapids interrupt navigation. South of Ngonye Falls, the river briefly borders Namibia's Caprivi Strip. Below the junction of the Cuando River and the Zambezi, the river bends almost due east. Here, the river is broad and shallow and flows slowly, but as it flows eastward towards the border of the great central plateau of Africa, it reaches a chasm into which the Victoria Falls plunge.

Middle Zambezi
The Victoria Falls are considered the boundary between the upper and middle Zambezi. Below them, the river continues to flow due east for about 200 km, cutting through perpendicular walls of basalt 20 to 60 m apart in hills 200 to 250 m high. The river flows swiftly through the Batoka Gorge, the current being continually interrupted by reefs. It has been described as one of the world's most spectacular whitewater trips, a tremendous challenge for kayakers and rafters alike. Beyond the gorge are a succession of rapids that end 240 km below Victoria Falls. Over this distance, the river drops 250 m.

At this point, the river enters Lake Kariba, created in 1959 following the completion of the Kariba Dam. The lake is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, and the hydroelectric power-generating facilities at the dam provide electricity to much of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Luangwa and Kafue rivers are the two largest left-hand tributaries of the Zambezi. The Kafue joins the main river in a quiet, deep stream about 180 m wide. From this point, the northward bend of the Zambezi is checked, and the stream continues due east. At the confluence of the Luangwa (15°37' S), it enters Mozambique.

The middle Zambezi ends where the river enters Lake Cahora Bassa, formerly the site of dangerous rapids known as Kebrabassa; the lake was created in 1974 by the construction of the Cahora Bassa Dam.

Lower Zambezi
The lower Zambezi's 650 km from Cahora Bassa to the Indian Ocean is navigable, although the river is shallow in many places during the dry season. This shallowness arises as the river enters a broad valley and spreads out over a large area. Only at one point, the Lupata Gorge, 320 km from its mouth, is the river confined between high hills. Here, it is scarcely 200 m wide. Elsewhere it is from 5 to 8 km wide, flowing gently in many streams. The river bed is sandy, and the banks are low and reed-fringed. At places, however, and especially in the rainy season, the streams unite into one broad, fast-flowing river.

About 160 km from the sea, the Zambezi receives the drainage of Lake Malawi through the Shire River. On approaching the Indian Ocean, the river splits up into a delta. Each of the primary distributaries, Kongone, Luabo, and Timbwe, is obstructed by a sand bar. A more northerly branch, called the Chinde mouth, has a minimum depth at low water of 2 m at the entrance and 4 m further in, and is the branch used for navigation. About 100 km further north is a river called the Quelimane, after the town at its mouth. This stream, which is silting up, receives the overflow of the Zambezi in the rainy season.

Discharge
Average, minimum and maximum discharge of the Zambezi River at Marromeu (Lower Zambezi). Period from 1998 to 2022.

Delta
The delta of the Zambezi is today about half as broad as it was before the construction of the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams controlled the seasonal variations in the flow rate of the river. Before the dams were built, seasonal flooding of the Zambezi had quite a different impact on the ecosystems of the delta from today, as it brought nutrient-rich fresh water down to the Indian Ocean coastal wetlands. The lower Zambezi experienced a small flood surge early in the dry season as rain in the Gwembe catchment and north-eastern Zimbabwe rushed through while rain in the upper Zambezi, Kafue, and Lake Malawi basins, and Luangwa to a lesser extent, is held back by swamps and floodplains.

The discharges of these systems contribute to a much larger flood in March or April, with a mean monthly maximum for April of 6700 m3 per second at the delta. The record flood was more than three times as big, 22500 m3 per second being recorded in 1958. By contrast, the discharge at the end of the dry season averaged just 500 m3 per second.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the building of dams changed that pattern completely. Downstream, the mean monthly minimum–maximum was 500 to 6000 m3 per second; now it is 1000 to 3900 m3 per second. Medium-level floods especially, of the kind to which the ecology of the lower Zambezi was adapted, happen less often and have a shorter duration. As with the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam's deleterious effects on the Kafue Flats, this has these effects:
 * Fish, bird, and other wildlife feeding and breeding patterns were disrupted.
 * Less grassland remains after flooding for grazing wildlife and cattle.
 * Traditional farming and fishing patterns were disrupted.

Ecology of the delta
The Zambezi Delta has extensive seasonally and permanently flooded grasslands, savannas, and swamp forests. Together with the floodplains of the Buzi, Pungwe, and Save Rivers, the Zambezi's floodplains make up the World Wildlife Fund's Zambezian coastal flooded savanna ecoregion in Mozambique. The flooded savannas lie close to the Indian Ocean coast. Mangroves fringe the delta's shoreline.

Although the dams have stemmed some of the annual flooding of the lower Zambezi and caused the area of floodplain to be greatly reduced, they have not removed flooding completely. They cannot control extreme floods, and they have only made medium-level floods less frequent. When heavy rain in the lower Zambezi combines with significant runoff upstream, massive floods still happen, and the wetlands are still an important habitat. The shrinking of the wetlands, though, resulted in uncontrolled hunting of animals such as buffalo and waterbuck during the Mozambican Civil War.

Although the region has had a reduction in the populations of the large mammals, it is still home to some, including the reedbuck and migrating eland. Carnivores found here include lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), and side-striped jackal (Canis adustus). The floodplains are a haven for migratory waterbirds, including pintails, garganey, African openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus), saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis), wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus), and great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus).

Reptiles include Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus), Nile monitor lizard (Varanus niloticus), African rock python (Python sebae), the endemic Pungwe worm snake (Leptotyphlops pungwensis), and three other snakes that are nearly endemic - floodplain water snake (Lycodonomorphus whytei obscuriventris), dwarf wolf snake (Lycophidion nanus), and swamp viper (Proatheris).

Several butterfly species are endemic.

Climate
The north of the Zambezi basin has mean annual rainfall of 1100 to 1400 mm, which declines towards the south, reaching about half that figure in the south-west. The rain falls in a 4-to-6-month summer rainy season when the intertropical convergence zone moves over the basin from the north between October and March. Evaporation rates are high (1600 mm-2300 mm), and much water is lost this way in swamps and floodplains, especially in the south-west of the basin.

Wildlife
The river supports large populations of many animals. Hippopotamuses are abundant along most of the calm stretches of the river, as well as Nile crocodiles. Monitor lizards are found in many places. Birds are abundant, with species including heron, pelican, egret, lesser flamingo, and African fish eagle present in large numbers. Riverine woodland also supports many large animals, such as buffalo, zebras, giraffes, and elephants.

The Zambezi also supports several hundred species of fish, some of which are endemic to the river. Important species include cichlids, which are fished heavily for food, as well as catfish, tigerfish, yellowfish, and other large species. The bull shark is sometimes known as the Zambezi shark after the river, not to be mistaken with Glyphis freshwater shark genus that inhabit the river, as well.

Tributaries
Upper Zambezi: 507,200 km2, discharges 1044 m3/s at Victoria Falls, comprising:

 * Northern Highlands catchment, 222,570 km2, 850 m3/s at Lukulu:
 * Chifumage River: Angolan central plateau
 * Luena River: Angolan central plateau
 * Kabompo River: 72,200 km2, NW highlands of Zambia
 * Lungwebungu River: 47,400 km2, Angolan central plateau
 * Central Plains catchment, 284,630 km2, 196 m3/s (Victoria Falls–Lukulu):
 * Luanginga River: 34,600 km2, Angolan central plateau
 * Luampa River/Luena River, Zambia: 20,500 km2, eastern side of Zambezi
 * Cuando /Linyanti/Chobe River: 133,200 km2, Angolan S plateau & Caprivi

Middle Zambezi cumulatively 1,050,000 km2, 2442 m3/s, measured at Cahora Bassa Gorge
 * (Middle section by itself: 542,800 km2, discharges 1398 m3/s (C. Bassa–Victoria Falls)
 * Gwembe Catchment, 156,600 km2, 232 m3/s (Kariba Gorge–Vic Falls):
 * Gwayi River: 54,610 km2, NW Zimbabwe
 * Sengwa River: 25,000 km2, North-central Zimbabwe
 * Sanyati River: 43,500 km2, North-central Zimbabwe
 * Kariba Gorge to C. Bassa catchment, 386200 km2, 1166 m3/s (C. Bassa–Kariba Gorge):
 * Kafue River: 154,200 km2, 285 m3/s, West-central Zambia & Copperbelt
 * Luangwa River: 151,400 km2, 547 m3/s, Luangwa Rift Valley & plateau NW of it
 * Panhane River: 23,897 km2, North-central Zimbabwe plateau

Lower Zambezi cumulatively, 1,378,000 km2, 3424 m3/s, measured at Marromeu

 * (Lower section by itself: 328,000 km2, 982 m3/s (Marromeu–C. Bassa))
 * Luia River: 28,000 km2, Moravia-Angonia plateau, N of Zambezi
 * Luenha River/Mazoe River: 54,144 km2, 152 m3/s, Manica plateau, NE Zimbabwe
 * Shire River, 154,000 km2, 539 m3/s, Lake Malawi basin
 * Zambezi Delta, 12,000 km2

Total Zambezi river basin: 1,390,000 km2, 3424 m3/s discharged into delta

Source: Beilfuss & Dos Santos (2001) The Okavango Basin is not included in the figures because it only occasionally overflows to any extent into the Zambezi.

Because of the rainfall distribution, northern tributaries contribute much more water than southern ones; for example: The Northern Highlands catchment of the upper Zambezi contributes 25%, Kafue 8%, Luangwa and Shire Rivers 16% each, total 65% of Zambezi discharge. The large Cuando basin in the south-west, though, contributes only about 2 m3/s because most is lost through evaporation in its swamp systems. The 1940s and 1950s were particularly wet decades in the basin. Since 1975, it has been drier, the average discharge being only 70% of that for the years 1930 to 1958.

Geological history
Up to the Late Pliocene or Pleistocene (more than two million years ago), the upper Zambezi flowed south through what is now the Makgadikgadi Pan to the Limpopo River. The change of the river course is the result of epeirogenic movements that lifted up the surface at the present-day water divide between both rivers.

Meanwhile, 1000 km east, a western tributary of the Shire River in the East African Rift's southern extension through Malawi eroded a deep valley on its western escarpment. At a slow rate, the middle Zambezi started cutting back the bed of its river towards the west, aided by grabens (rift valleys) forming along its course in an east–west axis. As it did so, it captured several south-flowing rivers such as the Luangwa and Kafue.

Eventually, the large lake trapped at Makgadikgadi (or a tributary of it) was captured by the middle Zambezi cutting back towards it, and emptied eastwards. The upper Zambezi was captured, as well. The middle Zambezi was about 300 m lower than the upper Zambezi, and a high waterfall formed at the edge of the basalt plateau across which the upper river flows. This was the first Victoria Falls, somewhere down the Batoka Gorge near where Lake Kariba is now.

Etymology
The first European to come across the Zambezi River was Vasco da Gama in January 1498, who anchored at what he called Rio dos Bons Sinais (River of Good Omens), now the Quelimane or Quá-Qua, a small river on the northern end of the delta, which at that time was connected by navigable channels to the Zambezi River proper (the connection silted up by the 1830s). In a few of the oldest maps, the entire river is denoted as such. By the 16th century, a new name emerged, the Cuama River (sometimes "Quama" or "Zuama"). Cuama was the local name given by the dwellers of the Swahili coast for an outpost located on one of the southerly islands of the delta (near the Luabo channel). Most old nautical maps denote the Luabo entry as Cuama, the entire delta as the "rivers of Cuama", and the Zambezi proper as the "Cuama River".

In 1552, Portuguese chronicler João de Barros noted that the same Cuama River was called Zembere by the inland people of Monomatapa. The Portuguese Dominican friar João dos Santos, visiting Monomatapa in 1597 reported it as Zambeze (Bantu languages frequently shifts between z and r) and inquired into the origins of the name; he was told it was named after a people.

"'The River Cuama is by them called Zambeze; the head whereof is so farre within Land that none of them know it, but by tradition of their Progenitors say it comes from a Lake in the midst of the continent which yeelds also other great Rivers, divers ways visiting the Sea. They call it Zambeze, of a Nation of Cafres dwelling neere that Lake which are so called.' —J. Santos Ethiopia Oriental, 1609"

Thus, the term "Zambezi" is after a people who live by a great lake to the north. The most likely candidates are the "M'biza", or Bisa people (in older texts given as Muisa, Movisa, Abisa, Ambios, and other variations), a Bantu people who live in what is now central-eastern Zambia, between the Zambezi River and Lake Bangweolo (at the time, before the Lunda invasion, the Bisa would have likely stretched further north, possibly to Lake Tanganyika). The Bisa had a reputation as great cloth traders throughout the region.

In a curious note, Goese-born Portuguese trader Manuel Caetano Pereira, who traveled to the Bisa homelands in 1796, was surprised to be shown a second, separate river referred to as the "Zambezi". This "other Zambezi" that puzzled Pereira is most likely what modern sources spell the Chambeshi River in northern Zambia.

The Monomatapa notion (reported by Santos) that the Zambezi was sourced from a great internal lake might be a reference to one of the African Great Lakes. One of the names reported by early explorers for Lake Malawi was "Lake Zambre" (probably a corruption of "Zambezi"), possibly because Lake Malawi is connected to the lower Zambezi via the Shire River. The Monomatapa story resonated with the old European notion, drawn from classical antiquity, that all the great African rivers—the Nile, the Senegal, the Congo, and the Zambezi—were all sourced from the same great internal lake. The Portuguese were also told that the Mozambican Espirito Santo "river" (actually an estuary formed by the Umbeluzi, Matola, and Tembe Rivers) was sourced from a lake (hence its outlet became known as Delagoa Bay). As a result, several old maps depict the Zambezi and the "Espirito Santo" Rivers converging deep in the interior, at the same lake.

However, the Bisa-derived etymology is not without dispute. In 1845, W.D. Cooley, examining Pereira's notes, concluded the term "Zambezi" derives not from the Bisa people, but rather from the Bantu term "mbege"/"mbeze" ("fish"), and consequently it probably means merely "river of fish". David Livingstone, who reached the upper Zambezi in 1853, refers to it as "Zambesi", but also makes note of the local name "Leeambye" used by the Lozi people, which he says means "large river or river par excellence". Livingstone records other names for the Zambezi—Luambeji, Luambesi, Ambezi, Ojimbesi, and Zambesi—applied by different peoples along its course, and asserts they "all possess a similar signification and express the native idea of this magnificent stream being the main drain of the country".

Other historical records show that the river was called Kasambabezi by the Tonga people, which means “only those who know the river can bath in it.” a name which is still in use to this day.

In Portuguese records, the "Cuama River" term disappeared and gave way to the term "Sena River" (Rio de Sena), a reference to the Swahili (and later Portuguese) upriver trade station at Sena. In 1752, the Zambezi Delta, under the name "Rivers of Sena" (Rios de Sena) formed a colonial administrative district of Portuguese Mozambique, but common usage of "Zambezi" led eventually to a royal decree in 1858 officially renaming the district "Zambézia".

Exploration
The Zambezi region was known to medieval geographers as the Empire of Monomotapa, and the course of the river, as well as the position of lakes Ngami and Nyasa, were generally accurate in early maps. These were probably constructed from Arab information.

The first European to visit the inland Zambezi River was the Portuguese degredado António Fernandes in 1511 and again in 1513, with the objective of reporting on commercial conditions and activities of the interior of Central Africa. The final report of these explorations revealed the importance of the ports of the upper Zambezi to the local trade system, in particular to East African gold trade.

The first recorded exploration of the upper Zambezi was made by David Livingstone in his exploration from Bechuanaland between 1851 and 1853. Two or three years later, he descended the Zambezi to its mouth and in the course of this journey found the Victoria Falls. During 1858–60, accompanied by John Kirk, Livingstone ascended the river by the Kongone mouth as far as the falls, and also traced the course of its tributary the Shire and reached Lake Malawi.

For the next 35 years, very little exploration of the river took place. Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto examined some of the western tributaries of the river and made measurements of the Victoria Falls in 1878. In 1884, Scottish-born Plymouth Brethren missionary Frederick Stanley Arnot traveled over the height of land between the watersheds of the Zambezi and the Congo and identified the source of the Zambezi. He considered that the nearby high and cool Kalene Hill was a particularly suitable place for a mission. Arnot was accompanied by Portuguese trader and army officer António da Silva Porto.

In 1889, the Chinde channel north of the main mouths of the river was seen. Two expeditions led by Major A. St Hill Gibbons in 1895 to 1896 and 1898 to 1900 continued the work of exploration begun by Livingstone in the upper basin and central course of the river.

Economy
The population of the Zambezi River Valley is estimated to be about 32 million. About 80% of the population of the valley is dependent on agriculture, and the upper river's floodplains provide good agricultural land.

Communities by the river fish it extensively, and many people travel from far afield to fish. Some Zambian towns on roads leading to the river levy unofficial "fish taxes" on people taking Zambezi fish to other parts of the country. Game fishing, as well as fishing for food, is a significant activity on some parts of the river. Between Mongu and Livingstone, several safari lodges cater to tourists who want to fish for exotic species, and many also catch fish to sell to aquaria.

The river valley is rich in mineral deposits and fossil fuels, and coal mining is important in places. The dams along its length also provide employment for many people near them, in maintaining the hydroelectric power stations and the dams themselves. Several parts of the river are also very popular tourist destinations. Victoria Falls receives over 100,000 visitors annually, with 141,929 visitors reported in 2015. Mana Pools and Lake Kariba also draw substantial tourist numbers.

Transport
The river is frequently interrupted by rapids, so has never been an important long-distance transport route. David Livingstone's Zambezi expedition attempted to open up the river to navigation by paddle steamer, but was defeated by the Cahora Bassa rapids.

In the 1930s and 40s, a paddle-barge service operated on the stretch between the Katombora Rapids, about 50 km upstream from Livingstone, and the rapids just upstream from Katima Mulilo. Depending on the water level, boats could be paddled through—Lozi paddlers, a dozen or more in a boat, could deal with most of them—or they could be pulled along the shore or carried around the rapids, and teams of oxen pulled barges 5 km over land around the Ngonye Falls.

Road, rail, and other crossings of the river, once few and far between, are proliferating. They are, in order from the river's source:
 * Cazombo road bridge, Angola, bombed in the civil war and not yet reconstructed
 * Chinyingi suspension footbridge near the town of Zambezi, a 300 m footbridge built as a community project
 * Lubosi Imwiko II Bridge linking the towns of Mongu and Kalabo, a 1,005 meter long concrete/steel road bridge including 38.5 km of embanked highway through Barotse Floodplain constructed between 2011 and 2016. It is an extension of the Lusaka–Mongu Road, meant to be a connection between Lusaka and Angola.
 * Sioma Bridge near the Ngonye Falls, anew 260 metres long road bridge (K 108 mln), opened in 2016 as part of the M10 Road (Sesheke - Senanga road).
 * Katima Mulilo road bridge, 900 m, between Namibia and Sesheke in Zambia, opened 2004, completing the Trans–Caprivi Highway connecting Lusaka in Zambia with Walvis Bay on the Atlantic coast
 * Kazungula Bridge, opened in 2021, connecting Zambia and Botswana
 * Victoria Falls Bridge (road and rail), the first to be built, completed in April 1905 and initially intended as a link in Cecil Rhodes' scheme to build a railway from Cape Town to Cairo: 250 m long
 * Kariba Dam carries the paved Kariba/Siavonga highway across the river
 * Otto Beit Bridge at Chirundu, road, 382 m, 1939
 * Second Chirundu Bridge, road, 400 m, 2002
 * Tete Suspension Bridge, 1 km road bridge
 * Dona Ana Bridge, railway bridge in Mozambique
 * Caia Bridge, opened in 2009

A number of small ferries cross the river in Angola, western Zambia, and Mozambique, notably between Mongu and Kalabo. Above Mongu in years following poor rainy seasons, the river can be forded at one or two places. In tourist areas, such as Victoria Falls and Kariba, short-distance tourist boats take visitors along the river.

Pollution
Sewage effluent is a major cause of water pollution around urban areas, as inadequate water-treatment facilities in all the major cities of the region release untreated sewage into the river. This has resulted in eutrophication of the river water and has facilitated the spread of diseases of poor hygiene such as cholera, typhus, and dysentery.

Effects of dams
The construction of two major dams regulating the flow of the river has had a major effect on wildlife and human populations in the lower Zambezi region. When the Cahora Bassa Dam was completed in 1973, its managers allowed it to fill in a single flood season, going against recommendations to fill over at least two years. The drastic reduction in the flow of the river led to a 40% reduction in the coverage of mangroves, greatly increased erosion of the coastal region and a 60% reduction in the catch of prawns off the mouth because of the reduction in emplacement of silt and associated nutrients. Wetland ecosystems downstream of the dam shrank considerably. Wildlife in the delta was further threatened by uncontrolled hunting during the civil war in Mozambique.

Conservation measures
The proposed Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area was to cover parts of Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, including the Okavango Delta in Botswana and Victoria Falls. Funding was boosted for cross-border conservation along the Zambezi in 2008. The project received a grant of €8 million from a German nongovernmental organisation. Part of the funds are to be used for research in areas covered by the project. However, Angola has warned that landmines from their civil war may impede the project.

The river currently passes through Ngonye Falls National Park, Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, and Lower Zambezi National Park (in Zambia), and the Zambezi National Park, Victoria Falls National Park, Matusadona National Park, Mana Pools National Park, and the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve (in Zimbabwe).

Fish stocks management
As of 2017, the situation of overfishing in the upper Zambezi and its tributaries was considered dire, in part because of weak enforcement of the respective fisheries acts and regulations. The fish stocks of Lake Liambezi in the eastern Caprivi Strip were found to be depleted, and surveys indicated a decline in the whole Zambezi-Kwando-Chobe River system. Illegal fishing (by foreign nationals employed by Namibians) and commercially minded individuals, exploited the resources to the detriment of local markets and the communities whose culture and economy depend on these resources.

Namibian officials have consequently banned monofilament nets and imposed a closing period of about 3 months every year to allow the fish to breed. They also appointed village fish guards and the Kayasa Channel in the Impalila conservancy area was declared a fisheries reserve. The Namibian ministry also promotes aquaculture and plans to distribute thousands of fingerlings to registered small-scale fish farmers of the region.

EUS outbreak
In September 2007, epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) killed hundreds of sore-covered fish in the river. Zambia agriculture minister Ben Kapita asked experts to investigate the outbreak to probe the cause to find out if the disease can be transmitted to humans.

Major towns
Along much of the river's length, the population is sparse, but important towns and cities along its course include:
 * Katima Mulilo (Namibia)
 * Livingstone, Mongu, Lukulu, Senanga and Sesheke (Zambia)
 * Victoria Falls and Kariba (Zimbabwe)
 * Songo and Tete (Mozambique)
 * Cazombo (Angola)

title: Zambezi


text:
Bure Marshes National Nature Reserve

Bure Marshes National Nature Reserve (NNR) is a national nature reserve within The Broads National Park in Norfolk, England. Created in 1958, the reserve covers 451.5 hectares of wetland within the floodplain of the River Bure.

The reserve contains a number of diverse habitats including broads, dykes, reed beds, fens, and wet woodlands. Most of the woodlands are less than 100 years old. Broads are shallow lakes that were formed from humans digging out peat between the 8th and 12th centuries. There are four broads in Bure Marshes NNR, Hoveton Great Broad, Ranworth Broad, Cockshoot Broad, and Decoy Broad.

The reserve contains several rare species of plants including water soldier, milk parsley, and marsh pea. The wetlands serve as habitat for many birds such as kingfishers and great crested grebes. They are also visited by ospreys, as well as many migratory birds including marsh harriers, bitterns, and bearded tits. The wetlands are also home to insects such as swallowtail butterflies, and many species of dragonflies including the rare Norfolk hawker dragonfly. Water voles, otters, grass snakes, and common frogs live in the water.

The Bure Marshes NNR is contained within the Bure Broads and Marshes SSSI, The Broads Special Area of Conservation, and the Broadland Special Protection Area which is a Ramsar site. Within the Bure Marshes NNR, Hoveton Great Broad and the Woodbastwick Marshes are managed by Natural England, while Ranworth Broad and the Ebb and Flow Marshes are managed by Norfolk Wildlife Trust.

title: Bure Marshes National Nature Reserve


text:
Talk:Revealed truth

Revelation is an important topic, but I very very much doubt that it should be stated, in an NPOV context, under the heading "revealed truth." Does anyone mind if we move this from revealed truth to, hmm, religious revelation or something like that? --Larry Sanger

OK, nobody has objected; I'm going to move it.

Oh, I see; revelation already exists. I'm going to move the contents of this article to the /talk page of revelation. --Larry Sanger

title: Talk:Revealed truth