Abstract
Altruism is the selfless concern for the well-being of others and is regarded as an admirable quality in most, if not all, cultures. One cross-culturally important area where it appears to occur abundantly is in the context of religious and secular rituals. Many of these are rites of passage associated with major life events, including birth, marriage, retirement, and death. Others involve aspects of religious devotion. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the altruistic qualities of one example of the Mesoamerican religious festival, or cargo, system wherein lay residents of rural communities sponsor and organize celebrations of saints in the Catholic pantheon. Altruism involves self-sacrifice in terms of time, money, or other resources with no expectation or anticipation of compensation or reward. The cargo system in San Rafael Tepatlaxco, Tlaxcala, Mexico, offers residents the opportunity to engage in such self-sacrifice. However, some individuals choose not to participate in the system while others use it to gain power and prestige. A third group participates, apparently with no personal goal other than the well-being of their neighbors in mind.
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 This chapter is an adaptation of Chick (2008). Altruism in animal play and human ritual. World Cultures eJournal, 16(2). It is republished in this volume with permission.
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Chick, G. (2013). Altruism in Human Ritual. In: Vakoch, D. (eds) Altruism in Cross-Cultural Perspective. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6952-0_11
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