Abstract
THE use of the word ‘taboo’ in anthropology for customs all over the world, which resemble in essentials the reference adopted from Polynesia, seems undesirable and inconvenient. For such customs the terms ‘ritual avoidance’ or ‘ritual prohibition’ are proposed, defining them by reference to two fundamental concepts, ‘ritual status’ and ‘ritual value’. A ritual prohibition is a rule of bohaviour which is associated with a belief that an infraction will result in an undesirable change in the ritual status of the person who fails to keep the rule; that is, it involves the likelihood of some minor or major misfortune which will befall the person concerned.
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