Several cultures in the United States and abroad practise fasting, or giving up food to achieve a specific goal or state of mind. Each group that practices fasting has its own set of reasons and guidelines for abstaining from food for a sustained period of time. Regardless of the reason behind a fast, the practice may result in side effects that include bad breath, fatigue, low energy levels, vomiting, irritability and emotional duress.
Purify the Soul
All major religions have used fasting to illustrate the physical need for food is secondary to a spiritual quest for perfection, with fasting as a way to bring people closer to the divine, according to Encylopedia.com. Religious cultures that still practice fasting include Moslems, with a month-long fast for Ramadan; Judaism, with its major fast on Yom Kippur; and Hinduism, with fasts scheduled every Monday in November in addition to twice a month during other months. Buddhist monks practice regular fasts, although the religious followers do not.
Speical Occasions and Rites of Passage
Fasting comes into play in several cultures during special occasions or to mark a rite of passage. Sioux boys fast during puberty, as do members of certain African cultures. Orthodox Jews encourage fasting prior to a wedding ceremony. Cultures have used fasting as part of their grieving or mourning periods, as initiation practices and during special occasions that can be marked by celebration or crises.
Purify the Body
Purifying the body through fasting is a practice alive today in the United States, although its roots date back to the 1800s, Encylopedia.com reports. Early American utopian societies practiced fasting, as did those following popular fads of the ’60s and ’70s. Some people who fasting in the United States today follow a practice used for weight loss or as a way to rid the body of harmful environmental toxins in a practice known as metabolic therapy, according to the American Cancer Society. Fasting can cure a range of ailments and conditions, staunch supporters say, and even kill off cancer by starving a tumor, although no medical evidence backs up these claims.
Considerations
Even if fasting is not practice by an entire culture, it can become a part of a cultures if its practiced to make a statement. Political statements or movements have led to fasting, with activists going on hunger strikes to make their point. Political fasts have been effective in causes supported by British and American suffragists, the Irish protesting British rule and independence movements in India, Encyclopedia.com notes.
