A shout or ring shout is an ecstatic, transcendent religious ritual, first practiced by African slaves in the West Indies and the United States, in which worshipers move in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands. Despite the name, shouting aloud is not an essential part of the ritual.
The ring shout was practiced in some African American churches into the 20th century, and it continues to the present among the Gullah people of the Sea Islands.
Read more about Ring Shout: Description, Origin, Influence
Famous quotes containing the words ring and/or shout:
“When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.””
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“Men are freest when they are most unconscious of freedom. The shout is a rattling of chains, always was.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)