tabus

Tabus, or taboos, are prohibitions rooted in a society's beliefs about sacredness, danger, or propriety. They regulate conduct by forbidding certain actions, words, or categories of contact. Violations are believed to bring spiritual or social contamination and may invite sanctions ranging from shame to ostracism or ritual purification. The plural tabus is common in American English; taboos is also widely used, and both trace back to Polynesian terms that entered English in the 18th–19th centuries.

Tabus are culturally specific and can apply to objects, places, people, or speech. Typical domains include sexual behavior, dietary practices, rules of ritual purity, and prohibitions on blasphemy or profanity; some taboos govern the handling of the dead or contact with sacred artifacts.

Function and enforcement: Tabus help regulate behavior to maintain social order, protect the sacred, mark boundaries between groups, and reinforce group identity. Sanctions range from informal social disapproval to formal legal or religious penalties. Ritual avoidance, purification rites, or exclusion from communal spaces are common responses to alleged violations.

Variation and change: Tabus vary widely across cultures and change over time. What is forbidden in one society may be permissible in another, and some taboos fade as social norms evolve. In anthropology, taboos are often discussed alongside concepts of purity, pollution, and ritual boundary maintenance. Critics note that taboos can also be used to police marginalized groups or justify unequal power.