A'wee Chi'deedloh

(First Laugh Ceremony)

• Origin/Region: Navajo (Diné) people of the Southwestern United States.

• Description: This cherished ceremony is held to celebrate an infant's first spontaneous, genuine laugh. It marks a significant developmental milestone. Traditionally, the person (often a family member) who elicits the first laugh from the baby is honored with the task of hosting the ceremony. During the event, the baby, assisted by their family and the host, gives gifts to the attendees. The most traditional gift is rock salt, symbolizing sustenance and connection to the earth, often accompanied by other items like bread, sweets, or fruit. Guests partake in food together, celebrating the baby's milestone.

• Purpose: The First Laugh Ceremony marks the baby's transition from being a helpless infant to becoming a recognized social being and a participating member of the Navajo community. Laughter is seen as a sign of the child's developing awareness, intelligence, and positive engagement with the world and their relatives. The act of the baby 'giving' gifts, facilitated by the family, instills the crucial Navajo value of generosity from the very beginning of their social life. It's a joyful affirmation of the child's place within the family, the clan, and the wider community.

other nonwestern conceptualizations of laughter

Hasya Yoga (laughter Yoga)

• Origin/Region: Developed in Mumbai, India, by Dr. Madan Kataria in 1995; now practiced globally.

• Description: A group practice combining intentional, simulated laughter exercises with deep yogic breathing (pranayama). It operates on the principle that the body benefits from voluntary laughter just as it does from spontaneous laughter ("motion creates emotion"). Sessions often involve playful exercises, chanting ("Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha"), clapping, and end with laughter meditation.

• Purpose: Promotes health and well-being (stress reduction, improved mood, social connection), fosters positivity and resilience. It's practiced in community clubs, workplaces, schools, and healthcare settings.

Waraiko / Warai Shinji (Laughter Rituals)

• Origin/Region: Japan (associated with Shinto practices).

• Description: Specific Shinto rituals centered around collective laughter. One famous example is the Waraiko Festival in Hidakagawa, Wakayama, held annually. Participants gather, often led by a figure dressed as a clown or deity, and engage in loud, communal laughter directed towards a shrine or object. Other shrines may have similar warai shinji (laughter rituals).

• Purpose: To appease deities, drive away evil spirits, ensure a good harvest, bring happiness and good fortune for the coming year, and foster community unity.

Ritual Clowning (Sacred Clowns)

• Origin/Region: Various indigenous cultures worldwide (e.g., Heyoka of the Lakota Sioux in North America, Pueblo clowns, African ritual clowns).

• Description: These are not entertainment clowns but sacred figures who often use humor, satire, absurdity, and contrary behavior (doing things backward) within religious or ceremonial contexts. Their actions, while humorous and provoking laughter, carry deep spiritual or social meaning. They might mock sacred ceremonies or figures, violate taboos, or interact playfully/disruptively with spectators.

• Purpose: Teaching moral lessons, providing social commentary, challenging norms, embodying the sacred trickster archetype, healing, invoking spiritual power, or reinforcing social values through inversion and humor. Laughter here is often a tool for deeper understanding or spiritual release.

Joking Relationships (Institutionalized Joking)

• Origin/Region: Well-documented in many parts of Africa, Oceania, and among some Indigenous groups in the Americas and Asia.

• Description: Formalized, socially sanctioned relationships between specific kin groups, tribes, or individuals where playful antagonism, teasing, obscenity, and reciprocal insults are not only permitted but expected. Laughter is a key outcome and mediator in these interactions. Refusing to participate or taking offense can be a serious social breach.

• Purpose: To maintain social cohesion between potentially rival groups, diffuse tension, manage potentially awkward relationships (like those involving in-laws), reinforce social structure, and provide an outlet for criticism in a non-threatening way.

Carnivals and Festivals of Inversion

• Origin/Region: Global (e.g., European pre-Lenten Carnivals like Venice or Cologne, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Rio Carnival, Saturnalia in ancient Rome).

• Description: While diverse, many traditional festivals involve a temporary suspension or inversion of normal social rules and hierarchies. Masks, costumes, parades, music, dancing, feasting, and often satirical performances or mockery of authority are common. Collective effervescence and widespread public laughter are hallmarks.

• Purpose: Catharsis, social release, community bonding, temporary leveling of social status, reinforcement of norms through their temporary violation, celebration, and marking cyclical time. Laughter serves as a social lubricant and a key part of the collective emotional release.

Día de los Santos Inocentes (Day of the Holy Innocents)

• Origin/Region: Spain and many Latin American countries.

• Description: Celebrated on December 28th, this day is akin to April Fools' Day. People play practical jokes (bromas) on each other. Newspapers and media might publish fake, humorous news stories. The shared laughter resulting from these pranks is the central cultural expression of the day.

• Purpose: Primarily for fun and social amusement, continuing a tradition blending religious history with playful folk customs.

Humorous Storytelling Traditions

• Origin/Region: Universal.

• Description: Many cultures have rich oral traditions featuring humorous stories, trickster tales (like Anansi in West Africa and the Caribbean, or Coyote in Native American cultures), fables with witty morals, or performances by bards/storytellers skilled in comedic delivery. The act of gathering to listen and laugh together is a significant cultural practice.

• Purpose: Entertainment, transmitting cultural values and history, teaching lessons subtly, social bonding, and reinforcing community identity through shared amusement.

western scientific studies on laughter

A Bibliography of Scientific Studies on Laughter

I. Physiology and Health Effects of Laughter

1. Bennett, M. P., & Lengacher, C. (2008). “Humor and Laughter May Influence Health: III. Laughter and Health Outcomes”. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 5(1), 37–40.  

• Review of studies suggesting laughter's positive impact on various health parameters.

2. Berk, L. S., Tan, S. A., Fry, W. F., Napier, B. J., Lee, J. W., Hubbard, R. W., Lewis, J. E., & Eby, W. C. (1989). “Neuroendocrine and stress hormone changes during mirthful laughter”. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 298(6), 390–396.  

• Foundational work showing laughter reduces stress hormones like cortisol.

3. Miller, M., & Fry, W. F. (2009). “The effect of mirthful laughter on the human cardiovascular system”. Medical Hypotheses, 73(5), 636–639.

• Discusses potential cardiovascular benefits similar to aerobic exercise, focusing on endothelial function.

4. Hayashi, K., Hayashi, T., Iwanaga, S., Kawai, K., Shoji, S., & Murakami, K. (2006). “Laughter lowered the increase in postprandial blood glucose”. Diabetes Care, 29(5), 1164–1165. (Note: This is a follow-up/related study to earlier work by the same group). Original key study: Diabetes Care, 26(5), 1651-1652 (2003).

• Investigates the effect of laughter on blood sugar levels after meals, particularly in diabetic patients.

II. Neuroscience of Laughter

1. Wild, B., Rodden, F. A., Grodd, W., & Ruch, W. (2003). “Neural correlates of laughter and humour”. Brain, 126(10), 2121–2138.

• Comprehensive review of brain regions involved in processing humor and generating laughter, using imaging techniques.

1. McGettigan, C., Walsh, E., Jessop, R., Agnew, Z. K., Sauter, D. A., Warren, J. E., & Scott, S. K. (2013). “Individual differences in laughter perception reveal roles for mentalizing and sensorimotor systems in the interpretation of vocalizations”. Cerebral Cortex, 25(1), 246–257.

• Investigates how the brain interprets different types of laughter (e.g., joyful vs. taunting) and individual variability.

2. Wattendorf, E., Westermann, B., Fiedler, K., Kaza, E., Lotze, M., & Celio, M. R. (2013). “Different networks involved during funny and tickling laughter induction - An fMRI study”. PLoS ONE, 8(4), e60573.

• Compares brain activation during laughter induced by humor versus tickling

3. Szameitat, D. P., Alter, K., Szameitat, A. J., Wildgruber, D., Sterr, A., & Darwin, C. J. (2009). “Acoustic profiles of distinct emotional expressions in laughter”. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 126(1), 354–366.  

• Analyzes the acoustic features of laughter associated with different emotions (joy, tickling, taunting, schadenfreude)

III. Psychology and Social Functions of Laughter

1. Provine, R. R. (1996). “Laughter”. American Scientist, 84(1), 38–45.

• Seminal work highlighting that most laughter occurs in social contexts and often isn't related to formal jokes, emphasizing its role as a social signal

2. Martin, R. A. (2001). “Humor, Laughter, and Physical Health: Methodological Issues and Research Findings”. Psychological Bulletin, 127(4), 504–519.  

• Critical review of the research linking humor/laughter to physical health, outlining methodological challenges, and summarizing findings

3. Vettin, J., & Todt, D. (2004). “Laughter in dialogue: Acoustical correlates of laughter types”. Phonetica, 61(2-3), 115–130.

• Studies the acoustics of laughter within conversations, identifying different types and their functions in dialogue

4. Scott, S. K., Lavan, N., Chen, S., & McGettigan, C. (2014). “The social life of laughter”. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(12), 618–620.

• Brief review emphasizing the communicative and social bonding aspects of laughter

5. Mehu, M., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2008). “Naturalistic observations of smiling and laughter in human group interactions”. Behaviour, 145(12), 1747–1780.

• Observational study quantifying smiling and laughter in natural social settings, linking them to group size and conversation dynamics

IV. Evolutionary Origins of Laughter

1. Davila Ross, M., Owren, M. J., & Zimmermann, E. (2009). “Reconstructing the evolution of laughter in great apes and humans”. Current Biology, 19(13), 1106–1111.

• Compares the acoustics of laughter/play vocalizations across human infants and young great apes, suggesting a common evolutionary root

2. Panksepp, J. (2000). “The riddle of laughter: Neural and psychoevolutionary underpinnings of joy”. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(6), 183–186.

• Discusses the deep evolutionary roots of positive affect and play, linking rat 'chirping' during play/tickling to human laughter

V. Laughter Therapy and Clinical Applications

1. Ko, H. J., & Youn, C. H. (2011). “Effects of laughter therapy on depression, cognition and sleep among the community-dwelling elderly”. Geriatrics & Gerontology International, 11(3), 267–274.

• Clinical study assessing the impact of a laughter therapy program on mental health and sleep in older adults

2. Louie, D., Brook, K., & Frates, E. (2016). “The Laughter Prescription: A Tool for Lifestyle Medicine”. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 10(4), 262–267.

• Reviews the evidence for laughter's health benefits and proposes its use as a component of lifestyle medicine interventions

3. Strean, W. B. (2009). “Laughter prescription”. Canadian Family Physician, 55(10), 965–967.

• Perspective piece for clinicians outlining the benefits of laughter and how to incorporate it into patient recommendations