[citation needed] Other times the purpose served by members of a clown society is only to parody excessive seriousness, or to deflate pomposity.
[citation needed] Some members paint their body with horizontal black and white stripes, which represents a skeleton.
[2][3][a] In the case of the Zuni clown society of the Puebloans,[4] "one is initiated into the Ne'wekwe order by a ritual of filth-eating" where "mud is smeared on the body for the clown performance, and parts of the performance may consist of sporting with mud, smearing and daubing it, or drinking and pouring it onto one another".
On rare occasions the training includes scripted performances, or skits, which are part of a standard repertoire that "never gets old", and is expected by members of the culture that the clown society is embedded in.
[9] Humor is a fundamental aspect of Native American life, and has many purposes related to sacred rituals and social cohesion.