*Winner of the AFS Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize 2016* Multidisciplinary or post-disciplinary research is what is needed when dealing with such complex subjects as ritual behaviour. This research, ...therefore, combines ethnography with historical sources to examine the relationship between modern Greek death rituals and ancient written and visual sources on the subject of death and gender. The central theme of this work is women's role in connection with the cult of the dead in ancient and modern Greece. The research is based on studies in ancient history combined with the author's fieldwork and anthropological analysis of today's Mediterranean societies. Since death rituals have a focal and lasting importance, and reflect the gender relations within a society, the institutions surrounding death may function as a critical vantage point from which to view society. The comparison is based on certain religious festivals that are dedicated to deceased persons and on other death rituals. Using laments, burials and the ensuing memorial rituals, the relationship between the cult dedicated to deceased mediators in both ancient and modern society is analysed. The research shows how the official ideological rituals are influenced by the domestic rituals people perform for their own dead, and vice versa, that the modern domestic rituals simultaneously reflect the public performances. As this cult has many parallels with the ancient official cult, the following questions are central: Can an analysis of modern public and domestic rituals in combination with ancient sources tell the reader more about the ancient death cult as a whole? What does such an analysis suggest about the relationship between the domestic death cult and the official? Since the practical performance of the domestic rituals was - and still remains - in the hands of women, it is crucial to
discover the extent of their influence to elucidate the real power relations between women and men. This research represents a new contribution to earlier presentations of the Greek "reality", but mainly from the female perspective, which is highly significant since men produced most of the ancient sources. This means that the principal objective for this endeavour is to question the ways in which history has been written through the ages, to supplement the male with a female perspective, perhaps complementing an Olympian Zeus with a Chthonic Mother Earth. The research brings both ancient and modern worlds into mutual illumination; its relevance therefore transcends the Greek context both in time and space.
The aims of this study are the following: to distinguish thematic groups, determine the range of iconic motifs used and the chronology and frequency of their occurrence, as well as to juxtapose them ...with normative content from religious writings of Judaism and with rites and customs.The following conclusions emerge from the research: In the early period (until the fourth quarter of the eighteenth century), there was no differentiation on tombstones between separate motifs ascribed to men (except for the Kohanim and Levites) and separate motifs ascribed to women. Among the common motifs, the bird motif dominated on women’s gravestones, while the crown motif acquired its specific character. In the fourth quarter of the eighteenth century, the motif of a candlestick appeared on women’s gravestones; it spread very quickly and became a visual identification feature. In the nineteenth century, with the introduction of vanitas motifs on gravestones, they began to be used on women’s gravestones. The connection of motifs with the names of the deceased is also noticeable (e.g. Feigl–bird, Rachel–fairy, Royza–rose, or scenes related to biblical namesakes). The contents of women’s epitaphs presented as praise or description of virtues largely concern traditional female duties toward the home, husband, and children. Women’s gravestones contain no attributes or references to the study of Torah and scholarship, or else to activities in the public sphere—to professions, both religious and later secular—which obviously results from the position and role of women in the patriarchal community. Such information does not appear until the interwar period on the tombstones of women from families assimilated into the surrounding culture which is also evidenced by non-traditional tombstone forms and inscriptions in non-Jewish languages.
The death of a key symbol Christine Dureau
Journal of the Polynesian Society,
03/2012, Volume:
121, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Sherry Ortner's concept of key symbols has been a mainstay in symbolic studies since its publication in 1973, but it has been little developed since then. This paper proffers temporality as a ...significant, but largely overlooked element of some key symbols. A Christine Dureau case study of an old-woman's death on Simbo, Western Solomon Islands, demonstrates how key symbols may emerge and decline rapidly in contexts of uncertainty and political negotiation.
THE DEATH OF A KEY SYMBOL DUREAU, CHRISTINE
Journal of the Polynesian Society,
03/2012, Volume:
121, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Sherry Ortner's concept of key symbols has been a mainstay in symbolic studies since its publication in 1973, but it has been little developed since then. This paper proffers temporality as a ...significant, but largely overlooked element of some key symbols. A case study of an old-woman's death on Simbo, Western Solomon Islands, demonstrates how key symbols may emerge and decline rapidly in contexts of uncertainty and political negotiation.
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