This article explores the interrelation of violence, space, and public rituals in Belfast and Jerusalem. With the image of being cities of violence, contested by two groups that compete for political ...and spatial hegemony, Belfast and Jerusalem are also characterised as divided, both on a material and symbolic level. The roots of this division can be traced back to the era of the British Empire, especially to the riots in Belfast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the uprisings in Jerusalem during the British Mandate of Palestine. In the wider context of British imperial policies of differentiation along religious lines and urban separation, communal identities were strengthened, and processes of residential segregation were accelerated, thereby creating urban frontiers. On the basis of historical sources, particularly reports by Royal Commissions of Inquiry that were set up to investigate the riots in Belfast and Jerusalem, this paper analyses how violent urban geographies were created in both cities in different but also remarkably similar ways. Down to the present day, public religious and political rituals, often combined with nationalist and militarist elements, are a crucial part of periodic manifestations of collective violence in these cities. Practices of appropriation of space and a temporary redrawing of borders and boundaries are dominant features of these rituals. Religious ceremonies, street parades, funeral processions or political demonstrations take place at contested sites or are led through areas “belonging” to the “other” group. The analysis shows that these ritual practices contributed greatly in transforming parts of the cities into urban spaces characterised by exclusion and imbued with memories of violence. This paper concludes that ritual performances in public space have a strong impact on the production and shaping of collective violence during riots.
In traditional shamanism, the sacred mission and responsibility of a shaman is to provide healing and salvation for individuals. Today, with continuous advancements in science, technology, and ...medical expertise, the content and methods of shamanic healing are quietly evolving, alongside the upholding and preservation of traditional beliefs. The case study of the Daur shamanic lʊs (river spirit) ritual in this paper discusses the concepts of actual disease and virtual disease in contemporary Daur shamanism. By briefly describing the key processes of this ceremony, including the involvement of shaman spirits and the main elements of divine songs, this paper analyzes the characteristics and functions of the modern-day Daur shaman river spirit ceremony. During the ritual dedicated to lʊs, Daur shamans perform symbolic ceremonies while receiving oracles from their spiritual guides. The ceremony itself incorporates various unique healing techniques such as dʊməl, tærmit, xʊræ- xʊræ, arʃan, altəŋ sʊlʊ; kʊtʊr bʊjin, taboo, etc. These distinctive methods aim to achieve preventive healing as well as realistic healing on both the individual and collective levels. In summary, the lʊs ritual itself serves as a transformative process that encompasses diverse forms of healing through its ceremonial practices.
Rituals and ritualization Helena Kupari; Maija Butters
Approaching religion,
11/2022, Letnik:
12, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This issue of Approaching Religion is dedicated to Terhi Utriainen, Professor of the Study of Religions at the University of Helsinki. It is published on the 7 November 2022, Terhi’s sixtieth ...birthday, and contains reflections and research articles written by Terhi’s colleagues in Finland, the UK and the Netherlands. All the research articles address the theme of rituals, which is one of Terhi’s special foci of interest as a scholar of religion. This editorial first outlines Terhi’s academic career and then introduces the individual texts that make up the issue.
In the ritual theories of Durkheim and Collins, collective effervescence is the engine that drives social solidarity. I use data from religious organizations to perform a rare test of this ...hypothesis. In addition, four other hypotheses from Collins's interaction ritual theory are tested regarding ritual dynamics that are expected to promote effervescence and solidarity. Congregational data from the 2001 United States Congregational Life Survey reveal the following: (1) organizational attendance rates strongly correlate with the dependent variables; (2) longer rituals tend to be more emotionally rewarding, although there appear to be diminishing returns for symbolic solidarity; (3) crowded rituals are more rewarding, although socioeconomic status is a crucial intervening variable; (4) barriers to outsiders in the form of behavioral proscriptions correlate with symbolic solidarity; and (5) most important, there is a consistent and robust relationship between effervescence and solidarity. Interaction ritual theory provides a valuable framework for understanding how some religious organizations become more effective than others at providing emotional and symbolic rewards for their members.
The Burning Saints Xygalatas, Dimitris
2012, 20141014, 2014, 2014-10-14
eBook
The Anastenaria are Orthodox Christians in Northern Greece who observe a unique annual ritual cycle focused on two festivals, dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. The festivals involve ...processions, music, dancing, animal sacrifices, and culminate in an electrifying fire-walking ritual. Carrying the sacred icons of the saints, participants dance over hot coals as the saint moves them. 'The Burning Saints' presents an analysis of these rituals and the psychology behind them. Based on long-term fieldwork, 'The Burning Saints' traces the historical development and sociocultural context of the Greek fire-walking rituals. As a cognitive ethnography, the book aims to identify the social, psychological and neurobiological factors which may be involved and to explore the role of emotional and physiological arousal in the performance of such ritual. A study of participation, experience and meaning, 'The Burning Saints' presents a highly original analysis of how mental processes can shape social and religious behaviour.
This paper presents findings from a study of Instagram use and funerary practices that analysed photographs shared on public profiles tagged with '#funeral'. We found that the majority of images ...uploaded with the hashtag #funeral often communicated a person's emotional circumstances and affective context, and allowed them to reposition their funeral experience amongst wider networks of acquaintances, friends, and family. We argue that photo-sharing through Instagram echoes broader shifts in commemorative and memorialization practices, moving away from formal and institutionalized rituals to informal and personalized, vernacular practices. Finally, we consider how Instagram's 'platform vernacular' unfolds in relation to traditions and contexts of death, mourning, and memorialization. This research contributes to a broader understanding of how platform vernaculars are shaped through the logics of architecture and use. This research also directly contributes to the understanding of death and digital media by examining how social media is being mobilized in relation to death, the differences that different media platforms make, and the ways social media are increasingly entwined with the places, events, and rituals of mourning.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, there has been growing academic interest in the speech act of apology. Both the nature of apologetic communicative processes and the potential of apologies to ...promote reconciliation remain, however, under debate. The aim of this article is to map common types of rituals found in what is termed 'the age of apology', to identify the processual and structural characteristics of these rituals, and to understand their contribution to restoring relations in the global arena. The analysis yields three types of rituals of apology: purification – that is, asymmetrical rituals in which the offender issues an apology in order to purify his or her dismal past but does not necessarily need the approval of an offended party; humiliation – that is, asymmetrical rituals in which the offended party forces the offender to participate in a degradation ritual as a condition for closure; and settlement – that is, symmetrical rituals in which both sides strive to restore relations. The theoretical and practical implications of these rituals are discussed.
Social norms are communally agreed upon, morally significant behavioral standards that are, at least in part, responsible for uniquely human forms of cooperation and social organization. This article ...summarizes evidence demonstrating that ritual and ritualized behaviors are essential to the transmission and reinforcement of social norms. Ritualized behaviors reliably signal an intentional mental state giving credibility to verbal expressions while emotionally binding people to each other and group-based values. Early ritualized infant-caregiver interactions and the family routines and rituals that emerge from them are primary mechanisms for transmitting social norms vertically from parent to offspring, while adult community rituals are a primary mechanism by which norms are reinforced horizontally within the community.
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