Ritual Theory

Ritual Wealth Deposits in Estonian Middle Iron Age Material

by Ester Oras

Towards a Better Understanding of the Opening of the Mouth Ritual

by Mariam Ayad

Published in: J-C Goyon and C. Cardin (eds.) Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Egyptologists, Grenoble 6-12 September 2004,  Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 150 (Leuven: Peeters, 2007), 109-116.

Recent work  on the funerary chapel of Amenirdis I at Medinet Habu has proved her selections from the Opening of... more Recent work  on the funerary chapel of Amenirdis I at Medinet Habu has proved her selections from the Opening of the Mouth ritual to be deliberately chosen and meticulously laid out on the walls of her funerary chapel such that the texts, which were inscribed in retrograde, commence at the doorway to the chapel and culminate on the innermost wall of the corridor surrounding her cella. This interpretation of the layout of OM scenes suggests that the scenes inscribed on opposite walls run parallel to each other and should thus be read concurrently rather than sequentially. While this theory differs from more conventional interpretations of the division of the ritual, it accounts for the scenes' layout, their retrograde direction of writing/ reading, and relates the scenes' textual content to their physical location on the walls of the chapel. A new system for numbering the various scenes of the Opening of the Mouth arose from this particular analysis of Amenirdis's texts. The new numbers incorporate the scenes' physical location on the monument on which they occur.

New Light on Phaistos Disc. The Rediscovery of an ancient Ritual

by Roberta Rio

Broderick, L.G., 2012. Ritualisation (or The Four Fully-Articulated Ungulates of The Apocalypse). In Pluskowski, A. ed. The Ritual Killing and Burial of Animals: European Perspectives. Oxford: Oxbow Books. pp. 22-32

by Lee Broderick

Sometimes You Just Gotta Dance: Physical Expressiveness in Worship

by David Johns

Ancestrais e suas sombras: uma etnografia da chefia kalapalo e seu ritual mortuário

by Antonio Guerreiro Júnior

Tese de doutorado defendida no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social da Universidade de Brasília.

Ritual Water, Ritual Geist: An Application of Narratological Analysis to Luke's Development of Christian Initiation from John the Baptist to Pentecost

by David McCollough

This paper employs narratological analysis, especially focalization, the sequential development of entity... more This paper employs narratological analysis, especially focalization, the sequential development of entity representations and intertextuality, to demonstrate that through Luke 3, 11 and Acts 2, Luke prescribes a liminal ritual complex of initiation composed of four elements: repentance, water baptism, prayer and xenolalic experience understood as Spirit reception. The paper briefly explains focalization (the lens through which a narrator looks at something) and entity representations (ERs, the mental construct of a character, motif, procedure, network of relationships, etc., built up lineally through a narrative). It addresses the intertextual role of Isaiah and Malachi in the formation of the initiation ER, and implications of lukan Sinai imagery.
The paper traces the cumulative development of the initiation ER from John the Baptist’s prophecy of Spirit and fire baptism, to Jesus’ baptism, to Jesus’ teaching on prayer for the Spirit, to Pentecost. Luke’s use of priestly imagery is found to color his portrayal of believers. The Pentecost narrative is shown to redundantly focalize the xenolalia experience, and to identify it for the reader as the Spirit experience prophesied by Joel and promised by Jesus, and to prescribe that same xenolalic experience as a boundary marker obtainable through repentance, water baptism and prayer.
The paper will demonstrate that notwithstanding a strong, undeniable vocational role, narratological analysis indicates Luke subordinates Spirit experience under a broader soteriological heading which can be further refined as initiatory with a liminal aspect, thus ecclesiological.

Struttura e significato del silenzio nel rituale d’iniziazione pitagorico: il silenzio come morte rituale in Studia Patavina: Rivista di Scienze Religiose, Vol 52, N°1

by Pietro Piro

Publisced in Studia Patavina: Rivista di Scienze Religiose, Vol 52, N°1, Padova 2005, pp. 127-148, ISSN 0039-3304, ora in Le prime luci dell'alba. Materiali di storia delle religioni, Navarra Editore, Palermo 2009, pp. 94-122.

Starting from an analysis of Greek society, wholly orientated, in political terms, towards creating an essentially... more Starting from an analysis of Greek society, wholly orientated, in political terms, towards creating an essentially structural paideia, the author aims to illustrate how the mystical alternatives represented an attempt to accede to an alternative way of salvation to that offered by the political religion. The Pythagorean sect represented such an alternative and precisely because of its characteristics as a communitas, was exposed to the typical tensions of the structure/anti-structure dialectic which pervaded the society. In this light the events which culminated in the anti-Pythagorean revolt are examined and interpreted. Having considered the general political context, the role of silence within the initiation ritual of the sect is analysed, firstly by considering some interpretations which concentrate more on the doctrinal contents to leave unsaid rather than on the actual use of silence as a structural moment of the initiation ritual. The role of silence as part of the ritual practice is then analysed, identifying four fundamental phases: an initial physiognomic and anamnestic exam; a preliminary three-year period; a further intermediate period of five years; and a final phase of either aggregation to the communitas or violent expulsion. In this perspective silence was interpreted as a period of ritual death and rebirth, inserted within a specific initiation context.

What Was the Alphabet For? The Rise of Written Vernaculars and the Making of Israelite National Literature

by Seth Sanders

Maarav 2004

"The article" of The Invention of Hebrew. Some of the core ideas. "The article" of The Invention of Hebrew. Some of the core ideas.

Ulrike Brunotte: „Ecstasy and Initiation. Jane E. Harrison’s ritual theories and their relationship to Nietzsche, Durkheim and Freud”, in: Akademie Verlag 2004, p. 162-176.

by Ulrike Brunotte

Veda et Avesta: que faut-il se mettre dans l'esprit et où faut-il mettre son esprit pour sacrifier correctement?

by Alexis Pinchard

Conférence prévue pour la VIIème Journée Monde Indien, 29 mars 2012 (Paris).

Abstract :
Le sacrifice indo-iranien efficace, tel qu’on peut le reconstituer à partir du Rig-Veda et des textes... more Abstract :
Le sacrifice indo-iranien efficace, tel qu’on peut le reconstituer à partir du Rig-Veda et des textes en vieil avestique, implique principalement de la part des officiants, outre les gestes visibles et les offrandes matérielles, deux attitudes mentales distinctes mais complémentaires. La première, horizontale en quelque sorte, consiste à contrôler, par rapport aux normes mémorisées de génération en génération, le bon agencement des actes rituels terrestres au cours du temps afin que la structure du sacrifice ne perde pas son unité ; l’autre, verticale en quelque sorte, consiste à projeter son esprit, pour chaque étape du rite, au niveau des protagonistes du sacrifice archétypal, lequel se prolonge encore et toujours dans le ciel. En termes philosophiques, on pourrait dire qu’on a d’un côté la mémoire, d’un autre la réminiscence. C’est ainsi, par exemple, que l’immortelle bienfaisante Ārmaiti, identifiée à la terre dans l’Avesta, peut contraster avec le céleste Vohū Manas. À partir de cette distinction, on peut mettre fin au vague du terme « sagesse » lorsque l’on traduit des termes aussi centraux que le védique medhâ et l’avestique[ahura] mazdā.

Bürgermeisterbegräbnisse im frühneuzeitlichen Köln. Zu den Bedeutungsebenen eines städtischen Rituals im Wandel (1431–1797), in: Geschichte in Köln 55 (2008), S. 7-35 .

by Andre Krischer

Ritual

by Olatz González Abrisketa

Entrada en el Dicionario de la existencia, publicado por Anthropos en 2006.

El ritual se ha pensado habitualmente desde los dos extremos que su acepción latina ‘ritus’ recoge: la costumbre y la... more El ritual se ha pensado habitualmente desde los dos extremos que su acepción latina ‘ritus’ recoge: la costumbre y la ceremonia; entre esas acciones mínimas que componen nuestro haber más socializado y aquellas solemnes construcciones que re-presentan narraciones primordiales, mitos, y que podemos equiparar al para nosotros más concluso término de ‘rito’. Entre el “porque sí” de la costumbre -que aborrece por “sucio” todo aquello que la compromete- y el asertivo amén de la ceremonia, se despliegan todas las interpretaciones del ritual comprensibles desde la (in)versión que de la famosa sentencia eucarística hace un buen amigo cuando dice: “tus órdenes son deseos para mí”.

Jewish Naming Ceremonies for Girls: A Study in the Discourse of Tradition

by Simon Bronner

published in JEWISH LIFEWORLDS AND JEWISH THOUGHT, edited by Nathanael Riemer (Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 2012), pp. 211-20.

The paper examines the emergence of Jewish naming ceremonies that are variously called Simhat Bat, Zeved Habat, Brit... more The paper examines the emergence of Jewish naming ceremonies that are variously called Simhat Bat, Zeved Habat, Brit Bat, and other names. Although the ceremonies are considered new or invented, various traditions have been cited to create a historical legacy for the integration of girls into an egalitarian vision of Judaism. The ceremonies often raise conflicts of family/home observance with synagogue practice and rabbinical control. The paper interprets the ceremonial responses to Jewish girls' naming as a more general concern for the modernization of Jewish identity.

Reciprocal Symbols

by William Fox

A brief overview of a century and a half of scholarly interest in archaeological evidence relating to southern Ontario... more A brief overview of a century and a half of scholarly interest in archaeological evidence relating to southern Ontario Native long distance interaction is presented, followed by a review of current archaeological evidence concerning the Ontario Iroquois.  Finally, individual examples of symbolically equivalent item exchange over considerable distances during the early seventeenth century are presented.  Such events are considered within the context of rapidly changing social structures - the evolving sixteenth/seventeenth century "shatter zone" in eastern North America.

Politischer Zeichengebrauch im barocken Rheinland. Zeremoniell und Repräsentation bei den Kurfürsten von Köln und den Reichsstädten Köln und Aachen, in: Barocke Herrschaft am Rhein um 1700. Kurfürst Johann Wilhelm II. und seine Zeit, hrsg. v. Benedikt Mauer, Düsseldorf 2009, S. 37-73 .

by Andre Krischer

„Casa sacră” şi importanţa ei

by Magda Lazarovici

Anatomy of a Cargo Cult: Virginity, Relic Envy, and Hallowed Boxes

by Ryan Byrne

Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus, eds. Ryan Byrne and Bernadette McNary-Zak (University of North Carolina Press, 2009) pp. 137-186

«Rites et émotions. Considérations sur les mystères»

by philippe borgeaud

Guesting, Feasting and Raiding: Transformations of Violence in the Northwest Amazon.

by Janet Chernela

Full citation:
Chernela, Janet (2008)  Guesting, Feasting and Raiding: Transformations of Violence in the Northwest Amazon.  In Revenge in the Cultures of Lowland South America, ed. Stephen Beckerman and Paul Valentine. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Pp. 42-59.