Ancient Ritual Research Articles

ПАРИЖСКОЕ БОГОСЛОВИЕ, ФОТИЕВО БРАТСТВО И НИКОЛАЙ ПОЛТОРАЦКИЙ: СМЫСЛЫ И СИМВОЛЫ

One of the bright and dramatic pages in the history of Parisian Orthodox Theology is the activity of the Fotiy`s Brotherhood (1925 (1923?) – 1980s). However, it has not yet been studied completely. The publication, which is based in particular on archival documents from the personal collection of Nicholay Poltoratsky’s family (1909–1990), who at a certain stage acted as the head of the secret society. Nicholay Poltoratsky returned to Homeland after the Second World War and ended up in Odessa, becoming a center of intellectual and spiritual attraction. Our task is to contribute to the reconstruction of the history of the Fotiy`s Brotherhood. That plot is very important for the history of the Russian religious and philosophical Renaissance. The Brotherhood at different times included A. Stavrovsky, V. Lossky, E. Kovalevsky, P. Kovalevsky, M. Kovalevsky, L. Uspensky, I. Lagovsky, G. Krug, A. Bloom and others. Members of the Brotherhood proposed the project of “Latin Rite Orthodoxy” with elements of the ancient Gallican rite. Such a project was implemented in several French parishes, of which some are still active now. The focus of the paper is on a theoretical analysis of the project to create an Orthodox religious order, connecting loyalty to the Orthodox tradition and an оrientation to the ancient Gallican liturgical rite of the Christian church before the time of schism.

Representations of Refuseniks and Soviet Jewish Emigration in <em>GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling</em>

Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch's Netflix series, GLOW (2017–), reimagines the production of GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (1986–1989), the first US professional wrestling show with an all-female cast. The Netflix series can be understood as historiographic metafiction: a reimagining of the past that captures a new perspective enlightened by hindsight. In season 1, episode 6, "This Is One of Those Moments," Ruth Wilder (played by Alison Brie) unwittingly attends an unconventional bris thrown by Soviet Jews and refuseniks who have resettled in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Ruth constantly misreads and misinterprets the people and situations around her. Her subsequent misunderstanding is rendered comically and serves as a symbol for postmodern disorientation. Executive producer and guest writer Jenji Kohan incorporates mockery, ridicule, and hyperbole in a display of the self-deprecating, self-critical, and dark elements of Jewish humor in representing the position of refuseniks and Soviet Jewish émigrés in the United States. Engaging with diverse theories on Jewish humor in postmodern television, this article focuses on the relationship between suffering and celebration, intention and reality, and ancient ritual and modernity. This one episode epitomizes how these elements are performed and represented, forcing the audience to question what is genuine and what is forced or fake. Despite the characters' best efforts to attain authenticity, they continue to struggle to understand, belong, and interpret the cultures surrounding them.

Ritual, Spectacle, and Menace

On the surface, comparative projects may seem frivolous, particularly those whose comparata are separated by millennia; this is especially true if one is attaching meaning simply to common event-sequences across time. However, for exploring the perceptual dynamics behind ancient reports of ritualized violence whose contexts and intended effects are somewhat elusive, a contemporary comparison may prove insightful. This should be true for rituals whose intent is menace, such as oath-making rituals and curses. Although we undoubtedly are missing much in the way of context and intended effects for ancient oath-making rituals, a close examination of one Islamic State (IS) “message” video of 2014 may enable us to envision some common perceptual dynamics. This short essay proposes to evaluate the persuasive effects of an ancient ritual in the light of a contemporary, by pondering embodied and visual modes of perception.

Development and evolution of bird motifs on Iranian’s Crockery of the Middle Ages of Islam (5-9 centuries A.H)

Decorating earthenware as a manifestation of artistic creativity and aesthetic sense and reflecting the potter's perception of the environment and the system of existence has long been a mysterious form of attention. One of the favourite motifs of Iranian potter for decorating earthenware has been the motif of birds, which was rooted in ancient Iranian culture, myths and rituals. In this paper, using a library method, a descriptive-analytical, and comparative approach, and by looking at the symbolism of the bird's motif, the potter's purpose of selecting bird motifs and their relation to the beliefs of the people of this land are identified. The question is, what are the themes of these motifs and how do they evolve? The evolution of bird motifs shows that it has been developed from a beginner style in a continuous, slow process, and at times we see the collapse of a broad artistic style.

НАПИТОК БОГОВ В ПОВСЕДНЕВНОЙ И ПРАЗДНИЧНОЙ КУЛЬТУРЕ ЯПОНЦЕВ

The subject of research is sake – traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage. The purpose of the arti-cle is to determine the role of sake in Japanese culture, to identify the ideas, national stereotypes, and a system of values behind it. The relevance of the study is determined by the symbolic value of gastro-nomic culture as a means of identifying an ethnic group. The national cuisine of any nation is formed under the influence of various factors: natural and geographical features of the area, type of civilization, and fundamental cultural values. Its analysis allows us to come closer to understanding more global issues of identity formation, preservation and translation of cultural heritage, and features of national thinking. Due to its semiotic functions, food can serve as a symbol in various life situations. Using a specific set of products endowed with cultural meaning, the nation retains its original features. Thus, gastronomic culture reveals traits of a national character and contributes to the preservation of cultural identity. Sake is a ritual beverage with a thousand-year history, a concentrate of cultural meanings that identify a person and society in their inextricable relationship. For centuries it has been part of the life of almost every person in Japan, has inspired forms of conduct and ways of thinking because of its importance in rites commemorating everything from birth to death. Sake is more than a drink taken to enjoy. It also serves a vital social purpose at the defining moments in life. The author has analyzed sake as a sacred beverage, mentioned in the ancient Japanese Chroni-cles, showed its close connection with Shinto rituals, determined the role in the everyday and festive culture of the Japanese. Belief in the divine nature of sake is rooted in ancient myths and legends. Tolerant attitude towards the drunk in Japan also goes back to ancient rituals. Turning to literary sources and Japanese phraseology made it possible to significantly expand the research base and to reveal the totality of ideas about sake in the worldview of native Japanese speakers. The main methods of work are conceptual and contextual analysis, lingvocultural commentary, implemented in the methods of classification and systematization of material. Аnalysis of numerous examples made it possible to explicate the spiritual, sacred significance of sake, to conclude that in the Japanese worldview it is more than just an alcoholic drink, it is associated with ideas that encompass the entire sphere of a person’s life: life, death, work, family, generational communication, change of seasons. As a cultural marker sake carries culturally significant information and serves as the most important means of understanding cultural identity.

Hunting customs, beliefs and prohibitons (based on field materials from Zhytomyr Polissia)

Customary norms, taboos, folk knowledge iand worldviews related to the hunting industry are considered on the basis of expedition materials from Luhyny, Novohrad-Volynskyi, Yemilchynskyi and Korostenskyi districts of Zhytomyr region. Field materials that illustrate the main provisions of the article are given. The goal of the study is to study the traditional hunting customs, beliefs and prohibitions that have formed in Zhytomyr Polissia. The methodological basis of the study are the methods of historical sciences, the principles of objectivity, complexity, historicity, systematics; methods of analysis and synthesis, typological, comparative-historical. The ethnological method of field surveys on the author's questionnaires was applied; information was collected by the cluster method. The scientific novelty of the article is that for the first time in the Ukrainian ethnological literature it covers the customs, rituals and prohibitions concerning firearms, success in the craft of Zhytomyr Polissya. The beliefs associated with the first shot from a new rifle, the causes of its “damage” and the main ways of “correction” are analyzed. The degree of preservation in the region of ancient beliefs about the prohibition of a woman's contact with hunting equipment and the customs of ritual purity of the hunter has been clarified. The attitude of modern hunters to ancient rituals is shown. The degree of preservation of beliefs in the old woman, a woman with a “bad eye”, empty buckets, as well as a cat and a hare. Preservation of some signs of successful hunting is noted, among which - not to wash and not to shave, prophetic dreams. Prohibition of seeking God’s help in the craft and observance of customary hunting norms is substantiated. The customs connected with the ritual shooting of hunters on certain days of the folk calendar are analyzed. Conclusions. Hunting, as one of the oldest forms of economic activity, has accumulated numerous customs, rituals, worldviews, folk knowledge and norms of customary law. They have changed with the development of society and the changing role of craft in the livelihood system. While preserving ancient beliefs and customary norms in the people's memory, it has been found that modern hunters consider the acquired production experience and knowledge to be the main guarantee of the success of hunting. It has been found that modern hunters consider the acquired production experience and knowledge to be the main guarantee of the success of hunting preserving ancient beliefs and customary norms in the people's memory.

A case study of the effect of Yagya on the level of stress and anxiety

The fundamental principle of human life, nature or the universe is to give or to serve others. This whole mechanism of sharing is the core takeaway of the process of Yagya – an ancient rite of fire oblations. Yagya therapy is an ancient Indian therapy which is a holistic health management. It provides the therapeutic approach in mental disorders and state of mind. The present study evaluated effect of Yagya on the mental health. A study was conducted on 4 subjects for 30 days and levels of stress and anxiety were evaluated. Biofeedback Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and Sinha’s Comprehensive Anxiety Test (SCAT) were used for measuring stress and anxiety levels respectively. The result showed improvement in both the conditions of the participants. Their stress (p=0.11; Student’s two tail test) and anxiety (p=0.08; Student’s two tail test) levels showed trend of reduction with 30 days of treatment. This study indicated the utility of Yagya in daily life for combating mental conditions of stress and anxiety.

Spuma lunaris. Bringing the Moon Down to Earth, Extraction of ‘Moon Foam’ and Its Use in Ancient Magic

The article is devoted to the ancient ritual of bringing the moon down to the earth. The author has compiled all sources in which you can read about it and discuss in detail how to obtain the so-called ‘Moon foam’ (spuma lunaris), focusing on its use in ancient magic. In addition, the article suggests that in the stories of the seduction of Selene by the god Pan and the hero Endymion may be elements of some aitiological myth explaining the genesis and phenomenon of bringing the moon to the ground. The annex to this article shows a similar ritual in Maroccan magic of the 19th and 20th centuries.

La cruel animalidad

En este trabajo se propone criticar los presupuestos que subyacen a la identificación entre crueldad y animalidad dentro del pensamiento occidental, así como analizar sus formas idiomáticas y culturales. El texto muestra cómo la crueldad ha sido definida históricamente en relación con cierta referencia a la animalidad, desde los rituales antiguos en las religiones animistas hasta la fenomenología de Heidegger. El breve recorrido a través de la historia intelectual de la crueldad nos coloca de nuevo ante el cuestionamiento de en qué consiste la crueldad, y especialmente qué es la animalidad.

The study of the influence of ancient Greek rituals and sports and the formation of the architecture of its sports spaces

To get a better understanding of why variety of sports buildings are this massive in ancient Greece, a proper understanding of the history of sports as well as Greece itself must start at the beginning. Greece is a country that is enclosed with hills and mountains alongside short rivers and fertile valleys. Even though Greek people were living in separate city-states, they were united under national pride, common temples, same rituals and games like Olympic. Sports were the most important parts of most Greek men. Gym and music alongside each other, fed the body and the soul of the athletes. They admired the beauty of well-trained men. They believed in multiple gods who were living in Holy mount of Olympus under the reign of greater god, Zeus and they held many rituals to satisfy them and Olympic was the most famous rituals amongst others. A ceremony in honor of Zeus was held in Olympia.

Gift versus Trade: On the Culture of Science Communication

This article aims at a critical reevaluation of the trading zone concept (Galison). It starts from a case study of the Faraday–Whewell collaboration in coming to terms with electrolysis experiments. The case is supposed to be an example of a trade zone of science/philosophy interaction though it demonstrates the unequal nature of the “trade.” This requires the analysis to log in some details concerning Galison’s metaphor of trading zones, which reveals its market-oriented connotations. The following criticism of the market metaphor for science applies a revised version of Boris Hessen’s argument (“commodity fetishism”) against misinterpretation of technology by some British scientists. A closer look at the ancient trade rituals in Marcel Mauss’ seminal work enables discovering another cultural pattern for describing scientific communication as opposed to trade—gift. This helps picture science as a distribution of social roles and statuses and uncovers the normative and value dimension of gift zones language.

Vetus Ordo Missae: Italian Catholic priests facing the revival of Latin and traditional liturgy

ABSTRACT The liturgical reform promoted by the Second Vatican Council led to a renewed way of celebrating the Mass entailing new ritual features and the drastic reduction of the use of Latin in favor of vernacular languages. Liturgical changes are still in act and present several problematic aspects fueling debates among Catholics. A significant category of interlocutors in these debates is constituted by the ordinary priests, who have both to apply the directives established by the Holy See and to engage with local communities. While the positions endorsed by ecclesiastic authorities are well known, scarce attention has been devoted to the priests’ opinions and experience. This paper presents therefore the results of an ethnographic study investigating how Italian priests interpret the liturgical use of Latin in the contemporary socio-cultural context, what meanings and values they attribute to the ancient ritual, especially in comparison with the new one, and how they deal with the issue of the translation of sacred and liturgical texts.

Affective response and narrative coherence in the Mocedades de Rodrigo

Critical attention to the Mocedades de Rodrigo has overwhelmingly centered on identifying narrative cohesion in a work that for many readers has seemed chaotic and fragmentary. Early on, these efforts led to an understanding of the poem as a narrative progression, imposing on the young protagonist a somewhat unwieldy concept of growth through the lens of an ancient pan-European rite of passage. More recently, a concept of thematic cohesion emerged as a way to understand seemingly disparate passages in the poem, based on a will to independence and desire for self-rule in the portrayal of Rodrigo’s ancestors as well as for himself. This essay argues for further narrative coherence centered on the unwavering willful character of the protagonist who speaks truth to power, expressed through a series of affective encounters that draws others to him and to a communal enterprise in defense of family, kingdom, and ultimately nation.

Запах: чутье бытия в информационную эпоху

<p>Поскольку цифровые медиа работают в формате производства значения, постольку все, что не переводится в формат информационного сообщения, представляет для них радикальную проблему. Одна из таких проблем — трансляция запаха. В медиа запах — знак успеха, условие внимания и гарантия признания, но он отсылает от одних вещей к другим, от одних представлений к иным, он не развертывает глубинное измерение вещей как в древних ритуалах (начиная с приготовления пищи и заканчивая сжиганием мертвых).</p><p>В древних культах запах — условие метафизической чувствительности: открытость опыту того, что непредставимо и невыразимо, что не умещается ни в одном сообщении и ни в одном образе. В современных медиа метафизическое измерение вещей может как исчезнуть вместе с запахом, так и вернуться на новом техническом основании, при условии того, что цифровые медиа окажутся способны работать в режиме производства присутствия. Пока же запах оценивается как подозрительное явление, разрушающее любую общность и любую коммуникацию. Даже рекламные образы запаха говорят о таинственности и подозрительности его носителя, а стихия его — соблазн, при благоприятных условиях запах как бы не существует. Однако в борьбе за перевод опыта в медийный формат вместе с опытом запаха устраняются иные непереводимые на язык объективных высказываний данные самопереживания, которыми наполнен наш жизненный мир и о которых возможно только непрямое высказывание — мифическое, поэтическое, философское. Трансформация чувствительности в новых технологических условиях может быть понята только при внимании к изменению роли запаха.</p>

Acculturation in Islam: Han Kitab and Islam Nusantara

In China, Han Kitab is an example in how Chinese culture and Islam recognized each other. Ancient Chinese culture is not omitted but enriched by Islam. Confucianism and Islam are different in its each teaching but may crisscross philosophically. Both may come from different backgrounds but both teach people how to behave as individual and part of society. In Indonesia, Islam Nusantara is how Indonesian culture is understood through Islamic perspective. Islam which came later must face many ancient rituals or thoughts. It could not totally eliminate local culture but it can clear up bad aspect of local habits by teaching Islamic way of life. Both Han Kitab and Islam Nusantara shows that Islam did not come to apply such system by force, but it builds such apprehension through acculturation.

Investigating the Use of Ancient Fertility Themes in Malcolm Bradbury’s Eating People Is Wrong

Employing James George Frazer’s anthropological book The Golden Bough (1890) as a theoretical background, this paper examines the ways in which Malcolm Bradbury’s academic novel Eating People Is Wrong (1959) builds on ancient fertility rituals to delineate the divide between past and present moods and modes of thought and to illuminate the emotional and intellectual sterility afflicting the modern academy and its population. It will be clear that although their names and conduct resonate with echoes of the celebrations and rites of savage tribes and subsequent societies, Bradbury’s characters fail to enact the roles of ancient fertility divinities and to maintain the essential flavour of remote antiquity’s culture. This is best illustrated by the vain attempts of a number of ardent suitors to marry the leading but misleading character Emma Fielding, a latter-day fertility goddess who heartlessly hurts their hearts. While ancient fertility goddesses’ suitors or consorts were concerned about the welfare of the community on the whole, alongside their own welfare, their modern counterparts merely seek to enhance their narrow interests. Predictably, all the characters in the novel finish up helpless and hopeless. Finally, grounded on the premise that scholarly disciplines tend to crisscross in a mutually enriching manner, this investigation aims to prove how helpful it is for Bradbury to explore the academic soul and soil through the employment of studies from other fields and how interesting it is for the researcher to spot out this cultural trend and to bring it to the attention of the reader.

Punitive Scholarship

This article responds to Jeffrey Perl’s argument (in “Regarding Change at Ise Jingū,” Common Knowledge, Spring 2008) that, while there is a “paradigm shift” at Ise every twenty years, when the enshrined deity Amaterasu “shifts” from the current site to an adjacent one during the rite of shikinen sengū, the Jingū paradigm itself never changes and never ages. The author confirms Perl’s conclusion by examining the politicized scholarship, written since the 1970s, maintaining that Shinto is a faux religion invented prior to World War II as a means of unifying Japan behind government policies of ultranationalism and international expansion. This article shows, instead, how emperors—who are not political but religious figures in Japan—and the Jingū priesthood have acted together over the past thirteen hundred years to sustain the imperial shrine at Ise and its ancient rites. The so-called Meiji Restoration actually continued an imperial policy of restoring and intensifying the observance of Shinto rituals that were threatened by neglect. Meiji intervened personally in 1889 to ensure the continuity of hikyoku, an unvoiced and secret serenade to Amaterasu, by extending its venue from the imperial palace shrine to performance at Jingū as well. The author’s archival and ethnographic research at Ise and the National Archives shows how the arguments that Shinto is a modern invention are punitive rather than dispassionately historical.

“Clear away the sand from your face”: some features of the ancient Egyptian bur-ial rites in the second half of the III millennium BC

“Clear away the sand from your face”: some features of the ancient Egyptian bur-ial rites in the second half of the III millennium BC

Keening the Dead: Ancient History or a Ritual for Today?

In his 1909 work ‘Rites De Passage’, Arnold van Gennep acknowledges that a ritual often contains ‘rites within rites’. So, it was with the ancient ritual of the Irish wake, at the center of which was another ritual, that of the keen, the Irish funeral lament. The past tense is used tentatively here, as in this article the author explores the resilience of the ritual and how, rather than becoming extinct, the keen seems to spend periods of time underground before erupting again in a new form, attuning itself to a more contemporaneous social situation. Drawing on ethnographic and bibliographic research undertaken between 2010 and 2018, the author traces some of the history of the keen within the ritual of the Irish wake and funeral and gives instances of how it is being reconfigured in the 21st century. This continuation of the ritual, albeit in a new format, seems to speak to a deep emotional and spiritual need that may not be satisfied by more conventional religion in Ireland. Finally, the author considers the keen’s relevance and place in Irish society today.

ESSENCE, PECULIARITIES AND TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXTREME TOURISM IN BULGARIA

Tourism plays a significant role in the development of a free market economy. It is a source of foreign investment and has a direct contribution to the balance of capital of its developing destinations. Creates and maintains jobs through direct or indirect employment of people as a result of foreign visitors' spending in the host country. In the late 1980s and early 1990s in the history of sport, a new stream called "extreme sports" (extreme - from lat. Extremus - extreme, extraordinary) entered. They combine athletes with increased risk, non-standard thinking and behavior. Some of this group of sports, or the like, have existed since ancient times in the form of an ancient ritual or a local custom in which courage and fearlessness proved. Recently, there is an increasing number of people who want to practice some sports, which have very strong feelings - jumping with elastic rope, delta and paragliding, rock climbing, "white water" rafting and canoeing, , jumping with a parachute, balloons and more. Changes in the value orientation of modern man lead to changes in his attitudes towards different types of sports and tourism. Especially in the younger generation - from 14 to 35 years. Not many of them are looking for non-standard, extreme sports, adventure to meet their personal emotional needs and to discover through their sports their own identity. Based on the practice of the most renowned tourist companies in the world, a number of non-standard sports and activities, sometimes bearing the scars of adventure and adventure, but sought after and desired by some tourists, have entered and continue to take place in recent years.