Household Ritual Research Articles

Визуальные источники о новой советской обрядности в татарской деревне 1970-х годов

In the 1960s–1970s in the Soviet society, formation of new civil rituals gained relevance. One of the newfound components was family and household (personal family) rituals – ceremonial registration and a wedding. The article reveals the process of introducing a new civil wedding ritual in a Tatar village in the 1970s. The sources include wedding photographs from the family archives of the Nurutdinovs, the Mamatovs, the Khakovs, and the Romazanovs – natives of different regions of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as the author’s field materials collected through in-depth and longitudinal interviews. Wedding photographs represent valuable illustrative material on the problem of the formation of a new “Soviet rituals” in the socio-cultural space of the village, including the destruction of the wedding image and deprivation of its national features and characteristics. They can be considered a multifaceted source upon which the formation of collective memory about the Soviet past is based.

Регіональні особливості функціонування заручин та вінчання на теренах сучасного Слобожанського краю

The article is aimed at deepening the understanding of the importance of recording and popularizing family ritual poetry, wedding customs of the 21st century. The authors substantiated the relevance of the topic of collecting and studying wedding rituals and the folklore that accompanies them in the territory of the Sumy region. Emphasis is placed on the local history aspect of oral folk art. The published sources of folklore collectors of the Sumy Oblast were elaborated and the existing source base was supplemented with materials of own field research with a description of family rites, customs, and modern genres of oral folk art. The regional peculiarities of ancient wedding customs and the modern state of family and household rituals of the Western Slobojan region are considered. The stages of the wedding ceremony, such as engagement and wedding, were studied on the territory of the Sumy region (Western Slobojan region), as well as the changes, transformations and innovations experienced by the wedding rituals of the Slobojan region were traced.

TWO SIZES TOO SMALL: TWO CATEGORIES OF MINIATURE POTTERY IN MINOAN CRETE

Often assumed to be ritual votives or toys for children, miniature ceramic vessels in the Bronze Age Aegean have been afforded little thorough study. Their presence at peak sanctuaries, sacred caves and shrines on Crete has led to their uncritical association with ritual activity, even outside of sacred areas. When miniature pots are found in domestic spaces, they are often dismissed as objects of household ritual or simple toys. Yet miniature vessels, diverse in form and context, are so common in archaeological investigations of Minoan settlements that they merit further comprehensive study. Considered alongside the abundance of small-scale Minoan material culture, including figurines, seals, miniature wall paintings, and models, miniature pottery appears to be one facet of a larger semiotic ideology – one well-versed in the language and power of the miniature. By analysing 504 miniature pots from 13 sites in central and east Crete, this paper explores the wide range of miniature vessel types used in the Protopalatial and Neopalatial periods and applies contextual analysis to draw out their meanings. Contextualisation and data analysis reveal two distinct categories within the corpus of miniature pots: ‘micro-miniatures’ and ‘small miniatures’. While micro-miniatures were indeed inherently cultic, small miniatures served a variety of practical functions within the world of Minoan Crete and should not be assumed to relate to ritual. To differentiate between the categories, the relationship between the miniature and its prototype, as well as its semiotic meaning are considered. By applying Peircean understandings of iconicity and indexicality to these two categories, the use and significance of Bronze Age miniature vessels are further illuminated, in ritual and beyond.

Sovremennyj brak i semejno-bytovye obryady avarcev Gumbeta

The article is devoted to the traditional and modern rites of the Gumbet Avars - wedding, maternity and funeral rituals and customs. It was based on field ethnographic material collected in the villages of the Gumbetovsky district of the Republic of Dagestan, as well as special historical literature. Using historical-comparative, historical-genetic, retrospective methods and a systematic approach, the authors presented a picture of modern marriage and family and household rituals of the Gumbet Avars with clarification of the preservation of traditional elements in them and the appearance of new components.

Prácticas rituales mayas durante el periodo Preclásico en el Complejo Grazia, Yaxnohcah, Campeche

During the Middle (1000–400 BC) and Late (400 BC–AD 200) Preclassic periods, Yaxnohcah was an extensive settlement containing more than 15 civic-ceremonial complexes spread over 40 km2. Our research focuses on one of the principal peri-urban nodes known as the Grazia Complex, which consists of a monumental platform featuring a triadic group, a ballcourt, and other minor structures. Excavations revealed several construction phases, as well as the remains of repetitive ritual activities. A hearth associated with an altar and a cache deposit with a triadic layout was uncovered on the platform in front of the triadic group. This deposit and its location represent one of the earliest and clearest examples of the conceptual equivalence of household hearths and three stone places in the Maya lowlands. It provides explicit evidence for the replication of household ritual associated with cooking hearths to the public ritual analog, feeding the gods, a religious ideology intimately related to the emergence of kings. Below the Late Preclassic triadic hearth, we identified an earlier altar, and below that, a much earlier Middle Preclassic hearth that probably preceded construction of the triadic group. These ritual contexts evidence the antiquity of community ritual practices at Grazia that involve repetitive ritual burning associated with placemaking activities. Here, we focus on ritual practices as vehicles to construct social relations within the local community, and their implications for the urban landscape at Yaxnohcah.

Sovremennyj brak i semejno-bytovye obryady avarcev-gidatlincev: tradicii i innovacii

On the basis of field ethnographic material and general scientific methods, the article examines the rituals of the life cycle of one of the sub-ethnic groups of the Avars, the Gidatlins. The study of the forms of marriage, wedding, maternity and funeral rites, customs and beliefs of the Gidatli people showed the predominance of traditional elements in them, intensifying Islamic and some new rituals. Such syncretism is explained by the stability of traditional forms, the specifics of the Sufi trend of Islam practiced by the Gidatli people, the peculiarities of their ethnic psychology and mentality - conservatism and adherence to an established way of life. At the same time, under the influence of globalization and urbanization, some new customs were fixed in the household rituals of the Gidatly people, which were organically woven into their ritual culture.

Household Rituals and Merchant Caravanners: The Phenomenon of Early Bronze Age Donkey Burials from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

Simple SummaryThe goal of this study is to increase our understanding of the role of ritual in the domestic residences of commoners in early complex societies in the ancient Near East. Most archaeologists have concentrated their research on rituals taking place in the public and administrative areas of early cities (e.g., temples and palaces). However, the bulk of the population lived in simple domestic residences and were not involved in the public ritual displays except as onlookers. We present the results of our recent excavations at the Early Bronze Age site of Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel. Our excavations at the site have uncovered the remains of early domestic donkeys and other goods that were buried as the neighbourhood was constructed and houses were renovated. These provide insight into the role of ritual in everyday life for most people in these early cities. As the donkey burials are very limited in their location in these early cities, we propose that such residences were inhabited by merchant families.Most studies of ritual and symbolism in early complex societies of the Near East have focused on elite and/or public behavioural domains. However, the vast bulk of the population would not have been able to fully participate in such public displays. This paper explores the zooarchaeological and associated archaeological evidence for household rituals in lower-stratum residences in the Early Bronze Age (EB) of the southern Levant. Data from the EB III (c. 2850–2550 BCE) deposits excavated at the site of Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel, are illustrative of the difficulty in identifying the nature of household rituals. An integrated analytical approach to the architecture, figurines, foundation deposits, and domestic donkey burials found in lower-stratum domestic residences provides insights into the nature of household rituals. This integrated contextual perspective allows the sacred and symbolic role(s) of each to be understood and their importance for EB urban society to be evaluated.

Research works on the burial monument of the time of Jochi Ulus in the Ulytau district

On the territory of the Ulytau district there are many cities, settlements, mausoleums and burials reflecting the material culture of the Ulus of Jochi era. Burial monuments are one of such legacies. The subject of this article is the burial place in the Jochi Khan complex. The paper presents the research results of this monument. The cultural identity of the burial, revealed during archaeological excavations, was identified by comparative methods of studying the external structure and burial traditions. Numismatic examination of the found coin allowed to establish the date of minting and the date of its introduction into circulation. At the same time, an anthropological description was made on the skeleton of the buried woman, and it turned out that she was a woman aged 20–25 years. The time of her life was determined by the radiocarbon dating method and included in the list of monuments dating back to the middle of the 14th century. The absence of any pathological changes in anthropological features and the solemn burial ceremony with clothes suggested that the buried person had a high social status. In addition, opinions were expressed concerning the spiritual values and household rituals of the local population, considering the peculiarities of the funeral tradition. In particular, in the period from the middle of the 14th to the 15th centuries, the foundations were formed related to the predominance of Muslim signs in the tradition of human burial and the preservation of traditions associated with the Tengrian beliefs of the local population.

The Way of Life of the Old Believers of Buryatia: the Crisis of Religious Identity in the 1920s.

The subject of the research in the article is the problem of transformation of the way of life of the Old Believers of Buryatia before and in the 1920s and their reactions to the increasingly increasing intrusion into the life of the structures of Soviet power. The object of the study is the Old Believer population of the Verkhneudinsky district of the Trans-Baikal region (since 1923 - the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR). The article considers such aspects of the topic as: comprehension of the decline of the spiritual life of the Old Believers, noted by researchers until the 1920s (the tendency of the transition of religion into a heterogeneous complex of household rituals, the increasing rejection of prohibitive practices) and the study of the degree of real influence of the Soviet government on the objectively changing worldview of the Old Believers since the beginning of the XX century. The comparative-historical method necessary for comparing the sides of various phenomena and highlighting the common and special was necessary when analyzing the unequal attitude to the Soviet government on the part of the Old Believers of different settlements. The historical-genetic method used to study changes in the phenomenon over time was used in the analysis of the transformation of the Old Believer identity in the XIX – early XX centuries. The main conclusions of the study are as follows. For the Old Believers of Buryatia, the 1920s were a time of crisis of their religious identity caused by the gradual transformation of its meanings, their adaptation to the reality in which it was difficult to maintain their foundations from generation to generation in an unchanged state. The Soviet government and its concept of atheization and the "cultural revolution" in the countryside became only an additional factor for the identity crisis. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that information from archives and newspapers are introduced into scientific circulation, allowing to show the indirect nature of the actions of the Soviet government in relation to the decline of the traditional way of life of the Old Believers.

Образ восприятия эвенков в художественной этнографии китайских писателей (на материале творчества Ужерту)

The Evenki are a small ethnic group living in Russia and China, which has preserved its traditional culture and rituals. The “Evenk theme” has become a significant phenomenon in modern Chinese literature and has contributed to ethnographic studies of Evenk culture. The relevance of the study is due to the interest of modern literary criticism in various artistic projections of imagological methodology through the prism of ethnic cultures, as well as the attention of modern Chinese writers to the life of small nationalities. The aim of the study was the imagological analysis of the image of the self-perception of the Evenki in the artistic ethnography of the Evenk writer Uzhertu. The research is based on the methodological developments in the field of artistic ethnography, as well as imagological studies of cultural images and artistic images of perception in literature. The principle of attracting and using ethnographic material is based on the works by Russian ethnographers. During the research, the stories of Uzhertu were analyzed. The image of the Evenk in his works is given from the point of view of self-perception. At the same time, it is emphasized that despite the positive qualities, the Evenk nation is weak and small in number, dissolving in the Han culture under the influence of globalization, modernization, and developing economy. As a representative of an ancient ethnos, faced with the impact of modern civilization, with each new stage of creativity, Uzhertu became more and more aware of his responsibility to his people, trying to fix and preserve its unique culture in an artistic form. In the “Evenk” works by Uzhertu, the main typological techniques of artistic ethnography were captured: the creation of images of perception of a foreign culture (Han) and images of perception, the imprinting of traditional religious ideas and a mythological picture of the world, a description of household and trade customs and rituals. Uzhertu sadly records the processes of enveloping the Evenks, their dissolution in the Han culture and everyday life.

IN-BETWEEN SOUND AND LANDSCAPE: INTERCOMMUNITY INNOVATIONS AND SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH DREE FESTIVAL AMONG THE APATANI PEOPLE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH

This paper has developed over a span of four years since I first visited Ziro valley in 2017, guided by reflections and insights that I came upon while revisiting the field in recent years in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. The dree ritual was historically an individual household ritual for Apatani people who owned cultivable land for better crops and good harvest before 1967. However, presently Dree is celebrated in a common ground and all villages come together to celebrate it. Through this ethnomusicological study with active fieldwork participation, archiving and tools borrowed from historical ethnomusicology, I have attempted at studying the gradual shift of ritual space within the Apatani community leading to an emerging performing space which is able to accommodate and nurture the diverse range of cultural practices of miji-migung (oral tradition) traditions, traditional dance forms, story-telling and other friendly sports for recreation within the celebration of an egalitarian Dree festival. Diary entries from C.V.F Haimendorf ’s field notes on “Drii”2 helped me to conceptualize further the drastic change in the structure and historical location of the Dree ritual and the specific role played by the Nyibu (ritual specialist and performer of miji) within the Apatani community. Dree festival among the patanis has projected a history where the feeling of nationalism and identity in post-independent India is being not only practised but also been creating a new emerging performance space and soundscapes among the Apatani people of Arunachal Pradesh, which could be better conceptualized as a process of glocalization and inter-community sustainability.

Islamic component in calendar rituals and folk medicine of the peoples of Dagestan: traditions and modernity

The article examines the types and forms of manifestation of the Islamic component in the calendar rituals and folk medicine of the peoples of Dagestan that have survived to our time. On the basis of field material and literary sources, the author cites the calendar holidays of the first furrow, the beginning of spring, the collection of edible herbs, medicine. The Islamic component in these holidays and rituals is manifested by the participation of a Muslim clergyman in them, the remembrance of Allah, the recitation of verses from the Koran, the conduct of the mawlid and the ritual of zikr, and the distribution of alms sadaqa. This component has been woven into agrarian holidays; meteorological ceremonies with «binding the rain», the use of a horse’s skull, wooden and stone boards, «overturned stones»; «sacred» trees, springs and stones in the rituals of traditional medicine. Collected in a special sacred period of time (pre-dawn hours before morning prayer) on the day of Eid al-Adha or the holiday of spring, spring water became similar to zamzam water and acquired healing properties. There are no analogues adapted to Muslim holidays, calendar and household rituals, built on the tops of mountains and passes, special religious buildings of Tabasarans – «Prayer houses». According to the author, the cited calendar rituals and methods of traditional medicine belong to the category of syncretic so-called “everyday” or “folk Islam” and can serve as an argument in countering religious extremism. The reasons for the preservation and functioning of traditional rituals and beliefs at the beginning of the XXIst century should be sought in the stability of ancient beliefs and rituals adapted to the requirements of the Sufi form of Islam, the peculiarities of the mentality and ethnic psychology of the Dagestanis adherent to conservatism and traditional way of life.

Culti domestici in Italia meridionale ed Etruria By Aura Piccioni. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner 2020. Pp. 276. €45. ISBN 978-3-7954-3552-3 (cloth).

<i>Culti domestici in Italia meridionale ed Etruria</i> By Aura Piccioni. Regensburg: Schnell &amp; Steiner 2020. Pp. 276. €45. ISBN 978-3-7954-3552-3 (cloth).

Symbolic Aspects of Nutrition Vocabulary in the Turkic Languages

The article uses a lot of factual material to reveal the role of ethnographisms associated with cooking during the most significant moments of human life: birth, wedding, burial. The connection of symbolism with ritual is revealed.The purpose of the article is based on the specifics of the work caused by the need for a linguoculturological description of the vocabulary of nutrition, the definition of extralinguistic factors (customs, traditions and religious beliefs) in the formation, development and functioning, as well as the disclosure of the symbolic essence of this LSH.The relevance of the article is determined by the need for linguistic and cultural understanding of the food vocabulary, which is widely reflected in paremia, concepts, phraseological units, and customs as the most stable lexical and semantic categories of the Turkic languages (more than 2 000 lexical and phraseological units).The material of the study was the vocabulary of nutrition of the Turkic languages. The main methods used in the work are descriptive, comparative, and interpretive.The reception and serving of food among the Turkic peoples and their reflection in customs and traditions are symbolic relations between people connected by social, gender, and age relations. For example, the symbolism of food associated with the birth of a child has its roots in the distant past of the Turkic people and means a sacrifice for the successful birth of a woman. These rituals include: preparing special meals to speed childbirth: Garissa (lit. Competition with the cauldron, where food is cooked), preparing special dishes: sut burysh, IIT mun, burial of the bones of a 「am slaughtered for a woman in labor, gnawing the neck vertebrae of a ram without a knife, burning meat, etc. These traditions are a symbol of introducing the baby to a new life denoting the appearance of a new person. As a result of the analysis of this thematic group, it was revealed that traditional household rituals are the most stable basis of the ethnic spiritual culture of the Turkic peoples, many symbolic actions related to food are common, which once again confirms the hypothesis of genetic kinship of these peoples.The concept of linguoculturological research of customs and traditions as one of the current trends in linguistics opens up new aspects of the relationship and connection of language and spiritual culture, language and folk mentality, language and folk art. In the conceptual picture of the world and the national - cultural context, the question of the place and role of the studied LSH is very significant.The scientific novelty of the research consists in the linguistic and cultural understanding of one of the traditionally established and most stable lexical and semantic categories of the Turkic languages - the vocabulary of nutrition. Such studies in modern linguistics have not been sofer conducted. Keywords: food vocabulary, symbols, ritual, linguoculturology, ethnographism, customs, traditions, conceptual picture of the world

TRANSFORMATION OF FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD PROTECTIVE RITES OF THE CHUVASH IN TSILNINSKY DISTRICT OF ULYANOVSK REGION

The study of family and household rituals as the most important channel for transmitting cultural heritage is traditionally a highly topical issue for the ethnographic science. The article describes in detail the family and household protective rites that continue to exist in the ethnic environment of the Chuvash in Tsilninsky district of Ulyanovsk region. The article is based on long-term field authors research devoted to the study of family and household rites, its transformation in modern socio-economic conditions. Protective rites are examined within the life cycle of a Chuvash family: birth, wedding, funeral. The authors established that many traditional protective family and household rituals have been preserved, but at the same time they have acquired a modern character. Funeral and memorial rites are the most stable in the context under study, and wedding rites are the least stable. The article contains a unique material received from informants concerning the description of modern rituals associated with building a house, leaving the old one and moving to the new one. The study showed that at present, among the Chuvash population of the studied region, family and household rites continue to exist, they are aimed at achieving health, well-being, prosperity, with the goal of getting rid of diseases and misfortunes.

Household and Family Religion in Persian-Period Judah: An Archaeological Approach

Household and Family Religion in Persian-Period Judah: An Archaeological Approach

ДРЕВНИЕ САКРАЛЬНЫЕ СМЫСЛЫ ОБРАЗА ХВОЙНОГО ДЕРЕВА (ЕЛЬ, СОСНА) В ТВЕРСКОЙ ТРАДИЦИОННОЙ КУЛЬТУРЕ

The article is devoted to comprehension of ritual and magic role of coniferous tree (spruce, pine) in traditional national culture and is based on materials of a long-term (2000–2019) folklore and ethnographic expeditionary survey of villages of Tver region made by teachers and students of the State Academy of Slavic Culture (nowadays — Russian State University named after A. N. Kosygin). In addition to expedition materials, the work includes identified folklore and ethnographic archival records and publications of past years, related to the evidence of the coniferous tree's sacral meanings and reflecting the ritual tradition of not only Tver land, but also of territories associated with it. In Tver folk culture there is often a ritual synonymy of spruce and pine, which manifests itself both in attributive and in verbal terms. The logic of this article is primarily associated with Tver traditional calendar and agrarian complex, in which the spruce (pine) tree acts as a mythopoetically saturated ritual attribute of calendar rites and holidays. In addition, folklore and ethnographic evidence of the ritual and symbolic role of spruce (pine) in family and household rituals (wedding, maternity, recruiting) has been introduced. Thus, the material is built so that the archaic sacral meanings of the image of spruce (pine) in the ritual zone of Tver traditional culture are revealed, first of all, taking into account the North Russian dialect vocabulary connected with words "yel' ", "yelina", "yolka", "sosna" аnd their dialect meanings, аnd secondly, with the involvement of local ethnographical samples of traditional folk architecture and applied arts such as embroidery, weaving, wood carving and painting, which have preserved in a more or less evident form the sacred character of the depicted coniferous tree.

Household Rituals and Sacrificial Donkeys: Why Are There So Many Domestic Donkeys Buried in an Early Bronze Age Neighborhood at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath?

A few years ago, a domestic donkey (Equus asinus), or ass, was discovered at Tell eṣ-Ṣafi/Gath in modern Israel and determined to have been sacrificed and buried as a foundation deposit beneath the floor of an Early Bronze III house. Since then, three additional complete domestic donkey burials have been revealed beneath the floors of another house in the same Early Bronze neighborhood. These animals were buried within a nonelite domestic neighborhood at the edge of the city. The authors suggest that this urban space may have been the location of the homes and work spaces of merchants who relied upon donkeys as “beasts of burden” to transport their goods regionally and interregionally.

The Statuary of Asklepios from the Athenian Agora

This study identifies and publishes the marble statuary of Asklepios from the excavations of the Athenian Agora. The author explores the religious lives of the assemblage, mostly statuettes of the Roman period, through close autopsy and the reconstruction of viewing environments. Following a discussion of displays in baths and in sacred precincts, the author proposes that most of the reduced-scale figures belonged to domestic spaces and, at times, performed roles in household ritual. Varying Late Antique responses of defacing and continued use are also discussed. The evidence presented here moves beyond the monumental settings of Athenian cult and into the everyday spaces where routine interactions with the divine occurred.

Maya Cultural Landscapes and the Subterranean: Assessing a Century of Chultun Research

The function of chultuns, man-made subterranean chambers, in the southern Maya lowlands has been debated for over a century, with food storage being the most widely accepted proposal. Experimental archaeology shows, however, that none of the major Maya subsistence crops can be stored in chultuns because of their high humidity. Maya archaeology is currently at an impasse, espousing a storage function that is refuted by the data. Cave archaeology, with its intimate knowledge of subterranean space, has a decidedly different view. Ethnohistorical sources and ethnography document the fact that holes, even those dug for mining, are seen by the Maya as being caves, so one should expect chultuns to have had a religious function. Furthermore, in actual practice, there is considerable overlap between chultuns and caves, with a number of chultuns being identified as natural caves exhibiting an artificial entrance carved into them. Additionally, a number of chultuns are large enough that they could be classified as man-made caves. Religious functions have been repeatedly overlooked because of archaeologists’ insistence on a utilitarian function and further exacerbated by ignorance of Maya religion and ritual. It is shown that many chultuns have cosmological alignments, being placed along center lines or centered under structures or plazas. In proposing that chultuns functioned as sites of household ritual, considerable evidence is mustered to support an explanation that is more in accord with a realistic anthropological view of the Maya. The implications for sacred landscapes are profound in that thousands of sacred landmarks would be added to every site.