Individual Prayer Research Articles

Entering the Prophetic Realm: ʿAbd Rabbihī ibn Sulaymān al-Qaliyūbī (d. 1968) on the Nature of Mediation (tawassul)

In his comprehensive work Fayḍ al-wahhāb, ʿAbd Rabbihī ibn Sulaymān al-Qaliyūbī (d. 1968) extensively explores the Prophet Muhammad’s role in theology and argues against interpretations influenced by Wahhābī thought. He emphasizes the prophetic realm, or prophecy and its traces, particularly the means by which believers can establish a connection with it. This article pays special attention to al-Qaliyūbī’s understanding of mediation (tawassul); that is, how the Prophet—by virtue of his elevated status, ordained by God—can serve as a means; similar to how a ritual prayer or any good deed ultimately serves as a means to draw closer to God. For al-Qaliyūbī, following the Prophet means not only regarding him as the founder of the religion, but also incorporating his spirit and character into one’s own life. This article proceeds in four steps: (1) It addresses the systematics of prophecy concerning practical ethics and how this realm can be entered; (2) It introduces the three-layered paradigm of later theology and al-Qaliyūbī’s work; (3) It explores the topic of what constitutes a means (wasīla) and the theological implications of using a means in prayer (tawassul); (4) It zooms in on the aspect of what qualifies a means to be used in an individual prayer.

Religion/Spirituality and Prevalent Hypertension among Ethnic Cohorts in the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health.

Hypertension is a significant public health issue, particularly for Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, and South Asians who are at greater risk than whites. Religion and spirituality (R/S) have been shown to be protective, but this has been identified primarily in whites with limited R/S measures examined (i.e., religious service attendance). To assess hypertension prevalence (HP) in four racial/ethnic groups while incorporating an array of R/S variables, including individual prayer, group prayer, nontheistic daily spiritual experiences, yoga, gratitude, positive religious coping, and negative religious coping. Data were drawn from the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health, a consortium of ethnically diverse U.S. cohorts. The sample included 994 Black women, 838 Hispanic/Latino men and women, 879 South Asian men and women, and 3681 white women. Using a cross-sectional design, prevalence ratios for R/S and hypertension were reported for each cohort, in addition to pooled analyses. Given differences in R/S among men and women, all models were stratified by gender. Different patterns of associations were found between women and men. Among women: 1) religious attendance was associated with lower HP among Black and white women; 2) gratitude was linked to lower HP among Hispanic/Latino, South Asian, and white women; 3) individual prayer was associated with higher HP among Hispanic/Latino and white women; 4) yoga was associated with higher HP among South Asian women, and 5) negative religious coping was linked to higher HP among Black women. Among men: significant results were only found among Hispanic/Latino men. Religious attendance and individual prayer were associated with higher HP, while group prayer and negative religious coping were associated with lower HP. Religion/spirituality is a multifaceted construct that manifests differently by race/ethnicity and gender. Medical practitioners should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to this topic when evaluating prevalent hypertension in diverse communities.

Self-Purification and Social Dramatization; from Simone Weil to Martin Luther King Jr.

This article begins with an analysis of Simone Weil’s notion of “impersonality”, which implies disengagement from earthly attachments, deep introspection, and connection with an “anonymous” God, that is, with an imagined spiritual force of purity, located beyond the observable secular world. “Impersonality” encourages purification (or catharsis) from frantic passions (excited by such attachments); it inspires love, which Weil associates with respect and selfless devotion to social justice. My goal is to identify a shared set of similarities between Weil and Martin Luther King Jr. on the issue of individual catharsis, acknowledging also important divergences. King—contra Weil—claimed that rejection of frantic passions is incited through connection with a “personal” (rather than “anonymous”) God, with a high moral power, which responds to individual prayers and leads men and women into the path of love. Like Weil, King associated love with mutual respect and social justice. Both Weil and King believed that individual catharsis should lead to civil disobedience, whose ultimate objective is collective catharsis, that is, the abandonment of deeply rooted attitudes and beliefs (on behalf of a collectivity) that (sometimes unknowingly) perpetuate injustices, causing great suffering. By reflecting on the viewpoints offered by these thinkers, the present study will attempt to shed light on the process by which collective catharsis shifts public attitudes. The aim of civil disobedience, I will explain, is to dramatize social evils (such as racism and social exclusion), making large portions of a society aware of their passive reproduction of attitudes that contribute to the perpetuation of such unjust practices.

Poem: Churches Will Open for Private Prayer

When COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were eased in the UK in June 2020, one of the first measures to be introduced was to allow places of worship to open for private individual prayer. This poem reflects on the experience of visiting a church building for the first time following this re-opening, albeit with social distancing and other safety measures in place.

The impact of anti-Muslim hostilities on how Muslims connect their religiosity to support for gender equality in Western Europe

Right-wing populist voices argue that Muslims do not belong in Western Europe because Islam opposes the “core Western value” of women's empowerment. Ironically, such hostilities could cause European Muslims to reject antagonistic natives and their “Western values,” potentially creating backlashes in Muslims' support for gender equality. Delving into this possibility, this study diverges from simple conceptualizations of one inherently patriarchal Islam to study the diversity among Muslims in the gendered meanings they attach to their religion in different contexts. Empirically, we use a uniquely pooled dataset covering over 9,000 European Muslims in 16 Western European countries between 2008 and 2019. Multilevel models show that while mosque attendance limits support for public-sphere gender equality, religious identifications only do so among men and individual prayer only among women. Additionally, our results tentatively indicate that in more hostile contexts, prayer's effects become more patriarchal while religious identification's connection to opposition to gender equality weakens. We conclude that Islamic religiosities shape Muslims' support for public-sphere gender equality in far more complex ways than any right-wing populist claim on one essential patriarchal Islam captures.

Spiritual Needs as Expressed by People Living with HIV: A Systematic Review

It has been previously demonstrated that religiosity and spirituality can help support people living with HIV. Despite this, little work has been undertaken on this theme. Using the PRISMA methodology, we reviewed academic literature from 2008 to 2020 to summarize how people living with HIV define spiritual needs. We found fifty-nine distinct types of approach that were related to this theme and were grouped into four main categories: religious needs, social needs, existential needs, and emotional needs. Religious needs were more frequently cited, including individual prayers, the ingestion of miraculous medicines, and so on. The study calls attention to the concept’s multidimensionality and the cultural differences in the included papers. It reveals the need of each culture to research, to find an adequate meaning of spirituality, and to cater to the spiritual needs for people living with HIV as part of their healthcare, before setting health policies.

Between Tradition and Modernity: Judaism on the Move

In this study we will discuss works of Israeli modern composers who set traditional prayers (piyut) to music. People are poised between tradition and modernity – always yearning for meaning and striving for the transcendental, the eternal. We will discuss the modern interpretations of individual and congregational prayers and the role that these composers, who intertwine old and new, play in contemporary communities, in and outside Israel.
 
 This study is of cultural significance, today more than ever. The digital generation, born into a reality where the computer serves as the backbone of its lifestyle, the generation for whom social isolation has become part of the daily routine – years to find an anchor in its life – one of tradition, of the heritage of generations, which has the potential to give support and meaning to human existence. In a world ruled by uncertainty, tradition and culture, both particular and universal, offer a genuine key to life’s treasures. In this way man finds himself part of the chain of generations. He is connected. He has a cultural identity. The song of the synagogue, the liturgical song of man to God, has become the song of the crowd, and the song of man to man.

Everyday Life from a Sacral Perspective. Individual Entries in Prayer Books of Intentions as Material for Social Research

This paper presents the exploratory potential of entries in prayer books of intentions displayed in places of worship and in their online counterparts—virtual boxes of intentions. By reporting the happiness, dramas, and the whole element of human existence, individual prayer intentions are extremely authentic and valuable source materials. Their analysis requires extraordinary ethical sensitivity on the part of the researcher. Based on a review of previous research explorations and my own research, a four-dimensional model of analysis is proposed, consisting of the following areas: axionormative, communitarian, communicative, and ordinary theology. It can be useful for developing analyses of such documents and also allows for comparative research. The text also discusses the limitations associated with such analyses and briefly signals the basic ethical dilemmas and possible directions for further research using prayer entries.

"An automatic Bible in the brain": Trauma and prayer among Acholi Pentecostals in northern Uganda.

This article examines the role of prayers for traumatized survivors of war within a Pentecostal-charismatic community in post-conflict northern Uganda. It argues that becoming part of a church group and learning certain regimes of prayer can work toward symptom relief and recovery for people suffering from traumatic experiences. The study builds on 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork in rural northern Uganda, with extensive participant observation of religious practices and interviews with rural church congregants. The article attempts to show, through a single case narrative, how individual prayer practices are trained and learned and to identify features of prayer that may alter the individual experience of distress. Analytically, the article builds on Tanya Luhrmann's scholarship on prayer and applies this conceptual framework to a post-conflict context. The study expands on Luhrmann's concepts of prayer as an emotional technology in order to understand how psychiatric symptoms are managed within a Pentecostal-charismatic community. The article further argues that a conceptual focus on training of skills can contribute to debates on the universal versus particular characteristics of psychiatric expression and concepts of mind. This argument contributes to current debates on non-clinical ways of managing traumatic experiences and to debates about models of mind in different cultural settings.

Joey + Rory

Joey + Rory

Christian Prayer and the Local Congregation: A Social Analysis of Individual Prayer Petitions

Prayer requests from members and attendees of a progressive Christian church located in a large American City was the subject of this investigation. This church serves congregants from Roman Catholic and Protestant backgrounds, and a large, but not exclusively gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community. ap Siôn’s study of prayer typology and subject contents from rural England influenced this investigation. This study used computer technology and document analysis to categorize 8,059 individual prayer card requests submitted between 2014-2018 from church members and attendees. Results showed the most common prayer requests were “Thanks and Thanksgiving” prayers with “Praise and Adoration” prayers among the least common. Few references to sin and forgiveness were found. The most frequently mentioned subjects of prayers were those referencing personal needs and concerns. Findings and comparison with ap Siôn and other research suggest these prayer requests demonstrate the social and theological cohesiveness of Christian prayer. Additional research is suggested comparing Christian prayer with prayers in other religions and how prayer behaviors interact with the rise of multiculturalism in society.

Psalms, Volume 2

Psalms, Volume 2

The Writings: Psalms

The WritingsPsalms Christopher T. Begg 1333. [Servant of the Lord in the Psalter] Egbert Ballhorn, "Von David dem Knecht zum Volk der Gottesknechte im Psalter," Zur Theologie des Psalters, 287-315 [see #1618]. The title "servant of the Lord" is used in two different ways in the Psalter: On the one hand, it is a self-designation used by the pray-er in his relationship to God, while on the other it functions as a title ascribed to King David. That title is so impregnated with the figure of David that every individual pray-er who uses the designation of himself stands in the succession of David, with consequences not only for the pray-er's relationship to God but also for his status as God's chosen one. [Adapted from published abstract] 1334. [Psalms; Chronicles] Ehud Ben Zvi, "Psalms, Chronicles, and Matters of Social Memory in the Early Second Temple Period: Some Introductory Considerations," Psalmen und Chronik, 243-56 [see #1555]. B. Z. seeks to identify a "social memory system" unifying both Chronicles and the Psalter as well as these books' respective receptional circles. In so doing, he cautions, with regard to such comparisons, against taking the modern understanding of the two textual complexes as a basis. Chronicles, on the one hand, does indeed concern itself with psalms and pieces of song, but does not, however, present the "actual content of the songs," while, on the other hand, the Psalter features later resignifications, contemporaneous with Chronicles, [End Page 452] of Chronistic personages. Taking the Persian or early Hellenistic period as background, B. Z. sets out to selectively ascertain how old psalms were remembered and newly interpreted. Thus, the psalm titles refer to David as a "master musician." In Chronicles, on the basis of this already existent memory of David as a musician, the figure of David is further developed. Psalms and Chronicles both participate in a common "mnemonic system," wherein, by way of the Davidic figure, sacrificial cult and psalms are interwoven. The Levitical singers Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun represent another example of shared memory. They are mentioned in Psalms 39, 50, 62, 73–88, 89, and also appear in Chronicles. Likewise psalmic formulations such as the refrain "for his steadfast love endures forever" show themselves to have been especially suitable for memory formation. In Psalms 106, 107, 118, and 136 this formula occurs a total of 32 times, while in 1 Chr 16:34; 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3, 6; 20:21, it is used in the articulation of the praise of Yhwh. In addition, B. Z.'s contribution devotes particular attention to psalmic citations in 1 Chr 16:8-36 and 2 Chr 6:41-42. For ancient recipients the question of the origin of the above formula—did it originate in Chronicles or in the Psalter—was not an issue. Far more important than the certainly greater age of Pss 96:1-13; 105:1-15; 106:47-48; and 132:8-10 vis-à-vis the citations of these verses in Chronicles is the mutual illumination of both Chronicles and the Psalter via the reception process. Both complexes have had a part to play in the formation of Israel's memory. This becomes clear in that in the "narrative" of Chronicles the psalms initiated by David are at the same time reflective of the postexilic situation (see 1 Chr 16:15). A similar situation occurs in 2 Chr 6:41-42, where Ps 132:8-10 is paraphrased. In 2 Chronicles 6 these verses are the conclusion of Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple and reflect changes to the source text of 1 Kings 8. In dealing as it does with its source material, 2 Chr 6:41-42 emphasizes that the foundations of the Temple cult go back to Yhwh alone. [Adapted from published abstract] 1335. [Psalms; Isaiah; Zion] Joseph Blenkinsopp, "Zion as Reality and Symbol in Psalms and Isaiah," Essays on the Book of Isaiah, 122-34 [see #1628]. B. opens this brief essay with the statement (p. 122): "Psalms and Isaiah . . . have a great deal in common. Their intertextual relations are...

Ties That Bind: Finding Meaning in the Making of Sacred Textiles

I was a novice weaver when I began constructing a Rakusua-Buddhist ceremonial garment-as an initiation into a spiritual community in my hometown. Years later, in the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam, I was drawn to an early 19th century Tallit Katan, a ritual silk undergarment that had been made for a Jewish poet who later converted to Christianity. I had just inherited my father-in-law’s prized collection of silk neckties. He was a troubled man who had embraced his faith late in life. Those ties became the weft for three works-a handwoven tallit, a woven timeline, and a small keepsake for his widow, which accompanied her to her grave. In that same period, at our local flea market, I noticed a small image in a book depicting an 8th century Buddhist silk Altar Valance from the Silk Road, part of the Stein Collection held by the British Museum. Its row of streamers resembled modern neckties, its precious silk scraps spoke of humility and thrift. It was a communal artifact punctuated by individual prayers. Both the Tallit Katan and the Stein Valance have been carefully researched and documented. I learned much from that material. But, for me, understanding both the making of those pieces and my own absorption inn them required a physical engagement over time. My paper describes this process.

Anticipation of Contemporary Sacred Buildings - New Directions in Designing Semantic Architecture

Architecture, particularly sacral architecture, has always been an answer to the transcendent needs of humans of a given era. For today’s humans, order is only an element of the matter. The religious scholar Charles Taylor, when describing the contemporary world, used a reverse version of this concept - a >disenchanted world<. Contemporary religiousness is a radical departure of humans from the cosmos. A man, also in the religious sphere, emphasises the individual and private nature of experiencing the sacred, which is unquestionably important for contemporary creators of sacral spaces. The analysis of sacral constructions in Europe within the last 20 years clearly shows that spaces which particularly stand out are those used for individual prayer, rather than liturgy of the community of believers. This is probably caused by the needs of the contemporary human, who has a new, more individualised way to pursue happiness, as well as by loosening of certain bonds and common ways of living. At the same time, facilities intended for group ceremonies are also created. Lukas Feiresiss, in the book entitled: “Closer to God”, divides the latest sacred projects around the world into three groups: “Silent Prayer”, “Living Worship”, “Amazing Grace”. However, scientific publications mostly present small projects for individual prayer and mostly for contemplation. This individualisation is reflected in the quiet places – small chapels. It is difficult to say that it is a common tendency; surely works of contemporary sacral architecture are created that are designed for the community of believers. However, the formation of many places of quiet or focus within the last dozen or so years is a new phenomenon. An aspect of this phenomenon is also interesting from the point of view of symbols used in such places. In the age of continuous information flow, quiet and individual prayer constitute opportunities to enter the space of the sacred. Contemporary small forms of quiet reflection indicate various trends; the semantic aspect of these forms is the key to architectural criticism. Due to the a priori nature of phenomena related to symbols, this layer remains unchanged. When describing symbols of places of quiet reflection, the symbols used should be described: gateways, nave and aisles, stair vaults, circles, arches of the heavens, and apses. All these elements form unique sequences of form, at the same time referring to cosmological symbolism. Contemporary sacred architecture is characterised by many extreme stylistic directions. In spite of the above, architects in their creative work reach for the original patterns – semantic archetypes, and all the aforementioned projects are saturated with symbols of the cosmological order. The anticipation of sacral architecture is the myth about creation of the world and the primeval beginning. For architects, it is important that “the archetype can be repeated (imitated) in a primitive manner”, but also that a man seeks, even at the lowest level of his religious experience, to come close to the archetype and to realise it in some manner. The contemporary man, in spite of advanced technology and mastery of the matter, in many aspects still desires symbols, as he remains Homo symbolicus. In the sacral architecture, it seems to be impossible to escape the Platonian triad: the good, the truth and the beauty. Return to the original patterns and ideas in the sacral architecture indicates the stability and the a priori nature of semantic forms. Natural matter, cosmological symbols not only indicate the constancy of sacral meanings, but also constitute a guideline for future creators.

КОНФЛИКТОГЕННЫЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ САКРАЛЬНОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА ПРАВОСЛАВНЫХ ХРАМОВ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ГОРОДСКИХ ЦЕРКВЕЙ САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГА)

A seriality of traumatic experience of the Orthodox temples attenders inspires an analysis the problem with a focus on surplus informal negative sanctions on the part of church staff towards church-attenders. Informal negative sanctions repertoire includes both verbal (comments, rebukes) and kinetic (interruption of private space or physical displacement away the trajectory of locomotion) pretenses. The main question of the paper investigates the structure of sacral space: how does its geometry provokes constant conflicts. A configuration of the Orthodox churches’ sacral space (in particularly, in the main cathedrals of S-Petersburg Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church) due to a high altar bar, predestinating trajectories of locomotion and direction of attenders’ sight, provides a shortage of acoustic and visual attenders’ involvement into a worship-service. A redistribution of these loci between churchgoers creates a main drama of their mutual attendance during a liturgy. Outside of liturgy a trajectory of visitors as a rule synchronizes with a running along a church perimeter, i.e. the belt of tangible objects (icons flanked by candlesticks, reliquaries) – mediators of sacral communication. Though even thinly populated, a church place forces attenders find themselves in condition of a space shortage, so far as a trajectory of their locomotion is near to be interrupted by church staff, controlling both an appearance of visitors, their potential invasion into loci with unobvious lines and a correspondence their actions to a set of rules with a high degree of implicitness. A collision in this case is provokes by a functional ambiguity, when a church, represented as a religious facility aimed public worships, in a break between services acts both a space for private requires or individual prayer, and as a commercial institute for religiously marked items selling, and sometimes as a museum-concert complex targeted leisure pastime. An extra well of a sacred space collisions is an insider parish status asymmetry, when an activity of catechism is occupied not by clerics or catechists, but by elder ladies with a superstitious behavior as their peculiarity.

Agency and the roles of Southern Jordanian Bedouin women on pilgrimage and visiting holy sites

In the Islamic world, numerous shrines shape and define its spiritual landscapes. While some of the shrines are tombs and memorials of major religious and historical figures, a majority of the sites are dedicated to ancestors of the local families and tribes. They function as centres of the religious community, but they also provide a secluded location for private spiritual visits and individual prayers. Women have participated in public rituals also, but it is in the private religious sphere that the women have created a space for independent religious action, connected, and yet separate from their mundane roles.&#x0D;

The Cult in the Cell

Abstract Early monastic literature refers to a practice already mentioned for congregational Christians in the Didache: the prayers for different times a day. By late antiquity it is designated as something that could be practiced in the monk’s cell. Individual prayer was probably not restricted to hermits but seems to have been practiced in the cenobia, too. The synaxeis-that is, the individual psalmodising of the hermits-clearly corresponded to services in church settings: both, for example, are called synaxis. A general practice of the Christian cult, that is, was transferred to the cell, so to speak. This transferal was probably due to the rather strong individualization tendencies of early monasticism. Thus it is no surprise that, especially for monks, domestic religiousness played a particularly prominent role.

Well-being and the worshipper: a scientific perspective of selected contemplative practices in Islam

PurposeModern life is characterized by its hectic life-style, which invariably leads to high levels of stress having negative consequences for the mind-body. Thus, people are seeking for natural ways to achieve a sense of equilibrium and peace. Neuroscience has identified beneficial findings from contemplative practices like meditation, prayers and fasting. Within the Islamic framework, these practices were found to be beneficial for both the body and the mind. However, comparatively little research has been carried out on Islamic contemplative practices. Thus, there is a dire need to carry out further research, where the focus needs to be more on the inward aspects of Islam especially the contemplative practices.Design/methodology/approachThe study took an integrated approach, whereby, objective experimental data from various sources were combined with the religious narratives from the Qur’an and the Hadiths or the practice of the Prophet in Islam. This was augmented by the subjective experiences of the participants of the study and all of these woven to present a case for Islamic contemplative practices.FindingsWorship, be it Yogic, Buddhist and Islamic, seems to have positive mental and physical benefits for individuals. Much has been documented within the field of Yoga and Buddhist practices, and it is only recently that Islamic practices are beginning to be studied and are yielding similar results. It has been found that Islamic ritual prayers, fasting and meditation (dhikr) have an impact on the well-being of the worshipper. The communities of practice commonly known as “tariqas” and other religio-spiritual orders can serve as a vehicle to further these practices. This opens the door for more extensive research in this direction.Research limitations/implicationsThis study clearly indicates that Islamic practices have positive benefits; however, the number of studies are limited. Moreover, there are a whole system of practices as the contemplative tree in this paper points out, which needs more robust as well as longitudinal studies to outline more conclusive evidence to this effect.Practical implicationsMuslims have been looking at other traditions like Yoga and Buddhist meditation to find ways of improving their physical and mental health. This meta-study indicates that Islamic contemplative practices have positive benefits, and thus, there are a variety of practices like ritual prayers, fasting and meditation, which is found to demonstrate positive health benefits. Thus, it has direct practical reasons to pursue these practices and derive the innate benefits from them.Social implicationsThe data from the various neuroscience studies have demonstrated the neurological and physiological impact on individuals directly relating to worship. However, the studies on the Islamic ritual prayer (salat) cited in this study points out to its social implications, where congregational prayers was found to be more beneficial than the individual prayers. Thus, this indicates the social implications that collective worship can have. Further research is needed in terms of understanding the social impact on the various collective contemplative practices.Originality/valueThe originality of this literature review and analysis is bringing together the various strands of neuroscience and health data to demonstrate the positive impact of worship emanating from others faiths, while building a case for Islamic contemplative practices. This is further augmented by its integrated approach of weaving hard and soft data and synthesizing it to present health benefits of worship.

Prayers for the Community: Parallelism and Performance in San Juan Quiahije Eastern Chatino

Prayers for the Community:Parallelism and Performance in San Juan Quiahije Eastern Chatino Hilaria Cruz (bio) Introduction This essay examines parallelism and other essential features of ritual discourse in San Juan Quiahije, Eastern Chatino. The Chatino languages are spoken in the highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico. The essay focuses on the poetic and discursive features found in two impromptu prayers within a corpus of civic/religious ritual petitions that the members of the community refer to as La42 qin4 kchin4,1 or "Prayers for the Community."2 The "Prayers for the Community" are part of a ritual carried out regularly by elders and traditional San Juan Quiahije (SJQ) authorities in their official capacity as community representatives. These dignitaries come together at dawn on the first day of each month and on high holidays—the most important feast day is that of the patron saint of SJQ, Saint John the Baptist, June 24th—to petition for the well-being of the entire community, and especially for the younger generations. Both of the petitions analyzed in this essay were made at the same ceremonial event on June 24, 2009 at 5:00 a.m. in the Catholic church. The prayers were said by Simón Zurita and Wenceslao Cortés, two elders from the SJQ community. On the evening prior to the prayers, a group of municipal envoys visited select elders of the community, including Simón Zurita, and formally invited them to join the municipal officials and participate in the worship. Wenceslao Cortés, serving his final elected position in the SJQ municipality, had instructed the envoys to invite the elders to the ceremony. The elders who agreed to accompany the authorities to the ceremony were instructed to come to City Hall at around 4:15 a.m. to begin the ritual. A total of six elders participated in the petition and began to arrive at City Hall by 4:00 a.m. At 5:00 a.m. the group walked together from City Hall to the church. Upon arriving at the doorsteps of the church, they all knelt and crossed themselves. Then all proceeded to walk on their knees for three to four minutes toward the main altar holding the offerings in their hands while reciting their individual prayers. The church attendants (catechists), lower ranking authorities (including helpers of City Hall), and members of the community who wished to be blessed by the elders' supplications were present at the church. Upon concluding their prayers, the community representatives stood in a row facing the church door, clutching their candles and flowers, in order to allow residents to touch and kiss the offerings they had brought for their petition. The petitioner's goal is to move and persuade the spiritual intermediaries (such as saints and ancestors) to grant his wishes. Translation is as much an art as a science. Literary and cultural translations are challenging because cultural concepts frequently do not map one to one from one language to the next. When translating a poetic text, the translator must take into account the different layers of meaning in the source text including aesthetics, phonics, and polysemy (Barnstone 2010:4). These challenges are exacerbated when the source and target languages come from completely different language families. For example, Chatino and English idioms and metaphorical phrases have very little in common. One of the challenges I encountered when I translated the two prayers studied here is that Chatino poetics make extensive use of positional and existential predicates to achieve poetic tension, imagery, and metaphor. Verses 1-2 of example (7) illustrate this point. The positional expression tyi20 ton1 literally means "s/he or they will stand," and tyi20 tqen24 means "s/he or they will exist or spread out on the ground." However, in this context these expressions are being used metaphorically to express that the new generation will one day take charge and step up and stand for the community. For this reason I have chosen to translate these expressions as "now they are about to rise up and now they are about to establish themselves," to convey the movement and agency that form part of the...