Religious Feasts Research Articles

Altruism And Local-Based Social Cooperation in The Bagarumutan Tradition of Banjar People, South Kalimantan

This research delves into the forms of social cooperation and altruism in the cultural context of Banjar society, with a specific focus on the practice of the bagarumutan tradition. To gain a deeper understanding of this social phenomenon, a qualitative approach was employed through a series of participant observations, in-depth interviews with community members, and analysis of related local narratives. The results of the study indicate that altruism, as a core value driving social actions, is manifested in various aspects of Banjar community life, particularly in the practice of the bagarumutan tradition. Bagarumutan, which originates from the word "garumut" meaning to gather, with the prefix "ba" (which means 'ber' in Bahasa Indonesia), translates to berkumpul or gathering. Gathering to carry out a task collectively or to help each other. In this framework, the Banjar community actively engages in social activities such as bagarumutan in events such as baaruhan or selamatan (religious feasts), pengantinan or wedding receptions, and haul (commemoration) ceremonies. The Banjar people view such events as important moments that motivate them to work together as a communal unit. In-depth analysis of the bagarumutan practice also reveals that religious and traditional values play a significant role in strengthening and preserving the spirit of altruism in Banjar society. Furthermore, this research highlights the importance of bagarumutan in reinforcing local cultural identity and maintaining social bonds amidst the currents of globalization and modernization.

Working for the Saints

This article presents some of the main dynamics of the social reproduction of an Italian community through an ethnographic study of the Feast of the Three Saints in Silkwood, North Queensland. It has been celebrated annually there since being imported from the Sicilian village of St Alfio in 1950. As a celebration of Italian sociality and the Italian way of life, the Feast offers a particular opportunity to study the relationship between popular religion, food production and consumption, the senses, memory and materiality. From this perspective, I argue that the Feast as ‘lived religion’ should be understood not only as an expression of Catholic devotion, but also in terms of the construction of a ‘domus’, defined as a social unit and a community based on shared values and practices enacted and continually renewed by the preparation of food and the sensorial aspects of commensality. In the ‘sacred street theatre’ of the Feast, it is by means of these food practices that a community comes into being by sharing knowledge, memories and feelings. [A religious feast in Sicily] is, above all, an existential explosion. (Sciascia 1965: 30)1 This completely irreligious way of understanding and professing a religion … has its roots in a profound materialism, a total rejection of all that entails mystery, invisible revelation, metaphysics. (Sciascia 1965: 21)

Al-Andalus as a Symbol of Islamic Religious Tolerance

The Research examines the history of religious tolerance and coexistence between Muslims and Christians in Al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula) since Muslims first arrived in the Peninsula, and how Muslims, during their reign, fostered and promoted justice, equality and tolerance among Andalusian society's diverse demographic segments. Furthermore, the Research addresses the question of how Muslims dealt with Dhimmis (non-Muslims living in an Islamic State with legal protection), granting them full rights, including the freedom to profess their faith and worship in their churches and temples, as well as permit them to construct new churches away from religious persecution? In fact, Muslims went far than that, as they participated in Christian religious feasts and social events. Moreover, the Research draws on vivid examples that demonstrate Muslims' righteousness in ruling an Andalusian community, which included Muslims, Christians, Jews, and people of various ethnicities. It also highlights how the aforementioned ethnicities were granted complete freedom to innovate in all realms of innovation; therefore, there were physicians, philosophers, poets, engineers, writers, diplomats, translators, and custodians of State secrets among them.

Itinerant Musicians of Western Polissia: Mykola Muravets

The person and career of the outstanding traveling musician Mykola Muravets from Western Polissia were characterized in general terms on the basis of the newly acquired expedition materials. This notorious hurdy-gurdy player was born in 1906 on the Murava farm near the village of Shtun of the Volodymyr-Volyn District, Volyn Gubernia. At the age of 11, because of burns from a fired gas shell, he completely lost his sight. The boy was distinguished by his beautiful voice and had an excellent memory and musical ear, so the fellow villagers advised his parents to send him to study with an experienced and a well-known hurdy-gurdy player by the nickname "Matiya".
 Having quickly mastered the basics of the instrument, Mykola began his itinerant performance activity, which was quite prolific and, in certain periods, even highly paid during the time of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Besides house shows and street performances, he also performed at cathedrals, secular mass gatherings, and in fairs and markets.
 In 1944, the musician’s family could not avoid the calamity of the Second World War. During the events of the Volyn tragedy, the Poles burned down his house with his beloved hurdy-gurdy inside. Due to his family’s poverty, he would never manage to replace his hurdy-gurdy. However, in that moment, a new stage of his musicianship began with the transition to using another instrument - the bandonion – to continue his busking.
 Unlike the hurdy-gurdy playing period, when Muravets dealt mostly with invitations to holidays and celebrations, the following period encouraged the musician to do more busking. The peasants treated the busker with respect and took care of him. Whoever was richer invited him to their houses to eat, spend the night, sing songs, and gifted him with headscarves, fabric, and money. In addition to invitations to houses and street forms of busking, a very important part of Mykola’s busking was participating in religious feasts at churches and monasteries. Mykola Muravets sang akathists, prayed for the health of the living and peace of the deceased, and the offspring of livestock. His knowledge of the Psalter, the Divine Liturgy, and skill in reciting the Akathist led to the high authority of the busker and strengthened his position in the social hierarchy of the village, equating him to a clergyman. The main ritual duties consisted in mourning the deceased in his own and other villages.
 In addition to being honoured among the fellow villagers, Mykola Muravets was greatly respected among blind musicians, whom he repeatedly hosted at his own home for meetings. Particularly, the buskers of the entire district elected a blind man, Mikolay, as their leader.
 There is a genre palette in the repertoire of Mykola Muravets. At the beginning of his career, he mainly performed only religious and moralistic works, which he mainly learnt from his teacher – Matvyi Kovalchuk, and the rest later from other blind musicians during busking.Mykola Muravets died on May 22nd, 1995.

Calendar Poems: Variances in Vernacular Versified Calendars as Expressions of Individual Perceptions of Time

Abstract Cisiojanus is what we call a medieval mnemonic device designed to provide temporal orientation by transforming the sequence of immovable religious feast days into a short and memorable poem. Mapping the sacred calendar onto a textual surface enabled its user to determine dates by counting the poem’s syllables, words or lines. As an integral part of elementary education, the cisiojanus is believed to have been one of the most popular poems of the Middle Ages. It survived in hundreds of copies all over Europe and was translated into numerous languages. While the cisiojanus formed what could be one of the largest premodern, text-based temporal communities, it also adapted to the requirements of its users, leading to an astonishing amount of nearly identical, yet significally different poems. This article explores different cisiojani as individual perspectives on time. While some make adjustments for regional and local variants of the calendar, some even bear witness to personal interpretations of the calendar.

War against Prohibition: Italians and Booze in New York City, 1920–1933

War against Prohibition: Italians and Booze in New York City, 1920–1933

Dancing for the Saints in the Time of Covid-19: Responses to the 2020 Lockdown in Central Mexico

During religious feasts in the Teotihuacán and Texcoco regions northeast of Mexico City, people ‘dance for the saint,’ often to fulfill a vow made in a supplication for healing. Based on fieldwork carried out between 2011 and 2019, and online interviews and monitoring of Facebook postings in late 2020 and early 2021, in this article we explore the impact of the coronavirus on the devotional dances staged in the context of religious feasts. In particular, we examine the cases of new practices adopted during the lockdown. Drawing on Jeremy Stolow’s (2005) concept of “religions as media,” we show how a combination of digital and in-person media make it possible for local Catholic communities to maintain the relationship with their patron-saint during the pandemic, based on the principle of do ut des, “though differently.” We conclude by raising questions concerning the future of the devotional dances and religious feasts in these regions as pandemic restrictions entered their second year.

«Декларации независимости» Новгорода в ранних новгородских произведениях Пахомия Логофета

At the end of the 1430s, Archbishop Evfimii II of Novgorod commissioned Pachomius Logothetes (the Serb) to compose two cycles of texts for the two local religious feasts — the feast of the Novgorodian icon of Our Lady of the Sign («Znamenie»), associated with the legend of the miraculous rescue of Novgorod from the besieging army of Grand Prince Andrei of Suzdal in 1169–1170, and the feast of St. Varlaam Khutynskii. Both cycles contain statements that express some aspects of political independence of Novgorod. I compare these declarative phrases from Pachomius’s texts with a similar phrase in the anonymous «Slovo o znamenii», which was the main source for Pachomius’s Znamenskii cycle. This comparison shows that Pachomius did not retain the notion that the Novgorodian right to territories was divinely sanctioned. Instead, he paid special attention to different aspects of political power: the political independence of Novgorod, the right of the Novgorodians to invite and expel princes, and the duties of such a prince. I argue that these observations are connected with the main ideas of the rest of the Znamenskii cycle where Pachomius presents the Mother of God and even God himself as protectors of Novgorod and emphasizes the exceptionally high status of Archbishop Ioann as an agent who conveys the will of God to the people of Novgorod. Considering what we know about Archbishop Evfimii’s II political activities and the ideological trends that are revealed in the Novgorodian chronicles, I suggest that the task that Pachomius had likely in mind when composing the Znamenskii cycle was the legitimation of the power of the archbishop in his capacity as the head of the independent Novgorod republic.

Материалы по визуальной антропологии монгольских народов в кинохронике А. Керна

Introduction. In 1923, Swiss filmmaker August Kern took motion pictures of Kalmyk settlements. Those were further used to compile an ethnographic film titled ‘Mysteries of Kalmyk Steppe. Glimpses of Kalmyk and Tatar Lifestyles’ (Fr. Les mystères de la steppe kalmouk. La vie des Tartars et des Kalmouks). Only one part of the film survived to the present but it does provide an extensive insight into the then life of Kalmyks. The newsreel depicts a short period, supposedly late spring to early summer, while one subtitle mentions Kern was able to film ‘an important religious feast of Kalmyks’. Goals. The articles attempts an analysis of ethnographic materials contained in A. Kern’s newsreel. The film is a unique and only early 20th century cinematographic document that shows religious rites, sporting events, and Kalmyk dance culture during festivities. Materials and methods. The work examines one variant of the cinematic chronicle archived at Kalmyk Scientific Center (RAS) and containing religious scenery. Results. Key elements of the storyline — clockwise circumambulation of sacred entities, respects to banners, recitations of holy texts in Tibetan — can still be witnessed in Kalmyk religious practices. However, the depicted clothing patterns of Kalmyk clerics are gone and replaced by unified monastic robes typical for all sects of Tibetan Buddhism. Nowadays only a small share of Kalmyk priests wear traditional garments, even the latter usually styled after Mongolian patterns. Conclusions. The analysis concludes the mentioned changes have resulted from interrupted religious and cultural traditions during antireligious struggle witnessed by 20th century Russia. Meanwhile, Kern’s materials attest to that 1920s Kalmyks — though separated from the rest of Mongol world — were successful enough in retaining their traditional culture.

Feasting Ritually: An Ethnography on the Implications of Feasts in Religious Rituals

Food and feast are integral and key components of human cultures across the world. Feasts associated with religious rituals have special social and cultural significance when compared to those in any other festivities or celebrations in people’s life. In this study, an approach is made to comparatively analyze the feasts at religious festivals of two distinctive groups of people, one with a characteristic of simple society and the other of a complex society. The annual feast happening at the hamlets of the Anchunadu Vellalar community in the last days of the calendar year is an occasion that portrays the egalitarian nature of the people. While this feast is restricted within a single community of particular caste affiliation and geographical limitations, the feast associated with the kaliyattam ritual of village goddess in North Malabar is much wider in scope and participation. The enormous feast brings the people in a larger area and exhibits a solidarity that cuts across boundaries of religion, caste and community. Beyond the factors of social solidarity and togetherness, these events also illustrate its divisive characters mainly in terms of social hierarchy and gender. A comparative study of both the two feasts of two different contexts reveals the characteristic features of religious feasts and the value of food and feast in social life and solidarity and also how it acts as a survival of their past and as a tradition.

Sidon on the breadth of the wild sea: Movement and diet on the Mediterranean coast in the Middle Bronze Age.

ObjectivesExcavations at Sidon (Lebanon) have revealed dual identities during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000–1600 BCE): a maritime port and center for local distribution, as well as a settlement with a heavy subsistence dependence on the extensive inland hinterlands. We aim to investigate residential mobility at Sidon using isotopic analyses of 112 individuals from 83 burials (20 females, 26 males, and 37 subadults). Veneration and remembrance of the dead is evident from funerary offerings in and near the tombs. With marine fish a major component in funerary offerings, we predict major marine reliance in this coastal population.Materials and methodsNew isotopic evidence of paleomobility (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O) and diet (δ13Ccarbonate) is the focus of this research. Previous bulk bone collagen δ13C and δ15N analysis is strengthened by further sampling, along with δ34S where collagen yield was sufficient.ResultsThe five non‐locals identified (8.9% of the 56 analyzed) come from constructed tombs with high‐status grave goods except for one, which was heavily disturbed in antiquity. Dietary investigation of the population confirms reliance on terrestrial resources with no significant marine input. No significant differences in diet between the sexes or burial types are present.ConclusionsAlthough Sidon was part of a growing Mediterranean network evidenced through artefactual finds, relatively low immigration is evident. While religious feasts venerating the dead may have involved significant piscine components, no appreciable marine input in diet is observed. Fish may have been reserved for the deceased or only consumed on feast days alongside the dead rather than a regular part of the Bronze Age menu.

الجانب الأخلاقی فی معاملة الممالیک لعامة الشعب أسـرة قــلاوون نموذجــاً (678- 783هـ / 1279- 1383م)

اهتم المماليک بالجانب الأخلاقى فى معاملة عاملة الشعب، وظهر ذلک واضحا فى عصر أسرة قلاوون، وذلک بممارستهم للشعائر الدينية من صلاة وصوم وحج واحتفالات بالأعياد الدينية ومشارکتهم لعامة الناس. کما ظهر الجانب الأخلاقى لسلاطين أسرة قلاوون بتحقيق العدل بين الناس وإصلاح من ساءت أخلاقه وإبطال المکوس والضرائب التى کانت ترهق کاهل الشعب، وإنفاق أسرة قلاوون على الناس ورفع الظلم عنهم، مما کان له الأثر الطيب فى قلوب عامة الشعب تجاه سلاطين أسرة قلاوون، وبهذه المعاملة استطاع سلاطين أسرة قلاوون تيسير أمور الشعب ورفع المستوى المعيشى والرخاء الاقتصادى لعامة الشعب. The Mamluks were concerned with the moral aspect of treating the common people, and this was evident in the Qalawun dynasty, through their practice of religious rites such as prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, celebrations of religious feasts and their participation in the common people. The moral aspect of the sultans of the Qalawun dynasty was appeared by achieving justice among the people, reforming those whose morals were bad, and abolishing the tolls and taxes that were burdening the people, and the Qalawun dynasty’s spending on the people and the removal of injustice from them., which has a good effect in the hearts of the common people towards the sultans of the Qalawun dynasty. With that treatment, the sultans of the Qalawun dynasty were able to facilitate the people’s affairs and raise the standard of living and economic prosperity for the common people.

Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of Clinopodium nepeta subsp. glandulosum (Req.) Govaerts essential oil

Clinopodium nepeta subsp. glandulosum (Req.) Govaerts is a natural perennial grass belonging to the Lamiaceae family, growing spontaneously on the Mediterranean coast. It is locally known as “kedi fesleğeni” in Turkey. This aromatic plant is used as a mint-like spice in food preparations and in the composition of some recipes during religious feasts. In folk medicine, it is used as stimulant, antiseptic and antispasmodic. Aerial parts of C. nepeta subsp. glandulosum were collected from Bilecik in July 2017, and was air dried. The essential oil was isolated by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus and the composition of the essential oil was simultaneously analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Piperitenone oxide (47.8%), limonene (18.6%) and piperitone oxide II (13.6%) were found as major components. Antibacterial activity of the essential oil was tested against Escherichia coli NRRLB-3008, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 13311, Bacillus cereus NRRL-B3711 and Streptococcus sanguinis ATCC 10556 were used by broth microdilution method. Ciprofloxacin was used as control and Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) were determined. The highest activity was found against S. typhimurium (1250 µg/mL). The essential oil is more effective against B. cereus (2500 µg/mL) and S. sanguinis (2500 µg/mL). The lowest activities were determined against E. coli (5000 µg/mL) and P. aeruginosa (10000 µg/mL).

The Religious World of guthis: Three facets of Newār civilization, Nepal

Despite the impact of Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism, the religion of Jyāpu ‘farmers’ of the Newār ethnic group still presents features that do not fit in with these two ‘high religions’. This paper is devoted to this indigenous cultural heritage and deals specifically with religious aspects linked to the Jyāpu guthi (association, religious group) organisation. It first of all explores rites and beliefs associated with dance and music. The cult of the aniconic deity Nāsaḥdyaḥ, central to these questions, is analysed. Second, sīkābhvāy, the banquet during which the head of a sacrificial animal is offered to a specific deity and eaten by the eight seniormost men within the group is studied. This religious feast, imbued with hierarchy, male dominance over women, secrecy, prominence of senior people, thakāli, animal sacrifice and meat eating, echoes other indigenous religions of Southeast Asia. Third, death and cremation associations, si guthi and sanāḥ guthi, both key social units of the village organisation, are scrutinised. In Jyāpu villages, these death cult groups are closely associated with territorial bonds and with the symbolic protection of localities – a feature that figures to a greater degree in the indigenous tribal universe than in the Hindu world. Finally, I show how the two concepts of Indianisation and vernacularisation throw light on this ethnographic material and may explain some developments of religious faiths and beliefs in the Kathmandu Valley and in the Himalayas.

الأوانى الکانوبیة فى العصرین البطلمى والرومانى.

مما لاشک فيه أن المصريون القدماء أهتموا بالآخرة أکثر من أهتمامهم بالحياة الدنيا وقد ظهر هذا واضحا من خلال عمارة المقابر وما تبعها من فنون جنائزية، ولقد کان للمصريين القدماء مجموعة من عادات الدفن المعقدة والتى يرون أنها ضرورية للخلود والحفاظ على جسد الميت بعد الموت, وشملت هذه الطقوس التحنيط والتعاويذ السحرية ودفن بعض السلع التى يرون الميت فى حاجة لها فى الحياة الآخرى. کانت الطقوس الجنائزية عند مصر القديمة يتولاها الکهنة وهى مابين طقوس وشعائر يومية تؤدى للآلهة على نحو مخصص وبين أعياد دينية فى مواسم خاصة مثل عيد موسم الفيضان, وطقوس دفن الموتى مثل التحنيط والتوابيت التى يوضع فيها الجسد وکذلک الأوانى التى تقوم بالحفاظ على أحشاء المتوفى واستمر وجود هذه الأوانى خلال عصر الأسرات وأيضا خلال العصرين اليونانى والرومانى, حيث أن الأغريق والرومان شارکوا المصريين القدماء فى معتقداتهم الجنائزية, وآمنوا بآلهتهم مما جعلهم يحذون حذوهم فى تحنيط جثث موتاهم والرومان على الأخص فقد ساروا على النهج الفرعونى, واستمروا فى تحنيط جثثهم وتزيينها بصورة أکثر تفصيلا وإحکاما من العصر البطلمى. Canopic Jars in Ptolemaic and Roman Period Abstract: The funeral rites in ancient Egypt were performed by priests, which between the rituals and daily rituals performed by the gods in a custom manner and religious feasts in special seasons such as the feast of the flood season, and the burial rituals of the dead such as mummification and coffins in which the body is placed, as well as the jars that preserve the bowels of the deceased, and the removal of the viscera was a necessity in the process of embalming. The existence of these pots continued during the dynasty and also during the Greek and Roman periods, where the Greeks and Romans participated in the ancient Egyptians in their funeral beliefs, and believed in their gods, which made them follow their example in mummifying the bodies of their dead and Romans in particular, they marched on the Pharaonic approach, and continued to embalm their bodies and decorate them more detailedly and tightly than the Ptolemaic period.

La fiesta religiosa como lugar teológico

The set of Christian religious practices that are usually classified as religion, piety or Catholicism has been one of the main subjects of theological thinking in Latin America. The approach developed on this topic has been essentially normative-pastoral. With the declaration of piety as a locus theologicus (EG 126), however, the need to deepen a fundamental theological reflection on this constitutive reality of the Latin American Church has become evident. This article presents the results of the research project entitled Aesthetic-theological foundations of popular piety, defining, first of all, a specific empirical point of reference, the religious feast, to then proceed to elucidate in what sense and how it can be constituted as a theological place.

COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown and Religious Mediatization of Social Sustainability. A Case Study of Romania.

This article presents an empirical study on the institutional audiovisual mediatization of social sustainability made by the eighteen religious denominations officially recognized in Romania during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic onset. Research is undertaken based on the mediatization theories. Specifically, it highlights and discusses the conditions for producing the meaning of social sustainability as a result of religious mediatization during the months of March, April and May 2020, a period with strong religious connotations since it involved the dates of the major annual feasts celebrated by the three majority monotheistic religions, i.e., the Christian Easter, the Muslim Ramadan and the Jewish Passover. As a result, we noticed that the production of meaning in terms of social sustainability was simultaneously anchored in the accumulation of four contextual “social worlds”: (a) that of social transformation induced by mediatization, (b) that of the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that is neither social, economic, or environmental, but with consequences on the three levels of reality mentioned above, (c) that of spirituality during the time of the great monotheistic religious feasts and (d) that of the national culture of Romania, statistically the most religious country of the European Union.

Scripts, Saints, and Scientists: The Social Life of Gospel Books in an Armenian Museum

In this article, I explore the social life of Armenian Christian Gospel Books in the Matenadaran (the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts) in Yerevan, Armenia. In this state repository, research center, and museum, manuscript Gospel Books have become precious pieces of tangible national heritage. They have been protected, renovated, studied, and displayed as objects that exemplify the Armenian unique artistic and literary tradition. However, some of these manuscripts have resisted secularisation while preserving the traditional roles of the powerful sacred objects venerated by Armenian Christians. Consequently, they have been attracting not only visitors but also pilgrims to the Matenadaran. Furthermore, since the early 2000s, five of them have been temporarily released from the Institute to participate in religious feasts of the Armenian Apostolic Church, when they attract crowds of pilgrims. This article builds on a material religion and museum studies approach to examining what these Gospel Books are, what they do, and how they relate to people in post-socialist Armenia, where the formation of the sacred and secular is partially shaped by Soviet legacies of desecration, museumification, and heritagization of religion.

Da tolerância festiva às intolerâncias contemporâneas: sagrados desafios do patrimônio religioso no urbano

Este trabalho propõe uma discussão sobre as representações da tolerância cultural diante da promoção das festas religiosas como bens patrimoniais nas cidades. Dessa forma o patrimônio, em escala estadual, ganha aparato jurídico das políticas públicas de fortalecimento da cultura de diversidade. Entretanto, essas políticas também sofrem por iniciativas limitadas e posturas de intolerância no uso do espaço público. A pesquisa apresentada desenvolveu-se como estudo qualitativo e documental, complementado por observações de campo, na cidade de Fortaleza (CE) e suas festividades de 15 de agosto. O patrimônio imaterial religioso, objeto central do estudo, foi demarcado pelas representações midiáticas dos grupos direta e indiretamente envolvidos nos festejos de capitais do Norte, Sul e Centro-Oeste do país. O que completou um levantamento já realizado sobre grandes cidades do nordeste e sudeste do Brasil em outra etapa do estudo patrimônio festivo das festas marianas. Como resultado desse percurso, observa-se as fragilidades do reconhecimento da festa religiosas como patrimônio. E confirma-se a percepção de que as estratégias da tolerância religiosa, diante das intolerâncias institucionais e culturais, ampliam-se conforme se efetivam os registros de salvaguarda.

Christian Influence on the Roman Calendar. Comments in the Margins of C. Th. 9.35.4 = C. 3.12.5 (a. 380)1/ Wpływ chrześciaństwa na kalendarz rzymski. Uwagi na marginesie C. Th. 9.35.4 = C. 3.12.5 (a. 380)

The text analyses Christianisation of the Roman calendar in the light or the Roman imperial constitutions in the 4th century. The author first of all underlines that only humans recognise religious feasts despite that human perception of time is not that remote from the apperception of time in the case of other animals and that the belief in the supernatural/religion and rituals belong to human universals, the roots of which, together with the judiciary, are to be sought in the evolutionary past of the genus Homo. Furthermore, the author deduces that the first direct Christian influence on the Roman official calendar was probably C. Th. 9,35,4 = C. 3,12,5 (a. 380), prohibiting all investigation of criminal cases by means of torture during the forty days which anticipate the Paschal season, contesting the opinion that dies solis were regarded as dies dominicus (Christian Sunday) already in C. Th. 2,8,1 and C. 3,12,2 (a. 321). Finally, on the margin of the Polish debate concerning the limitation of legal trade during Sundays, when Constantinian roots of dies dominicus were quoted frequently and with great conviction, the limitations of politics of memory are underlined.