Ritual Functions Research Articles

Western Han Funerary Relocation Documents and the Making of the Dead in Early Imperial China

In this first comprehensive study of what I call funerary “relocating-to-the-Underworld documents” (abbr. relocation documents), I analyze the ten known cases that have been excavated between 1973 and 2016 in southern China. Through the analytical lens of the making of the dead, I argue that this particular type of textual object found exclusively in Western Han tombs in the second and first centuries b.c.e. can be viewed as a material manifestation of the strategic negotiation between an omnipresent imperial state and its agentive imperial subjects at the intersection of bureaucratic authority and the creation of a desirable afterlife for the dead of the empire. There are three main objectives of the present study. First, I propose to designate these entombed objects as “relocation documents” (yi dixia shu 移地下書), highlighting their primary ritual function as to present and/or produce a desirable afterlife status for the deceased when they relocate to the Underworld. I argue that a typical funerary relocation document has two essential components: a “notification letter” (yiwen 移文) and “itemized details” (ximu 細目). In the current scholarship, the former has been called gaodice 告地策 (informing-the-Underworld document), and the latter qiance 遣策 (tomb inventory). They are conventionally considered to be two distinct and separate genres of text. Although qiance have been found alone in tombs, in the case of funerary relocation documents, I argue that they are integral to the complete package to fulfill its ritual function and that these two components should be considered together as a single document. Second, instead of characterizing these relocation documents collectively as a homogenous genre of text and identifying them as imperfect imitations of Han official documents, I emphasize their material nature as funerary objects and contextualize them as part of the funerary assemblage for burial. I analyze their structural composition—both physical and textual—and situate them in the context of their production and entombment in relation to the deceased as well as the broader social-historical conditions shared by the local community of which the dead was a part. The detailed case studies of the relocation documents, on the one hand, expectedly confirm a wide and deep penetration of the state power into the fabric of the Han society, in life and in death, through the institutions of household registration and the 20-rank system; on the other hand, they also reveal the much less understood side of imperial control, that the lesser elite and the ordinary subjects of the empire were not passive receivers. Rather, they were informed about and understood the authority embedded in state institutions and bureaucratic procedures to the extent that they knew how to “work the system” to their own advantage with regard to the afterlife. Third, although each relocation document exhibits notable individual, even idiosyncratic, characteristics, the fact that nine of the ten known specimens were found in close geographical and temporal proximity to one another in the greater Han Jiangling 江陵 region in present-day Hubei strongly indicates that Jiangling was the center for the practice of interring funerary relocation document in burials. Evidence also suggests that there was likely a regional funerary tradition and economy enabling and supporting their production and circulation among other funerary objects such as tomb figurines. A fully annotated translation of the eight published cases of funerary relocation documents is included in the Appendix.

Gondang Hasapi in Holding Ritual Parmalim Si Pahasada (Study of the Shapes of Gondang and its Functions)

This paper aims to discuss the existence of a form of gondang at the ritual ceremony of Si Pahasada, and how its function at the ritual ceremony of Si Pahasada in Huta High of North Sumatra is the subject matter to be discussed. The method used in this study is by using descriptive qualitative method. Collecting data is done through observation, interview, documentation, and bibliography. In this study it is found that there are 12 dishes reportoar gondang kesumpaan presented during this ritual. In this study also found eight functions of gondang in the ritual of Parmalim Si Pahasada, namely: 1) Aesthetic function, 2) communication functions, 3) symbolic functions, 4) physical response function, 5) enforcing social norms, 5) validation of social institutions. 6) religious ritual function, 7) cultural continuity and stability, 8) contribution to community integration.

Ritual Matters

Karl Polanyi (1944, 1968) argued that the 'disembedding' of the economy from society entailed a curtailment of social constraints on economic transactions. This disembedding coincided with what Max Weber (1946) called disenchantment, and the erosion of cognitive-experiential reciprocity between humans and nature. Following Lynn White Jr. (1967), many scholars of religion and ecology have argued that losing the sense of divinity immanent in the world caused the modern devaluation of nature. But the loss of ritual practices is key to this. Integrating Roy Rappaport's (1968, 1979, 1999) understanding of the regulative ecological functions of ritual with a processual understanding of ontology following Norbert Elias (1939, 1978, 1989) suggests that reviving ritual gifting practices may be a vehicle for ecological conscience formation and the social-ecological transformation of modern society. Removing the rituals surrounding the giving of gifts removed crucial informal governance structures from pre-modern cultures, resulting in a general collapse of meaning structures in modern market societies, producing a pervasive individualized ontology and what Elias (1991) called 'the society of individuals'. A revival of ritual gifting practices that re-enchant human relations with other than human persons, such as found in what Graham Harvey (2006, 2016) has called 'the new animism', may revive relational ontology and shift modern society toward a more sustainable path by re-embedding the economy in society.

СТИЛЕВЫЕ ПРИЗНАКИ ВОКАЛЬНЫХ ЖАНРОВ СВАДЕБНОЙ ОБРЯДНОСТИ У КУБАНСКИХ НОГАЙЦЕВ

The article examines the style features of the vocal genres of the Kuban Nogais’ wedding rituals: bride’s lamentations “сынъсув” , wedding procession participants’ songs “орайда-райда!” , well-wishes “алгыс” , the versions of drinking songs (“ тилек”, “боза”) , reproving songs “каргыс йырлар” , etc. The author shows that the ritual function and semantics of poetical texts determine the basic morphological features (poetical and musical structures) of genres and the ways of their realization. Wedding songs, lamentations and sayings manifest the main (not subjected to transformation) and peripheral (changeable) genre features.

Implicit Decision Making in Rituals

This paper shows what the function of rituals is and how important their bodily based mise-en-scene and diversity are for the coherence of communities and societies. It will be demonstrated that to a large extent the effects of rituals and gestures are related to mimetic processes in which people mostly unconsciously relate to ritual patterns and schemes already shaped by other people in different historical and social conditions. Due to their performative character they make the invisible visible and create a flow of experience and practical knowledge. A critical perspective on rituals is required to appreciate their hierarchies and implicit power structures and to be able to modify them.

In Search of China’s First Library: Materials, Housing, and Arrangement

Abstract Historically, the origin of libraries has an intimate association with written records supporting administrative or ritual functions at the palace or temple. This article seeks to discuss ...

Rituais Fúnebres no Processo do Luto: Significados e Funções

RESUMO Os estudos acerca dos rituais humanos têm mostrado que as mudanças ao longo da vida, incluindo a morte de entes queridos, precisam ser marcadas, pontuadas, de forma que estes acontecimentos recebam a consideração necessária. Neste estudo, são abordados os significados e funções dos rituais fúnebres como benignos para a elaboração da perda por morte de uma pessoa significativa. Sustenta-se que o caráter expressivo dos rituais possibilita descrever o que não se consegue expressar em palavras, estimulando o trabalho de luto e desempenhando importante função de maturação social e psicológica diante da perda. Possibilita também a contextualização da experiência da perda, oferecendo à família enlutada o suporte de pertencer a uma cultura e a uma compreensão compartilhada sobre a morte.

The Function of Traditional Snacks and Fruits at Chinatown Semarang - A Case Study on Semarang Northcoast Maritime Culture

Traditional snacks and fruits are the culinary culture of Chinese community to fulfill Chinese daily consumption and ritual activities in Chinatown Semarang. It is a particular characteristic of social and local culture. As local wisdom, it provides a local value of the food products. This study aims to reveal varieties and functions of traditional snacks and fruits in Gang Baru traditional market Semarang. This research refers to theory and method of naming system and function. It is in a descriptive qualitative manner and describes names and functions of traditional snacks and fruits for ritual functions. The red and golden colors of snacks and fruits symbolize the source of fortune and wealth. Traditional snacks and fruits for the Chinese community function as ritual media to give offerings to ancestors rather than for daily consumption. The meaning and function of traditional snacks and fruits symbolize the fortune, luck, wealth, harmony, love, sharp mind, happiness, long life, calm and steady hearted, sincerity, blessing, and salvation. Hopefully, there would be a social impact to challenge the Industrial Revolution 4.0. It seems to refresh social paradigm and to recognize the high value of local wisdom, local skill, social skill, local ingredients, and local product.

Some Mannean glazed bricks from the Little Zab River Basin, Northwestern Iran

The article focusses on geographical area south of the Lake Urmia and on the period of the Iron Age III. This is a time span when settlements such as Rabat I-III, Tepe Paswe and Shinawe become real urban centres dominating the local social environment. Archaeological contexts from excavations of Rabat II reveal the ritual function of the site, which is to be identified as a temple. Among exceptional finds from excavations of this sites are glazed bricks. Examination of these objects deriving both from excavations and illegal diggings in Rabat II and Shinawe survey enables their classification. Particularly from morphological point of view they are classified as half, quarter, square, crenellated, and broken, and in sense of ornamentations as geometric, anthropomorphic, faunal, mythical, and inscriptional. The present data reveal the essential traits of material culture of the region during the period of existence of the Mannean confederation.

My 600 Pound Pilgrimage

This essay studies the TLC channel reality show My 600 Pound Life as a manifestation of the religious ritual of pilgrimage. The influence of popular culture upon religion, and of religion upon popular culture, is well established. Of special interest is the study of ritual, a highly formal discourse and practice. Because of its formal nature, ritual may be found across both sacred and secular texts and practices. Discourses may perform a ritual function vicariously for an audience. When a ritual is of religious origin, it appeals to an audience’s sense of religious meanings and authority. One central ritual pattern, of religious origin but found widely in secular discourse and practice, is the pilgrimage. This essay explains the major formal components of a pilgrimage, and then using a method of rhetorical homology, identifies My 600 Pound Life as formally a pilgrimage. The ideological commitments induced in an audience through formal appeal are discussed in this particular case. The essay shows the value of looking for religious form in the secular, the value of studying pilgrimage specifically, and the value of the method of rhetorical homology.

From Habits to Rituals: Rituals as Social Habits

Abstract The present contribution aims at investigating the relationship between habits and rituals; they are based on the same processes even though they have different functions depending on the context (personal or social). Our discussion will mostly focus on the nature and function of rituals, as necessary practices in human and other animals’ social lives. After a brief introduction of the notion of “habit” by reference to relevant studies that cross philosophy and neurobiology, we propose an interpretation of rituals as collective activity, which is based on the same mechanisms of habits formation, but it is expressed in a “We-form”, from which it is created and institutionalized

불교에서의 의례의 위치와 역할 -본유(本有) 중심 일생의례의 대안과 확산을 위한 제언

불교에서의 의례의 위치와 역할 -본유(本有) 중심 일생의례의 대안과 확산을 위한 제언

РЕЛІГІЄЗНАВЧО-ФІЛОСОФСЬКА ТРАНСКРИПЦІЯ СИМВОЛУ ТА КАНОНУ В КОНТЕКСТІ РЕЛІГІЙНОГО МИСТЕЦТВА

The article makes an attempt to reveal the peculiarities of influence of such components of religious art as symbol and canon, in the context of the impact on man as a whole. The researcher is interested in the process of their functioning in religious art, both from the side of religious-philosophical analysis and from the point of view of art studies.The symbol, as an integral part of religion, serving both a liturgical and ritualistic function, is the embodiment of the existential meaning of the divine world, immutable and eternal. The symbols clearly demonstrate the presence in the earthly reality of the very beginning of the transcendent, formulating the original position of the connection of the world sinful and sacred. This is their main purpose. Hence, the saturation of religious-cultural symbols with a variety of historical, social, moral-ethical, aesthetic, modern, mystical-esoteric, and other meanings syncretically link in one indissoluble sense, which is involved in the transcendental mystery of being. Hence, the exceptional generalization of religious symbols, due to its abstract nature, maintains its cultural content within the enormous time and space dimensions of epochs, supranational and transgovernmental communities in world religions. Symbolism in religious art allows us to relate the experiences of millions of people to some kind of integrality, different in their ethnic origins and cultural traditions; to act as a form-forming and system-forming factor of separate cultures and whole civilizations.The Canon as a certain law, which is a typical example for imitation, may be not only religious, but also artistic. The canons of artistic and religious origins are born as an integrity that is difficult to divide, but each of them has its own specifics. The canon is often considered only as a factor limiting the artist, but it also has the other side. Compliance with the canon allowed the artist - even a mediocre one - to reach a high level of artistic creativity. Thus, the average level of mass art production, for example, the ancient Russian icons due to the hard canon is very high. The true artist, working on nuances of artistic form, could show his personality and creative genius.The symbolic and canonical components of religious art were unable to completely determine peculiarity or uniqueness of artistic thinking. Only in certain historical frameworks they were able to organize the stability of artistic integrity at a specific content-formal level. Moreover, the canon emphasized the talent and originality of the artist who created within its framework, as in order to create a significant work of art within the framework of the canon, it is necessary to have a great creative potential, the ability to overcome existing stereotypes. Thus, for example, Andrei Rublev’s works were carried out within the limits of the Orthodox, Christian canons, but at the same time it went beyond its formal boundaries, becoming a peculiar and unique phenomenon of the Eastern Slavic culture. The same were the works of other world artists who represented religious and sacred art of the Western Church - each of their geniuses went beyond the narrow limits of theological prescriptions, which is due to the unsurpassed perfection of their artistic creativity, and as a result, the world’s artistic heritage.

Tradisi Ngusaba Lampuan Di Desa Pakraman Bayunggede Kecamatan Kintamani Kabupaten Bangli (Perspektif Pendidikan Agama Hindu)

<p><em>The uniquenss of Lampuan Ceremony is held every four years which invoies the Daha (The Girl) and Truna (The Youngs) of Bayunggede Village. They must wear clotehes that are already prepaed by the elders of the Village. Based on the data analysis that was carried out, the reseacher knows that the first ceremony in the procession of Ngusaba Lampuan is Matur piuning/ Ngampuh (to offer on offering to God) in Penataran Bintak Temple, the second religious and ceremony is melasti/ Metirtaan (a Hindu Baliness purification ceremony and ritual) that is held in Pondokan Susut Temple, and the offerings that are offered is penyeneng/ peras pejati. The thrid ceremony is Matur Piuning in Puseh Pingit Temple by offering Banten Tamus, The fourth ceremony is Puncak Karya, the village pray together and the last ceremony called Penyindeban/ Pamuput Karya. This ceremony ends the procession of Ngusaba Lampuan ceremony of Desa Pakraman in Bayunggede Village tahat located in Kintamani Disctrict od Bangli Regency. There are four fungcion of Ngusaba Lampuan : (1) Religious (2) Social function (3) Ethical function (4) Ritual function. There are also three values of Ngusaba Lampuan tradition, they are (1) Tatwa value (2) Value of Moral (ethical) and (3) The value of Moral education (ethical) and (3) the value Education in religius ceremony (ritual).</em></p>

Traces in the desert: use of new technologies for the study and valorization of the Pachacamac sanctuary\u2014Lima, Peru

Through time, the large ceremonial centers of the Peruvian pre-Hispanic coast have played an important role as Pachacamac, renowned for its famous oracle, which was an important site for cult and pilgrimage, where the use of water entered largely into ritual functions during Inca age and before. The sanctuary’s landscape included sea, valley and lomas (ecosystem of grassy, seasonal knolls), and a complex and elaborate system of springs and canals which seem to use both the natural water table and the waters of the nearby Lurin river. In this sacred landscape there are over fifty buildings associated to springs and canals, built during a long occupation spanning over a 1000 years. This entire system must have been connected to Urpiwachaq lagoon, located to the northeast and only a few kilometers away from the sea. The origins of the lagoon and its relationship with the archaeological site evoke creation myths for the waters and marine species of the central coast. In this paper we discussed the results obtained from the geophysical investigations performed to define the water management system in the sanctuary and their connection with the lagoon. In particular, geo-electric, geomagnetic and ground penetrating radar prospections were carried out in the monumental area to determine the trajectory of the waters that drained into the lagoon from a series of ponds and canals. The interdisciplinary work in both the lagoon and monumental area provided a valuable source of information useful to better understand the history and function of the Pachacamac sanctuary in prehispanic times.

Personal Rituals in Adolescence: Their Role in Emotion Regulation and Identity Formation

Abstract This study examines the meaning of personal rituals for the adolescent identity development and emotion regulation. Both are ritual functions and can be characterized as adolescent developmental tasks. However, there is no consistent pattern in previous research to explain the processes for how identity is formed and emotions are regulated during the performance of personal rituals. Therefore, a questionnaire study among 410 (182 male) adolescents (age: M = 15.06, SD = .61) was carried out. The questionnaire used the Berzonsky Identity Style Inventory and various measures to assess different experiences during the ritual (i.e. mood, emotion regulation, reality-transforming experiences). After separating spiritual from non-spiritual rituals, the results showed that spiritual rituals were used as a means for emotion regulation. Furthermore, self-reflection was closely related to the information-oriented identity style. The findings are discussed against the background of the impact of spiritual practices for emotional and identity development in adolescence.

Greetings in male Guinea baboons and the function of rituals in complex social groups

Ritualized greetings, defined as exchanges of non-aggressive signals, are common among males living in multi-male groups and are thought to balance the trade-offs of male co-residence. While ritualized greetings are widespread in the animal kingdom, the behavioral repertoire described in the genus Papio is exceptional, as it involves potentially harmful behaviors such as genital fondling. Although greetings are one of the most striking male social interactions in baboons, their function is still disputed. We investigated the function of male–male ritualized greeting behavior in wild Guinea baboons. This species lives in multilevel societies where several ‘units’ comprising a primary male, females with young, and occasionally a secondary male form a ‘party’, and two to three parties form a gang. Adult males maintain affiliative relationships with preferred male partners whom they support in coalitions, regardless of kinship. We examined the social behavior of 24 adolescent and adult males (∼900 h focal observations) in the Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal, to test whether greetings reflect relationship quality or function to buffer tension. Greetings were ten times more frequent than aggression and twice as frequent as affiliation. Neither dyadic aggression nor tense context predicted greeting rate, discounting the buffering hypothesis. Greetings occurred almost exclusively between males of the same party, even when other parties were around. Within parties, spatially tolerant partners greeted more frequently but dyads did not greet due to proximity prior to the greeting. Although affiliation did not predict overall greeting rate, intense and potentially costly greetings were more likely between males with stronger affiliative relationships. Greetings in Guinea baboons appear to signal commitment among party members, test relationships among spatially tolerant partners, and accentuate relationship strength among highly affiliated males. Although ritualized baboon greetings lack the symbolic component of human rituals, they appear to serve similar functions, specifically to strengthen in-group affiliation and promote cooperation.

Recapturing the power of ritual to enhance community in aging

ABSTRACT Ritual returns us to the center of who we are. In times of transition, loss, disconnection, and loneliness, ritual offers transformative power. It can provide a language for expression, stability, serve an integrating force in community, mediate tradition, and offer emotional support. This article explores the need for ritual in coping with late life changes, the relationship of ritual to suffering, value of ritual in storytelling and mourning, and explains the role of witness facilitated through community. Therapeutic functions of ritual are addressed and a framework for ritual design is suggested.

Genre-ritual popuri – an unique song sample from the upper reaches of the Goryn River

The article is devoted to the consideration of one unusual vocal composition in the traditional Ukrainian wedding ritual. The purpose of the publication is, firstly, to present the work itself and introduce it into scientific use; secondly, to attribute it from the point of view of genre features and ritual function; thirdly, to find out whether set of episodes that form a complex and highly original compositional form is random, which form a complex and very original compositional form. The study is based on a complex of analytical methods , which are determined by the peculiarities of the composition. Thus, the analysis involves several levels of its organization –such as genre, syllabo-rhythmic, scale-melodic, and subject-textual ones. The village of Zaluzhzhia in the Khmelnytskyi region is located in the upper part of the basin of the Horyn River, in an area that belongs to the transition zone between the Podillia and Volyn regions. As everywhere in Ukraine, the traditional rural wedding ritual lasted several days. His final stage – “ perezva ” – is always filled with entertaining game scenes, parodies of a real wedding ceremony, comic dialogues and songs that often have erotic subtexts. One of these songs turned out to be very strange and even mysterious; local residents sing it just during the “ perezva ” ritual. Here are the main features of this vocal composition: a) a comic poetic subject with elements of fiction, where all events are mixed up fantastically. At the same time, they are quite logically connected in a single subject chain; b) a complex form that goes far beyond the strophic. The song consists of six different episodes, which determine its form and size; c) these episodes do not belong to the same genre cycle – the wedding cycle, but to completely different ones: in addition to the wedding songs, there are presented “quotes” from the texts and melodies of calendar folk songs – spring-time round dances, summer-time Kupalo songs, and winter-time Schedrivky songs. The authors of the article describe and analyze this folklore phenomenon in details – its storyline and internal logic, as well as possible subtexts; rhythmic and sound-pitch organization; compositional form. The study leads the authors to the following conclusions: The main function of such songs in the wedding ritual is entertaining, laughter. Its traditional, non-random nature is indisputable, since many times repeated fixations of a song at a distance of several months each time gave the same result – the same sequence of poetic texts and melodies, without any significant structural changes; Such songs,together with fragments of songs from various ritual genres, from which they are formed, really exist in the region. The architectonics of this song medley reveals signs of several different musical forms – such as two-part and three-part reprisal forms, rondo, and concentric forms. The question of such songs origin remains open: we cannot definitely say how old they are, whether their performing tradition was spontaneous, and whether its birth was due to an individual author creation

Pantomime as a Foundation for Ritual and Language

This article aims at tracing the evolutionary roots of rituals. My main thesis is that rituals have emerged as conventionalizations of pantomimes. The original function of pantomime is for teaching. In that function, pantomime derives from demonstration. My focus in this article is on rituals that produce group identification. Like pantomime, rituals signify meaning beyond the actual actions. Like demonstration and pantomime, ritual is a tool for learning. What is learnt is system of beliefs that become shared within a society. Such shared beliefs strengthen the cohesion within a society. Although both ritual and language are tools for sharing worlds, they have partly different functions. One function of ritual is to promote long-term cooperation, while language primarily coordinates action.