Ritual Purity Research Articles

An Examination of ἁμαρτια (sin) in 1 John and the Akan Concept of Bɔne (sin)

An Examination of ἁμαρτια (sin) in 1 John and the Akan Concept of Bɔne (sin)

St Cyril of Alexandria and the Mysteries of Isis in De Adoratione

In his long, untranslated treatiseDe adoratione, Cyril of Alexandria interacts with the mysteries of Isis in two places. In one place he describes a ritual involving female initiates dressed in linen holding sistra and mirrors, and in another he describes the rotating of torches as a purification ritual, albeit without naming Isis in either. These passages enrich our understanding of the mysteries of Isis, and of Cyril's engagement with the cult beyond his purported actions at Menouthis. The passages also suggest why and how Alexandrian Christians engaged in Isiac practices, and show Cyril the bishop constructing a pastoral response to these practices.

Transformasi Pengembangan Bahan Ajar PAI Berbasis Digital dan Vak Method Dalam Meningkatkan Kognitif Siswa

The research was conducted to explore how the transformation of digital-based teaching materials integrated with technology and VAK method (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic) can enchance the cognitive development student's of 7th grade student�s in Wachid Hasyim Islamic Junior High School of Surabaya. The research research a descriptive-qualitative approach, employing interview, observation, and documentation methods. The findings of the study indicated that students encountered difficulties in understanding thaharah, particularly the concept of ritual purification, and memorizing of surah Juz �Amma. To address these challenges, the researchers proposed the utilization of digital instructional materials such as power point text, videos, and the Qur�an memorization application �Ayat� combined with the VAK method, to enchance memory retention.The research results demonstrated a significant improvement in students cognitive development when utilizing digital-based instructional materials combined with the VAK method, optimizing the transfer of knowledge through the sensory modalities of sight, hearing, and hands on practise during the learning process. this study indicate the student's cognitive abilities can be enhanced by utilizing digital Therefore, the transformation of instructional materials into a digital-based format plays a vital role in enchancing students cognitive development.

Tutur Brahma Sapa and Dewa Tatwa Manuscripts as the Main References for the Maintenance of Manak salah tradition at Padangbulia Traditional Village, Bali, Indonesia

Padangabulia Traditional Village is the only village in Bali that maintains the manak salah tradition. Even though the Provincial Government of Bali officially abolished this tradition in 1951 because it was considered to violate religious, Hindu, legal, and health teachings. It is interesting to study this phenomenon through field research using a qualitative approach to find reasons why they still maintain the tradition of manak salah and the rituals that accompany it. Interviews with traditional and religious leaders in Padangbulia village complimented the main data. The results of the study indicated that the maintenance of the tradition of manak salah in this village was legitimized by Lontar Tutur Brahma Sapa and Lontar Dewa Tatwa. These two lontars are sacred texts that are believed to be true. Lontar Tutur Brahma Sapa emphasized that kembar buncing, male and female twins are wrong because Lord Brahma cursed it. The binarism between humans versus animals reinforces this. Married couples with more than one male and female child were identical to animals. This condition causes contamination of purity or leteh in humans. The Tri Hita Karana ideology outlines that humans are united with fellow human beings and the natural environment and God/gods who reside in temples. This idea causes leteh in humans and spreads to the natural environment and temples. Lontar Dewa Tatwa explains that impurities must be cleaned through a purification ritual, including melasti to the sea. Whenever there is a case of manak salah, they will implement melasti at the Buleleng Harbor beach. This creates a unique tradition: this traditional village does not perform melasti at every Nyepi Day celebration but only when there is a manak salah. This ritual not only has a religious-magical function but also has a social function. These functions strengthen Lontar Tutur Brahma Sapa's position in maintaining the manak salah tradition.

The Changing Sacredness and Taboo in Life Cycle Ritual : A Comparative Analysis among Migrated Tribes of Periurban Area

Tribals are unique in their culture due to continued closeness to nature, forests, flora and fauna. They have different traditions, cultures, lifestyles, beliefs, food, languages, rituals etc. They are unique in their worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals etc. Krushnanagar is a small village is located in Chandaka tehsil of Khordha district in Odisha, India, having a population of 468 people, out of that 90% are tribal people and rest 10% are scheduled cast people. Bhubaneswar is nearest city to krushnanagar for all major economic activities, which is approximately 20 km away. The people in the villagers have migrated from Mayurbhanj district to Krishnagar of Chandaka Tahsil around 30-50 years ago, in search of better livelihood. I have taken two majority tribes in krushnanagar i.e Bhumij and santal for the study and observed that there has been socio cultural changes in tribal societies in terms of culture, religion, and economic aspects. They perform rituals very similar to Hinduism and very similar to the culture followed in nearby cities Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. This article, with an aim to describe the changing sacredness and taboo among the tribals of Krushnanagar village due to the impact of modernisation and close proximity to culturally rich city of Odisha. Primary data collected through census analysis and discussion with village headman and other villagers vis a vis literature available in this context have been made as base. It is observed that the sanctity of most of the rituals are not being practiced anymore or some new rituals are being adapted. Now taboo is a different concept in all society. There has been a continuous acculturation process in the practices of life cycle rituals. Newly conceptualized stages have emerged, such as “bridal shower”, “baby shower”, “bachelorette party”, “empty nest”, etc. These celebrations are derived from evolving stages of life and signify progression and change. They can be culminated and categorized under traditional classifications of the life cycle rituals and represent the dynamic growth of society and culture in today’s modern and technologically advanced world..

Use of Resins like Guggul, Asfoetida and Myrrh in Modern Pharmacognosy

Raw guggulu use has been linked in rare cases to skin breakouts, periods that are irregular, diarrhoea, headaches, mild nausea, and, at very high doses, liver damage, as documented in Ayurvedic texts. Many "dravyas," or fluids, employed in Ayurvedic purification rituals (shodhan vidhi) may be utilised to dilute the potentially harmful effects of uncooked guggulu while amplifying its medicinal properties. According to Ayurvedic texts, guggulu must be purified before it may be employed in herbal combinations. Many popular polyherbal pain relievers on the market centre on guggulu

The Representation of Ritual (Im)Purity Through Meteorological Metaphors in Folkloric Language

"The Representation of Ritual (Im)Purity through Meteorological Metaphors in Folkloric Language. For the mythical-magical thinking of archaic and traditional communities, ritualistic purity represents a fundamental dimension of the entire universe, most often linguistically expressed through a reference to its antinomian pair, with the help of the clean-unclean opposition. According to the degree of contamination with various impure things, such as the multitude of good and evil spirits that populated the world, both space and time were qualitatively differentiated in good places and bad places, good hours and evil hours. People themselves had, in turn, to fulfil this condition of ritual purity, before beginning an important activity. If they were not pure from this point of view, they would be unsuccessful whether it was about working in the fields, going to church, or travelling somewhere. However, these metaphors from folkloric language, long discussed in Romanian ethnological literature, will be invoked only as points of reference in our study, since we intend to closely analyse here some of the least investigated meteorological metaphors, such as morning dew, mist, clouds and rainbow. We consider that they too deserve close attention, considering that a person, as a passing being, is represented in many folkloric creations as a forever wanderer, who begins their path With morning dew on your feet/With mist on your back. Starting from the image of the bathed person and, thus, purified by the morning dew, but burdened by the thick, impure mist that they symbolically carry on their back, we will attempt to remake the imaginary scheme that connects the pure and the impure in the archaic mentality, a scheme organised not after the principle of antithesis, but of the ambivalence specific to symbolic logic. Keywords: pure, impure, morning dew, mist, cloud, hail, dragon, silver, rain, rainbow "

Purification Rituals in Joyce

Abstract: In this study I examine Joyce's complex and often contradictory relationship to purification rituals. On the one hand, he rebelled against such rituals insofar as they equated sexuality with defilement and virginity with purity. On the other, as Beckett pointed out, there is a continual purgatorial process at work throughout the Wake, often involving the purgation of the sin of pride. Joyce also exploited the ambiguity of such substances as blood that alternately defile and purify. In addition, he alludes to many rituals in which those who were supposed to be protected and purified become victimized and defiled.

Purification Rituals in Joyce

Abstract: In this study I examine Joyce's complex and often contradictory relationship to purification rituals. On the one hand, he rebelled against such rituals insofar as they equated sexuality with defilement and virginity with purity. On the other, as Beckett pointed out, there is a continual purgatorial process at work throughout the Wake, often involving the purgation of the sin of pride. Joyce also exploited the ambiguity of such substances as blood that alternately defile and purify. In addition, he alludes to many rituals in which those who were supposed to be protected and purified become victimized and defiled.

A Stranger in One’s Own Community

In the Schutzian tradition, Berger and Luckmann expand upon the concept of the stranger and discuss the social reality of ritual purification as a coping strategy for reality-maintaining procedures and mental hygiene whereby individuals reconcile their encounter with a foreigner or stranger and their official reality. Using examples from the trans, gender non-conforming community (TGNC), the central question of this paper is: What about those considered a stranger in their home community? Given the hardships that TGNC people have encountered and continue to face, “unsuccessful socialization” does not offer the best account of their challenges, obstacles, and sufferings when marginalized by others. Advancing Schutzian research, we offer two terms that can be applied to the idea of the stranger: ritual desecration and reverse ritual purification. Using a dialectical framework, a social and interpersonal conflict occurs between ritual purification and ritual desecration. Consequently, two personal iterations emerge: those who experience ritual desecration by remaining in their home environment and those who migrate to another community for the possibility of acceptance and belonging, hence, reverse ritual purification. The iterations between ritual purification, ritual desecration, and reverse ritual purification lead to incremental changes and hardships, potentially creating a new social reality.

Kult Awashimy i jego zawiązki z kobiecą cielesnością

The purpose of this article is to discuss certain ritual activities and beliefs related to Awashima (Awashima shinkō) with special reference to those involving the female body. It provides the historical background of Awashima based on historical and religious sources, supplemented by some literary examples. This article shows, that the origin legend of Awashima was transmitted by twofold mediums: the official one, promoted by the Awashima Shirine (Awashima Jinja) by means of booklets (such as Kada Awashima Jinja engi, Kada Awashima Jinja ryakuryaku engi), and the folk one (such as Chirizuka monogatari, Kokkei zōdan, Zoku Asuka-gawa), promoted orally by Awashima gannin (questors of Awashima). Both strains of the tradition emphasize women’s matters, such as their reproductive health, maternity, and marriage as areas in which the Awashima deities specialize. Following the analysis, the annual ritual of floating dolls (hina nagashi) on 3 March is presented as a contemporary manifestation of Awashima-related beliefs that only formally bear some similarities to purification rituals. The overall discussion is intended to shed light on a little known aspect of hina matsuri, the meaning of which exceeds that of a Girls’ Festival.

Royal Entries in Conquered Towns. Mosques, Cathedrals and the Power of Buildings (Castile-Leon, 11th-13th Centuries)

Written sources of the kingdoms of Castile-Leon describing processions and royal entries in the 11th-13th Centuries are not commonly found. The absence of such ceremonies makes it difficult to recognize the topography of power through remarkable buildings as well as the hierarchies among their ecclesiastical and secular participants. This absence prevented the kings of Castile and Leon from being seen publicly and visiting some iconic processional spots which provided the right atmosphere for the most solemn rituals in a medieval monarch’s life. King Alfonso VI’s entry into Toledo in 1085 set a new precedent put into practice by his successors during the Christian conquests of al-Andalus cities, which took place until the mid-13th Century. The transformation of the congregational mosques in the conquered cities provided a unique opportunity for victorious monarchs to display their power through the appropriation of urban spaces. The king’s central role in the ecclesiastical rituals of purification and the subsequent control over the fate of the most representative buildings allow these processions to be considered as spatial and ritual phenomena.

A GENERALIZED TYPE OF THE LANGUAGE PERSON OF THE MIDWIFE IN THE RITUAL DISCOURSE OF THE BIRTH OF A CHILD

The article is devoted to the modeling of the linguistic personality of the generalized type of midwife, who takes an active part in all rituals of the Ukrainian rite of childbirth. In ritual discourse, this woman reflects the norms of ethnic linguistic culture. The purpose of our research was to analyze the linguistic personality of the collective type of midwife on ethnographic materials and materials of folk songs that accompanied the rituals in the rite of childbirth. The object was the linguistic and cultural personality of the generalized type of Ukrainian woman, who took an active part in antenatal and post partum rituals, as well as during childbirth performed all necessary work to save the lives of mothers and children. The subject was modeled on the verbal and nonverbal communicative levels of linguistic personality of the midwife, grandmother, as she was called by the people. In the process of work we used the following general and special linguistic methods: analysis and synthesis, descriptive method, as well as methods of induction and deduction; contextual-interpretive method and the method of modeling the language personality of the generalized type. The main attention was paid to the linguistic and spiritual state of this woman. In ritual discourse, the midwife reflects the norms of ethnic linguistic culture. The collective type of such a linguistic personality is represented by an elderly woman who can no longer have children. She is revered and respected not only in the village where she lives, but also far beyond. Her craft is passed down from generation to generation within the family. The midwife, who is often called the grandmother, is a connoisseur of sacred texts. The article analyzes the verbal and non-verbal means of communication through such texts with supernatural forces, including God and the Mother of God. Midwife has the secrets of folk medicine, she gives advice to the mother before childbirth, helps to correct the situation if there are complications during childbirth, and when the family already has children and parents do not want to give birth, prepares contraceptives for women. Grandmother is a good psychologist, she feels the woman’s condition during childbirth and calms her down with her words. The midwife’s dialogues or monologues have a suggestive effect on the midwife, who calls her mother, entrusting her life and the life of the child to the grandmother. The midwife is a modest and responsible woman. She can never refuse a request for help during childbirth: she gathers quickly and always has a set of ritual items that she carries with her. These are bread, holy water, candles, cloth, and so on. In turn, the new parents give the grandmother, who can, but always give bread and a towel. After that, the midwife becomes a member of the family, she prepares the first bath for the child, organizes a ritual of purification for herself and the mother, participates in baptisms and more. Folk songs preserve the glorification of the grandmother and the boundless gratitude for her work, which this woman always does conscientiously, without expecting a reward. The collective type of such a linguistic personality is characterized by knowledge of oral folk art, free possession of elements of folk speech. In the future, we see it possible to model a generalized type of linguistic personality of Ukrainian women in ritual discourse in a broad sense.

‘Wait! Don’t touch me!’: Police uniforms, family anxiety, and rituals of purification in the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Emblematic power is entrenched in the uniform and bodily image of the police. The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded a new layer of understandings of ‘dirty work’ with police officers, and has shown how the police uniform is perceived to be an involuntary vehicle for physical contamination and symbolic taint. This article is based on interviews with 18 police officers from 11 UK police forces over the summer of 2020 and explores how the COVID-19 pandemic caused increased fear and anxiety about virus contraction, particularly when officers were not prioritised for testing and vaccinations at the time. The possibility of transmitting COVID-19 to family members motivated officers to treat their uniforms differently, and they undertook purification rituals to mitigate violations of the physical and symbolic space around the body. Fear and anxiety of ‘the unknown’ is a motivator for discussions about long-term effects of officer well-being, and the significance of learning to prepare for future pandemics.

Manifestations of Academic Untouchability in India: Exclusionary Practices that Subvert Reservations in Admissions in Higher Education

The notions of ritual purity and pollution hierarchically grades people according to their castes, and this hierarchy is socially expressed in terms of unequal rights to space, and the idea of ‘untouchability’ is socially realized either in terms of a complete denial or the most inferior participation. As a corrective measure of the historical injustices to certain sections of the society, the state and union governments in India have enacted reservation policies in education and employment. Nevertheless, the administrators of several institutions show reluctance in implementing reservations in letter and spirit, despite the fact that the University Grants Commission has emphasized about proper implementation of reservations at various points in time. The demand for proper implementation of Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, subsequently amended in 2012, in Pondicherry University exposes how an ambiguity inherent in the act’s amended version has been used to justify the systematic exclusion of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe doctoral aspirants in several departments of the university. Based on interactions with the university administration, the essay attempts to understand the politics behind the method of implementing reservations in admissions in higher education. It emphasizes that the bodies governing higher education should provide proper directions in regard to the implementation of the act. It further calls for the establishment of administrative mechanisms, directly under the apex regulatory bodies, to oversee implementation of reservation policies in all the government educational institutions.

Miller, Stuart S. At the Intersection of Texts and Material Finds: Stepped Pools, Stone Vessels, and Ritual Purity among the Jews of Roman Galilee. Göttingen: V&R Academic, 2015. 342 pp.

Article Miller, Stuart S. At the Intersection of Texts and Material Finds: Stepped Pools, Stone Vessels, and Ritual Purity among the Jews of Roman Galilee. Göttingen: V&R Academic, 2015. 342 pp. was published on October 1, 2022 in the journal Studies in Judaism, Humanities, and the Social Sciences (volume 4, issue 1).

Finding Men in Menstruation: Resolving Bad Blood by Discovering Male Roles in the Purification Rituals of Leviticus 12

Harmful interpretations of the blood rites for menstruating and postpartum women in Leviticus 12 have sown seeds of misogyny for two millennia. While this text has often been criticized for its patriarchal perspective, this article demonstrates how male participation in Lev 12:1-8 provides unexpected support for women during their blood cycles. First, through historical analysis of postpartum and menses misogyny, the author holds androcentric religious agendas accountable for female blood taboos, rather than scripture itself. Second, Markowski provides a close Hebrew textual analysis of Lev 12 to suggest that ancient Israelite men function as allies to bleeding women, not enemies. Third, he shows how cross-cultural narratives and practices of menstrual rest and maternity leave, supported by anthropological research and feminist scholarship, confirm the collaboration described in the biblical text. Surprisingly, ancient biblical male-female partnerships offer modern society inspiring role models for empowering and liberating biblical family values.

Empathy and Flesh in Performance

ABSTRACT By analyzing the “ritual of purification” presented on stage in Nao Bustamante’s performance Indigurrito, I show how identity categories influence different, and at times contradictory, readings of enactments of power in ways that enhance or obstruct an empathic response. The methodological lens for this article borrows from Hortense Spillers’s notion of “flesh” to analyze the stage of interaction and the Latina body. “Flesh” is a concept developed by Spillers to denote what is left outside the frame of social conceptualization. In other words, “flesh” is that which is not considered a matter of discussion, because as a structural element of the “social” is hardly ever thought of. After analyzing the perspectives of different kinds of subject positions both by the author/actor and by the audience/participants, I consider the possibility of elaborative empathy. One of its elements, identity categorization, influences not only openness to parallel emotions but also skills at understanding other people’s emotional experiences.

The ‘Fire Ritual’ in Buddhist Uyghurs: Homa (in the Evidence of Tantric Turkish Buddhism Texts)

Homa, a fire ritual of Vedic origin, is a popular religious practice adapted from Hinduism to Esoteric Buddhism. Homa, seen in meditation and yoga practices in Tibetan Buddhism, is a ritual that aims to reach wisdom and enlightenment, which is represented in Buddhist Tantras in particular, Agni, the god of fire. The homa ritual is also known as a performance that involves the building of a fire at an altar and the burning of offerings over it. Predominantly in Tibetan Buddhism, the practice of homa, visualized with a maṇḍala, takes place under the guidance of masters of teaching called Guru or Ācārya. In the practice of homa, offerings thrown into the fire symbolically mean removing spiritual barriers. The practice of homa, which usually has functions such as protection, prolonging life, destroying evil and evil beings, is a ritual of purification and renewal. This ritual is a popular practice in all Buddhist regions of Central Asia, not just the Indian and Tibetan region. In this respect, the present study deals with the narratives of the fire ritual among the Uyghurs, who adopted Tibetan Buddhism in the Old Turkish religious life. This practice, which is seen with the term hom(a) ~ hoom in Old Uyghur, is also seen in written materials, especially in Buddhist Uyghurs, where ritual-based narratives are abundant.

Dining with Russian Old Believers: guesthood, gender roles and rules of ritual purity

This paper discusses religious restrictions of the Old Believers, a group within Russian Orthodox Christianity. In particular, I refer to communities of the Chasovenny faction in Siberia. These Old Believers are supposed to eat separately from anyone who does not belong to the group and to use tableware (the so-called “fine bowls”) that are not shared with anyone except community members to avoid defilement. I observe my own field experiences as a guest in these communities, in which the practice of separation is often performed ad hoc. I argue that, despite seeming to establish strict isolation from non-Old Believers, the rule of separate tableware is more important for structuring social relations within the group than for drawing boundary lines between different confessions. I also focus on the gendered aspects of this practice. Maintenance of ritual purity concerns both women and men, but it is represented in their lives differently. The rule requires women to keep profound knowledge of dogmas and local community practices because this is important for supporting other aspects of group religious and social life.