Ritual System Research Articles

Diachronic change in the Shang dynasty ritual package

The ritual system of China’s Late Shang dynasty is commonly described as ‘mature’ in Mainland Chinese scholarship, meaning that the leading role of bronze vessels in ancestral rites is recognisably similar to the practices of later dynasties. Such an assumption depicts ritual artefacts—particularly those from mortuary contexts—from the Early and Middle Shang periods as precursors to the Late Shang ones in a predictable evolutionary framework. This paper examines changes in the use of ceramic and bronze across the Shang period, showing that ceramics—specifically proto-porcelain and hard pottery—played more of a key role in Early and Middle Shang ritual, though the types of vessels required were not yet strictly formalised. By contrast, the huge number of bronzes in the Late Shang corresponds to an apparent emphasis on quantity and conspicuous consumption in a ritual economy. This occurred despite the Late Shang’s theoretical loss of territory in the west and south, which necessitated exchange networks with neighbouring polities, particularly those south of the Central Plains, be adapted.

ҚАДИМГИКУЛЬТЛАР БИЛАН АЛОҚАДОР МАРОСИМ ҚЎШИҚЛАРИНИНГ ЎЗИГА ХОС ХУСУСИЯТЛАРИ

This article discusses the features of the symbols of rituals associated with ancient cults. In addition, all songs performed at ceremonies are influenced by irreconcilable beliefs and reflect all forms of the natural world.Also, ritual folklore and its two parts -seasonal rituals and family rituals, folklore are the main source of the identity of each nation, the system of seasonal and family rituals of the Uzbek people and their worldview, their place and function. In this system of seasonal, family rituals and the folklore sung in it, first of all, all life experience, knowledge and conclusions of people are embodied

Traditional ceremonies and worships in East-­Slavic paganism

This article is relevant, first of all, for compatriots, as it addresses issues of the cultural heritage of Eastern Slavic peoples. The article discusses worship and rituals in East Slavic paganism as the most important part of the religious life of Belarusians, Ukrainians and Russians. The issues of the origin and development of these phenomena are analyzed. Numerous examples show the diversity and importance of the system of rites, rituals and worship in ancient and modern Slavic paganism. It is noted that the activities and heritage of the wanderers and the Magi are significant material for studying the culture of our ancestors. The most visited religious objects are distinguished: first of all, sanctuaries, temples, burial mounds, burials of the Magi, the graves of ancient Russian princes of the pre-Christian time. For thousands of neo-pagans, the reverent attitude to the object of worship serves as the fulfillment of the will of the ancestors. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of worship and rites in East Slavic paganism, to show the influence of historical, geographical, cultural factors on their formation. This work may be useful for solving urgent problems of interaction with representatives of different religious denominations.

Wariancje semantyczne pojęcia "kołtuna" w wybranych tekstach kultury polskiej i litewskiej

SEMANTIC VARIATIONS OF THE CONCEPT OF KOŁTUN ‘POLISH PLAIT’ IN SELECTED TEXT OF POLISH AND LITHUANIAN CULTURES
 The paper discusses semantic changes and stylistic derivation of the cultural concept of kołtun ‘Polish plait’ (Plica polonica) in Polish and Lithuanian. Although today it is impossible to meet a person with a kołtun on their head, the concept itself, as an element of socially established knowledge of the world, has survived and is still used in various discourses (ranging from dialectal texts and folklore, belles-lettres and journalistic writing, to contemporary Internet messages), to communicate different meanings, both literal and metaphorical.There are similarities and differences between the conceptualizations of kołtun in texts of Polish and Lithuanian cultures. The unifying element is the perception of kołtun as a formation of entangled hair or a mysterious disease that is inscribed into the folk system of beliefs and magical rituals. On the other hand, what sets the analysed concept apart in the two languages, is a much richer resource of folk and colloquial forms (compounds, hybrid words, phrasemes) in Lithuanian, and in addition, the lack of negative evaluation of kołtun in Lithuanian, whereas in Polish the word is often used to describe a backward, small-minded person.

Producing legibility through ritual: The Inka expansion in Huarochirí (Lima, Peru)

This article builds a framework for the analysis of the Inka Empire’s (1400–1532 CE) expansion in the Peruvian highlands. Drawing from recent archaeological excavations at the site of Canchaje (Huarochirí), I propose that the Inka built upon cultural familiarities between them and their subjects by using ritual emplacements (rock outcrops and plazas) as arenas of mediation. At the same time, the construction of mutual legibility enabled subjected communities to maintain and redefine their cultural practices in ways that survived the Inka Empire. By recasting the Inka from foreign conqueror to new kin within local ritual systems, the people of Huarochirí reinvented their traditions to garner political agency. Using archaeological data and colonial-period documents, I show that local agency informed empire-building, leading to the reinvention of local traditions. Ultimately, my work shows how mutual legibility was built on the ground while exploring specific instances of negotiation through ritual.

Violencia, ritual y división simbólica de los sexos en Almadén (Ciudad Real)

Las actuaciones de violencia iconoclasta que ha conocido España en fases recientes de su historia no han sido clarificadas en todos sus determinantes culturales. La interpretación que aquí se hace de las relaciones entre sistema ritual, sacrofobia y conflictos de género en Almadén, un pueblo minero de Castilla-La Mancha, sirve para proponer una aproximación a esos factores que, procedentes del campo extrapolítico, pueden detectarse contribuyendo a la formación de los aspectos inconscientes de la ideología anticlerical española contemporánea.

The Establishment of the Suburban Sacrifice Rituals During the Western Han1

Editor’s This essay draws on the suburban sacrifice ritual to explicate in detail how Confucianism became the state religion by reforming the ritual system as a justification of the political system holding the Emperor as the central and highest authority.

The Forgotten Consort: The Goddess and Kāmadeva in the Early Worship of Tripurasundarī

This article examines continuities between the Hindu Tantric tradition of Tripurasundarī, which later came to be known as Śrīvidyā, and the antecedent tradition of Nityās. A prominent role of Kāmadeva (the god of love) as the consort of the principal goddess in the antecedent tradition of Nityās provides important clues for later development of the worship of Tripurasundarī. Continuities between the worship of Tripurā and the Nityā tradition include a triangle at the heart of the Śrīcakra (the principal ritual diagram), names of subordinate goddesses that clearly demonstrate a historical connection with Kāmadeva, and elements of iconography of the principal goddess modeled after visualizations of the god of love. Practices in the antecedent Nityā tradition, outlined in the Nityākaula Tantra, and the early tradition of Tripurasundarī in the Vāmakeśvarīmata were meant exclusively for a male audience, a stance that was revised in the later Śrīvidyā. Furthermore, propitiation of Tripurasundarī in the ritual sections of the Vāmakeśvarīmata served primarily to satisfy desire by means of rituals of attraction (ākarṣaṇa) and subjugation (vaśīkaraṇa). Although Kāmadeva was no longer propitiated in the Vāmakeśvarīmata, his prominent role in the ritual system of the antecedent tradition illuminates features that remained at the core of the worship of Tripurasundarī for more than a millennium.

An analysis of the history and current situation of the integration of Chinese and Korean music

Since ancient times, China and South Korea have been deeply connected in politics, geography, culture, history and economy. Since the Han dynasty, the Korean peninsula was deeply influenced by Chinese culture in terms of ritual system, politics, economy, art and customs. Although there are intertwined musical elements in Chinese and Korean music, there are also many differences due to geographical, lifestyle, customs and other reasons, which forms different musical cultural systems with distinct national characteristics. After the division of North and South Korea, South Korea was greatly influenced by the western countries, and naturally formed a music style totally different from the traditional Confucian culture in terms of the development of music culture. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the South Korea in 1992, cultural communications and cooperation have become increasingly active, and the interaction and integration of music have been continuously expanded. Chinese music is also increasingly popular with South Koreans, but the breadth and depth remains to be improved. By studying the history and current situation of Chinese-Korean music integration, this paper finds that Chinese and Korean music in history interacted and integrated with Musical Instruments, instrumental music, music types, music theories and other aspects, which continuously promoted the innovation and development of their respective music art. In modern times, Korean music industrialization development model is mature, the smell of music is very sensitive, which can quickly capture the young people''s preference. And through creating singing and dancing combination and other forms to integrate the idol and music, using the power of the idol to promote the development of music, music culture output also showed a more active attitude, set off a wave of Korean music in China, the development of China''s music industry has had an important impact. Chinese music education should actively learn from the experience of Korean music development, combine the current situation and characteristics of Chinese music, take an open attitude, focus on innovation and exploration, develop closely with the modern market, achieve the goal of sound interaction between music education and music industry, and promote the diversified development of Chinese music.

Stages of Centralized Ritual System and Their Features

Stages of Centralized Ritual System and Their Features

Трансформативная посвятительная традиция в даосизме и концепция сяня

This paper focuses on the characteristics of one of the key types of Taoist tradition – хian, which is usually inaccurately translated as “immortal”. Based on a number of texts of Taoist traditions Lingbao, Shanqing and Quanzhen, the paper shows that the acquisition of the state of xianhood is not connected with physical immortality, but based on the deep transformative and transpersonal experience. The practitioner goes through a series of transformative stages, each of which, depending on the particular school, includes a set of spiritual practices aimed at achieving absolute peace and self-deactualization. Such reincarnation is also accompanied by the acquisition of a bright “light”, getting a “shining spirit”, immersion into a “deep dream” that is associated with a strong insight experience. In some cases, it could be regarded as the self-rebirth in the true form (the state of the “true man”): passing through the stage of “dying of the previous body” and rebirth in the new one, as well as going to the “distant wanderings”, which typologically can be defined as a special type of rites of passage and passing through a system of consecrated rituals.

Gerakan Karismatik dalam Gereja Katolik dan Protestan

Gerakan pentakostalisme mengalami perkembangan pesat yang melahirkan beberapa gerakan sektarian, karena sejumlah faktor internal dan eksternal. Artikel ini menggambarkan dan menganalisis perkembangan faham dan gerakan Pentakostalisme-Karismatik. Secara rinci, artikel mencoba memokus pada : (a) bagaimana kesejarahan gerakan pentakostalisme di dunia umumnya dan di Indonesia khususnya, (b) seperti apa gerakan pentakostalisme di Gereja Katolik dan Protestan, (c) apa perbedaan doktrinal gerakan Karismatik di Gereja Katolik dan Protestan, dan (d) Sejauhmana pengaruh Karismatik Katolik dan Protestan di Indonesia. Penelitian yang menggunakan pendekatan metoda fenomenologi agama ini, menyimpulkan sejumlah temuan, diantaranya adalah (i) Gerakan Pentakostalisme di Indonesia melahirkan gerakan Karismatik di tubuh Gereja Katolik dan Gereja Protestan, (ii) terdapat perbedaan signifikan antara doktrin Karismatik Katolik dan Protestan, diantaranya dalam dalam hal peribadatan (sistem ritual) dan cara penginjilan, dan (iii) Karismatik Katolik cenderung berkembang di daerah perkotaan, sedang Karismatik Protestan tersebar secara luas, baik di perkotaan maupun perdesaan.
 Kata kunci: aliran Karismatik, Pentakostalisme, fenomenologi agama.

Sobre a Lenha, Labareda Sou: Poética da Memória em um Canto Ritual Krahô

Apresento aqui a transcrição e a tradução da letra de um canto krahô, povo ameríndio falante de uma língua Jê e que vive no norte do estado do Tocantins. Este canto é um exemplar de um dos diversos gêneros de arte verbal encontrados entre os Krahô e que constituem formasexpressivas centrais em seu vasto e complexo sistema ritual. Proponho aqui um exercício cruzado em que o comentário etnográfico enriquece a tradução e o comentário sobre a tradução enriquece a etnografia, ambos movimentos contribuindo para uma compreensão mais detalhada do texto e de seu contexto. A partir disso, interpreto esse canto como uma reflexãosobre seu próprio processo de transmissão e como local de elaboração de uma poética da memória.

Classification and Categorization: Linguistic and Cultural Conceptualization of Time in the YiJing

This paper investigates how concepts of time in the YiJing (here易经 YiJing refers to the 经文Jing text in the ancient Chinese work The Book of Changes) are organized and expressed in terms of language structure and cultural practice, especially with regard to the lexicalization of time intervals and temporal landmarks. The way in which time is conceptualized in the YiJing is very special. The purpose of this study is to explore the cognitive and cultural construals of time with the language of real-world experience. With reference to the Cognition-Culture interface, the YiJing text has been used as a corpus to investigate the encoding of time, and the following categories of temporal conceptualization are found according to the different kinds of usages: 1. Metaphoric temporal usage, which is a metaphoric expression of time, such as “a long time” or “quasi-calendar time”; 2. Concepts of time, involving quantification of time: for example, the processes of waxing, waning, declining and growing of the moon that illustrate the quality of alteration associated with time; 3. Event-based intervals, such as “巳日 Siri Day Si” “先甲三日three days before Day Jia and 后甲三日three days after Day Jia”; 4. The propitious or opportune time, which is the notion of time as the right time to do something, or the right time which gives a chance to engage in the activity at the right time once it brings good luck. What is more interesting is that from all of these examples in the YiJing, the concepts of time are directly or indirectly linked with either metaphor or the event-based time concept, such as celestial bodies (the sun, moon and stars) or the ritual system, which is specific to a particular culture of the YiJing in ancient China.

The Changbai Mountain god temple site of the Jin Dynasty in Antu County, Jilin

Abstract In 2014 through 2017, Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University excavated the god temple site for the Changbai Mountains. The main body of the site was an enclosed unit in rectangular plan surrounded by outer walls, in the middle slightly to the north of which is a courtyard centered by an 工-shaped hall and surrounded by covered walkways; outside the courtyard, architecture and water well remains were found. The artifacts unearthed from this site were mainly architectural component parts; based on the jade tablets bearing the characters “guichou 癸丑” unearthed from this site, this site is estimated to be the temple built in the Jin Dynasty for worshipping the god of the Changbai Mountains. The layout and construction rules of this site matched that in the historical textual records, providing valuable materials for the studies on the official-style architecture of the Jin Dynasty. This site is the first case of the state mountain sacrificial ceremonies found beyond the Central Plains area, which is significantly meaningful for the understandings to the layouts of the shrines and temples of the gods of the “yue (sacred mounts) zhen (mounts for pacifying the directions they are located) hai (seas) du (rivers)” in the Song and Jin Dynasties and the development of the ritual system of the Jin Dynasty.

Cultural Norms and Values Configuration in Acehnese Traditional Fishing Ritual

This study is aimed at providing an overview of cultural reality of Khanuri la’ot discourse,
 a traditional fishing ritual activity in Aceh Province. The objectives of this study are:
 to describe the cultural norms and values configuration from an ethno-pragmatic
 perspective. This study presents the role of cultural script in the analysis of norms and
 values in cultural discourse on natural semantic meta-language theory. It is considering
 that cultural norms and values constituted rules and regulation in social communication
 interaction practices. In conducting the research, this study followed qualitative method
 with its phenomenology approach in which data were obtained from observation in a
 khanuri la’ot ritual, and in depth interview with the respondents from Acehnese fishing
 community. The result of this study showed that there are some cultural norms and
 values found on the ritual in the community. They are: (1) politeness, (2) asserting hope,
 (3) respect, (4) family atmosphere, and (5) giving advice. The configuration of these
 cultural norms and values was in accordance with the understanding of knowledge
 and wisdom in terms of khanuri la’ot ritual system. The configuration is constructed in
 low level scripts with the component of lexicons in semantic primes.

The Values of Maccera Tappareng Ceremony In Buginese Society at Wajo Regency (Local Culture Analysis)

This paper discussed what values exist in the ceremony of Maccera Tappareng in Wajo Regency. This is intended to express all kinds of values in the ritual system of Maccera Tappareng, especially in Wajo Regency. This paper used the qualitative method with a descriptive approach and the data collection was done using triangulation are interviews, observation, and documents. The results of this study show the ceremony of Maccera Tappareng as local culture gives information about the values still exist in this culture in preserving the ceremony of Maccera Tappareng in Wajo regency.

KONSEPSI NATAH DAN LEBUH SEBAGAI “RUANG KESEIMBANGAN” DALAM ARSITEKTUR TRADISIONAL BALI

Natah and lebuh are interpreted as empty outer space in spatial planning of traditional Balinese settlements. In traditional Bali settlements in mountain areas, natah in the form of elongated empty space that binds or becomes the orientation of the times buildings, while traditional Bali settlements in lowland areas in the form of empty space as a center centered orientation of the building configuration. Lebuh is a space that is is in the outermost part of a residential yard or on a scale the settlements are in the village border in the direction of the teben orientation. Natah space and lebuh usually used as a ceremonial space for renewal (a ritual to neutralize power negative), a wide ritual of banten (giving the ceremony facilities that have been used in front under the entrance), downstreaming the process of ritual activities in a home yard and the village environment, as a space for social activities and local customs. Aim this study is an interpretation of the conception of the balance of the natah space and lebuh on traditional Balinese settlements of residential and residential scale using qualitative interpretative exploratory methods through a system of social activity approaches, rituals and safety evacuation and local and general concepts about the dichotomy of space. The results of the research obtained are the natah space and the lebuh as a empty space outside and being in the orientation of nista or teben containing ritual, social and conception safety seen from the spatial layout and function of the two spaces.

연산군의 의례 및 가치 체계에 대한 파괴와 도덕적 권위로부터의 탈피

연산군의 의례 및 가치 체계에 대한 파괴와 도덕적 권위로부터의 탈피

Strangers in the Sacred Grove: The Changing Meanings of Okinawan Utaki

This article discusses the changing significance of sacred groves (utaki) in contemporary Okinawa. Until recently, utaki were the domain of female ritual practitioners (kaminchu or noro), and men were not allowed to set foot in them. In many places, such taboos have faded away, if not disappeared altogether, and utaki have acquired new meanings in the context of mass tourism, heritage conservation, and environmental degradation. Although there are several studies of the ritual system of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879), little research has been conducted on the postwar and contemporary significance of utaki. This article begins by describing the current situation, using examples from the southeastern part of the island. It then identifies three main issues for the study of sacred groves in Okinawa today: the claim, made by leading Japanese scholars, that these are sites of primordial “nature worship”, supposedly similar to ancient Shinto; the recent popularization of utaki as sites of spiritual power, so-called “powerspots”, among tourists; and, finally, the emerging realization of their potential significance for biodiversity conservation.