Secular Ceremonies Research Articles

Metropolitan Cathedral Choir. 100 Years Since Its Foundation

In 2022, the Choir of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Cluj-Napoca celebrated 100 years of uninterrupted activity in the field of church music. The centenary of the Cluj choir can be considered a particularly important event, both for the Transylvanian musical space and for the tradition of Romanian choral music. Founded in 1922, the Metropolitan Cathedral Choir has had an outstanding musical career, having performed countless religious concerts, cultural and missionary activities, and participated in religious and secular ceremonies. The recognition of the artistic contribution of the Metropolitan Choir is largely due to its prolific activity in the musical field, which has led to increased visibility, both locally and nationally. With a constant activity of 100 years, the Cathedral Choir has had at the conductor’s desk, but also among the choristers, outstanding personalities of Romanian music. Among those who have led its musical destiny we remember: Gheorghe Dima, Vasile Petrașcu, Augustin Bena, Sava Golumba, Ioan Brie, Vasile Stanciu. Through the prestige it has acquired over time, the Metropolitan Cathedral Choir has become a benchmark for church choirs in the Diocese of Vad, Feleac and Cluj, being a benchmark of mastery and virtuosity. Keywords: diocesan choir, choral music, church choir, conductors, cathedral, centenary

ЕВРОПЕЕЦ ВО ВЬЕТНАМСКОМ ПАНТЕОНЕ: КУЛЬТ БАКТЕРИОЛОГА АЛЕКСАНДРА ЙЕРСЕНА (1863–1943) В СОВРЕМЕННОМ ВЬЕТНАМЕ

The article examines the cult of the bacteriologist, the discoverer of the plague bacillus Alexandre Yersin (1863–1943) in modern Vietnam. The cult of Yersin developed in the place of his burial near the city of Nha Trang in the south of Vietnam, and Yersin is worshiped there both as a rural guardian spirit in the Vietnamese folk religion (thành hoàng), and as a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, although he was not a Buddhist. One of the Buddhist temples in which he is worshiped was previously his office. Meanwhile, Buddhist cult is closely related to the popular veneration of the scientist. Worship of Yersin as a guardian spirit takes place at his grave. An important feature of the cult is that the popular veneration of Yersin was supported by the state: in 2013, a biography of Yersin was published in which his merits are referred as a basis for honoring him as the patron spirit of the area. In addition, secular ceremonies in honor of Yersin contain elements of religious practices rooted in the Vietnamese belief in the existence of the spirits of the dead and their active influence on the daily life of living people. I consider the veneration of Yersin as a new syncretic cult of post-secular Vietnam which give evidence of the vitality of traditional beliefs and their ability to develop in changing social conditions.

Between Silences: The Coronation of Portuguese Medieval Kings (12th–14th Centuries)

The coronations of Portugal’s first dynasty constitute a complex topic. Approaching the theme requires understanding that an omission of words in written documentation can both affirm and deny possibilities. Likewise, visual documentation, such as illuminations, sculptures and other figurative arts, is scarce, raising a significant number of questions and thus is not trustworthy as a historical source. For this reason, the study of Portuguese coronations is filled with questions and silences. Art does not testify to these ceremonies, but shows that Portuguese kings valued regalia pertaining to both religious and secular ceremonies affirming their power, and that those insignias were different from those used by French or English kings in the same time period. In this study, I will use art, particularly funerary sculpture, but also objects with iconographic value, to demonstrate how these reflect elements of thought and the emotional pulsar of the various European societies that produced them.

Vida y costumbres de los judeoconversos, según los procesos inquisitoriales

Los documentos de los procesos inquisitoriales nos muestran algunos aspectos del sistema de vida de los judeoconversos: tipos de comida, costumbres, ritos religiosos y profanos, actitud ante la muerte, etc. Junto a todo ello, analizamos algunos problemas lingüísticos del léxico.

TRANSITIONAL ERA GALLANTRY CULTURE IN THE FOCUS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION PROBLEM (ON THE EXAMPLE OF N. M. KARAMZIN’S PROSE)

Purpose of the study: The article focuses on the study of gallantry culture in terms of the theory of intercultural communication on the example of fiction written by N.M. Karamzin, an outstanding representative of European and Russian sentimentalism.
 Methods and materials: The theoretical aspects of the problem of gallantry are considered in the context of the main provisions of modern concepts of intercultural communication. N.M. Karamzin’s “sensitive” novels are analyzed from the standpoint of gallant secular ceremonies.
 Main findings: The concept of gallantry is associated with the psychological aspects of the new secular personality. It is correlated with the educational and didactic ideas of the Enlightenment and the chivalry code. The basis of true gallant psychology as a sensitive world view is love, passion, and tenderness, which forms a system of ideas for the gallant education of the younger generation in a new society at the turn of the 18th – 19thcenturies. The article reveals the main features of the gallant gentleman: sensitivity, melancholy, virtue, lack of rational principles.
 The originality of the study: The ideas about the interrelated gradual comprehension of Beauty and Virtue, Love and the sensory perception of Beauty as a Divine principle are likewise important. The discoveries of N.M. Karamzin, a writer and a psychologist, in the sphere of gallant psychology and the general cultural phenomenon of gallantry are connected with the analysis of the person’s internal rules of behavior, thinking and world perception. The article shows how the writer developed new cultural studies at the joint of literature, everyday life and psychology, which laid the foundation of the studied problem.

Wome ns r ol e a nd pos i t i on i n t he Y ar s a n r e l i g i on

(Kakayi)Yarsan is an ancient Kurdish Religion; it is based on the other old religions in Kurdistan such as Metrayi and Zardashti . (Saranjam) is the holy book of Yarsan Religion. Yarsan is considered as part of Kurdish national heritage and has its own particular secular ceremonies; it could continuously develop and renew itself. In this thesis, we try to throw light on women class in the aspect of writing, music and religious education in Yarsan Religion along history, To enrich this subject more, we have referred to the well-known cultured women mentioned in the holy book (Saranjam) ; those women held high position in community and whose poems were interpreted and played their role side by side with men to serve and circulate the message of Yarsan Religion and educating the people.

The role of cognitive abilities in strategic innovation

Womens role and position in the Yarsan religion. (Kakayi)Yarsan is an ancient Kurdish Religion; it is based on the other old religions in Kurdistan such as Metrayi and Zardashti . (Saranjam) is the holy book of Yarsan Religion. Yarsan is considered as part of Kurdish national heritage and has its own particular secular ceremonies; it could continuously develop and renew itself. In this thesis , we try to throw light on women class in the aspect of writing, music and religious education in Yarsan Religion along history, To enrich this subject more, we have referred to the well-known cultured women mentioned in the holy book (Saranjam) ; those women held high position in community and whose poems were interpreted and played their role side by side with men to serve and circulate the message of Yarsan Religion and educating the people.

An ancient Kurdish Religion: Yarsan

Yarsan is an ancient Kurdish Religion; it is based on the other old religions in Kurdistan such as Metrayi and Zardashti. (Saranjam) is the holy book of Yarsan Religion. Yarsan is considered as part of Kurdish national heritage and has its own particular secular ceremonies; it could continuously develop and renew itself. In this thesis, we try to throw light on women class in the aspect of writing, music and religious education in Yarsan Religion along history, To enrich this subject more, we have referred to the well-known cultured women mentioned in the holy book (Saranjam) ; those women held high position in community and whose poems were interpreted and played their role side by side with men to serve and circulate the message of Yarsan Religion and educating the people.

‘We Still Wanted That Sense of Occasion’: Traditions and Meaning-Making in Scottish Humanist Marriage Ceremonies

As a secularising nation in Northern Europe, Scotland has, over the last few decades, experienced a steep decline in religious belonging, church attendance, and beliefs. Ritual participation, which is arguably an understudied dimension of secularisation, follows a similar pattern of decline, with a significant majority of Scottish marriage rituals now being conducted in secular ceremonies. Using data from semi-structured in-depth interviews with 17 married couples, this study examines the decisions that secular Scots make when planning their wedding. Moreover, it places a particular focus on humanist marriage ceremonies, which have seen a noteworthy increase in popularity since they became legally recognised in Scotland in 2005. The secular participants emphasised the role of personal convictions and family expectations in choosing a particular type of marriage ceremony. The narratives also revealed how positive attitudes toward humanist ceremonies, in contrast with civil ceremonies, are centred around their ability to create personalised, nonreligious, celebrations that nevertheless give attention to culture and heritage. Ultimately, the findings suggest that repeating history through cultural traditions are an important aspect of both secular and religious rites of passage.

Créativité et incertitude dans les nouveaux rituels contemporains

This paper is based on fieldwork among Portuguese, Italians, Catalans and Spaniards influenced by the transnational Goddess spirituality movement. Through an analysis of ritual narratives the author analyses the role of doubt and uncertainty in contemporary rituals created within Goddess spirituality. She will show that contemporary crafted rituals offer a privileged window on the uncertainty intrinsic in ritual because participants feel less constrained by a long-standing religious tradition and talk more openly about their doubts and their strategies to neutralize them than in the case of secular ceremonies. Drawing on Simon Coleman’s analysis of pilgrimage and ritual (2009, 2013) she suggests that uncertainty may play an important role not only in rituals created in the context of ‘New Age’ spirituality but also in other contemporary rituals created in plural and increasingly secularized Western contexts.

Including Religion: Reflections on Legal, Religious, and Social Implications of the Developing Ceremonial Law of Marriage and Civil Partnership

The introduction in the UK of the Civil Partnership Act (2004) and it's enactment (2005) seemed to herald a new plurality and inclusiveness in the ceremonial law and practices of marriage. However, the provisions of the Act maintain an historically exclusive demarcation between secular and religious elements. Neither the ceremony nor the approved premises may have any relation to religious content or usage. Consequently, three groups remain unable to participate in religious weddings: same-sex couples, members of small religious communities, and dissidents. The public act of a wedding for these groups is not only exclusive, we argue, but pays little heed to the private needs of participants nor the private ritual significance such acts necessarily include. Moreover, the exclusion of religious elements is both difficult to interpret and police. We examine the nature and limitations of the provisions and guidance on the Civil Partnership Act and argue that maintenance of a standardised secularism within public law, as in marriage law and the Civil Partnership Act, is anachronous in a modern plural state. This article challenges the division between public secular acts and private acts of ritual and personal significance. We suggest that private actors import religious elements and meanings into secular ceremonies and that guidance to registrars officiating in civil ceremonies does not provide absolute prohibitions to couples using religiously significant elements of ritual or practice. We conclude that the Act continues practices of unjustified differential treatment and that reform to a more inclusive legal framework is both possible and necessary.

Contrasting discourses of emancipation and empowerment in selected albums by Hosiah Chipanga and Fungisai Zvakavapano

ABSTRACT The choice of the two contemporary gospel musicians, Hosiah Chipanga and Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave (hereafter referred to simply as Fungisai), emanates from a desire to critique the discourses of emancipation in gospel music from a sociological perspective in Zimbabwe's crippling context. The idea is to have some contrasting discourses from a male and female perspective and critique how the two musicians deal with the internally and externally induced challenges confronting the young nation of Zimbabwe. The two singers both hail from the eastern border town of Mutare. While Chipanga claims to be a Christian prophet, Fungisai's music has its basis in the scriptural passages from the Bible that singers are routinely using to make sense of the challenges facing Zimbabweans today. The article therefore seeks to reveal and critique how the two singers have risen to the challenge of inspiring and empowering their audiences to appropriate pragmatic strategies so that people may survive to salvage something of value from an already threatened existence. The prominence of the two musicians has also been heightened by their participation at the national all-inclusive music galas, such as the Independence and Heroes Splush galas, which have been held annually from about 2000 to commemorate and celebrate Zimbabwe's milestones. Significantly, the singers are gospel musicians who appear to be participating in secular ceremonies in an effort to raise their audiences’ consciousness about personal emancipation and empowerment, instead of just dwelling on spiritual salvation. Their music is designed to capture the defining moments in the unfolding sociopolitical life of the Zimbabwean nation. Because of their active involvement in and prominence at these national music shows, one may suggest that Hosiah Chipanga and Fungisai's music provides some critical interrogation of the social fabric of Zimbabwe's national and cultural formations.

Rewritten rites: language and social relations in traditional and contemporary funerals

Despite their personal and social significance, life-course transition rituals (marking, for example, birth, marriage, death) have received scant attention in discourse analysis. Yet radical changes in them, including a growth in secular ceremonies, can provide insight into contemporary discourse and society. This article considers the case of funerals. By contrasting the openings of a traditional religious (Christian) funeral, an updated version of the same, and a secular alternative, it seeks to elucidate the nature of pragmatic, semantic and linguistic changes. The argument is that the most significant contrast is not between religious and secular, but between traditional and contemporary, with the latter being marked by the reduced authority of the celebrant, greater personalization and choice, euphemistic reference to death, less poetic language, and diminished ritual movement. The article concludes with discussion of possible connections between these dimensions of change, and of the extent to which contemporary funerals can be regarded as rituals.

Ritual, Ceremonies, and Cultural Meaning in Higher Education (review)

Manning's primary aim in this book is to invite readers to view higher education through a cultural lens by blending cornerstones of anthropology (including rituals, rites of passage, secular ceremonies, cultural performances and traditions) with higher education theory. In this fifteen-chapter book, Manning first makes the case that an anthropological perspective is relevant, then clarifies the purpose of the book—"to explore campus culture as revealed through rituals and ceremonies" (p. 3). Types of rituals and significant themes in college ritual (e.g., power, criticism) are also discussed.

Holocaust Day and Memorial Day in Israeli Schools: Ceremonies, Education and History

THE USE OF CEREMONIES FOR educational purposes is a well-known phenomenon in the history of religions. Ceremonies such as the Passover Seder or Christian Mass were originally designed not only to unite the community of believers, but also to impart axioms of the faith to the congregation during their participation in the sacred event.' The modern nation-state also learned to convert new ceremonies celebrating its victories into educational tools, imbuing the masses with basic principles of the state's doctrine. However, both religious establishments and the nationstates have preferred, generally, to keep such ceremonies distinctly separate from government-sponsored educational institutions. The uniqueness of the education system that was founded by the Yishuv [the pre-state Jewish community in Eretz Israel], and which continued to develop in the State of Israel, was its attempts to integrate secular ceremonies into the official teaching program, thereby enhancing their pedagogical effectiveness. Of all the ceremonies celebrated in Israeli schools after statehood, the Holocaust Remembrance Day and Memorial Day for Fallen IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Soldiers were assigned, and still share, the uncontested foremost position.3 Other ceremonies, such as the commemoration of the death of Chaim Nachman Bialik, (1873-1934, regarded as Zionism's national poet), were one-time affairs, whereas annual ceremonies such as the IIh of Adar on the Jewish lunar calendar (Tel-Hai Day, commemorating the heroic stand made by a band of pioneers in the Upper Galilee in I920) or Jerusalem Day (commemorating the unification of Jerusalem following the capture of the Old City in the Six-Day War) were observed for only a few years, having

The meaning and function of ritual in psychiatric disorder, religion and everyday behaviour.

Ritual is a central feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and is found in other psychiatric conditions. Defined in a general sense, it is seen in the everyday behaviour of animals and of humans, in secular ceremonies, and in religion. This paper examines the various types of ritual. It considers the common features and differences. Material from psychiatric, biological, sociological, anthropological and religious studies literature is reviewed and discussed. The term 'ritual' describes a wide variety of phenomena. These include the rituals of OCD and range from relatively simple animal signals to profoundly meaningful human behaviour. A common feature is stereotyped physical activity which conveys information. Some clinical, developmental, evolutionary and religious/historical evidence suggests that stereotyped motor behaviour may be the primary phenomenon. The study of ritual in all its manifestations provides insight into the basis of important human behaviours. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a likely paradigm for this study. Psychiatry, with its clinical orientation and biopsychosocial perspective, is a discipline within which the study might occur.

Co-evolution of rice and humans

From its first human gathering and cultivation between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago, the rice genusOryza has fed more people over a longer period than any other crop. It has been closely linked with the evolution of human society, both as a commercial product and as a creator of communities. Rice has been traded in all directions from its places of origin and today it is cultivated on every continent except Antarctica. Irrigated rice, which has always depended on well-regulated, adequate water supply, necessitated the building of canals, reservoirs and terraces and the utilization of a great deal of labor, which in turn created a demand for the nearby availability of communities of people to ensure the basic food supply. Because rice plays such an important role in the lives of its producers and consumers, it is little wonder that it occupies a major position in the cultures of rice-growing countries. Mentioned in all the scriptures of Asia's ancient civilizations, rice is involved in the religious and secular ceremonies of many countries — from birth, through marriage, to death — and in colloquial speech. Planting rice is never fun; Bent from morn till set of sun; Cannot stand and cannot sit; Cannot rest for a little bit. From an old Filipino song

The instrumentation of Handel's early Italian works

When Handel arrived in Rome at the beginning of 1707 he found a musical culture whose artistic level surpassed that of all the other European capitals. Its patrons included members of the Papal court, the Roman nobility and the ambassadors of foreign powers. In sacred and secular ceremonies the arts united to provide a feast for the s nses, the sple dour of which is only inadequately reflected in the records that have come down to us. The music employed new effects to transport audiences to a hitherto unknown state of sensual excitement. In the oratorios, serenades and secular