Spring Festivals Research Articles

Tug of War KAGIHIKI: Tradition and Acculturation

Traditional spring festivals known as kagihiki (tug-of-war with wooden poles) are held around the Osumi Peninsula in Kagoshima Prefecture. Across the different regions of the peninsula there are many similarities in the methods of practicing kagihiki, but there are also many differences. The differences may tell us about the evolution of kagihiki. The spring festival known as Uchiue-matsuri goes like this: a Shinto priest and his ujiko (shrine parishoners) ‘cultivate’ the grounds of the shrine, acting as if they were rice fields; they cultivate the ground using an ox plow (called a moga) and ‘sow’ rice seeds to pray for a good harvest. Kagihiki is part of this festival. There are several types of kagihiki. In one type, a pair of forked or trident branches or young trees are cut and shaped into two long kagi (poles with hooked ends), a male kagi and a female kagi; these are then hooked together and a large number of people compete in a tug-of-war. In another type, a pair of short kagi is used in a tug-of-war involving a small number of people. Another variation involves the hooking together of kagi but there is no tug of war — instead they are dragged around the shrine grounds. In one further variation, there is no differentiation between the male kagi and the female kagi, but there is a tug-of-war involving a large number of people. Many regions have discontinued the spring festival due to the shortage of participants and even stopped practicing kagihiki. However, today there are still eight regions where kagihiki is carried out. From survey reports of these continuing events, we will examine the differences between them in order to clarify the evolution of kagihiki.

Baharın Müjdecisi: Çiğdem (Crocus) ya da AN.TAH.SUM.SAR Hititler Devri Anadolu Florasına Küçük Bir Katkı

The Sumerian word AN.TAHSUM SAR is known from several Hittite cuneiform texts as a bulbous plant. It took or perhaps gave its name to the spring festivals of the Hittites. The scientific identification of the plant AN.TAH.SUM SAR is stiil debated and several plant names, such as Allium or Lilium, from various plant families, have been suggested. It is known from the texts that the plant or its fruit is edible. During the 38 day Spring festival it was presented to the temple of the Gods in the capital of Hattussah, as well as in other Hittite towns. In Arinna, the plant was presented to the Sun Goddess, Deer were also important elements of this festival. In the inscriptions the number of bulbs were indicated from 3 to 12 or by the bunch, which the hieroglyphics represented with one finger and a mountain sign. Ethnographic studies in modern Turkish villages suggest that Crocus, in Iridaceae family, with over 30 species in Turkey was the plant most likely represented by the Hittite hieroglyphics and Sumerian ideograms AN.TAHSUM The Crocus (commonly known as cigdem) is a well known edible bulbuous plant in Central and South Eastern Anatolia. It is one of the early flowering spring plants of high Anatolian plateau and contemporary villagers recognise it as a harbinger of the spring. In February and March when the Crocus blooms, the plant with its bright yellow flowers are collected by children who decorate dried branches with Crocus bulbs and flowers, and go in groups from house to house chanting a traditional Turkish quatrain about cigdem. They tell the villagers of the arrival of spring, and in their turn are given bulghur (cracked wheat) and fat, to cook the bulbs, which the children then eat.

Vasantotsava: The Spring Festivals of India: Texts and Traditions. By Leona M. Anderson. Reconstructing Indian History and Culture, No. 4. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd., 1993. xi, 254 pp.

This study treats Vasantotsava as thematically unified generic whole embracing a range of spring festivals, pansectarian texts to explore the rituals, symbols and motifs of the Vasantotsava.

Carnival: Putting Away the Flesh and Restoring the OED

To the Editor. —Dr Murphy's1remarks on the etymology ofcarnivalshould not be allowed to stand unchallenged. Carnivaldenotes an orgy of gluttony and revelry celebrated just before the beginning of Lent, the season of penance observed by some Christians in preparation for Easter. Modern linguistic authorities agree in tracing carnival to medieval Latincarnilevaria, taking away the meat; abstinence from flesh meats was for many centuries a principal feature of the Lenten observance. The existence and purport of the Latin word are beyond dispute, and its evolution into Englishcarnivaland kindred words in other modern languages is well attested, in the opinion of linguists, by intermediate forms. Dr Murphy, branding this etymology far-fetched and ludicrous, derives carnival instead from a phrase meaning naval carriages and referring to wheeled ships or shiplike wagons drawn in procession during spring festivals in honor of the Phoenician love goddess Astarte.

Italian Music Festivals

Just as the natural seasons have changed their character over a period of time, so, it may be said, have the musical seasons. Of recent years the emphasis has swung over from Autumn and Winter towards Spring and Summer, abandoning the great cities and theatres of ancient tradition for more picturesque abodes, which possess greater interest from the point of view of climate and local colour. Thus the opera and concert seasons which take place in Rome or Milan, Naples or Bologna, Palermo or Genoa begin to lose their appeal; and there is a growth of interest, on the other hand, in Spring or Summer festivals held in cities which are rich in every kind of artistic interest. Musical snobisme has suffered a change: whereas it was once considered fashionable to be present at the first night of the La Scala opera season, now it is even more so to attend the first performance of the “Maggio Musicale Fiorentino” and find oneself on the Lungarno Vespucci between the Hotel Excelsior and the Teatro Communale, or in Venice, in September, for the Festival of Contemporary Music, between the Caffè Florian and La Fenice. At bottom, however, if we consider well, the success of these festivals is due to less superficial and external causes, in as much as they satisfy the entirely modern need for summarising, condensing and intensifying the manifestations of the spirit in a brief space and limited time: for the man of to-day is always in a hurry and his curiosity cannot be kept awake for a long period. In consequence, these festivals are intended to give, in two or three weeks and in a single city, a kind of symposium of the most important musical happenings of the past year–in the fields of opera, ballet and concert–and, moreover, they are combined with the varied and famous attractions of places of touristic interest, thus realising the ideal of the utile dulci; care is taken of the health of the body, and substantial nourishment is provided for the soul.

Spring and Summer Festivals and Autumn and Winter Festivals.N. Moore Banta

<i>Spring and Summer Festivals and Autumn and Winter Festivals.</i>N. Moore Banta