11. Ritual Context: Royal Ancestral Worship in the Buddhist Style

2019 ◽  
pp. 156-159
Keyword(s):  
2020 ◽  
pp. 301-323
Author(s):  
Natalya I. Kikilo ◽  

In the Macedonian literary language the analytic da-construction used in an independent clause has a wide range of possible modal meanings, the most common of which are imperative and optative. The present article offers a detailed analysis of the semantics and functions of the Macedonian optative da-construction based on fiction and journalistic texts. The first part of the article deals with the specificities of the optative as a category which primarily considers the subject of a wish. In accordance with the semantic characteristics of this category, optative constructions are used in those discourse text types where the speakers are explicitly designated (the most natural context for the optative is the dialogue). The analysis of the Macedonian material includes instances of atypical usage of the optative da-construction, in which the wish of the subject is not apparent and thereby produces new emotional tonalities perceptible to the reader of a fiction/journalistic text. The study describes Macedonian constructions involving two different verb forms: 1) present tense form (da + praes) and 2) imperfective form (da + impf). These constructions formally designate the hypothetical and counterfactual status of the optative situation, respectively. Thus, the examples in the analysis are ordered according to two types of constructions, which reflect the speaker’s view on the probability of the realisation of his/her wish. Unrealistic wishes can be communicated through the present da-construction, while the imperfective construction denotes situations in which the wish can be realised in the future. The second part of the article is devoted to performative optative da-constructions, which express formulas of speech etiquette, wishes and curses. The analysis demonstrates that these constructions lose their magical functions, when used outside of the ritual context, and begin to function as interjections.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina E. Kozlova

This section considers why ancient communities in crisis deemed sorrowing motherhood as a potent agent in bringing about their preservation. It suggests, for example, that since child loss creates existential limbo for the bereft mother, it can unlock a unique capacity in her for incessant supplications and intercessions. Thus, when groups and individuals were at their most vulnerable, the perpetual destabilization of a bereft mother and the ability to intercede as its outcome were the go-to social tools. Additionally, it considers the ability of mourning rites to transgress normal social expectations and defy class differences. Consequently, within a ritual context bereft mothers could voice uncensored perspectives on personal and collective suffering and on the persons responsible for it. Finally, since Israel used family-based metaphors for its various social structures, it was only natural to appeal to maternal agency, with its emphasis on care and protection, in times of crises.


Author(s):  
Laura Quick

This chapter argue that ritual behaviours might be just as good a source as literary texts for the diffusion of traditional cursing and treaty material across different cultures in the ancient Near East. In particular, the role of ad hoc oral Targum in the ritual process could have been an important means by which traditions were shared between different language communities. Recognition of the ritual context of this material also provides insights for the comparative method, the dating and authorship of Deuteronomy 28, and the subversive impetus thought to have stood behind its composition. Ultimately, the function of the written word in a largely oral world is shown to be fundamental to understanding the composition, function and the early history of the curses in the book of Deuteronomy.


Author(s):  
Юлия Сергеевна Овчинникова

В статье рассматривается специфика бытования музыкального фольклора теленгитов селения Язула Улаганского района Республики Алтай в условиях транзитивности (по материалам полевых исследований 2003 и 2019 гг.). Музыкальный фольклор теленгитов обособленного селения характеризуется полистадиальностью, «вероятностной» (поливекторной, нелинейно меняющейся) природой развития, увеличением культурного разнообразия и трансформацией моноязычной культурной среды в многоязычную в лингвистическом, музыкальном и бытовом планах. Каналами инокультурного влияния на интонационное поле теленгитской музыкальной традиции сегодня выступают радио, Интернет и телевидение, сельский клуб, доступная транспортная связь с городом, международные курултаи сказителей . При расширении сферы бытования различных форм фольклоризма (советского, российского, алтайского) песенная фольклорная традиция теленгитов продолжает существовать исключительно в обрядовом контексте (закрыто от глаз приезжих). Владение каем - особым типом интонирования, характерным для тюрков Горного Алтая, маркирующим их этнокультурную идентичность, - востребовано сегодня со стороны туристов, региональной администрации и общественности, что ведет к миграции носителей этой традиции из обособленных селений в центральные. Трансформация искусства кая обусловлена единым процессом глобализации/глокализации, переходом от традиционного контекста бытования к сценическому фольклоризму, проникновением инокультурных интонационных форм в звуковой ландшафт теленгитских селений. This article focuses on the current state of Telengit music culture in Yazula Village (Ulagan Region, Republic of Altai) in conditions of transitivity. The material presented is based on field studies in 2003 and 2019. The Telengit musical folklore of this territorially isolated village is characterized by polystadiality; the “probabilistic,” non-linear nature of its development; by an increase of cultural diversity; and by the transformation of a monolingual environment into a multi-lingual one in linguistic, musical and ontological terms. Channels for outside cultural influence on the intonational field of the Telengit musical tradition include: radio, television, the Internet, the local club, transportation to the city; and International Kurultai of storytellers. In the presence of different forms of folklore (Soviet, Russian, Altaian) performed in the village club, the village folksong tradition continues to live on exclusively in a ritual context (inaccessible to outsiders). The mastery of kai as a specific type of intonation, typical for the Turks of Gorny Altai, that marks their ethnocultural identity, is in demand today by tourists, regional administrations and the public. This leads to the migration of carriers of this tradition out of isolated settlements into more central ones. The transformation of the art of kai in modern Telengit culture is conditioned by the process of globalization/glocalization; by the change of kai’s function in a traditional context to that of staged folklorism; and by the penetration of other cultural intonational forms into the soundscape of Telengit villages.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0247306
Author(s):  
Maria Giovanna Belcastro ◽  
Teresa Nicolosi ◽  
Rita Sorrentino ◽  
Valentina Mariotti ◽  
Annalisa Pietrobelli ◽  
...  

An isolated human cranium, dated to the early Eneolithic period, was discovered in 2015 at the top of a vertical shaft in the natural Marcel Loubens gypsum Cave (Bologna area, northern Italy). No other anthropological or archaeological remains were found inside the cave. In other caves of the same area anthropic and funerary use are attested from prehistory to more recent periods. We focused on investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of this individual, since the cranium shows signs of some lesions that appear to be the results of a perimortem manipulation probably carried out to remove soft tissues. Anthropological analyses revealed that the cranium belonged to a young woman. We analysed the taphonomic features and geological context to understand how and why the cranium ended up (accidentally or intentionally) in the cave. The analyses of both the sediments accumulated inside the cranium and the incrustations and pigmentation covering its outer surface suggested that it fell into the cave, drawn by a flow of water and mud, likely from the edges of a doline. The accidental nature of the event is also seemingly confirmed by some post-mortem lesions on the cranium. The comparison with other Eneolithic archaeological sites in northern Italy made it possible to interpret the find as likely being from a funerary or ritual context, in which corpse dismemberment (in particular the displacement of crania) was practiced.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Jordan

Abstract This paper explores the ritual of the dirbāsha as an extraordinary miracle performance and its role as a bodily practice in the formation of modern Muslim subjectivities among the Qādiriyya-Kasnazāniyya Sufi communities in Iraq. During the climax of collective dhikr gatherings, male Sufi novices perform extraordinary and dangerous acts, perforating parts of their bodies with swords or long skewers without seriously injuring themselves. From the Sufi perspective, this ritual is, first of all, interpreted as the miracle of a Sufi shaykh and not of the performing Sufi novice since it is seen as an expression and proof of God’s power as transmitted through the shaykh. Moreover, it has been argued that the ritual is constitutive for the formation of the religious subjectivity of the performing Sufi novice since it allows the embodiment of mystical concepts as emotional, sensorial and existential realities. For the individual ritual experience to work, the social construction and constant reframing of these “miracles” needs to be taken into account as well, namely the ordinary ethics of the extraordinary which allow the miracles to be perceived as such. The present case of the Kasnazāniyya will show how Sufis combined their pious with a modern, critical and self-reflexive subjectivity and successfully managed to reframe this highly controversial practice – which is criticised by religious reformists and secularists alike – beyond its traditional ritual context with the modern science of parapsychology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 217-244
Author(s):  
Cristian Ioan Popa

On the Jidovu mountain in Zlatna, the exploitation of an andesite extraction quarry recently destroyed a Coţofeni site. In 2014, from the area of the peak (952 m altitude), fragments of four ceramic vessels (a pitcher, an amphora, a mug and a cup) were recovered. Afterwards, in 2015, other fragments dispersed by the quarry explosions were also discovered. The presence of these materials is very important in the context of mountain archaeology. Two possible hypotheses were discussed, regarding the presence of certain large-capacity vessels (the 30 l pitcher, the 60 l amphora) on the mountaintop: the possible exploitation of andesite and a ritualistic deposit. The first hypothesis cannot be supported, since in the Coţofeni area, there are very few artefacts made of andesite. However, the much more plausible hypothesis is that of the existence of a ritualistic deposit, since similar associations of vessels also occurred in other places of worship, especially in the caves of the Apuseni Mountains. The possibility of the existence of a seasonal inhabitation is much smaller, given the conformation of the mountain. The Coţofeni site from Jidovu is part of a region in which many Coţofeni discoveries were made, in Zlatna and in the neighbouring areas, concentrated on the upper course of the Ampoi Valley. Unfortunately, the site was destroyed, in the absence of an archaeological survey, and no other data can be recovered.


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