scholarly journals In memory of Razafindrabe: a General Ethnography of the Astrologer’s Skill in West Bezanozano, Central East Madagascar

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-61
Author(s):  
Christel Mattheeuws
Keyword(s):  
Central Importance ◽  
Extended Families ◽  
The People ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Dead

Astrologers in Madagascar, in West Bezanozano in particular, play a very important role in building the fundaments of the land of extended families (they give the destiny of the family). They are also invited by individuals or families to lay the foundations of village, house, tomb, or memory stones for the dead, and last but not least to lead the famadihana, a ritual for the dead making them ancestors. This chapter follows the practices of astrologers in making the fundaments of villages, houses and tombs. Making fundaments is making as it were a living horoscope, giving places a suitable destiny in relation to the surroundings and the people concerned. I also followed an astrologer/mason who was in charge of crafting a particular memory stone. The memory stone had to deviate from a direct line between village and tomb caused by a mistake in the tomb building having killed two astrologers in their work. Finally, I presented the central importance of the astrologer during the ritual of the famadihana where the destinies of the dead and the living have to be mediated to protect the living from the dead. General speaking, a good astrologer will never become rich, since he has to hold not only good destinies but also bad ones. The work of an astrologer can be extremely dangerous since he deals with real forces. During difficult assignments, people offer him a cock that accompanies him during work since people believe that the cock will die before any human, also an astrologer.

The Ultimate Commitment

2021 ◽  
pp. 437-446
Author(s):  
Herbert B. Huffmon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
New Covenant ◽  
The People ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Book Of The Dead

In the ancient Near East, the “heart” is the center of memory and decision-making, and in Mesopotamian extispicy, the “liver” is the “tablet of the gods” on which the gods inscribe a “true verdict,” providing basic guidance for the people. In international treaties, and especially in Assyrian treaties, emphasis is placed on the importance of “full-hearted” loyalty to the suzerain, going beyond mere “lip service.” The Egyptian “Book of the Dead” likewise emphasizes the central importance of the true testimony of the heart as decisive in the dangerous transit to the afterlife, to becoming an Osiris. These sources combine to emphasize the ultimate commitment expressed by the reference in Jeremiah 31:33 to God’s forthcoming “new covenant” which God will write on the hearts of the people. This is, as it were, a “programming” which transforms them in such a way that they will, by inner necessity, be a loyal people, submitting themselves to God’s guidance and protection.

scholarly journals NATA SANKIRTANA AND MANIPURI SOCIETY

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 476-480
Author(s):  
M.Thoiba Singh
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Rhythmic Pattern ◽  
Dead Body ◽  
The People ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Guardian ◽  
Society Today

The Nata Sankirtana style of singing which was introduced during the reign of Rajarshi Bhagyachandra (1763-1798 A.D.). The great masters and scholars of that period composed and sang the padavali strictly after the Bhagavata tradition and other major Vaishnavite text and based the composition also on the traditional Ragas and Raginis of classical music tradition. Modern research has discovered a lot of regional overtones in the architecture of the particular Ragas and Raginis. The Manipuris call the Nata Sankirtana singing their own and it is clearly a form of collective prayer, a Mahayajna as they call it, lasting for about 5 hours at a stretch with a lot of rituals, movements and rhythmic pattern, strictly after the vaishnavite faith. Nata Sankirtana is a composite version of music, dance and tala; a Sangeet in the true sense of the term. It is also Drishya Kavya, a poem made visible. Nata Sankirtan is a very important aspect in the lives of the people in Manipur. It is because when our end is near, people listen to Hari-naam to relieve us from all the wrong doings that we have done before, so that we die peacefully. After death the family members would take the dead body for the last rites. In the shraddha ceremony, the Nat Sankirtana will start with raga. Before the invocation of the god and prayers start, Pinda- dan cannot be offered. After offering the Pindadan, the owner of the ceremony will have a bath and wear washed clothes. He will then come and offer his respects towards the end of the Sankirtan when Raga Bijay is being performed. The Shraddha ceremony comes to an end with the guardian of the Mandap sending the departed soul to beikuntha dham.  In case of any death in a house, Naam Sankirtana plays an important role. In the ten days of mourning or Dashahan, the ritual will start with Naam Sankirtana and other rituals like reading Shrimad Bhagavat Gita will follow. The particular person who mourns, known as the Gira thangba, will only offer Pindadan after the Sankirtana starts. Even in asti sanchai or the ritual of picking up the remains from the grave, Sankirtana is performed along with Parikrama around the Hari mandir. In this manner,for Meitei Vaishnavites living in the society today, Nat Sankirtana Mahayajna was become an indispensable event in the lives of the people since time immemorial. In short, Nata Sankirtana is the only highest karma for the Meitei society. This paper attempts to understand the important role of Nata Sankirtana in Manipuri society.

scholarly journals THE STATUS AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS OF NUCLEAR AND EXTENDED FAMILIES IN KAZAKHSTAN: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

2020 ◽  
pp. 232-239
Author(s):  
Nazym Blimovna Saparova ◽  
Gulzhan Toktamysovna Alimbekova
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Extended Families ◽  
The People ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Status ◽  
Development Prospects

The family plays an important role in the development of society. The family shapes a worldview, instills spiritual and moral values, accustoms to a certain behavior, instills skills and responsibility, keep the traditions and culture of the people alive, and a lot more.

scholarly journals Fiery rituals among the Alanian population of the Saltov culture of the Seversky Donets Basin (based on materials from catacomb cemeteries)

Archaeology ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 28-38
Author(s):  
Victor Aksionov
Keyword(s):  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Donets Basin ◽  
Dominant Type ◽  
Dead Person ◽  
Funeral Rite ◽  
The People ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Chamber Floor

One of the typical features of the funeral rite of the Alanian population of the Saltov culture is the sprinkling of the burial chamber floor with a layer of charcoal. Paired (male + female) burials on coal bedding S. A. Pletneva considered as burials of couples in which coal was a symbol of “posthumous marriage”. The presence of coal bedding in solitary burials in the catacombs Nos. 6, 9, 11, 13, 17 of Rubizhan and the catacombs Nos. 1, 10 of the Staro-Saltov burial grounds allows us to offer a different interpretation of this feature of the Alanian funeral rite. At these cemeteries, the dominant type of burial structure was the catacombs with a longitudinal chamber in relation to the dromos, which were used by the Sarmatian-Alans often for one-time rather than family burials. Thus, taking into account ethnographic materials on Ossetians, it can be suggested that the initial sprinkling of charcoal on the floor of the burial chamber was associated with the rite of endowing the dead person with a “part of the family fire”, which was to ensure the unity of the dead people with their living relatives. In this context, the sprinkling of charcoal from the family hearth on the floor of the burial chamber should be considered as a desire to provide the deceased with the necessary heat and light, and thus turn the grave into a full-fledged otherworldly home, which, if necessary, could accept new deceased relatives. This assumption is confirmed by paired and collective burials at the Upper-Saltov burial ground, in which coal bedding was made only under one of the people buried in the chamber. At the same time, bodies of people were laid on the coal bedding, regardless of their gender (male, female) and age (children, adults). The use of charcoal to dry the chamber floor in adverse weather conditions before placing the bodies of a deceased person cannot be excluded.

scholarly journals Living Among the Dead in the Manila North Cemetery: A Cartographic Re-Imagination

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Patricia O. Algura
Keyword(s):  
Urban Life ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Stained Glass ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The People ◽  
The Family ◽  
Mother And Child ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The City

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Cemeteries are often regarded as left behind landscapes: scary and lifeless, abandoned and forgotten. Despite this derelict image, residents of Manila North Cemetery are living and co-existing in tombs and mausoleums. They celebrate life and live behind the shadows of those who have passed on. The maps present the unseen life in the spaces of the cemetery. Behind the dark and shadows of the departed are faces of people with bright smiles and with inspiring dreams. Through ethnographic research, interviews and observations were conducted to uncover and recover stories of life and experiences that were used as the basis, foundation, and inspiration of the maps. Using the actual map of the cemetery, a series of maps were realized to portray stained-glass images of mother and child, Mother Mary, and angel, where colors represent the vibrant life and the promise of afterlife in the cemetery.</p><p>These maps tell a whole different story, giving light to the life rather than the dead. The Mother and child map shows how adults in the cemetery are doting parents and siblings. Elders were responsible for providing the needs and nourishing the family. As part of the Philippine culture, Filipinos are family-oriented, and they tend to remain close to their families even if the child is grown up - gainfully employed or has married. The portrait of Mother Mary symbolizes Filipinos’ Christian faith. The smiles on faces are evidences of hope and faith. Living in what society considers an undesirable disposition, the people are determined and always hopeful for tomorrow. The departed are depicted as the angel, as it shows how the living and the dead are at peace and coexisting in the same environment. We, as outsiders, often hear about ghosts, horror stories, and consider cemeteries as haunted, but these events and stories are uncommon to the residents. They had established a relationship with the place and those around it. For them, the cemetery is not merely a place, but a place they call home.</p><p>The maps demonstrate that the living and the dead can co-exist in the same space rather than separated. These cartographic works are interventions to depict, portray, and represent urban life that exist in the peripheries of the city of Manila.</p>

A tanítványok ördögűzési, halottfeltámasztási szolgálata és szenvedése

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Lehel Lészai
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
John The Baptist ◽  
The People ◽  
The Family ◽  
Form Part ◽  
The Future ◽  
Resurrection Of The Dead ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Book Of Acts

"The Disciples’ Ministry of Exorcism, Resurrection of the Dead, and Suffering. Service meant exorcism besides preaching and healing. According to Mk 3:15, Jesus calls his disciples so that they would be with him, preach the gospel, and exorcise demons. The authority of the disciples over unclean spirits (Mk 6:7) refers to their sharing in Jesus’s mission (Mk 1:22.23.27). Exorcism promoted the expending of God’s kingdom and the weakening of Satan’s power. In Mk 6:7, Jesus mentions exorcism as a concrete task for his disciples, what was fulfilled by them (6:7). We can learn from Mt 9:8 and 10:1 that the disciples were entrusted with power to cast out demons. Lk 9:1 mentions the same command. According to the report of Luke, the seventy(-two) disciples cast out demons too, although they did not receive explicit command for this in 10:9. Matthew is the only one who mentions that Jesus ordered his disciples to raise the dead (Mt 10:8). Thus, this belonged to the ministry too. The synoptic gospels do not mention anywhere that the disciples would carry out this command. But several reports mention that Jesus raised people from the dead. He answered the question that John the Baptist transmitted by his disciples by saying that the dead are raised up (Mt 11:5), so he truly carried this out as well. Some congregations of the early church had some difficulties with this command. The book of Acts reports in two cases that the disciples used this exceptional gift (Acts 9:36ff and 20:7ff). In order that the possession of this important power would not cause them any harm, when using this gift, the disciples were to ask nothing in return. Service is connected with suffering because mission supposes both. Jesus came to serve and suffer among the people, which is why he prepares his disciples for the future suffering. The disciples do share in Jesus’s mission, in his power and his authority, but in his destiny too. Following includes breaking with the family and profession, giving up the possessions, homelessness, self-denial, bearing the cross, persecution, and suffering. Mark’s congregation was persecuted. Therefore, it was a consolation for them that Jesus had suffered earlier and finished victoriously the battle against death. Jesus did not conceal the reality from his disciples and warned them that they had to flee too, they might be whipped and some of them might be executed because all of these form part of the mission. To follow him did not mean to study the Torah under his direction but to identify with his suffering. Keywords: disciple, exorcism, resurrection, suffering "

Nine Problems (and Even More Solutions) for Powers Accounts of Possibility

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Pawl
Keyword(s):  
The People ◽  
The Family ◽  
Short Call

One way of putting powers to work is to use them to ground (at least some) modal truths. One might hold that truths of possibility are true because of the powers of objects. For instance, that it is possible that one more person be in this room is true because of the ambulatory powers of the people in the adjoining rooms. That it is possible that Slow Steve run a fifteen-minute mile is true because of the locomotive powers that Steve has (perhaps along with other powers, such as his respiratory powers). Call the family of stronger or weaker views which hold that possibility claims are true because of powers the ‘Powers Accounts of Possibility,’ or ‘Powers Accounts’ for short. Call a proponent of a Powers Account a ‘Powers Accountant.’ In this paper I present nine objections to Powers Accounts of Possibility and show how a Powers Accountant can respond to them. I begin by providing an exceedingly strong Powers Account and offering three objections to it. The objections will prove useful for forming a more moderate Powers Account. I then subject the more moderate Powers Account to six further objections. In the end, I vindicate a Powers Account of Possibility against all nine objections.

כסתות, מספחות and נפשות (Ezek 13:17–23)

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-305
Author(s):  
Daewook Kim
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conceptual Connection ◽  
The People ◽  
The Dead

AbstractThe expression נפשות in Ezekiel 13 refers to two different meanings: (living) human beings and the spirits of the dead. The words כסתות and מספחות seem to refer to the paraphernalia involved in the women’s practice of necromancy and in the fall of the people, respectively. The expression נפשות is employed as antanaclasis to establish a conceptual connection between necromancy and ruin.

scholarly journals Family planning program under low fertility: where to go

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baochang Gu
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Family Planning Program ◽  
Population Control ◽  
First Century ◽  
Low Fertility ◽  
Planning Program ◽  
The People ◽  
The Family

AbstractThis commentary is intended to take China as a case to discuss the mission of the family planning program under low fertility scenario. After a brief review of the initiation of family planning program in the 1970s, as well as the reorientation of family planning program since ICPD in 1994, it will focus on the new mission for the family planning program under low fertility scenario in the twenty-first century, in particular concerning the issue of induced abortion among the others. Given the enormous evidence of unmet needs in reproductive health as identified in the discussion, it is argued that family planning programmes are in fact even more needed than ever before under low-fertility scenario, and should not be abandoned but strengthened, which clearly has nothing to do to call back to the program for population control in the 1970s–1980s, and nor even go back to the program for “two reorientations” in the 1990s, but to aim to serving the people to fulfill their reproductive health and reproductive rights in light of ICPD and SDGs, and to become truly integral component of “Healthy China 2030” Strategy.

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