The Vulnerable Therapeutic Water Spaces of Virgen de Caysasay

The Virgen de Caysasay is one of the oldest manifestations of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines. According to popular belief, a fisherman netted her statue in the Pansipit River in 1603. Many miraculous healing events, mostly involving water, have been attributed to her. Despite the devastating effects of the climate crisis, Caysasay water spaces endure as therapeutic, healing, and ritual places. This essay examines the interlocking dynamics and vulnerabilities of bodies of water associated with the Virgen de Caysasay, their contextual sacred spaces where pieties are performed, and their surrounding communities

Forest, forest, forest. Sometimes we sleep. Walking, sleep, walking, sleep. It’s dangerous on this way

Hidden migrant routes through Croatia lead through forest areas (among other types of terrain) which include those along state borders, but also forests in the interior of the territory. Those forests can variously be seen as shelters for migrants, albeit harsh, or as green tunnels leading to desired destinations, and as scenes of suffering and violence. This article approaches the forests in question as landscapes that have been transformed from a neutral natural environment into active factors for creating and maintaining border control regimes and deterring and expelling unwanted migrants. Based on our long-term field research and publicly available (archival, media and other) sources, we seek to document, interpret, and interconnect the objects and practices involved in constructing the forest as a hostile terrain and perilous environment for migrants, and as an important element in controlling unwanted migrations. These are, on the one hand, objects and practices that intervene into forests, such as setting up cameras or cutting down trees, and, on the other, interventions that take place in forests, such as police interception or expulsion. Apart from these external interventions, in this context of remodeling forests into dangerous environments, one can also discuss the role of nature itself and its characteristics, as well as the causes of why migrants find themselves in nature in the first place. Although, at first glance, it seems that people on the move choose the forest as the place and route of their movement of their own volition, they are pushed and expelled into these forests by exclusionary policies (visa regimes, asylum systems, etc.). This, ultimately, classifies forests in Croatia as weaponized landscapes of exclusion and death, such as the desert (e.g., De León 2015), mountain (Del Biaggio et al. 2020), maritime (e.g., Albahari 2015) or archipelago (Mountz 2017) landscapes

Zadarski tanac

U ovom se radu promatraju nastajanje, razvoj i utjecaj zadarskog tanca, jedinog plesa koji lokalna zajednica smatra specifično zadarskim. Riječ je o relativno novoj plesnoj tvorevini u domeni kulturno-umjetničkog amaterizma obrađenoj najprije iz plesnog, a potom i glazbenog aspekta. Njegovu koreografiju u Zadru pratimo od 1997. godine. Nakon šesnaestogodišnjeg izostanka sa scene, ponovno se javlja tek 2013. godine. Trenutačno ga plešu dva aktivna zadarska KUD-a čiji je nastanak usko povezan s prepoznavanjem zadarskog tanca kao vlastite tradicije. Uz glazbu i ples, u radu se obrađuje i problem izostanka folklornog amaterizma u Zadru tijekom gotovo dva desetljeća. Cilj je ovog rada rezultatima istraživanja rasvijetliti genezu plesa koji se naziva zadarskom baštinom ponajprije zahvaljujući aktivnosti dvaju zadarskih KUD-ova, te uskladiti predodžbe o starosti te tradicije

Shrine Politics and Non-Institutional Religiosity

The Mrtvalj spring is an integral part of a more complex sacred landscape, the center of which is the Shrine of St. John the Baptist located in Podmilačje near Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The shrine is a multi-confessional pilgrimage destination that is also very popular within the wider region. The Mrtvalj spring is one of the key stops in pilgrimage itineraries, but it is not only a sacred place within pilgrimage practices. In this paper the conceptualization of the Mrtvalj spring’s sacredness is examined as a reflection of the relationship between the religious and the political. The author analyzes the relationship between the shrine’s politics, which are based on the ideas of a “Bosnian Lourdes” and a shared shrine, and the spring as a focal point for the shared non-institutional practices of believers of various religious affiliations. She aims to show that a shared sacred site does not necessarily have to be controversial, and calls for a revalorization of non-institutional religiosity, which has proved to be a rich phenomenon for the study of interreligious relations

Better than any Doctor

Himalayan peoples bathe in hot springs for medical and spiritual therapy. Included in local myths, hot springs are natural features that form a part of cultural memory and are social, cultural, religious, and medical venues. They also represent the tension between economic growth and environmental protection and, consequently, the competition between different parts of people’s identities. By analyzing religious, historical, and medical texts in combination with biographical accounts, a comprehensive picture of the cultural and religious significance of hot springs in the Himalayas is presented. The focus lies on Buddhist influenced societies within the Tibetan Cultural Area which are those parts in the Himalayas that have been influenced by Tibetan culture

Croatianess and Children’s Popular Culture

This paper examines the discursive formation of Croatianness (hrvatstvo) during the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s and the post-war era, focusing mainly on the domain of popular culture. In this analysis of Croatian children’s popular culture, the main emphasis is on chocolate bar stickers and sticker albums manufactured by Kraš. At the time, the company had published Cro-Army chocolate stickers and the accompanying Croatian army sticker album, Knights’ Tales, about Croatian history and various historical events, and Maki, a sticker album of Catholic saints. In relying on theoretical and methodological frameworks of representational and discourse theory regarding national identity and fantasy, this paper shows one of the ways in which Croatianness was formed in children’s popular culture through three main aspects – war, history, and religion

Sacred Water Pools of Hindu Sacredscapes in North India

The basic metaphysical frame of life in ancient India, that of sacred water (paviṭra jala) and the notion that “Water itself is life” (jala hī jivan hai), can be illustrated with case studies of two cities. Settled continuously since 1000 BCE, the cities of Varanasi and Ayodhya have been eulogized as the salvific holy-heritage cities in India known for their ritualscapes associated with sacred waters and pools. According to the ancient treatises and tales, there were fifty-four sacred tanks (kunds) and wells (kūpas) in each of these cities, and they became important sites for purification rituals, pilgrimage, healing and festive celebration by devout Hindus. After providing descriptions of the sacred water pools, this essay in part explores traditions associated with a water-pool sacred to the Sun god in both the cities. More broadly, using ancient texts, present participatory surveys, and ethnological narration, the essay considers the long-lived sacrality of water pools in these holy cities and current development strategies involving them.

Filozofija slomljenoga i praksa presloženoga

U tekstu se analizira sadržaj eseja o Napulju i njegovim stanovnicima iz sredine 1920-ih godina koje je napisao naknadno utjecajni njemački marksistički filozof i ekonomist vrlo blizak Frankfurtskoj školi – Alfred Sohn-Rethel. Ključ za čitanje tih tekstova objedinjenih pod naslovom Napoli: filozofija slomljenoga [Napoli: la filosofia del rotto] nalazi se u ideji kako za Napolitance tehnika počinje raditi tek kada je “slome” i “podrede” vlastitoj kontroli; ta teza povezuje se s antropološkom teorijom bricolera Claudea Lévija-Straussa te se pritom ukazuje na koncept poroznosti koji u ono vrijeme ima i epistemološku važnost u kontekstu interpretacija talijanskoga juga. Naposljetku, sadržaj se autorovih eseja uspoređuje s dijelom politika i rezultata uvođenja tejlorističke “znanstvene organizacije” rada dvadesetih godina u talijansku i širu privredu.

Problematic Sources

Traditional Russian worldviews explained healing from water sources in terms both Protestants and Catholics would have used elsewhere in Europe: as the grace of God or as the intervention of saints through associated relics or wonder-working icons. Holy wells were freely venerated within parishes until the eighteenth century when Peter the Great and the Holy Synod (the Russian Orthodox Church’s highest governing body) forbade pilgrimage to holy wells in a reformist drive to eradicate religious “superstitions.” This essay employs primary sources to consider how nineteenth-century developments at Russian holy wells and mineral springs related to social class, economics and those eighteenth-century reforms that merged the church with government structures. While liturgical activities at holy wells and the designation of new holy wells was criminalized, mineral springs gained appeal for “scientific” cures and as resort enterprises for the upper classes

Folk Liturgies and Narratives of Holy Wells among the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria

Building on Celeste Ray’s extensive research on Ireland’s holy wells, I show how folk liturgies underlie meanings that are closely related to some of the practices that manifest around holy wells among the Yoruba in southwest Nigeria – meanings that are often neglected in the holy wells literature. I adapt some holy wells terms as they appear in existing studies for illustrative as well as for comparative purposes. Their interpretation and analysis will, however, focus on the liturgical narratives that best fit the article’s perception of what is local to holy wells among the Yoruba. With a focus on two holy wells, Olokun and Ori Aye, the article draws on the testimonies of local knowledge, close research encounters of ritual practices and performances and readings from extant literature to open the window through which holy wells and their various manifestations in the socio-cultural life among the Yoruba could be properly assessed and adequately understood.