| RELIGIOUS RITES |
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| 4 THE CONCEPT AND FORMS OF RITUAL |
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Throughout the history of human culture,
certain days or periods of time have been set aside to commemorate, ritually
celebrate or re-enact, or anticipate events or seasons--agricultural, religious,
or sociocultural--that give meaning and cohesiveness to an individual and to his
religious, political, or socioeconomic community. Because such days or periods
generally originated in religious celebrations or ritual commemorations that
usually included sacred community meals, they are called feasts or festivals.
(see also sacred
calendar, sacred and profane) |
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The terms feast and festival
usually--though not always in modern times--involve eating or drinking or both
in connection with a specific kind of rite: passage rites, death rites, sacrificial
rites, seasonal observances, commemorative observances, and rites celebrating
the ending of fasts or fast periods. Fasting, the opposite of feasting, has
often been associated with purification rites or as a preparatory discipline for
the celebration of feasts and associated rites. Festivals often include not only
feasting but also dramatic dancing and athletic events, as well as revelries and
carnivals that at times border on the licentious. Depending upon the central
purpose of a feast or festival, the celebration may be solemn or joyful, merry,
festive, and ferial. |
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Another term associated with the events
and activities of days of sacred significance is "holy day," from
which is derived the word holiday. This term has come to mean a day or period of
special significance not only in religious calendars (e.g., the Christian Christmas and the Jewish Hanukka) but
also in the secular (e.g., May Day in
Russia and Labor Day in the United States and Canada, both of which holidays
celebrate especially the accomplishments of the working class). |
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This section, though it will concentrate
on feasts and festivals in the history of religions, will also give attention to
the holidays of what has been termed the secular (or profane) sphere. Most
secular holidays, however, have some relationship--in terms of origin--with
religious feasts and festivals. The modern practice of vacations--i.e.,
periods in which persons are "renewed" or participate in
activities of "recreation"--is derived from the ancient Roman
religious calendar in a reverse fashion. More than 100 days of the year were
feast days dedicated to various Roman gods and goddesses. On the days that were
sacred festivals, and thus holy days, persons rested from their routine daily
activities. Days that were not considered sacred were called dies
vacantes, vacant days, during which people worked. In modern times, however,
vacations (derived from the term dies
vacantes) are periods of rest, renewal, or recreation that may be sacred or
secular holidays--or simply periods of time away from everyday work allowed by
modern business or labour practices. (see also
Roman religion) |
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Feasts and festivals, originating in the
dim past of man's social, religious, and psychic history, are rich in symbols
that have only begun to be investigated in the 19th and 20th centuries by
anthropologists, comparative folklorists, psychoanalysts, sociologists,
historians of religion, and theologians. Such investigations will not only
elucidate mythological, ritualistic, doctrinal, aesthetic, and psychic motifs
and themes but will also provide educative insights to modern man, who has been
caught up in social and religious forces that he has found difficult to
understand. Feasts and festivals in the past have been significant informational
and cohesive devices for the continuity of societies and religious institutions.
Even when the feasts or festivals have lost their original meanings in doctrinal
or mythological explanations, the symbols preserved in the rites, ceremonies,
and arts (e.g., pictorial, dramatic, or choreographic) have enabled persons in
periods of crisis or transition to preserve an equanimity despite apparent
evidences of disintegration within their cultures or societies. Thus, the
scholarly investigations of the many and various facets of feasts and festivals
will provide different forms of information that will be of help to modern man
in achieving an understanding of his origin, identity, and destiny. (see also
religious symbolism) |
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By their very nature, feasts and
festivals are special times, not just in the sense that they are extraordinary
occasions but more so in the sense that they are separate from ordinary times.
According to Mircea Eliade, a
Romanian-American historian of religion, festival time is sacred; i.e.,
it participates in the transcendent (or supernatural) realm in which the
patterns of man's religious, social, or cultural institutions and activities
were or are established. Through ritualistic re-enactment of the events that
inform man about his origin, identity, and destiny, a participant in a festival
identifies himself with the sacred
time: |
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Religious man feels the need to plunge
periodically into this sacred and indestructible time. For him it is sacred time
that makes possible the other time, ordinary time, the profane duration in which
every human life takes its course. It is the eternal present of the mythical event that makes possible the
profane duration of historical events. |
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In religions and cultures that view time
as cyclical--and this applies to most non-monotheistic religions and the
cultures influenced by them--man understands his status in the cosmos, in part,
through special times (e.g., New
Year's festivals) celebrating the victory of order in nature over chaos.
New Year's festivals have been celebrated in recorded history for more than five
millennia. In ancient Mesopotamia, for example, Sumerians and Babylonians celebrated the renewal of the
life-sustaining spring rains in the month of Nisan--although some cities of
Mesopotamia retained an ancient custom of celebrating a second similar festival
when the rains returned in the month of Tishri (autumn). Sacrifices of grain and
other foods were dedicated to the gods Dumuzi (or Tammuz) or Marduk, major
fertility deities, at a ziggurat (tower temple), after which the people
participated in feasting, dancing, and other appropriate ritualistic activities.
(see also chaos
and order, Mesopotamian
religion, agriculture, fertility
cult) |
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In the 20th century, the view that New
Year's Day is a time significant in the victory of order over disorder has been
celebrated, for example, in areas influenced by Chinese
religions. In order to frighten the kuei
(evil or unpredictable spirits), which are believed to be dispersed by light
and noise, participants in the New Year's festival light torches, lanterns,
bonfires, and candles and explode firecrackers. In 1953, when the first day of
the lunar New Year coincided with a solar eclipse, the government of the People's
Republic of China (which has been anti-religious in its propaganda and
official activities) expressed an anxiety that the repressed "religious
popular superstitions" might encourage some form of anti-government
activity. According to the views of Confucius
(6th-5th centuries BC) and Mencius
(4th-3rd centuries BC), two of China's great religious teachers, whose social
and ethical influences have extended into the 20th century, a solar eclipse
during the New Year's festival is a sign of a coming disaster and of a lack of
favour by Shang Ti, the Heavenly Lord, who sends omens to indicate his
disapproval of man's evil activities. |
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In religions and cultures that conceive
of time as linear, progressing from a beginning toward an end time, when the
whole cosmos will be renewed or changed, man understands his status (i.e.,
his origin, identity, and destiny) in relationship to particular events in
history that have a significance similar to those expressed in the myths of
people who view time as cyclical. The Jew understands his status as a member of
the "people of God," who were "chosen" during the Exodus of
the Hebrews from Egypt in the 13th century BC to be witnesses to the liberating
love of Yahweh (their God). His being one of the chosen "people of
God" is celebrated especially during the Passover
festival--in which the Exodus is ritually re-enacted and commemorated--in the
month of Nisan (spring). Similarly, the Christian understands his status as a
member of the "new people of God." He believes that he has been chosen
by Christ, who was crucified and resurrected by God in the 1st century AD, to
work for the Kingdom of God that was inaugurated in the first advent of Christ
and will be consummated at the Parousia, the Second Coming of Christ as king and
judge. The festival of the
Resurrection, or Easter, is ritually re-enacted every year in order that
the believer may participate in the present and future kingdom of peace. The eucharistic
feast (the Holy Communion), though celebrated at many and various times during
the year, originated in the event (namely, the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday
preceding Christ's Passion) that has been interpreted as a commemoration of the
crucifixion and Resurrection. Just as the New Year's festivals of the religions
that interpreted sacred time as cyclical incorporated both remorse and joy in
their celebrations, so also the feasts of the Passover and the Resurrection
include sorrow for the sins of the individual and of mankind and joy and hope
for the salvation of man and the world (see also CALENDAR:
ent and religious calendar systems
; JUDAISM:
cycle of the religious year ; CHRISTIANITY:
ch year ). (see also
eschatology, Christianity) |
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Before the development of agriculture,
with its associations with solar and lunar calendars, ritual feasts were
probably celebrated by hunters and gatherers of tubers and fruits. Paleolithic (Old
Stone Age) peoples from about 30,000-10,000 BC and those living in what
are called "Stone Age" cultures in the 20th century, such as the
Aborigines in Australia and New Guinea, have celebrated various rites in which
feasts have assumed positions of significance. Seasonal variations--important in
the maintenance of the food supply--were associated with the migrations and
fertility of animals and the
growth and decay of tubers and fruits upon which the clan or tribe depended for
its very existence. Thus, out of an acknowledgment of seasonal change,
rituals--often including ceremonial feasts--most likely developed in
relationship to beliefs that the continuance of the food supply depended on the
sacred or holy powers that controlled various aspects and facets of nature: e.g.,
animals, vegetation, the change in climatic conditions, weather phenomena,
mountains, and rivers. (see also
prehistoric religion, primitive
religion, hunting and
gathering society, plant) |
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Access to the sacred or holy powers was
obtained and maintained by certain religious personages (e.g., shamans, or persons having healing and psychic transformation
powers, priests, clan or tribal leaders, and other persons having special
learned or inherited powers). Though interpretations by scholars vary and the
evidence is still subject to much speculating, Paleolithic cave paintings--such
as that of the "sorcerer" (a bearded figure wearing a mask on the top
of which were antlers of a deer) at Les Trois Frères in France--and rock
paintings of the Aruntas of central Australia--such as totemic animals
(symbolizing clan and animal relationships) or mythological nature heroes (e.g.,
Katuru, the "lightning man")--may indicate that fertility of
animals and vegetation has been a primary concern (though not the only concern)
in the ritual control of the food supply. Rituals connected with controlling the
food supply generally centre on a feast in which eating, drinking, dancing, and
the chanting of efficacious formulas play important symbolic roles. |
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At some point in human history (about
8,000-6,000 BC in the ancient Near East), when calendrical seasons were
associated with planting and harvesting, special days or periods most likely
were set aside for fasting (because of a paucity in the food supply) or for
feasting (because of an increase in the food supply). Thus some calendrical
periods inspired feelings of discouragement and remorse (when the food supply
was low) or feelings of encouragement or joy (when the food supply was
sufficient to meet immediate and future needs). Certain days were set aside
during these periods for special rituals (often including feasts) that
celebrated seasonal renewal, later interpreted in terms of individual spiritual
or social renewal. In Zoroastrianism
and Parsiism, for example, the annual seasonal renewal festival of Noruz
(New Year) in the spring, dedicated to Rapithwin (the time of the midday meal),
is at the same time a solemn and joyful celebration of new life in nature and
the anticipated resurrection of the body when the world will be restored to its
original and intended goodness--after the defeat of Ahriman (the spirit of evil
and chaos) and his demons. |
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Seasonal-renewal motifs in ancient Egypt
were often incorporated into other aspects of sacred times--such as times of
passage rites (e.g., ascension of the
pharaoh to the throne), of death rites (e.g.,
the transformation of the dead person into a glorified person), and of
commemorating certain historical events (e.g.,
military victories in which the pharaoh preserved ma'atorder, truth, and justice--which was active in the realms of nature and
society). (see also Egyptian religion) |
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In Egypt during the 5th millennium BC,
astronomers in the Nile Delta region associated the annual inundation of the
river--which covered wide areas with fertile soil--with celestial movements,
especially that of the star Sirius (i.e., Sothis)
and the sun. From such observations the Egyptians developed a solar calendar of
365 days, with 12 months of 30 days each and five festival days at the end of
the year. Though priests assumed important functions at the festivals centred
about the fertility of the soil irrigated by the Nile and the life-giving warmth
of the sun, the pharaoh, the
sacred king, embodied the continuity between the realm of the sacred (i.e.,
the transcendent sphere) and the realm of the profane (i.e., the sphere of time, space, and cause and effect). The pharaoh
was believed to be the son of the sun god Horus
of the Horizon (Harakhte), symbolized by the falcon; the sun god was also known
as Re, among other names. The eastern horizon was viewed as the meeting point of
the underworld of the dead and the world of the living. The sun god also was
known as Atum, which means "to be at the end," or the west. Osiris,
the god of the afterlife (the world of the dead) was believed to be embodied in
the recently deceased pharaoh, who passed on his sacred powers and position to
the new pharaoh, his son. At the shd festival,
the new pharaoh, as the son of Horus and of Re, as well as of Osiris, was
invested with both kingly and priestly powers. At his coronation festival the
pharaoh was believed to gain the power to restore ma'at
after the death of the previous pharaoh, and also to restore economic
prosperity. (see also Egyptian
calendar, sacred kingship) |
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During the royal festivals--i.e.,
ascension to the throne, the coronation, and the shd
festival--feasting presumably occurred. Festivals associated with seasonal
renewal, however, involved sacrifices, eating, drinking, and sometimes dramatic
or carnival-like events. Some scholars hold that the Egyptian terms for
festival, however, contain concepts that became extremely significant in later
Hellenistic (Greco-Roman) religions--e.g.,
the mystery, or salvatory, religions, such as those of Mithra, Isis, and the
Eleusinian mysteries--and Semitic-based religions--e.g., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to this
view Egyptian terms for festival, such as hb,
h', and pr.t, all contain concepts
of resurrection and epiphany (i.e., the
manifestation of a god). In Eastern
Orthodox Christianity, for example, the festival of the Epiphany
(January 6) celebrates Christ's manifestation to the Magi of the East
(presumably followers of Zoroaster, a 6th-century BC Iranian prophet) and his
Baptism in the Jordan River. The usual Greek designation for Epiphany is
"the day of the light" (he
hemera tou photou), in reference to the words in the Bible, in John 1:4,
that Jesus is the "light of men." Under the influence of the Christian
Catechetical school at Alexandria (led by Clement and Origen in the 2nd and 3rd
centuries AD), the earlier religious speculations of the Egyptians concerning
their festivals were enhanced by further mystical and spiritual interpretations
that affected Christian worship, piety, doctrine, and iconography, especially in
Eastern Christianity. |
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The Egyptians celebrated many festivals
that were connected with seasonal renewal, some of which became elaborated into
sacred times of cosmic significance. Among their more popular festivals were
those dedicated to Osiris, Amon-Re (the sun god), Horus, and Hathor (the sky
goddess, represented by a cow). |
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Of special interest is the festival
dedicated to Min, celebrated
during the harvest month of Shemou (April). A statue of Min, represented as an
ithyphallic god of fertility in iconography, was placed on an inclined pedestal,
which was the symbol of ma'at. This
pedestal represented the primordial mountain, a symbol of resurrection, renewal,
and rebirth. During the processional honoring Min, hymns were sung and ritual
dances and perhaps other types of dances were performed. The pharaoh and his
queen entered the shrine and presumably enacted a sacred marriage rite. After
the pharaoh's enthronement at the harvest Festival of Min, four arrows were shot
toward the north, east, south, and west; and birds also were released in the
directions of the four cardinal points of the compass. The releasing of the
birds and arrows announced the harmonious union of man--both as an individual
and as a corporate being--with the divine powers of nature inherent in the
pharaoh as "Horus son of Min and Osiris." Though the pharaoh was
symbolically significant in the feasts and festivals of ancient Egypt, the
priests of the various cults officiated in the rituals and sacrifices to the
many gods and announced the proper times for the differing forms of celebrations
(see also SACRED OFFICES AND ORDERS ). |
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In ancient Mesopotamia, in Babylon,
where the king was viewed not as the son of a god but as a god's agent, or
representative, on earth, the New Year's festival (Akitu), in the spring month
of Nisan, contained not only seasonal renewal motifs but also themes centring on
the renewal of man and his community. The Enuma
elishthe epic of
creation, was read at the festival in order to remind the participants that
cosmos (order) arose out of chaos by means of a struggle between Marduk, the god
of heaven, and Tiamat, the goddess of the deep and the powers of chaos. The New
Year's festival was sometimes celebrated over a period of 10 to 12 days in
Babylon. On the fifth day, a sheep was beheaded; the body of the sheep was
thrown into the river, and the head was taken into the wilderness. This ritual
act, in which an exorcist (mashmashu)--one
who casts out demonic powers--participated, symbolized the ridding of the
community of the powers of chaos. (It was similar to the scapegoat
ritual of the ancient Hebrews, in which the sins of the community were
ceremonially transferred to a goat, which was later led to a wilderness area to
wander about far from the community.) |
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Before sunrise of the third day
following the scapegoat ceremony, the Babylonian king, as the representative of
a sinful people as well as the agent of the god, had to submit to ritual acts of
humiliation: his symbols of power were removed, and the priest (urigallu)
hit him in the face and enjoined him to pray for the forgiveness of his sins and
the sins of his people. After a profession of innocence, the priest absolved the
king, restored his regal insignia, and performed ceremonies with the king to
ensure the continuous support of the powers of order in nature. During the three
days between the sacrifice of the sheep and the reinvestiture of the king, the
populace of the city engaged in chaotic activities, perhaps of a carnival-like
nature, to symbolize the presence of chaos in nature and society during this
period of the apparent absence of the king and the god. When the king reappeared
to his people, with his royal symbols of office and in the presence of the
statue of Marduk, a procession of statues of the various gods together with
their adoring devotees then took place, leading to a sanctuary (bitakitu)
outside the city. On the 10th day, a banquet involving the king, priests, temple
functionaries, and the gods was held to celebrate the renewal of nature, man,
and society. |
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Among the pre-Columbian Maya, the first
month (uinal), Pop, of the New
Year--which would be July in the presently used calendar--became a time for
several renewal ceremonies. Old pottery and fibre mats were destroyed, and new
clothes were put on. The temple was renovated to meet the needs of the god that
was especially venerated during a particular year (the annual god changed from
year to year). New wooden and clay idols were made, and the portals and
implements of the temple were reconsecrated with blue paint, the sacred colour.
The god of the year entered the sacred precincts according to the cardinal point
of the compass that he represented (and thus there were only four New Year's
gods). The purpose of the processional rite was to ward off the forces of evil
that might prevail against the people of the area. Dances by old women and
sacrifices of live dogs (by throwing them down from the temple pyramid) were
some of the activities that occurred during the Maya New Year's festival. (see
also Mayan
religion) |
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In Japan, among those engaged in
agriculture, the ta-asobi("rice-field ritual") festival is celebrated at the
beginning of the year to ensure a plentiful harvest. Dances, songs sung with a sasara
(musical instrument), sowing of seeds, and feasting play important roles in
securing the aid of the kami (gods or
spirits). Divination by means
of archery, in which the angle of the arrow on the target is significant, has
been used in shrines to help determine the methods that should be used in
securing a good crop. In Hinduism, the Makara-Samkranti, a New
Year's festival in the month of Magha (January-February), is celebrated
with a fair that continues for a month's duration, with much rejoicing. The Shri
Pañcami, a festival (utsava)
of seasonal renewal on the fifth day of Magha, symbolizes the ripening of
crops. Feasts and festivals centring on seasonal renewal can be found among all
peoples of the world, both past and present. Rogation festivities (Days of
Asking), originally held by the ancient Romans to counteract the effectiveness
of the deity (Robigus) of red mildew on wheat, were reinterpreted by early
medieval Christians of the West from the 5th century on as litanies for the
blessing of the seed. Rogation Day,
the fifth Sunday after Easter, is still practiced in the 20th century in rural
Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. (see also
Japanese religion) |
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Birth, puberty, marriage, and death have
been times of sacred significance for peoples of all races from time immemorial.
They signify changes in the status of a person's being in terms of a person's
relationship with fellow members of his or her society and the realm of the
sacred or holy that informs the person of the practical and symbolic
ramifications of the new status. These times of change, therefore, have become
occasions for feasts and festivals. Some are very elaborate and of long
duration; others, especially under the influence of modern secularization, have
been abruptly shortened or eliminated. (see also passage rite,
purification rite) |
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Birth, a most sacred time in the
religions of the world, is celebrated by rites and festivities that appear to be
incongruous or inconsistent in many religions. Mothers of newborn children are
considered both as participants of the sacred by having brought forth a new
being into the world and as persons who are ritually unclean (e.g., among the Israelites and Zoroastrians), probably because of
the presence of blood at birth, the loss of which may symbolize the loss of some
of the life-sustaining force. Among Brazilian Indians, however, both the father
and the mother participate in a ceremony of seclusion for five days (eating only
certain foods) in order to protect the sacredness and health of the new mother
and child. Seclusion, thus, need not be interpreted negatively. Among the Kikuyu
of eastern Africa, seclusion
is a symbol of death and resurrection. The mother and child symbolically die and
rise again during and after a ceremony of seclusion, after which a feast is held
in which a goat is sacrificed and prayers are said. The whole community rejoices
that a new child has become a part of the family of man. (see also
women) |
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The Christian celebration of birth
culminates in the sacrament of Baptism,
a symbol of the death of the old person and the rebirth of the new person in
Christ. As such, it is a rite of purification, using water and the words of
institution by Christ. After the sacrament has been solemnized, Christians in
many areas have engaged in much feasting to emphasize the joy inherent in the
"new birth." |
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Among the ancient pre-Christian
Norsemen, baptism by means of water was believed to impart divine and eternal
life to men and even to preserve men from death--so that they "will not
perish in war" nor "fall before any sword." Thus, when St.
Boniface baptized members of Germanic tribes in the 8th century, he was ordered
by Pope Gregory III to do so only according to the formula "in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Because whole tribes
became Christian en masse during this period, the feasts celebrating the
incorporation of the tribe into the church often lasted for several days and
included folk customs of which the church did not especially approve, such as
those connected with merrymaking (e.g., the
drinking of mead). |
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Puberty, the transition into adulthood,
has been celebrated since ancient times by various rituals and festivals. In the
secular sphere, it is celebrated in democratic countries by the granting of the
right to vote to persons upon the attainment of a certain age. In ancient
Greece, young men of the ages of 16 or 17 were admitted as full members of the
city-state; but before they were granted voting
privileges, they had to swear allegiance to the religion of the city; this made
them religious citizens and subsequently adults. After he had attained
adulthood, a young Greek could participate in military service and could marry.
In the United States in the early 1970s, citizens having attained the age of 18
were granted the right to vote; but the ceremony commemorating this right has
been a secularized de-emphasis of this important rite of passage: the mere
signing of one's name on a registration certificate. (see also
coming-of-age rite) |
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Puberty rites are celebrated in various
ways according to the prevailing religious and social customs. Among the Masai
of eastern Africa, youths pass from childhood to adulthood by the rite of circumcision.
After various preliminary activities, the boys (12 to 16 years of age) are
circumcised and the blood released from the operation is later placed on their
heads. After four days of seclusion and a period during which they are dressed
in female attire, their heads are shaved and they attain the status of adults
and thus can become warriors. Girls attain adulthood by means of similar
practices: the cutting or piercing of sexual organs. Among the Kamba
of eastern Africa, who perform similar puberty rites of passage, those initiated
into adulthood are given presents, and offerings are made to the ancestors. A
significant aspect of the festival celebrating the rite of passing from
childhood to adulthood is the return from seclusion; this return to their
communities symbolizes a type of resurrection and renewal as new
persons--adults. (see also body modifications
and mutilations) |
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Among the churches of the 16th-century
Reformation, the rite of confirmation
in the Anglican and Lutheran churches has been a type of puberty rite. The
child, who had been a baptized member of the church, became, in effect, an
adult, assuming personal responsibility and the privilege of participating in
the Eucharist. In the early 1970s, however, the instructional aspect of
confirmation--important in almost all pre-puberty practices--has been
diminished, especially in some Lutheran churches in the United States, thus
de-emphasizing the importance of confirmation as a rite of passage. As the
church has become increasingly influenced by secularization processes in the
20th century, the customary feasting to celebrate the rite of confirmation has
decreased in practice. (see also
Anglican Communion, Lutheranism) |
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Marriage, the rite of passage from the
single to the united state, has been celebrated with many forms of feasts and
festivals. Connected with the hieros gamos("sacred marriage")of
the Mesopotamian Akitu (New Year's festival), and of the Israelite Sukkot
(Feast of Tabernacles)--during the month of Tishri (the first month of the
year)--which had both sexual and covenantal overtones, the rite of marriage
developed into a legal and religious act in Judaism and into a sacrament in
Roman Catholic and Eastern Christianity. In most religions the married state is
considered superior to the single, though tensions between these two states of
existence exist in most religions. Monks and nuns who vow to live in a celibate
state often celebrate a symbolic marriage to the founder of their religion (e.g.,
to Christ) or to a religious institution (e.g., the church). In the Talmud,
a compendium of Jewish law, lore, and commentary, the statement is made that
"He who does not marry is like a murderer and he mutilates (violates) the
image of God." In the Avesta,
the sacred book of Zoroastrianism, a similar statement is made: "The man
who is married stands above him who is not married." Thus, the wedding
has become the most significant domestic festival in both the secular and
religious realms, in spite of the ascetic tendencies that exist in certain
sectors of Christianity, Buddhism, and other religions. The wedding ceremony has
often been accompanied by feasting and gift-giving to express the concern of the
community for a successful participation within the community and an extension
of the community through the procreation of children. Among African religions,
marriage as a rite of passage is incomplete if procreation is avoided or not
accomplished. After a wedding among the Batoro of Uganda
in Africa, dancing and feasting last until the following morning. Later on,
gifts are given to the bride's family in order to show gratitude, to compensate
for her absence, and to legalize the marriage agreement. |
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The final rite of passage, death, has
brought about numerous festival customs, all the way from the ritual sacrifice
of the widow in Hinduism (until the 19th century) to the commercialization of death
rites in Western societies. Just as the early Hebrews believed that life
passes on to death when the breath (ruah)
leaves the body, so also do Eskimos
in the 20th century believe that death occurs when breath (soul) leaves the body
and that death may be a moment when one is translated into another form of life.
Among the ancient Greeks, Thanatos (death) is the twin brother of Hypnos
(sleep), and from this conceptional relationship may come the view that death is
merely a sleeping state in the passage from this life to an afterlife.
Festivities surrounding rites include the customs of playing mournful (and,
sometimes, joyful) music, speaking eulogies, performing sacramental acts (e.g.,
extreme unction in the Roman Catholic Church), performing elaborate or
simple embalming practices (e.g., the
lengthy procedural techniques of the ancient Egyptians and the rapid techniques
of modern morticians), utilizing appropriate and expected bodily gestures and
vocal expressions, and feasts of varied elaborateness, depending on the economic
or social circumstances of the deceased or his next of kin. Flowers often play
important roles in the festivities connected with death rites. In the 20th
century, a change from mourning to joyful expectation has occurred in the
funeral rites of some Christian churches. Among some African tribes, such as the
Ndebele of Zimbabwe, funeral
processions, sacrifices,
ceremonial washings, and protective medicine are included in the festivities
that symbolically celebrate man's conquest over death (see also Rites
of passage and Death
rites and customs ,
above). |
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Festivals of commemoration are among the
most important of the sacred times. Some festivals commemorate important events
in mythology or the birth, inauguration, or victory of a founder of a religion,
a god, or a hero. In Hinduism,
for example, the Vaikuntha-ekadashi festival in
December-January commemorates the victory of the goddess Ekadashi
Devi in her killing of a demon; and the Ganeshacturthi
commemorates the birthday of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of
fortune. Another major Hindu festival, Navaratri, commemorates the
victory of the goddess Durga over the buffalo-headed demon Mahisa;
and Rama-navami commemorates the birth of Rama, the hero of
the Ramayana, one of India's great
epics. In Chinese Buddhism,
the birthdays of Kuan-yin (or Avalokiteshvara), Amitabha, and Shakyamuni
(the first two being bodhisattvas,
or buddhas-to-be, and the last being the Buddha himself) were celebrated
before the 1950s with much ceremony. The nativity of Christ (or Christmas)
is the most widely celebrated "birthday" of a divine being, though in
the 20th century Christmas has been subjected to a wide variety of secular
influences. (see also sacred
and profane) |
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Feasts and festivals vary greatly in
type. Though most are religious in background and character, other types have
flourished in both ancient and modern civilizations. Included among such types
are social and cultural festivals: e.g., New
Year's Day in the 20th century, sword-dance festivals in Scotland, the Olympic
festivals in ancient Greece and the modern world, the Great Dionysia of ancient
Greece during which dramatic contests took place, and May Day celebrations.
National festivals in the United
States include Thanksgiving Day (in November), which commemorates
colonial celebrations following successful harvests; Independence Day (July 4),
which commemorates the Declaration of Independence of the American colonies from
the British crown; St. Patrick's Day (March 17), celebrated mainly in Chicago
and New York City as a secular-religious feast; Mother's Day (in May); Memorial
Day (in May), commemorating those who have died, especially in war; and Flag Day
(June 14). National or local festivals in other countries include: Bastille Day
(July 14), commemorating the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789;
Dominion Day (July 1) in Canada; and independence days in many countries.
Birthdays of national founders or heroes are also types of commemorative
festivals. In some Protestant countries, Reformation Day has assumed the
position of a holiday either nationally or locally. In Israel,
Holocaust Day commemorates the
systematic destruction of European Jews by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and '40s. |
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Secular modernist festivals are often
mixed with previous religious festivals. May
Day, once mainly a springtime fertility festival that can be traced back
to the Magna Mater (Great Mother) festivals of Hellenistic (Greco-Roman) times,
has become a festival of the labouring class in Socialist countries. Football
games in the United States have all the external trappings of religious
festivals. A person from a preliterate culture would see a large congregation
witnessing a ritual combat, conducted according to precise ritualistic rules.
The participants are dressed in appropriate identifiable costumes as they engage
in their ritual combat--one side representing evil and the other good, depending
upon the viewpoint of the audience. Leading the congregation are priestesses
(cheerleaders) dressed in appropriate garb, participating in ritualistic dances,
and chanting supposedly efficacious formulas. Operating on the principle of
sympathetic magic, the priestesses attempt to transfer the crowd's enthusiasm to
the appropriate combatants. In Western countries, according to some critics, lay
participation in congregational worship has for a long time been little more
than a spectator sport, and this may well have contributed to the festival
character of weekend sports activities. |
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Some feasts and festivals provide
psychological, cathartic, and therapeutic outlets for persons during periods of
seasonal depression. The Holi
festival of Hinduism during February-March was once a fertility festival. Of
early origin, the Holi festival incorporates a pole, similar to the
Maypole of Europe, that may be a phallic symbol. Bonfires are lit; street
dancing, accompanied by loud drums and horns, obscene gestures, and vocalized
obscenities, is allowed; and various objects, such as coloured powders, are
thrown at people. |
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One of the best-known festivals of
ancient Rome was the Saturnalia,
a winter festival celebrated on December 17-24. Because it was a time of wild
merrymaking and domestic celebrations, businesses, schools, and law courts were
closed so that the public could feast, dance, gamble, and generally enjoy itself
to the fullest. December 25--the birthday of Mithra,
the Iranian god of light, and a day devoted to the invincible sun, as well as
the day after the Saturnalia--was adopted by the church as Christmas, the
nativity of Christ, to counteract the effects of these festivals. |
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Carnival-like celebrations were held in
England on Shrove Tuesday, the
day before the Lenten fast began, until the 19th century. Originating as a
seasonal renewal festival incorporating fertility motifs, the celebrations
included ball games that often turned into riots between opposing villages.
Feasts of pancakes and much drinking followed the contests. This tradition of
merrymaking continues, for example, in the United States in the Mardi
Gras festival on Shrove Tuesday in Louisiana. (see also
fertility cult) |
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Feasts and festivals, whether religious
or secular, national or local, serve to meet specific social and psychological
needs and provide cohesiveness to social institutions: e.g., church, state, and esoteric or socially nonaccepted groups.
The cohesiveness engendered in the feasts and festivals of minority groups (e.g.,
Christians in the early Roman Empire) often provides these groups with the
strength to influence the institutions of the society and the culture of the
majority. When a particular religion triumphs over other religions, it often
incorporates elements from the feasts and festivals of the previously
predominant religions into its own religious calendar. This has been an
important practice of all the world religions in their attempts to bring about
social solidarity, order, and tranquility. Similarly, individuals can gain a
sense of psychological cohesiveness through participation in feasts and
festivals. |
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During periods of crisis in society,
feasts and festivals may lose some of the impact of their interpretive and
cohesive functions. The sacraments of the medieval Western Church lost some of
their earlier interpretive values in the 16th century during the Reformation,
and the month of fasting before the Feast of Bema ("judge's
seat")--a festival commemorating the death of Mani, a 3rd-century-AD
Iranian prophet who founded the syncretistic Manichaean religion--probably
became the prototype of the Muslim fast month of Ramadan after Islamic
invasions of the 7th century AD. So also can persons living in the 20th century
expect reinterpretations of the feasts and festivals to which they have become
accustomed. Reinterpretations of feasts and festivals may thus provide impulses
for institutional changes, which generally occur in times of crisis and
transition. (L.F.) |
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