Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates contemporary rituals dedicated to the celestial bodies (the ethnic (Pagan) rituals, and occasional rituals performed by the masters of the new rituals).

Paper long abstract:

This paper investigates contemporary rituals dedicated to the celestial bodies: 1) the ethnic (Pagan) rituals performed around equinoxes and solstices, and 2) occasional rituals performed by the masters of the new rituals, incl. the rituals of Igor Mang (b. 1949, Sion of Christ). The aim of the paper is to re-evaluate and deconstruct these rituals.

The purpose of the rituals is to involve participants in the process of constructing a ritual, to direct city dwellers in finding a new inner balance. In ethnic (Pagan) rituals the kinetics, common food and re-interpreted mythology play an important role. Methods for uniting people are similar: common singing, chanting and ritual communication. Recurring elements, in addition to music and drumming, include the revived custom of sacrificing to the elements and addressing ancestors, nature spirits and cosmological powers.

Rituals are performed in conjunction with "significant" times (solstices, major calendar feasts, also community or society events, cultural events) and in sacred landscape (e.g., wild nature, places dedicated to neopagan rites, arboraceous suburbs or forests). Although suitable places also include archaeological sites and historical monuments, rural or forestry environment is preferable.