Paper short abstract:

Connecting with their dead is a crucial function the faithful ascribe to the religion, more especially to the prayer. A peculiar form of Catholic prayer is devoted to the souls in Purgatory. This paper deals with a local, recently established form of this practice, observed since its inception.

Paper long abstract:

The worship of dead is a deep-rooted Catholic tradition. A significant display of it is a ritual prayer known as the “Rosary of 100 Requiem”, according to which you must recite a hundred 'Requiem aeternam', a short prayer devoted to the faithful departed. One can perform this ritual individually, but people can also gather in a sacred space to perform a collective ritual. The topic of my research is exactly a collective, public, monthly form of the Rosary of 100 Requiem organized by a secular confraternity in Castellaneta (Southern Italy). Established five years ago, in order to revive a vanished practice performed until the 1960s, this ritual has taken a new and original form: the participants walk through the cemetery reciting ten Requiem aeternam for each of the ten stations forming the ritual itinerary. The pandemic, however, has dramatically changed the situation, forcing the organizers to find an alternative form in order to make the ritual survive. Thus, between 2020 and 2021, the Rosary of 100 Requiem has been performed at a (safe) distance, by means of a Whatsapp group. In May 2021, the participants have been allowed to gather again in the cemetery, but since then the ritual has lost its processional form to be reshaped as a fixed, static prayer performed in the church of cemetery. Through its innovations, adaptations and losses, this local practice can be seen as an interesting case study to observe the resilience, vitality and evolution of religious faith and rituals during uncertain times.

Paper short abstract:

An ethnography of the local Lenten rites during the Pandemic in an agricultural community in Bulacan, Central Luzon, Philippines in which the main attraction was the crucifixion on the cross of "Kristos" or those imitating Jesus Christ during Good Friday as an expression of faith and devotion.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will discuss how the agricultural community of Christian (Catholic) devotees have adjusted to the Pandemic times mediating between the time-honored Lenten ritual and the health emergency situation that is the Covid-19 virus. The main attraction of the religious event was the crucifixions on the cross by devotees of Paombong, Bulacan in Central Luzon, Philippines, wanting to imitate Jesus Christ by having themselves crucified too on the cross on a Good Friday. Before the Pandemic, this ritual was a prominent spectacle rivaling other Philippine Lenten religious activities in terms of people attendance, media coverage, and visiting tourists. For two years, during the height of the Covid-19 crisis and lockdowns, this annual rite was cancelled and the traditional site of performance closed off from public ritual activities.

Lenten season last year, 2022, health restrictions were lowered the government and the communal expression of faith and devotion rebounded with zeal and passion.

Based on an ethnography of how the ritual itself was planned, conducted and reflected on by the devotees, the paper will demonstrate how faith and devotion have been resilient during times of crisis. The study will also show that the holding of the main ritual reveals underlying and pressing social and political issues that also needed to be negotiated and reflected upon.

Paper short abstract:

Using the theory of bricolage this paper delas with how members of the Roman Catholic Church created new forms of services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main used concepts are: privatized religion, digital religion and imagined communities. The data were obtained in two stages in 2020 and 2021.

Paper long abstract:

This paper delas with how Czech members of the Roman Catholic Church celebrated services during coronavirus pandemic and describes how participants experienced these alternative forms of worship and what it meant to them. In principle, each of the interviewees created their own ceremony format, which indicates a significant privatization of religion, which was, however, the result of a unique pandemic situation. The paper views this personal creation of ceremony as an individual bricolage.

Claude Lévi-Strauss characterizes the theory of bricolage as a form of DIY practice, in which individuals create new things and have to make them with the resources they already have. These resources do not have to be only material, but also intellectual concepts or theories. This paper views individual creation of worship as bricolage and considers the concept of privatization of religion, which appears in all informants, as well as digital religion and imagined communities as the "resources of creation".

I obtained research data in the form of in-depth, semi-structured interviews. I spoke to each respondent twice, the first time at the beginning of the pandemic, in May 2020, and I did the second round of interviews in May 2021 when church capacity was still somehow limited. For analysing the interviews, I chose biographical analysis, in order to better preserve the individual approach of each of the interviewees.

Paper short abstract:

This study aims to describe how the Covid 19 pandemic affected the lives of ritual organisers of a Shinto shrine in Japan. The shrine is the core of its community activities. What kind of crisis and uncertainty it could have faced and what strategies it has been making to deal with them?

Paper long abstract:

This paper elucidates how the Covid 19 pandemic affected the lives of ritual organisers of a Shinto shrine in Japan. Bestor (1989) notes, shrines were the core of its community activities. The ujiko (parishioners) support a shrine financially and labour-wise (Shimazono, 1988). Most of the shrines conduct festivals with help of groups of people from their local community such as chonaikai (neighbourhood association), ujikososiki (parishioners association), or seinenkai (youth group associations) (Bestor, 1989; Robertson, 1987; Littleton, 1986; Hardacre, 2017). However, in Japan, urbanisation and modernisation have weakened the old concept of the local community. This is also the reason for numerous shrines falling out of favour (Ishii 1998). However, the HKN shrine which is situated in Ibaraki prefecture’s rural periphery is still prosperous and putting in efforts to attract worshippers and tourists. This Shrine has replaced the role of the local community by creating a substitute network, through kinship and relatedness (Janet Carsten, 1995), with people sharing common economic interests. Since 809 this shrine is venerated by numerous people who visit it whenever they have uncertainties in life. Nevertheless, due to the covid 19 pandemic, it is not the worshippers alone who are facing the crisis and uncertainty but also the shrine that has been comforting the worshippers facing the uncertainty of sustaining itself. Because the shrine’s network has been partially disconnected by the pandemic. This paper sheds light on what kind of uncertainties the shrine is facing and what strategies it has been making to deal with them.

Paper short abstract:

In past times of uncertainty, communities have relied on magic and religion for their protection and deliverance from harm. While the magical rituals seem to have been forgotten today, religious rituals still comforted many during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Paper long abstract:

In Romania, a South-eastern European country with a tormented past, people have a long history of relying on magic and religion for protection in uncertain times. Whether from the various plagues or cholera epidemics, draughts, earthquakes, floods or the numerous wars, magic and religious rituals have always been used to restore stability and harmony in the community.

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, before any measures were taken by State authorities, the Orthodox Church issued a special prayer to end the pandemic. The prayer was sent to all priests in Romania with the specific instruction that it should be read at the end of each service. This initiative was not new. Liturgical textbooks mention a particular service meant to be performed “during times of contagious diseases and pestilences”.

Throughout the lockdown, which coincided with Orthodox Easter, priests continued services, in empty churches. As in previous times of tribulation and uncertainty, miraculous icons and holy relics were taken around dozens of regions, cities, towns and villages in processions, however this time, in the absence of people. Vehicles carrying the precious cargo stopped in front of churches and hospitals, while prayers for the cessation of the pandemic were read out loud. At least twenty-three processions were made public; others not publicised, were also performed. While reliance on these Church rituals was not new and has persisted from past generations, belief in magical protective rituals seems to have disappeared.

Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the religious rituals performed by individuals and communities meeting with uncertainty. I’ll discuss traditional ways of securing God’s protection, and how people today cope with uncertainty during the pandemic and in the face of war.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on the rituals performed by individuals and communities facing with uncertainty. Traditionally, to cope with natural disasters and diseases, people looked for protection and security in faith and religion. One of the common ways to seek God’s grace or protection was individual or communal offerings. In Lithuania, most often such offering was the construction of a sacral monument (cross or chapel). Depending on the intentions and supplications, specific locations were chosen for the erection of a monument, and certain rituals were performed. Facing a major disasters (pandemic, fire, and war), the community or a group of individuals used to build a religious monument to safeguard all the inhabitants of the area (village, town). People would gather at the monument to pray individually or collectively and to give specific offerings, asking for God’s help. Another way was to go to a place famous for miracles and perform certain rituals there. Sick persons often went to a holy spring or tree, or to churches with miraculous images of certain patron saints who were known to cure certain diseases.

In the presentation, I’ll analyse what rituals were performed individually and communally in times of uncertainty in order to protect against illness, natural disasters, war and how sites for erecting sacral monuments were chosen and why. I’ll also discuss whether today traditional forms of rituals still exist or new ones are developed in the face of pandemic and war.

Paper short abstract:

Living under the constant threat of the Philippines’ most active volcano, residents around Mayon have consistently responded with religious rituals to the dangers of a volcanic eruption. The major disasters in 1814, 1993, 2006 prove this persistent religious witness of a geological phenomenon.

Paper long abstract:

Mayon volcano in the Philippines is renowned for its symmetrical beauty. Despite its natural grandeur, it nevertheless poses a constant risk to the residents, being one of the world’s most active volcanoes. More than 30 eruptions have been recorded since the first written account in 1616, spewing out ash and burning rocks. Despite a government-designated permanent danger zone, farmers continue to live within this periphery due to the highly fertile volcanic soil.

The greatest destruction occurred in 1814 when an entire town was buried and an estimated 1,200 residents died. The eruption in 1993 became controversial because of the prediction of a “big bang” by volcanologists which fortunately was a dud. In 2006, no eruption occurred but the volcano caused a major disaster when a violent typhoon unleashed the lahar deposited on its slopes, resulting in a massive mudslide in the surrounding towns. Combined with the flooding caused by the typhoon, the disaster approached 1814 in its impact: a small community was wiped out and the death count topped 1,000 people.

In these three historically distant events in 1814, 1993, 2006, the people’s behavior nevertheless mirrored an unchanging cultural response that was essentially spiritual. Responding with religious rituals to the constant danger of living in the shadow of a deadly volcano will be discussed from the historical perspective of the people’s understanding of their natural surroundings in the light of their faith.

Paper short abstract:

Religious rituals offer a sense of control and a flexible means for addressing life's uncertainties related to health, love, or well-being. Mauritian Hindus thus ritually sacrifice their resources, bodies and energy to secure good fortune adequately.

Paper long abstract:

The Mauritian religious landscape is a mosaic of world religions, local folk traditions, magical practices, and new syncretic forms and beliefs. The average Mauritian is relatively free to partake in religious rituals of her choosing to fulfil personal and spiritual needs. Examining these needs is thus crucial for understanding ritual practices. Our research indicates that Mauritians have been shaping the ritual traditions they imported from their ancestral homes through cultural adaptation to new socioeconomic and environmental circumstances. For instance, the Kavadi ritual of the Mauritian Hindus has become an extravagant multisensory religious display and a harrowing ordeal - it is an arena for people of various faiths to offer a worthy ritual sacrifice. Our ethnographic evidence suggests that the amount of sacrifice reflects the stakes involved. In other words, people perform rituals they consider appropriate (in terms of structure and focus) and proportionate (in terms of costs) to their needs and expectations. This almost contractual logic of ritual performance is best demonstrated by the concept of promise that is quintessential to the biggest Hindu festivals in Mauritius. A promise of ritual sacrifice is given to the deity to secure divine aid or to show gratitude for its reception. Our findings further show that said ritual promise addresses life's biggest uncertainties related to health, well-being, success, or love. The bigger the uncertainty (and the lower the sense of control), the greater the ritual promise.

Paper short abstract:

Christianity was brought to the Philippines as a result of Spanish colonization in the sixteenth century. The study will compare three Philippine rituals situated on mountainous terrain with varying levels of Christian assimilation, a response to both colonial rule and human agency.

Paper long abstract:

The Philippines has gone through more than three centuries of colonial rule under Spain, followed by a much briefer rule under the United States and Japan. Colonization, regardless who is ruling, is an an imposition of the colonizers cultural values, religions, and laws, make policies that are often detrimental to the local populace. Land is seized and access to resources and trade is controlled, making the colonized people become dependent on colonizers. It is in this context that Filipinos were Christianized under Spanish rule.

Having celebrated in 2021 five hundred years of Christianity, the Philippine archipelago is likewise reputed to have the most number of Catholics in Asia. Christianity in the Philippines though is much more complex than it meets the eye, showing different levels of assimilation in varying geographical contexts.

The study will compare the practice, content, and form of Christian rituals in three mountainous areas in the Philippines - Antipolo, Banahaw, and Sibulan - where the seed of Christianity has taken root, albeit in different levels of assimilation: a more orthodox form of Catholicism is reflected in the faith of the laity in Antipolo although with a distinct local flavor, folk Christianity is practiced in Banahaw, while the Tagabawa Bagobos in Sibulan show indigenous animistic beliefs sprinkled with the language of their Christian neighbors (Achanzar, 2007).

Paper short abstract:

In my paper I shall discuss types of action in the context of uncertainty (climate crisis, pandemic) towards two Polish yearly rituals based on the human-environment relationship: Flower carpets tradition for Corpus Christi processions and Kumoterki Races.

Paper long abstract:

Polish ritual year consists of religious holidays based on the human-environment relationship. In my paper I shall discuss two of them - Flower carpets tradition for Corpus Christi processions (inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity) and Kumoterki Races. The tradition of flower carpets in Spycimierz (Central Poland) involves a mass followed by a procession through the village streets. To arrange symbolic patterns, local community use a variety of plants, picked from the nearby meadows and family gardens. Availability of raw materials is directly impacted by local weather conditions and climate that determine the growing season. There are years when Corpus Christi comes later than the blooming stage, therefore access to certain plants is limited. The entire event brings together not only a large community of depositors but also thousands of tourists. Therefore, this practice had to be confined during the pandemic, resulting much shorter procession route, fewer tourists and the obligation to wear masks. Pandemic restrictions also applied to the Kumoterki Races - a competition for two-person teams racing on a snow track sleighs typical for the Podhale region in Poland. As for the climate crisis, in 2022 only, four out of seven yearly races were canceled due to the lack of snow. Based on the so far collected empirical material, I would like to refer three potential types of action towards ICH rituals in the context of uncertainty – adaptation, discontinuance and long-term actions combining the safeguarding with sustainability and mitigation.