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.