Paper Short Abstract:

This study argues that analyzing a shrine from the outside reveals only half of its reality. To get a complete picture of a Shinto shrine, it is essential to comprehend it from outside and inside. Based on long-term fieldwork at a shrine, I examine how rituals take place inside it from an insider’s perspective to present a whole picture.

Paper Abstract:

In previous studies of Shinto shrines, the organization of rituals from inside the shrine has not been thoroughly explored. Most research has focused on external perspectives, examining worshipers and parishioners through quantitative surveys or observations conducted outside the shrine. These studies have left the inner workings of ritual organization largely unexamined. In contrast, my research involved working as a miko at a Shinto shrine from 2019 to 2022, allowing me to study the shrine from an insider’s perspective. Drawing from anthropological fieldwork, this paper aims to illuminate the internal organization of rituals in a Shinto shrine. I argue that understanding a shrine from inside is crucial for uncovering how rituals are organized behind the scenes. This includes exploring the invisible aspects of the shrine, such as internal spaces used for ritual preparation, and the challenges ritual organizers face, which are not visible from the outside. Furthermore, it is essential to view the shrine from the native’s perspective. As Geertz (1974) notes, “The native’s inner life is more like grasping a proverb, catching an allusion, seeing a joke – or, as I have suggested, reading a poem – than it is like achieving communion” (p. 45). Only by working with natives, we can understand the nuanced backgrounds and mindsets that shape their practices. It is through embodying and describing their experiences on their own terms that we gain a deeper understanding of the ritual world.

Paper Short Abstract:

The paper tackles the documented 17th century miracles of the Nuestra Señora de Guia investigated in the Consultas of Juan de Paz. The account talks about the provenance of the image and the miracle narratives and rituals of devotions attributed to the Nuestra Señora de Guia of Ermita, Manila.

Paper Abstract:

The focus of this paper are the documented seventeenth century miracles of the Nuestra Señora de Guia reviewed and investigated in the Consultas of Juan de Paz (UST Libros Tomo 23). The Nuestra Señora de Guia of Ermita, Manila is considered to be the oldest Marian image in the Philippines. The Consultas talks about the antiquity of the image and also its possible provenance, the focus however are the miracle narratives and the rituals of devotions attributed to the Nuestra Señora de Guia. The different miracles narrated in the Consultas (Lib 23.97 – p. 825 - 878) include miraculous cures received by devotees from among the native population to miraculous interventions in battles against the Dutch as reported by a Spanish soldier devotee of the Nuestra Señora de Guia. In addition to these miracle narratives, Juan de Paz also discusses the process of recognizing a miracle and the necessary considerations before a miracle is propagated to the rest of society. These accounts reveal a glimpse to the writing and unwriting of devotions and rituals within the context of colonial 17th century Manila.

Paper Short Abstract:

This paper talks about the idea of fiesta, a ubiquitous Christian religio-cultural event in the Philippines, as a way of remembering and reliving history, as well as renewing traditional ties and networks. In the coastal town in the province of Albay, Philippines, the overarching template naturally follows the written sacred story of the patron saint, but the resultant social ritual creates new 'texts' which makes the official narrative as sub-plots to the more organic and collective story telling.

Paper Abstract:

This paper talks about the idea of fiesta, a ubiquitous Christian religio-cultural event in the Philippines, as a way of remembering, retelling, and performing history. In the coastal town in the province of Albay, Philippines, the overarching template naturally follows the written sacred story of the patron saint, but the resultant social ritual creates new 'texts' which makes the official narrative as sub-plot to the more organic and collective story telling, revealing and renewing traditional ties and networks.

The ethnographic site is Tiwi, Albay in the Bicol region of the Philippines which is famous for the string of feasts held in honor of the Nuestra Señora de Salvacion -- the revered image believed to be miraculous and protector of the Bicolano people since the beginning of its devotion in the 17th century. A curious story of discovery of Salvacion's sacred power and loving care makes her image the beloved "Ina", or mother, of the people. A closer look into the fiesta, though, reveals intersecting social rituals indigenizing popular Marian theology. The 'fiesta', is a way of knowing and remembering the past and present -- of unwriting narratives and creating new ones -- cast in rituals, both sacred and secular.

Paper Short Abstract:

The chanting of the passion play was done by Spanish missionaries to establish Catholicism among the local population and interpreted by a Filipino historian as a revolutionary act. This paper investigates the enduring social and cultural function of the passion play in the local town of Antipolo.

Paper Abstract:

The chanting of the passion play, introduced by Spanish missionaries to the Philippines, was done to help establish the Catholic faith among the local population. Rather than being a tool of subjugation, a Filipino historian interpreted it as a spiritual metaphor by which Philippine revolutionaries framed their lives and allowed them to overthrow the colonial system. This political function has not held on, however, even as the passion play continues to this day, signifying a cultural persistence that serves a social and cultural function in the community itself. This paper investigates the passion play tradition in the local town of Antipolo to uncover the different social meanings, relations, and structures that this Holy Week ritual holds for the cultural agents themselves, based on the elements that surface year after year during its enactment: the families that participate, the food, and the community involvement.

Paper Short Abstract:

The hermitages and their religious images play a central role in the religious celebrations of the island of La Gomera, constituting key symbolic spaces in the configuration of local identities

Paper Abstract:

The hermitages and their religious images play a central role in the religious celebrations of the island of La Gomera, constituting key symbolic spaces in the configuration of local identities. These festivities, which have endured throughout history, continue to be a meeting point for a large number of people, many of whom, having emigrated from the island, return each year to meet the sacred images. Among the most outstanding hermitages are those of Nuestra Señora del Buen Paso in Alajeró, Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria in Chipude, Nuestra Señora del Carmen in Vallehermoso and San Marcos in Agulo.

The main objective of this study has been, on the one hand, to reveal the deep meaning of the fiestas and their social functions, understanding the fiesta as an expressive and symbolic phenomenon with perfectly integrated elements. On the other hand, to analyse the main changes in these festive ritual celebrations.

Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews, it has been possible to understand the deep meaning of these festivities, revealing how the rituals (processions, masses, dances and sung romances) configure a space of concentration of the sacred, the procession being the symbolic moment par excellence (Briones, 1991). It has also allowed us to know from the inside the experiences of those attending, their description of the procession and the changes they perceive over time, allowing us to reflect on the relationships between the perspectives of the researcher and those of the people attending in these celebrations.

Paper Short Abstract:

This paper analyses how the tradition of the Shrove Tuesday carnival, which has remained relatively strong in one of Lithuania's ethnographic regions (Samogitia) until today, has changed from the late 20th century to the 21st century. The ritual-based tradition is now understood and described by contemporary people in the context of modern times. Which ritual elements have remained, and what new meanings, no longer connected to the original, have emerged? What factors have influenced their transformation?

Paper Abstract:

This paper analyses how the tradition of the Shrove Tuesday carnival, which has remained relatively strong in one of Lithuania's ethnographic regions (Samogitia) until today, has changed from the late 20th century to the 21st century. The ritual-based tradition is now understood and described by contemporary people in the context of modern times. Which ritual elements have remained, and what new meanings, no longer connected to the original, have emerged? What factors have influenced their transformation?

Over time, the Shrove Tuesday carnival tradition, influenced by various political regimes and globalization processes, has gradually changed, with different practices replacing the rituals. Some elements have remained, but their meanings have either faded or been understood in entirely different ways. People’s stories about Shrove Tuesday carnival celebrations and participant observations conducted from 2019 to 2024 reveal the society's understanding of the dressing-up tradition as a specific cultural phenomenon. The study included 70 semi-structured interviews with respondents from Samogitia, and four participatory observations in 2019, 2020, 2023, and 2024 in different Samogitian locations, which revealed a new perspective not only on the structural meanings of the dressing-up tradition, but also on its functions, expressions, and performative aspects, shaped by the contemporary issues and influences of the time.

Paper Short Abstract:

The paper examines the ritual performance of Malakkari Thira of the Kurichiya community in Kerala, India. Employing the frameworks of performance studies, including liminality, restored behaviour, and social drama, the study analyses the role of ritual in fostering community solidarity and reinforcing the cultural identity of the Kurichiya. The research is conducted through fieldwork that incorporates interviews and observation. Keywords: Ritual, Malakkari Thira, Kurichiya, Performance Studies

Paper Abstract:

This paper analyses Malakkari Thira, a ritual performed as part of the annual religious festival of the Kurichiya community in Kerala, India. It is a symbolic representation of the mythical exploits of Malakkari, the chief deity of the indigenous community. Malakkari Thira is performed annually in the month of Kumbam (February) to appease the deity for its blessing and protection from evil spirits. The festival is accompanied by the rendering of mythical narrative of Malakkari. The performer, wearing vibrant attire and accessories, with his body and face painted in various colours, is regarded as a deity, and devotees perceive it as an opportunity to communicate with the divine. The performance is often accompanied by dance, music, and percussion instruments like the chenda which add aesthetic quality to the act.

The study aims to understand the role played by ritual performance in promoting community solidarity and safeguarding the cultural identity of the Kurichiya. The study employs the method of close analysis of the performance through multiple field visits, incorporating interviews and observation of the ritual. The theoretical postulates of performance studies, viz liminality, restored behaviour, and social drama, are used to understand the ritual and its effect on Kurichiya culture and identity. The paper, by emphasising the performance aspect of ritual, underscores its impact on shaping individual experiences and collective identity within an indigenous community amid rapid changes.

Keywords: Ritual, Malakkari Thira, Kurichiya, Performance Studies

Paper Short Abstract:

This study looks into the concept of the Unggak, the spirit of storytelling in the Teduray oral tradition. It embodies a philosophy founded on the ongoing conversation between the past and the present, empowering their collective memory and language that define their identity and positionality.

Paper Abstract:

This paper looks into the concept of "Unggak", the spirit of storytelling or spoken word, found in the Teduray and Lambangian oral tradition, specifically in the chanting of their ethno-epic, the Beninarew. More than a performance, epic singing functions as a ritual-- a dialogue between the ancestors and the community through the mediation of the meninarew (the epic chanter). The Unggak guides the meninarew to utter the right words, communicate their ancestors' divine messages, and most importantly, speak the truth about the meaning of their existence. The Unggak, therefore, embodies the entire philosophy that underlies the Teduray oral tradition. It is a philosophy founded on the ongoing conversation between the past and the present, thereby empowering tadëman (collective memory), kësëbërë (indigenous language), and fëgurët (indigenous oral tradition) that continue to define their identity and positionality as “gefe” –steward of the land.

A close reading of excerpts from their oral tradition, such as the linggeng and siyasid which are integral in their epic chanting, demonstrates the profound impact of the Unggak in sustaining human-non-human relationships. I would like to end with some reflections on how to adopt indigenous knowledge to unwrite the epistemic violence against the non-Western as the “ontological other”; hence a humble contribution to the ongoing critique of the dominant paradigm toward a more engaged and transformative scholarship.

Paper Short Abstract:

The paper provides an insight into the Polish ethnographer Stefania Ulanowska's 1891 study on Latvians, focusing on the researcher's self-positioning, contextualizing historical conditions from the perspective of colonial and postcolonial studies, as well as describing the given examples of performative situations and traditions.

Paper Abstract:

Stefanije Uljanowska was a Polish ethnographer born in 1839 in Vitebsk province, now the eastern part of Latvia, where she spent the first part of her life, and later moved to Kraków. In 1891, she published her “ethnographic observations” of the Latvians living in the eastern part of Latvia, titled “Łotysze Inflant Polskich a w szczególności gminy wielońskiej, powiatu rzeżyckiego: obraz etnograficzny.” This work is the first comprehensive study of the Latvians living in the eastern part of Latvia, describing their language, traditional culture, religion, and beliefs, providing an important collection of Latvian folk songs, folk tales, and anecdotes.

Historically, since the midst of the 16th century, the eastern part of Latvia was a territorial unit of the Polish Commonwealth and later of Tsarist Russia, with the Roman Catholic Church being the dominant religion in recent centuries. Until the mid-19th century, the local community, or Latvian peasants, were subordinated to a higher class of society, represented mainly by the Polish nobility. The liberation of the peasantry and the abolition of serfdom in eastern Latvia took place only in 1861. In the second half of the 19th century, enlightenment ideas emerged and spread among the Polish nobility, leading to efforts to understand Latvian society more deeply. Uljanowska's ethnographic descriptions of Latvians fit into this frame.

This paper provides insight into Uljanowska’s research, focusing on the self-positioning of the researcher, contextualizing historical conditions from the perspective of coloniality and postcolonial studies, and characterizing given examples of performative situations and traditions.

Paper Short Abstract:

The report highlights how childbirth rituals in 19th and early 20th century Russia, reported by urban observers with biased views lead to misconceptions about rural practices. It argues that understanding the lifeworld of villagers offers a more accurate perspective. Narratives from village doctors and residents reveal a different reality of childbirth. The report is based on field interviews taken from 1990 to 2023 in the Russian North.

Paper Abstract:

Childbirth rituals are repeatedly mentioned in the descriptions of Russian ethnographic sources from the 19th century and early 20th century. Such descriptions were almost always conveyed through the lens of an educated urban correspondent; their assessments and way of perception were often characterized by bias. In their opinion, villagers did not follow hygienic standards, gave birth in dark and dirty premises, did not provide proper care for the child, and so forth.

However the lifeworld (in terms of Alfred Schutz) of villagers differed from the practices and knowledge of ethnographers that were acquired in the city. As such we are inclined to believe that such perception may distort the actual state of affairs. The interpretation of rituals can be different if we turn to the personal experiences of both local residents and medical assistants practicing in the village.

Narratives told by village doctors reveal a different picture of the childbirth ritual. In our report, we will consider the childbirth ritual through the relationships between practicing doctors, midwives, and patients in northern Russian villages of the past century. The report is based on field interviews with men and women conducted in the Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions during the period from 1990 to 2023.

Paper Short Abstract:

Since 1987, I was conducting fieldwork on rituals and magic in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. Their attitudes towards me and my research influenced their contribution. In the paper, I will talk about the speaker’s perception of the borders of magic in a conversation with an outsider.

Paper Abstract:

Since 1987, I was conducting fieldwork on the topics of rituals and magic in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. While interacting with my interlocutors, I was also paying attention to their attitudes towards me and my research that influenced their contributions. In the paper, I will talk about the types of these attitudes, the borders of magic in the perception of the speakers, and the effect of these borders on revealing magical knowledge to a person both understanding, and detached from, the village world. The remoteness of the folklorist allows speakers to forego some taboos (“You live far from here / you don’t have a cow anyways, so it is OK to tell you the healing spell against snake bites”; “don’t tell people here what I told you, but when you go home, there you can tell everything.”) The folklorist’s close knowledge of local traditions can help the speaker relax and share more information about their own tradition, though it can also make the speaker suspicious and shorten her story or cut the magical elements in it. The gender of the folklorist also plays a role since female speakers do not feel dominated by a female folklorist. A visit from a male folklorist is felt like a more official affair; in these cases, male speakers feel entitled to dominate the conversation as gender peers with the male scholar. The paper examines these and other aspects of the folklorist’s person that influence the conversation and the resulting oral texts.

Paper Short Abstract:

This paper will adopt the methodological tools of the newly-found discourse of Environmental Humanities to look at the rituals and rain around environmental narratives, cultural practices and creative negotiations to understand the complex roles of climate, monsoon, and its variables in morphing the more-than-human histories in pre-modern Assam, India in the eastern Himalayan foothills.

Paper Abstract:

Humans in pre-modern Assam (located in the Eastern Himalayan foothills) co-existed with timely, untimely erratic waves of torrents, and annual inundations which are integral parts from their everyday conversations to their cultural memories. Evidently, humans, non-humans, land, and water are inherently braided into an ecological rhythm from a long geological time. Assam’s fluid, unruly landscape with recurrent physiographical and geomorphologic transformations, heavy rainfall for 8 months with annual inundation are the major co-designer of the lives herein. Water, monsoon, and rainfall have been found in playful, romantic, spiritual and ritualistic mentions in the varied literary and cultural expressions. In the hour of war monsoon turned into a weapon in these foothills taking charge of the might in the battlegrounds. Apparently, monsoon has been looked at as a timely guest here who formed its distinct more-than-human history. Testified by historical records, it is inferred that pre-modern Assam did not experience any major rainfall crisis, dreadful droughts, and tornadoes although it was a hotspot of monsoon. However, the rituals of frog weddings (bhekuli biya), Hudumdeu Puja, and aphorisms to mitigate the rainfall crisis tell a different story. Recent discoveries of the carbonate and oxygen isotope records from Meghalaya, India indicate climate oscillation and uneven monsoon precipitations in the 17th-18th centuries. This paper proposes to discuss time, how far the humans of Assam in the eastern Himalayan foothills negotiated with the timeliness and untimeliness of rain through a myriad of rituals through visual, performative traditions, both written and oral productions during this period.