The Symbolism of Secular Rituals

2018

As a subject of anthropological concern, ritual emerged from the study of religion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Bell 1997, Warburg 2016). It was not until 1977, when Sally Moore and Barbara Myerhoff published their seminal edited volume, that anthropologists directly engaged with the idea of ‘secular’ ritual, and their book set the agenda for further anthropological inquiry. In particular, Moore and Myerhoff questioned whether theories of ritual, originally devised to explain religious or spiritual ceremonies, could be useful in understanding secular ritual. They asserted that, because of its association with religion, ritual has too often been approached as a subcategory of religion instead of as a category of social action in and of itself. Yet, they argue that secular ritual can be just as significant to social life as religious ritual undoubtedly is and that as a category it deserves consideration. The momentum generated by their volume garnered some att...

Practical Theology, 2018

As a subject of anthropological concern, ritual emerged from the study of religion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Bell 1997, Warburg 2016). It was not until 1977, when Sally Moore and Barbara Myerhoff published their seminal edited volume, that anthropologists directly engaged with the idea of 'secular' ritual, and their book set the agenda for further anthropological inquiry. In particular, Moore and Myerhoff questioned whether theories of ritual, originally devised to explain religious or spiritual ceremonies, could be useful in understanding secular ritual. They asserted that, because of its association with religion, ritual has too often been approached as a subcategory of religion instead of as a category of social action in and of itself. Yet, they argue that secular ritual can be just as significant to social life as religious ritual undoubtedly is and that as a category it deserves consideration. The momentum generated by their volume garnered some attention from anthropologists in the 1970s and 1980s, though, after the initial surge of interest, secular ritual has received comparatively very little attention in the anthropological literature since. One explanation for the seeming paucity of work on distinctly secular ritual is the fact that scholars have found it difficult, if not impossible, to locate any theoretical differences in anthropological approaches to 'religious' and 'secular' rituals respectively (Warburg 2016, Asad 2003). Yet at the same time, ethnographic studies of religious rituals overwhelmingly outnumber those of rituals deemed secular or non-religious, and the question remains whether or not ritual should be approached as a 'neutral' social action that cannot be placed into either a 'religious' or 'secular' category, only being interpreted as religious or secular by participants, and whether there is any value in distinguishing between the two. More recently,

Religions

If an object-centered volume on religious ritual is anything, it is a collection of contributions on material culture as a manifestation of structured symbolic practices (Fleming and Mann 2014; Grimes 2011; Keane 2008; Morgan 2008) [...]

Emerging Ritual in Secular Societies. A Transdisciplinary Conversation, 2017

Attached: Introduction, Notes on Contributors. This collection of articles is a thoughtful examination of the history, function and place of emerging rituals. The discussion goes beyond academic assessment and acknowledgement of the absence of meaningful ritual to focus on the different ways people are responding to the call for ‘new rituals’. It recognises the extent to which sincere ritualisation is essential to the physical, psychological and spiritual health of individuals, family groups, organisations and even society as a whole. Contributors: 13 authors, 15 transdisciplinary fields: - Ellen Dissanayake, hon. PhD, an independent scholar focusing on 'the anthropological exploration of art and culture’. Seattle, Washington, USA - Matthieu Smyth, PhD, Ritual Anthropologist, Professor at the University of Strasbourg. - Robert C. Scaer, M.D., Neurologist, Psychologist, currently retired from clinical medical practice. Louisville, Colorado, USA. - Jeltje Gordon-Lennox, M.Div, Psychotherapist and Celebrant Trainer, Ashoka Association, Geneva, Switzerland. - Andrés Allemand Smaller, journalist and secular celebrant in Geneva, Switzerland. - Christine Behrend, marketing and consumer behaviour researcher and a secular celebrant in Pully, Switzerland. - Isabel Russo, Head of Ceremonies at The British Humanist Association, London, UK. - Michael Picucci, PhD, Psychologist, licensed psychotherapist, New York City, USA. - Joanna Wojtkowiak, PhD, Cultural psychologist, Assistant professor at the University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands. - Lindy Mechefske, journalist and food-writer in Kingston, Canada. - Irene Stengs, PhD, Cultural Anthropologist, Senior Researcher Fellow at the Meertens Instituut, Co-editor of Anthropological Journal Etnofoor, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. - Gianpiero Vincenzo, MA, sociologist, islamist, art critic and novelist; Professor of sociology at the Fine Arts Academy of Catania in Sicily, Italy. - Jacqueline Millner, PhD, is Associate Dean Research, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney - Ida van der Lee, ritual artist, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Publication date: early 2017

Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 1997

2019

Rezension zu: Darja Sterbenc Erker, Religiöse Rollen römischer Frauen in ›griechischen‹ Ritualen. Potsdamer Altertumswissenschaftliche Beiträge, volume 43. Publisher Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2013. 310 pages.

The study tries to explain a clear understanding of rituals, religion and secular practices in society. It begins by stating the meaning of Ritual, Religion, and Secular; Ritual Too often, the word "ritual" is abused because a ritual considers that it does not rely on the repetition of action but also needs other factors. The definitions provided by anthropologists of the word "rite" are often very contrasting. The rite has the prerogative of being plastic and adapting to social change, and for this reason, every author has a distinct definition. The concept of ritual, if it was only part of the primitive and exotic societies that are now part of the contemporary world, rites are part of the communities because they need a lot of symbolization.The term "rite" comes from the Latin word ‘ritus’ that mean ritual. It is from this that many anthropologists have developed different definitions.

Religions

Due to the COVID-19 crisis and the related restrictive measures, many of our (daily) rituals have changed [...]

Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR), 2018

Rituals and festivals are tools of social control that were engineered long ago through different aspects of games and play to achieve specific social goals. Games, which are leisure time activities are also made part of some rituals which signify a planned sanction of relaxation from the social control which again has specific social goals. Rituals are energized with legends that are connected to the aspects of divinity religiously to add the dimension of sanctity and are practiced across generations by connecting them to cosmic schedules. The need to institutionalize the desired social rules was perhaps recognized quite long ago when the cultures began to emerge and solidify in terms of customs and traditions. Systems of control that could have both intrinsic and extrinsic influences on the individuals through guilt and shame attributes are analyzed in this paper in the context of rituals, festivals and the related cultural aspects.