Cult service tradition in Georgia

The article deals with the cult service in Georgia, which was established in ancient era. We have not written sources, but oral folklore and ethnographic materials contain information about worshipping of divinities and some ritual actions. It seems that oldest system was worshipping of chthonic divinities and it forms the divine hierarchy in archaic religious system. So in the ritual practice of Georgians cultivation o9f land was the main element. It promoted the religious picture and ritual practice in Georgia.culture, georgia, cult service

Selected Elements of Animated Nature Associated with the Birth of Jesus in the Bulgarian Oral Culture and Apocryphal Narratives

Translated by Katarzyna GucioThe article attempts to extract textual and extratextual planes on which representatives of fauna made their mark in the folklore of the South Slavs, mainly Bulgarians; in their oral literature, rituals, and beliefs, juxtaposed with selected Apocrypha, primarily from the Protoevangelium of James, confronted with the Scripture. The analysed texts (legends, folk tales, ritual songs performed during Christmas) relate to the birth of Christ in Bethlehem and placing him in a manger – the events of Night of Bethlehem and the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt. The excerpted texts of fairy tales and legends marginalise the theme of the Divine Birth, focusing on the figure of the Mother of God and her actions: meeting with St. Tryphon, rejecting the child, receiving lessons on motherhood from the frog, escaping with the Child to Egypt. The birth of Jesus is used as an excuse to tell a story of an etiological character (theme cursing animal or plant), often based on ritual custom and referring to it, such as clipping vines. Just as in the case of fairy tales and legends, folk song uses the birth of Jesus to explain the genesis of some of the characteristics and phenomena of nature. Presentation of animals in ritual songs occasionally refers to the economic sphere (the shepherds slept, and their flock wandered away), while wild animals are the object of punishment or reward. The Apocrypha known among the South Slavs mention animals in situations encountered also in the Bulgarian oral literature – the cosmic silence when fauna and flora freezes in anticipation of the birth of the Young God. The quoted texts of the Bulgarian oral culture referring to the theme of the Nativity of the Lord, the Gospel inspiration or even interaction with the apocryphal text fades into the background. The content of the stories and folk songs seems to be primordial in relation to the processed content of the Gospel; biblical characters and situations are introduced to oral stories already in circulation, creating texts that are testament of the so-called folk Christianity

L’expérience de la musique dans les veillées funèbres des Tsiganes de Transylvanie

L’article analyse le rôle de la musique dans les veillées funèbres célébrées par les Tsiganes de Transylvanie centrale (Roumanie) durant les deux nuits qui précèdent l’enterrement. Les actions rituelles sont centrées sur une dimension affective : l’expression obligée de la jale (chagrin), la « contagion émotionnelle » par effet de la milǎ (pitié, compassion, empathie). La musique instrumentale structure l’expérience rituelle en termes des relations et interactions émotionnelles établies entre les différents participants.This paper discusses the role of music in the funeral vigils celebrated by Gypsies of central Transylvania (Romania) during the two nights before the burial. The ritual actions are focused on an emotional dimension : the forced expression of the jale (grief), the “emotional contagion” effect of milǎ (mercy, compassion, empathy). Instrumental music structures the ritual experience in terms of emotional interactions and relationships established between the different participants

Narasimha, Lord of Transitions, Transformations, and Theater Festivals: God and Evil in Hindu Cosmology, Myth, and Practice

This paper focuses on the multi-faceted nature of the divine depicted in Narasimha and the unique perspectives on God and evil offered by the myths of Narasimha, which is also subliminally represented within the religious practice and performance traditions associated with Narasimha

The interaction of social and perceivable causal factors in shaping ‘over-imitation’

Over-imitation has become a well-documented phenomenon. However there is evidence that both social and visible, physically causal factors can influence the occurrence of over-imitation in children. Here we explore the interplay between these two factors, manipulating both task opacity and social information. Four- to 7-year-old children were given either a causally opaque or transparent box, before which they experienced either (1) a condition where they witnessed a taught, knowledgeable person demonstrate an inefficient method and an untaught model demonstrate a more efficient method; or (2) a baseline condition where they witnessed efficient and inefficient methods performed by two untaught models. Results showed that the level of imitation increased with greater task opacity and when children received social information about knowledgeability consequent on teaching, but only for 6- to 7-year-olds. The findings show that children are selectively attuned to both causal and social factors when learning new cultural knowledge

Animal 'Ritual' Killing: from Remains to Meanings

As humans, we interact with our environment and the other species inhabiting it in a variety of ways. Animals not only provide a source of sustenance, but a means for humans to express their social concepts through interaction. The range of human interactions with other species can still be seen in our modern world; such as the use of animal characteristics as metaphors and the humanisation of certain species. Douglas (1990, 33) suggests we think about how animals relate to one another, on the basis of our own relationships. Therefore, human social categories are extended into the animal world. Classical literature can offer examples of this. Aristotle (Politics, 1254b) discussed the similarity between working animals and slaves, which in Roman law were treated together, noting ‘the usefulness of slaves diverges little from that of animals; bodily service for the necessities of life is forthcoming from both’. This entwining of the human and animal worlds was also present in the form of animal sacrifices and Gilhus (2006) has discussed the inventions and developments of such a tradition in depth. Evidence of animal sacrifice is not just limited to the classical world, for example we also have evidence from iconographic depictions from Mesoamerica (Emery 2005), as well as ethnographic observations (Morris 2000, 138). The challenge we face is to use archaeologically recovered faunal data to investigate such social zooarchaeological issues. As the majority of animal remains are of a fragmentary nature, most investigations into social concepts have utilised articulated animal remains. A number of terms have been used when discussing such concepts including animal burials and special animal deposits. However, for this paper the term associated bone group (ABG) has been adopted. Although at first it may appear unimportant, the terminology and language used by archaeologists describing a deposit can greatly influence its interpretation, and importantly, the concepts of other archaeologists. Terms such as ‘special’, to many archaeologists, automatically implies a ritual connotation, similarly ‘burial’, a term utilised mainly for human remains, may conjure images of a ceremonial/ritual event. This is important because within British archaeology the interpretation of these deposits has been stuck in a dichotomy between the ritual and the mundane (Morris 2008a; 2010c). Hill (1995) was also critical of the use of ‘special deposit’ and suggested the term associated/articulated bone group, to remove any connotations. This paper draws on the results of a project that investigated the nature of ABGs in Britain from the Neolithic (c.4000BC) to the end of the late medieval period (c.AD1550). Due to the large time-span it was not possible to investigate every deposit in Britain, therefore just published data from southern England (Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire) and Yorkshire was utilised. The results of the project are discussed in detail elsewhere, along with a complete list of the sites recorded (Morris 2008b; 2010c), therefore a brief overview of the major trends will be discussed here. Further consideration will then be given to the interpretation of these deposits and a biographical method based on the actions used to create the ABG will be considered. Finally the paper will use this approach to discuss the presence of ritual animal killings in the British archaeological record