Search results for " Ritual"
showing 10 items of 132 documents
Slow/Fast. Piccoli oggetti al di là dell'interno
2020
Contemporary behavioural scenarios change quickly, linked to habits aimed at continuous displacements, with variable panoramas and places of reference. Human activities, traditionally related with the domestic interior, are located outside. New paces and frenetic ways of life reduce to a minimum the time dedicated to primary needs, primarily the need for eating. Lunch breaks are quick and optimised, the rituals of "eating together around the table" have changed profoundly, often relegated to a few small occasions. The result is an essential relapse into the world of objects, ready to condense the ritual of solitary consumption of the meal, in a simple and immediate, rapid gesture. At the sa…
Uomini e alberi. Tre indagini storico-religiose. Nota introduttiva
2021
In this introductory note I present three essays on the relationship between trees and rituals in ancient Mediterranean civilisations and in Vedic India.
Aspetti della storiografia moderna su ethne e religioni nella Sicilia antica
2013
Obiettivo del testo è tentare di indicare alcuni aspetti del dibattito storiografico moderno sul rapporto tra etnicità e culti nella Sicilia antica, partendo dal presupposto, credo ampiamente condiviso, che ogni ricostruzione storica del passato è anche un terreno di scontro sul presente dello storico. Vi è insomma un rapporto fondamentale tra presente e passato, rapporto che si inscrive dialetticamente nella tensione comprendere il presente mediante il passato e comprendere il passato mediante il presente. In questa prospettiva orientare la questione delle origini in una direzione piuttosto che in un’altra diventa funzionale a opzioni ideologiche e a strategie di legittimazione politica, c…
L'anima delle fedi. Corpi, riti e sacralità nell'opera di Monika Bulaj
2018
In this article the author investigates the work of the european Photographer-storyteller Monika Bulaj, in particular it is done from a visual perspective which considers the complex interplay between photography and literary ékphrasis.
Cronaca di una morte misteriosa. Variazioni sul mito di Ifigenia
2014
The paper analyses two different mythical traditions related to the final moment of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, i.e. the death of the girl or her rescue by Artemis. The aim is to enquire wich of the two versions Euripides has chosen for the final of his drama Iphigenia in Aulis. The exodus of the tragedy when Iphigenia is substituted by a deer, has been considered spurious. For that reason, many scholars concluded that the drama ended with the death of the protagonist. However, the analysis of the mythic-ritual context and the dramatic plot can suggest that the safety of Iphigenia was the true conclusion.
Vr̥kṣa vivāha. Dendrogamie in India fra tradizioni antiche e pratiche devozionali contemporanee
2021
An inextricable tangle of branches and roots arises in many Indian villages in the place where two trees united in marriage (vr̥kṣa vivāha), grow intertwining with each other in an everlasting 'embrace'. This interweaving describes well the complex network of symbols and textual references that are revealed in the relationships that Indian culture has built around a pair of trees: the aśvattha and the śamī. In this paper, I will try to highlight some mythological and ritual aspects related to this pair. The two trees, in fact, although in today's context separately, are the object of rituals that turn out to be true tree marriages. In particular, concerning aśvattha, what is striking is tha…
Una forma leggiadra. Simboli sessuali dell'altalena in India nel rito del mahavrata e in alcune pratiche contemporanee
2022
In the grammar of rituals described in Vedic texts, the swing was an object whose meanings referred to the propitiation of fertility and solar symbolism. Although its use remains in various contemporary festive contexts, its meaning has been differently defined. By analyzing the passages from works belonging to the ancient religious literature, this article examines the description of the swing’s construction and the rite performed on it by the officiant named hotr. Such an approach allows us to focus on the symbolic elements related to the swing in one of the focal points of the sequence of the mahavrata ceremony. Through a diachronic investigation and considering the data from the compara…
In the footsteps of the cows The ritual of gavāmayana between ancient and contemporary India
2022
Codified in classical Vedic times (8th-4th century BCE), the gavāmayana (‘the cow path’) was a year-long ritual session (sāmvatsarikasattra), which accompanied the succession of months of the Vedic religious calendar and ended with the celebration of mahāvrata (‘the great vow’) during the winter solstice. Marking the conclusion of the arduous ritual journey, it celebrated rebirth and consecrated the beginning of the new year. The book investigates gavāmayana based on a philological analysis of the texts and on a historical-religious and anthropological perspective, focusing on ancient India and some contemporary practices. The mahāvrata, in particular, seems to preserve the memory of very a…
Ragazze folli di miele, Il miele e la celebrazione della parola nel rito del mahāvrata
2021
In these pages, we will explore the rite of mahāvrata, a Vedic rite connected to the celebration of the new year, from a study perspective aimed at the performative dimension. Specifically, I will focus on the final scene of the rite, because it is only at this moment that the actors and the ritual dynamics compose a particular scenario, evocative of fertility, in which some maidens, the ritual fire, and honey are the protagonists. The maidens are called upon to dance around the mārjālīya hearth and to intone a chant in which they repeat the word madhu ("honey") in an increasingly frenzied manner. The words spoken, in some cases meaningless formulas, reveal a unitary sense and hint at the f…
Els homes de pa. Exvots antropomorfs en les festes italianes
2012
La ricorrenza in Italia di pani cerimoniali è variamente attestata. La presenza di pani votivi, talora antropomorfi, è segnalata in diverse regioni. Un’ampia tipologia di pani cerimoniali si osserva tutt’ora anche in Sicilia, in particolare in occasione delle feste di San Giuseppe e della Settimana Santa. Pani “speciali” ricorrono, tuttavia, anche in occasione di feste calendariali e di numerose feste patronali o comunque di particolare rilievo per le singole comunità. Tra questi di particolare interesse, per forme e usi rituali, quelli antropomorfi offerti come ex voto per ricomporre l’ordine del corpo e del cosmo.