On the Personhood of Sacred Objects: Agency, Materiality and Popular Devotion in the Roman Catholic Philippines

This paper is an analysis of the Santo Niño de Cebu, a statue of the child Jesus that is the object of widespread popular devotion among Roman Catholics in the Philippines. The central hypothesis is that a continuing challenge of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines, at least from the perspective of the institutional Church, lies not in the extra liturgical performance of its rituals, but rather in the popular belief that sacred objects possess agency and personhood. The discussion of this theme unfolds over three analytical movements. The focus of the initial section is on the historical context in which the Santo Niño became established as the preeminent religious and cultural icon of the Philippines, going as far back as the sixteenth century. The discussion shifts to the topic of the agency of material objects, as cultivated in the performance of three embodied rituals conducted by thousands of Santo Niño devotees. A third analytical movement is the examination of how popular belief in the Santo Niño’s agency intersects with the institutional reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly as locally contextualized and enacted in the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) in 1991.

Bloodthirsty, or Not, That Is the Question: An Ethnography-Based Discussion of Bhadrakāḷi’s Use of Violence in Popular Worship, Ritual Performing Arts and Narratives in Central Kerala (South India)1

Violence is a characteristic that has somewhat become definitional for the Hindu goddess Kālī. But looking at it through the lens of folk narrative and the popular, devotion-infused and highly personalised opinions of her devotees shows that not only the understanding, but also the acceptance of this violence and the connected anger and bloodthirst that are usually attached to it, as well as the feelings of fear and danger that arise from them on the devotees’ end, are subjects open to discussion. This article, at the juncture between anthropology, performance, and Hindu studies, analyses and compares discourses about her Malayali counterpart, Bhadrakāḷi, drawing simultaneously on various versions of her founding myth of Dārikavadham (‘The Slaying of Dārikan’), ritual routines of her temples in Central Kerala as well as ritual performing arts that are conducted in some of them. The concluding discussion of her alleged thirst for blood and identification of the ’real‘ addressee of blood offerings made to her particularly illustrates how far the negotiation of Bhadrakāḷi’s use of violence and her very definition as violent goddess reaches deep into the worshipper/deity relationship that lies at the heart of popular worship.

Terrains of Myths and Devotion

How do religious imaginings and practices reconstitute the environment and situate communities in the surrounding space? What can religious institutions tell us about the historical interplays among myths, societal formations, and terrains of the earth? This chapter inquires these questions with a case study from preindustrial Japan. The Buddhist monastery of Kôyasan in the mountains of Kii province in western Japan enjoyed historical prominence both on political and spiritual terms. In the late medieval era (14th to 16th centuries), it presided as a landholding overlord and ruled large estates in the plains below. As a site of popular devotion, it developed in the early modern era (or Tokugawa, ca. 1600-1867) a transregional network of worshippers who sought its ritual services that promised salvation in the afterlife. What, then, propelled Kôyasan to its historical prominence? By contextualizing clerical practices with the mythical landscape of the monastery, the chapter uncovers how Kôyasan's success was undergirded by the ritual reconstitution of the land and soil.

Introduction

Mary is important in Christianity and Islam. Orthodox and Catholic Christianity can be argued to be intrinsically Marian. Theological reflection on Mary draws its logic primarily from the bringing together of the Prologue of John’s Gospel, as a Christian restatement of the creation in Genesis, with the first two chapters of Luke. Then Mary as an historical figure in the heritage of Israel is taken up into an eternal and cosmic space in which she participates in the events of redemption as the new Eve. The relationship between Christ and Mary leads to important debates in Christian traditions, and there are of course issues that arise for a modern gender analysis. The introduction moves on to doctrines of Mary, relationships between the denominations, and both ecclesiastical and popular devotion/veneration. It refers to each of the contributors of the book and shows how they interrelate in the volume as a whole.

Symbols of Political Participation: Jayalalitha’s Fan Imagery in Tamil Nadu

Contributing to the growing literature on fandom, this study investigates the political fan imagery in Tamil Nadu of the past AIADMK chief-minister J. Jayalalitha (1948–2016) that arouse popular devotion in her followers as if she was a Hindu deity (Hills 2002; Porter 2009; Duffett 2013). During Jayalalitha’s reign, her AIADMK followers, often called bhaktas, pursued her favour by making divine-like icons of her as well as by performing extreme physical acts for her attention that may be reproduced as visual narratives in the local press. The Tamil karate star Shihan Hussaini crucified himself on a cross wearing a t-shirt with Jayalalitha’s political nickname on it, the MLA representative M.V. Karuppaiah floated in a swimming pool holding an AIADMK flag in his mouth for forty-eight hours, and minister Sellur Raju organized huge ritual processions derived from local traditions, repurposed for Jayalalitha’s praise. These bhakti images involve a transactional visuality between iconic depictions of Jayalalitha and supportive narratives featuring her devotees’ unusual actions that serve as defining symbols of their political participation.

Piedade não-litúrgica

Piedade não-litúrgica (ou religiosidade popular) e Liturgia, quando criteriosamente articuladas, não entram em conflito nem se repelem mutuamente. Pelo contrário, se fortalecem e enriquecem reciprocamente. É o que mostra Dom Frei Boaventura Kloppenburg, Bispo emérito de Novo Hamburgo, RS, comentando o Diretório sobre Piedade Popular e Liturgia, da Congregação para o Culto Divino e a Disciplina dos Sacramentos. O documento, com data de 17/12/01, lembra os princípios que fundamentam essa relação e dá orientações concretas no sentido de harmonizar a piedade popular e a Liturgia. Em suma, o(a) cristão(ã) piedoso(a), chamado(a) à oração comunitária, não pode esquecer-se de entrar no quarto, fechar a porta, e orar ao Pai (cf. Mt 6,6), e até orar sem cessar, como recomenda Paulo (cf. 1Ts 5,17).Abstract: Non-liturgical devotion (or popular religiosity) and Liturgy, when carefully articulated, neither conflict with nor repel one another; on the contrary, they are reciprocally strengthened and enriched. This is shown by Fray Boaventura Kloppenburg, former Bishop of Novo Hamburgo, RS, in his commentary on the DiretóriosobrePiedadePopulareLiturgia (Directory on Popular Devotion and Liturgy) of the Congregation for the Divine Cult and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The document, dated 17th December 2001, reminds us of the principles that are the foundation for this relation and gives concrete guidelines for the harmonization of popular devotion and Liturgy. In sum, the pious Christian, called to the community prayer, must not forget to enter the room, close the door, and pray to the Father (cf. Mt. 6:6) and even pray uninterruptedly, as recommended by Paul (cf. 1Ts 5:17).

After Supra montem

In the late thirteenth century and first half of the fourteenth century, Churchmen and Church councils repeatedly endeavoured to impose order on the ecclesiastical landscape. Their actions towards groups of non-monastic women are of particular importance to this study. Instead of actively creating a rubric under which ‘semi’—or ‘quasi’—religious (such as tertiaries and beguines) could be given an official canonical existence, men responsible for the spiritual care (cura) of such women attempted to connect them more closely to traditional religious orders. The newly approved ‘Franciscan’ tertiary rule of 1289, combined with the traditional Franciscan association with popular devotion, made an association with this order ideal for the newly created ‘tertiaries’. This chapter examines the creation and spread of the so-called Franciscan tertiary order.