The Inverted Initiation Rituals in Shakespeare with a Special Emphasis on Hamlet

The article deals the possibility of applying Vladimir Propp’s, basically anthropological idea of “the inverted ritual” to the interpretation of certain plays by William Shakespeare, particularly Hamlet. The said inversion concerns three rituals: the sacrificial ritual, where the passive and obedient victim suddenly rebels, or at least becomes difficult to control (which is the case, for example, of Ophelia in Hamlet); of the initiatory ritual, where the apparently benevolent master of the characters initiation is shown as a monster (which can be exemplified by Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle); and of the matrimonial ritual, where the theoretically loving husband (more rarely wife), or lover, is revealed as a highly malicious and unpredictable creature, an example of which can be Hamlet himself. The article makes use of the work of such critics as G.K. Wilson, Harold Bloom, Vladimir Propp, René Girard, and Mircea Eliade.

Semitic Religion and Sacrificial Ritual

We now turn to the broader intellectual context during the final three decades of the century, when sociology and anthropology were moving to the fore of the scene, often pushing philology backstage, as the preferred approach to the study of religion. As we shall see, the stakes, which were high, showcase at once ambivalent attitudes towards Judaism and the precarious status of Jewish scholars. The standing of Jewish scholars in the comparative and anthropological tradition reflects the strategy chosen by some among them (not always in a reflexive, conscious way) to overcome this precarious status. Both the comparative and the anthropological method permitted them to circumvent the traces of Christian theology which they correctly detected in more traditional, philological approaches to the study of the monotheist systems. Our three main protagonists here are Max Müller, Julius Wellhausen, and William Robertson Smith.

APLIKASI PRINSIP MAQASID SYARIAH DALAM PENGURUSAN IBADAH KORBAN PASCA COVID 19

Maqasid syariah is one of the universal principles as the axis determined by syarak to be implemented to benefit his servants. Maqasid syariah is also an important element that needs to be taken in the process of implementation or legislation of a law. Every provision of a law must have a purpose and wisdom that Allah swt has set for his servants. Recognizing this fact need to translate maqasid syariah in every aspect of life for example in the field of post-covid sacrifice worship management. The application of the elements of maqasid syariah is able to ensure the safety and well-being of the ummah to be in line with the demands and tenets of Islam so that sacrificial worship contributes to its role in maintaining the 5 principles of maqasid syariah. In addressing the issue of COVID 19 by giving the people an understanding of the importance of the function of sharia maqasid in ensuring human well-being and subsequently taking care of human life to prevent the spread of this covid 19 epidemic and Muslims will survive by keeping the SOP set in this sacrificial ritual. In general, the method used in producing this study is part of a qualitative approach that involves highlighting and analysis of secondary data obtained through documents, research results or writing that has been highlighted. The data obtained were then analyzed systematically using writing content analysis techniques. Keywords: Maqasid Syariah, Disease, Islam, Survive, covid-19 Abstrak: Maqasid syariah merupakan salah satu prinsip sejagat sebagai paksi yang ditentukan oleh syarak untuk dilaksanakan bagi memberi kebaikan kepada hambanya. Maqasid syariah juga merupakan elemen penting yang perlu diambil kira dalam proses pelaksanaan atau pensyariatan sesuatu hukum. Setiap pensyariatan sesuatu hukum pasti disebaliknya ada tujuan dan hikmah yang Allah swt telah tetapkan bagi hambanya. Menyedari hakikat ini keperluan menterjemahkan maqasid syariah dalam setiap aspek kehidupan sebagai contoh dalam bidang pengurusan ibadah korban pasca covid. Penerapan elemen maqasid syariah berupaya menjamin keselamatan dan kesejahteraan ummah agar selari dengan tuntutan dan lunas-lunas Islam supaya ibadah korban menyumbangkan peranannya dalam menjaga 5 prinsip maqasid syariah. Dalam menangani isu COVID 19 dengan memberi kefahaman terhadap rakyat betapa pentingnya fungsi maqasid syariah dalam menjamin kesejahteraan manusia seterusnya menjaga nyawa manusia bagi mengelakkan dijangkiti penularan wabak covid 19 ini dan umat Islam akan terselamat dengan menjaga SOP yang ditetapkan dalam ibadah korban ini. Secara umumnya, metod yang digunakan dalam menghasilkan kajian ini merupakan sebahagian daripada pendekatan kualitatif yang melibatkan sorotan dan analisis data sekunder yang diperolehi melalui dokumen, hasil kajian atau penulisan yang telah disorot. Data yang diperolehi kemudian dianalisis secara sistematik menggunakan penulisan teknik analisis kandungan.

LETTER RIDDLES AND LEGENDS ABOUT ALPHABET

Object of the article: letter riddles based on splitting a word into parts by progressive removal of letters from it. Subject of the article: the structure of letter riddles. Purpose of research: to compare the structure of letter riddles with legends about the origin of alphabet. Research methods: structural and semantic. Results: the author argues that there is a structural similarity between letter riddles and legends about the origin of letters from parts of the dismembered human body. Field of application: literary and cultural studies. Conclusion: letter riddles based on breaking down the words into parts by progressive eliminations of the initial letter of each resultant word convey the motif of bodily fragmentation (“dismembered body”), which goes back to a sacrificial ritual. The author is indebted to Svetlana Gracheva, Dan Whitman and Oleg Zaslavsky for stimulating discussion and helpful advise.

The Redemptive Sacrifice in J. Gardner’s Novel Grendel: An Analysis of the Novel’s Poetics in Light of Ritual-Mythological Criticism

The paper presents an analysis of the novel Grendel (1971) by American writer J. Gardner (1933–1982) in light of M. Eliade’s, R. Girard’s and V. Toporov’s concepts of myth and ritual studies. Literary studies concerning the ritual-mythological aspect of the novel are reviewed in the article. The research hypothesis suggests that the key features of Gardner’s poetics can be systematically analyzed in the context of myth and ritual. Meanwhile, the bulk of previous research covering the issue tended to rely primarily on other analytical frameworks, like P. Bourdieu's sociology of literature (B. Ekelund) or the theory of intertextuality (H. Ellis, W. Ober), the myth and ritual theory playing a supplementary role. While placing myth and ritual theory at the core of the methodology, the present study highlights its two key categories singled out in line with B. Malinowski’s “functionalist” view of myth and ritual as two complementary aspects of the archaic culture — the “theoretical” one (myth) and the “practical” one (ritual). Here they are presented as the etyological nature of myth (i.e. its ability to view all phenomena as dependent on the primordial origin of the universe) and the redemptive sacrificial ritual. Accordingly, the etyologization of Grendel’s narrative and the presentation of the protagonist as an “emissary victim” (in Girard’s terms) are the specific features of Gardner’s poetics which the paper primarily addresses.

A costume in the funeral rituals of the Mari people

Introduction. Burial rites, which are a traditional object of research in archeology and ethnography, are one of most stable elements of ethnic culture. The costume and its individual elements took an important place in the funeral and memorial rites. The study of these rituals can reveal new aspects of the spiritual culture of the Mari people. Materials and Methods. The work is based on the comparison of archaeological and ethnographic materials, culturogical approach, methods of semantic, cultural and anthropological research. Results and Discussion. The reference of funeral and memorial rites to the passage rites determined the use of the elements of a wedding dress, including fur clothes and jewelry. The belt that served as a storage was an important part of the burial costume, as well as the sacrificial and ritual complexes of the ancient Mari tribes. Conclusion. Application of a culturological approach to the research of the funeral rituals of the Mari people allowed to conclude that the costume substituted the deceased, served as the embodiment of a generic body that went back to the totem. The funeral costume, like the wedding one, assumed the use of ancient symbolic codes. The belt that completed the symbolic human body was an important burial costume. The belt served as a defense in the ancient Mari sacrificial ritual complexes, enhancing their association with the world tree.

The Greeks and Their Rituals

For the ancient Greeks, ritual was communication with the gods, aimed at achieving a communality between gods and humans, principally in the service of a community’s welfare, cohesion, and stability, and at the very least, configuring social relations between individuals. This chapter provides a brief methodological survey of how society, predominantly the ancient Greek city-state (polis), has been the main reference for the study of Greek ritual. Rituals derived their authority from tradition but were flexible actions in constant dialogue with the past, endowed with agency in all areas of Greek life: society, politics, economics, culture, and religion itself. After explaining the relationship of myth to ritual, the chapter examines how the Greeks developed strategies working up towards a ritual moment of temporary intimacy with the divine in sacrificial ritual, choral performance, festivals, processions, and dedications. The essay concludes with a section on how the individual relates to the community through ritual.

Ritual and Religious Practices

Ancient near eastern (ANE) rituals and other religious practices fostered relationships with superhuman members of the interactive cosmic community, especially deities, who affected human life. These practices were believed to establish, maintain, restore, or utilize such relationships. The present chapter explores the functions and worldview implications of ANE including biblical Israelite religious practices within the following categories: prayer, sacrificial rituals, non-sacrificial ritual activities including divination and magic, and ritual gestures. Similarities and differences between these and interhuman interactions reflect ANE perspectives regarding the nature of superhumans as personal beings and how to interact with them. The biblical Israelite religious system was more intensely relational than elsewhere in the ANE because the deity YHWH established a covenant with his people and personally resided among them so that they could interact with him more intimately, rather than through idols or other material symbols.

Public art and ritual transformation in Northern Ireland

PurposeThe actual uses to which public art is put have been virtually ignored, leaving multifarious dynamics related to its esthetic encounters unexplored. Both audience agency in placemaking and sensemaking and the agentic role of place as more than a mere platform or stage dressing for transformation are routinely neglected. Such transformative dynamics are analyzed and interpreted in this study of the Derry–Londonderry Temple, a transient mega-installation orchestrated by bricoleur artist David Best and co-created by sectarian communities in 2015.Design/methodology/approachA range of ethnographic methods and supplemental netnography were employed in the investigation.FindingsParticipants inscribed expressions of their lived experience of trauma on the Temple's infrastructure, on wood scrap remnants or on personal artifacts dedicated for interment. These inscriptions and artifacts became objects of contemplation for all participants to consider and appreciate during visitation, affording sectarian citizens opportunity for empathic response to the plight of opposite numbers. Thousands engaged with the installation over the course of a week, registering sorrow, humility and awe in their interactions, experiencing powerful catharsis and creating temporary cross-community comity. The installation and the grief work animating it were introjected by co-creators as a virtual legacy of the engagement.Originality/valueThe originality of the study lies in its theorizing of the successful delivery of social systems therapy in an esthetic modality to communities traditionally hostile to one another. This sustained encounter is defined as traumaturgy. The sacrificial ritual of participatory public art becomes the medium through which temporary cross-community cohesion is achieved.