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Shamanistic practice in Northern Nepal
No full textThe Sherpas—in Tibetan śar-pa or "men of the east"—live mainly in Northern Nepal, in the Darjeeling district, in India and Northern Sikkim, in the regions bordering on Tibet, and on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. The Sherpas are of Tibetan stock. Among the Tibetan racial groups two religions can be broadly distinguished. One is a form of Buddhism, usually called Lamaism. The other religion is called in the Lhasa pronunciation Bon. Among the Sherpas both the religion and its priests are called "bombo", spelt: bongo
The concept of body in religious studies
No full textRecently it has become fashionable to speak about embodied religion, religion as bodily processes and embodiment in general. In this article the different uses of the concept of the body are analysed and the different contexts in which the concept can be used in coherent and systematic ways are clarified, and furthermore in such a way that it enhances the methodology of religious studies. Bodies are relevant in religious studies first and foremost for the reason that some bodies support religious beliefs, desires and actions, such as priests in the Catholic Church or members of the organizations of charismatic Christianity. Secondly, bodies are ascribed religious meanings. That is, in addition to a human body x, we have one or more religious actors who ascribe religious meanings to this particular body. Even though bodily issues are important for biological creatures such as human beings, they are not relevant for religious studies if they do not involve secondary theories that attach religious contents to them
Ethnoastronomical perspectives on Saami religion
No full textThere are several difficulties in interpreting the pictures on the Saami shaman drums. Some of the figures found in the space between the central sun sign and the edge on some fifty drumskins occupy positions within certain quadrants like similar figures in our traditional western star charts. The present study continues the theme of by making a comparison of the pictures on the edge and the central figure complex (the sun sign). As the analysis has been extended, it has also become possible to adopt a new position with regard to the overall picture. This has led to observations that the zodiac can be discerned more or less clearly in the mass of constellations, that the positioning is decided by orientating the drum in relation to the height of the sun and thus to the Saamis' calendar, to the seasons and to the cardinal points. It is moreover probable that the drums were connected, at least indirectly, to a commonly held idea about the natural elements and their connection with people's basic temperaments. In other words: the similarity between the Saamis' "magic drums" and the astrolabes found among the European neighbouring peoples has been further reinforced, provided one means by this the basic pattern of the figures and their arrangement in a holistic system which we could regard as a psycho-cosmogram. It is even possible that the Saami shaman, noai'de, if he peered from underneath, through the semitransparent drumskin, could understand the horoscope diagram with its reversed constellations/signs as was used by his colleagues in the rest of Europe—as a theistically sanctioned cosmological projection, in contrast to the natural reproduction by the Saami drum of the apparent anti-clockwise rotation of the stars once every twenty-four hours
Television vampire fandom and religion
No full textPopular culture and fandom provide a setting where people can reflect on the questions of life. A television show defines for many of its fans what it means to be human. It also discusses the way things are, and the way they should, or could, be in our reality. In this article the author shows that television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood and the Vampire Diaries have made the same kind of impact on their fans. The fan writings of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood and the Vampire Diaries show that these popular texts, and the communities they have formed, have greatly affected the lives of fans. People have found on their TV screens stories they can get strength and hope from. The vampire shows deal with the supernatural – vampires, werewolves, and witches – and place them in our contemporary world as if they are a natural part of it. Television vampire stories revolve around topics of death, good and evil, and humanity. These stories have created massive fan communities and even life changing fan experiences. The reflections upon existential questions, and the way the shows have empowered fans, make this phenomenon important to study in the context of today’s religions reality
Yoroi-kizome, Genbuku and taking the tonsure: rites of passage among the Bushi in Feudal Japan
No full textThe earliest written records extant in Japan were compiled during the Nara period (710-781 A.D.). They are the Kojiki, "Record of Ancient Matters", 712 A.D.; the Nihongi or Nihon Shoki, "Chronicle of Japan", 720 A.D.; and the Many ōshū,"Collection of a Myriad Leaves", an anthology of poetry first published in 759 A.D. but also containing material from the Asuka period(ca 500-700 A.D.). Prior to these writings, the only existing evidence of practices which may be defined as rites of passage is archaeological. From the Neolithic Early Jōmon period (4500-3000 B.C.) there are indications of a systematic extraction of teeth among a sizeable proportion of the population, the ratio being about 70 per cent males and 30 per cent females, with considerable regional variations (Blomberg 1990: 243). In its most drastic form this comprised the removal of the canines and incisors of both maxilla and mandible. This kind of mutilation eventually came to include an equally systematic filing down of the maxillary incisors into a fork or trident shape, with examples of both practices in the same individual. From the evidence of burnt clay figurines dating from the Jōmon as well as theYayoi period (ca 250 B.C.—ca 250 A.D.) it appears that some kind of facial adornment existed. Whether this took the form of scarring, tattooing or painting is of course impossible to ascertain, but it may have been another means of indicating individual distinction or social position
Religious dietary rules and the protection of religious freedom: some evidence from practice in Italy
No full textIn the Italian system freedom of worship provided by the Constitution is safeguarded by unilateral and contractual norms, sanctioned for minority confessions by an agreement, named intesa, that also concerns dietary issues. Muslim communities, however, as they have no intesa with the Italian state, are always compelled to negotiate in respect of their religious norms. Religious freedom concerns- not only ritual acts, but also behaviours including dietary ones, which are based on religious beliefs. The aim of this paper is to critically reconstruct how Italy takes charge of religiously-motivated needs concerning food and beverages, both for those confessions holding an intesa (such as Hebraism) and for those not (Islam), in order to trace the real degree to which freedom of worship is guaranteed in Italy. The analysis will be focused on the bargaining for religious dietary rules in schools and in constraining institutes, as they are main social spaces of confrontation between believers and the state.
Les identifications de Gayomart à l'époque islamique
No full textIn this paper, the author explores who was identified as the First man in the context of the arrival of Islam in Persia. Was Gayomart the first man, or Adam, or are they the same person? This question was not only religious but also political, as they represented two different peoples, the Persians and the Arabs
A Note on the Psychology of Dhikr. The Halveti-Jerrahi Order of Dervishes in Istanbul
No full textRitual prayer (salat), performed five times a day, belongs to the fundamental obligations of all Muslims. In addition to this fact, there is another type of prayer, associated with mystical orders in all Islamic countries. Repetitive prayer (dhikr) in mystical Islam (Sufism) belongs to the most central activities of the orders. Despite the geographic spread of the Sufi orders (turuq), accounts of the dhikr in the literature are rare. Psychological commentaries are even more scarce. The aim of this paper is to describe this ritual as it exists today within the Halveti-Jerrahi order of dervishes in Istanbul, Turkey, and to present a preliminary psychological analysis of the ritual
Sortes virtuales: a comparative approach to digital divination
No full textDivination, or at least that branch of it that was once called inductive divination, may perhaps be considered an early form of information technology: it involves an input of information as well as an output of information, and between them, there is a process of random access to a kind of retrieval system. At any rate, divination has proven to be almost the ideal form of religious practice for the internet; in principle, at least, an act of divination may be fully accomplished on a personal computer. This paper comparatively explores a number of perspectives on these relatively recent developments, which may possibly also help us towards a more qualified understanding of traditional forms of divination
The Vallipuram Buddha Image "Rediscovered"
No full textWhen, at the end of the 19th century, the Visnu kovil in Vallipuram, in Vatamaracci, in northern Ilam (Lanka) was (re)built, a Buddha statue was unearthed close to this temple, 50 yardsnortheast of it. It remained in the lumber room of this temple until 1902, when it was set up in Old Park at Yalppanam under a bo-tree. In 1906, the Vallipuram Buddha image was presented by Governor Sir Henry Blake to the King of Siam, who was particularly anxious to have it, as it was supposed to be of an archaic type. This event together with the statue, was forgotten for almost 90 years. All Tamilar and Sinhalese born after 1906 have never seen the Vallipuram Buddha image, provided they have not gone to and found it in Thailand. The study of the religious significance per se, in its historical setting, of the statue is important. The Vallipuram Buddha image is a typical creation of Amaravati art, the spread of which documents the spread of Buddhism to Ilam, where it exercised a decisive influence on the first period of the development of Buddhist art in the Anuratapuram school. We get then a geographical triangle of a cultural encounter between Amaravati, Anuratapuram in its first phase, and Vallipuram. This happened at a time when Buddhism was still not identified as Sinhala Buddhism, but just as Buddhism. The study of the Vallipuram statue is thus a way of transcending or at least suspending for some time polarising ethnic identities, not ethnic identities as such