302 research outputs found
Introduzione
No full textIntroduzione al volume S. Botta, D. Riboli e D. Torri (eds.), Sciamanesimo e persona: una svolta ontologica? (Sapienza Sciamanica/6), Nuova Cultura, Roma 2023, pp. 9-18
Sacred, Alive, Dangerous, and Endangered: Humans, Non-humans, and Landscape in the Himalayas
No full textThe landscape we inhabit is haunted by its own past. In its present
form, in fact, it is just the actual, and temporary, reconfiguration and
re-positioning of its constitutive elements. Reconfiguration is the direct
outcome of those transformative processes defined, in human terms,
as calamities and disasters. In the Himalayas, according to indigenous
ontological views, these recursive processes of reconfiguration allegedly
happened at the hands of cosmic forces, gods and goddesses, sages
and wizards of old, and are often thought of as reaction to human
misbehavior. The category of human misbehavior may include active
and mechanical processes of pollution and desecration, or more subtle
dynamics of ethical and moral corruption. More often than not, among the indigenous collectivities of the Himalayas, these two dimensions
appear to be strictly intertwined. The process is not over: minor adjustments
continuously take place here and there, as automatic reactions set
in motion by individual and collective, human and non-human, patterns
of interaction
Of Shadows and Fears: Nepalese Ghost Stories from Classical Texts and Folklore to the Social Media
No full textWhat are we talking about when we are talking about ghosts? A ghost is, first and foremost, a story: it exists in a narrative dimension and perpetuates itself by it. Before witnesses, a ghost needs listeners. In this regard, it is a story which unsettles and scares, something which keeps coming back from the past. It is the past which has not died yet, forced to resurface again and again in order to be acknowledged, solved and settled. In this chapter, the author will explore the topics and contents highlighted by ghost stories and narratives from Nepalese classical texts to contemporary social media, in order to analyze their meanings, roles and functions while at the same time mapping continuities and discontinuities between religious, folkloric and popular themes
Il lama e il bombo. Sciamanismo e buddhismo tra gli Hyolmo del Nepal
No full textFrutto di diversi anni di studio e di esperienze sul campo, questo volume nasce dall’intersecarsi di molteplici linee di ricerca e dalla volontà di fornire un quadro della cultura e del complesso religioso sciamanico-buddhistico degli Hyolmo del Nepal. La ricerca intende osservare le connessioni con il più ampio tessuto sociale nepalese nel quale gli Hyolmo sono inseriti, così come anche le dinamiche storiche che hanno interessato l’area himalayana in questione. Solo in questo modo, infatti, si possono localizzare e comprendere le specificità della cultura hyolmo, caratterizzata da una vita spirituale orientata attorno a due poli opposti e complementari: lo sciamaniscmo e il buddhismo. Da essi trae origine un unico sistema a simmetria variabile, i cui equilibri sono negoziati di volta in volta dagli attori in campo a seconda delle loro necessità. Lama e bombo, ben più che un’originaria tensione tra diversi sistemi religiosi, rappresentano nella vita quotidiana i due poli di un’unica “economia del sacro”
Una valle segreta nascosta tra le nevi L’identità degli Hyolmo del Nepal tra mito e storia
No full textNel panorama politico del Nepal contemporaneo, ancora scosso dal brusco passaggio dalla monarchia alla repubblica, si moltiplicano le mobilitazioni a sfondo etnico, politico e culturale delle varie minoranze del paese. Il presente articolo prende in considerazione le dinamiche legate all’affermazione delle identità a lungo represse dal governo centrale, che costituiscono uno degli aspetti più rilevanti della vita sociale e politica del paese himalayano, in particolare attraverso l’analisi
del caso degli Hyolmo della valle di Helambu. In questo caso, uno specifico rapporto privilegiato con una data area geografica, sovraccarica di significati religiosi, costituisce il perno dell’invenzione identitaria, e fornisce alla comunità quegli strumenti concettuali dei quali essa necessita per poter rivendicare un ruolo nella complessa compagine politico-sociale contemporanea nepalese, sia in relazione allo stato che agli altri gruppi che costituiscono la società civile del paese
Landscape, Ritual and Identity among the Hyolmo of Nepal
No full textThis book analyses the social, political and religious life of the Hyolmo people of Nepal. Highlighting patterns of change and adaptation, it addresses the Shamanic-Buddhist interface that exists in the animated landscape of the Himalayas.
Opening with an analysis of the ethnic revival of Nepal, the book first considers the Himalayan religious landscape and its people. Specific attention is then given to Helambu, home of the Hyolmo people, within the framework of Tibetan Buddhism. The discussion then turns to the persisting shamanic tradition of the region and the ritual dynamics of Hyolmo culture. The book concludes by considering broader questions of Hyolmo identity in the Nepalese context, as well as reflecting on the interconnection of landscape, ritual and identity.
Offering a unique insight into a fascinating Himalayan culture and its formation, this book will be of great interest to scholars of indigenous peoples and religion across religious studies, Buddhist studies, cultural anthropology and South Asian studies
To Kill or not to Kill? Helambu valley as a no kill zone: the issue of blood sacrifice and the transformation of ritual patterns in Hyolmo shamanism
No full textNarratives related to a rivality between lamas and shamans are very common throughout the Himalayas and the Hyolmo are no exception to this. The rule seems, generally, the establishment of a unified spiritual field originating from a division of religious labour characterized by hierarchization, opposition and complementarity at the same time. The resulting (asymmetric) religious field is not fixed once and for all: its boundaries are constantly shifting due to practical needs of the people and, to a larger extent, they are also tied to discourses about ethnic identity and "traditional" heritage. With this paper I want to highlight patterns of change affecting hyolmo shamanic rituals, and especially the ongoing debate surrounding the practice of ritual sacrifice. The blood offering, in fact, is seen more and more as a despicable action and many shamans, influenced by Buddhist ideas and/or due to a certain degree of social pressure, are transforming and adapting their rituals in order to cope with this very relevant change at the very core of every transaction with the spirit world
Leaving Footprints in the Taiga. Luck, Spirits and Ambivalence among the Siberian Orochen Reindeer Herders and Hunters, written by Donatas Brandišauskas
No full textrecensione volum
Trees, Birds and Other Non-Humans. Mythological Entanglements with Landscape, Flora, Fauna and Spirits of the Himalayas
No full textThis paper takes into account ideas about landscape and environment
as they emerge from the study of beliefs, mythology and ritual activities of religious
specialists of the Himalayan region, showing a deep and enduring web of relational
entanglements between human and other-than-human communities. The notion of
persoonhood seems, in fact, to transcend the human dimension in order to include a
wider and larger set of other-than-human communities, including mountains, waters,
plants, animals and other classes of beings
The Animated Landscape: Human and non-human communities in the Buddhist Himalayas
No full textThis paper aims to highlight a recurring set of topics, themes and beliefs widely shared by several Himalayan cultures. In particular, the notions related to the web of relations entangling human and other-than-human communities, which constitute the epistemological framework to understand, explore and discuss ideas, ideologies and worldviews about the environment. In the Himalayas, in fact, the cosmos is thought to be parceled among several entities interacting with each other on a regular basis, each and one of them in charge of a specific sphere of influence. Villagers tend to interpret and explain daily occurrences – and especially bad luck, misfortune, illness and disgrace – very often as the result of the interaction between the individual and one of the many entities with whom she shares the landscape. Landscape itself, moreover, could be sometimes represented as a living field of forces or a distinct, powerful entity. This worldview, which we could carefully define as a form of animism (not in the Tylorian way, but in its reevaluation by the most recent scholarship), is also deeply ingrained in the Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhist understanding of the cosmos, and combined with it to produce a unique system shaped by multiple influences interacting with each other over a multiplicity of levels
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