ANTB66H3 Lecture 5: ANTB66 Lecture V
UTSC
ANTB66H3 - Spiritual Paths: A
Comparative Anthropology of
Pilgrimage V: Chaos, Creativity and
Desire
22 MAY 2018 / 12:00 PM / ROOM MW170
Dr. Dean Young
Office hours: 2:00-3:00, MW282
LECTURE 5 - Ritual at Sacred Centers
Week 3: Last week we focused on the work of Victor & Edith Turner as they
began to look for signs of anti-structure and communitas in complex societies
This led to anthropological studies of pilgrimage in the 1960s
Essay extension to Monday June 4th before 5:00 pm
Early Pilgrimage studies argued:
Pilgrimage from home to a sacred site offered the laity a new degree of
freedom from the profane world (medieval times under a feudal economy)
Thus Pilgrims in medieval Europe achieved a degree of anti-structure similar
to that of those in Monastic orders
Communitas was achieved through the dangers of the journey, acts of penance
performed, and moments of conviviality (warm friendly relations) and
commensality (eating together) shared with fellow pilgrims they met along the
way
What were Roman Catholic pilgrims seeking?
●Adventure
●Forgiveness
●Fulfillment of vows
●Miracles
●Spiritual transformation
When then examined two ethnographic studies of modern-day pilgrimage
●The first way by the anthropologist Ellen Badone in Southern France
●She troubled:
- The relationship between pilgrimage and tourism
- The historical sacred myths in relation to the invention of tradition
- The privileges of some over others (wanted to draw attention to the fact
that they weren’t pilgrims in the same way - locals, Romanies, Tourists)
- Traditional pilgrims vs. ‘religious creatives’
Questioned what makes a pilgrim
The second way by Inna Nalevota who looked at a Russian Orthodox Pilgrimage
●Nalevota noted:
- The revival of kenotic practices
- The increasing organization of pilgrimages - the dichotomy that Turner
set up (churchly church and…) and argued that the church organizes these
pilgrimages and the ethical rules surrounding the pilgrimages remained
priestly
- The ethical rules that remain churchly
- And allows for the ‘pouring out of the church’ into the secular world,
as icons leave the sacred center to progress through the city
Both ethnographic works:
●Are inspired by the work of the turners
●Employ many of the concepts the Turners introduced
- Anti-structure
- Communitas
- Liminality / Liminoid
●But also trouble those concepts
●I asked you to be able to delineate between structures and
anti-structures as found in the two essays. And to consider the
relationship between the two spheres
Buddhist Pilgrimage in Thailand
●“Sanctification Overland: The Creation of a Thai Buddhist PIlgrimage
Center” - James Pruess (1992)
●The Fate of Rural Hell: Asceticism and Desire in Buddhist Thailand -
Benedict Anderson (2016[2012])
Both Authors:
●Charts historical developments of wats (buddhist Temples / Meditation
Centers) as pilgrimage sites
- History of Wats in 20th century:
●Embed the history of shrines in religious, social and political-economic
transformations in Thailand
●Note the movement from a feudal economy with a strong monarchy (Siam) to
the political upheavals of the 20th century
Pruess argues:
●The early movement of relics represent a ‘trace of an ideal’ and the
transfer of ‘sanctity’ to new ‘sacred centers’
- Accomplished by the carrying of a sacred presence from the old → new
site to give it a sacred center
●The new wats (temple shrines) create new possibilities for localized
pilgrimage
●Theravada Buddhist pilgrims secure happiness and future well-being
through
tham bun
(making merit) at the temples
Spiritual Magnetism for sacred centers
●How does one create spiritual magnitudes in Pruess Magnitudes?
- A group set out from one sacred center to another to bring back some of
the sanctity (Buddha Gotama’s journey “showing mercy to all creatures”)
●Why are relics important?
Document Summary
Desire (cid:465)(cid:465) may (cid:465)(cid:463)(cid:464)(cid:471) / (cid:464)(cid:465):(cid:463)(cid:463) pm / room mw(cid:464)(cid:470)(cid:463) Week (cid:466)(cid:485) last week we focused on the work of victor & edith turner as they began to look for signs of anti-structure and communitas in complex societies. This led to anthropological studies of pilgrimage in the (cid:464)(cid:472)(cid:469)(cid:463)s. Essay extension to monday june (cid:467)th before (cid:468)(cid:485)(cid:463)(cid:463) pm. Pilgrimage from home to a sacred site offered the laity a new degree of freedom from the profane world (cid:513)medieval times under a feudal economy(cid:514) Thus pilgrims in medieval europe achieved a degree of anti-structure similar to that of those in monastic orders. Communitas was achieved through the dangers of the journey, acts of penance performed, and moments of conviviality (cid:513)warm friendly relations(cid:514) and commensality (cid:513)eating together(cid:514) shared with fellow pilgrims they met along the way. When then examined two ethnographic studies of modern-day pilgrimage. The first way by the anthropologist ellen badone in southern france.
