Ritual
Cultivated food practices and indigenous preservation techniques among the Paudi-Bhuyan Tribe of Odisha, India
By: BEDAPRAKASH NARAYAN TANTY, RASHMI PRAMANIK, ARUN KUMAR ACHARYA – The Paudi-Bhuyan tribe is well known in the Sundargarh district of Odisha. They primarily live on hill slopes and practice mixed cultivation, generally known as Poduchasa (shifting cultivation). As hill dwellers, they depend on forest resources and cultivate crops on slopes. These foods, including paddy,…
Jagoi Rās: A Sacred Synthesis of Ritual, Bhakti, Aesthetics, and Community Experience
By: LAIMAYUM SUBHADRA DEVI, SERAM RAJESHWARAN SINGH – Jagoi Rās is a living cultural tradition that integrates devotion, ritual practice, aesthetic expression, and community participation within Manipuri Vaiṣṇava society. Extending beyond performance, it functions as a contemplative discipline in which the dancer assumes the dual role of devotee and medium, while the community collectively engages…
Illness as an Act of the Deity: Perspectives from Tribal Religion in India
By: BHASKARJYOTI BORO – This study explores the interconnection between illness, ritual, and religious belief among the Rabha tribe of Northeast India. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it examines how deities are conceived as both protectors and sources of affliction, particularly in response to lapses in ritual norms. Illness and suffering are interpreted as manifestations of…
The Symbolic Significance of the Egg in Khasi Ritual and Culture
By: CLARISSA CANDACE GIRI – This paper seeks to examine the much-neglected role of the egg in the Khasi creation myth and their connection to its frequent usage in the rites of the original religion of the Khasi people. The paper looks at a few creation myths involving the egg, from different perspectives around the…
Ronghoan Festival of the Nocte Tribe of Tirap District, Arunachal Pradesh, India
By: SIMON S. JOHN, WANGLIT MONGCHAN, TARUN MENE – Traditional festivals are the amalgamation of various aspects of the Intangible Cultural Heritage which reflects the worldview and culture of a particular community. Understanding festivals in the natural socio-cultural context is very important to understand the culture of a particular community. This paper attempts to describe…
I fuochi sacri dei paesi iblei: il caso dell’ampelodesma di Cassaro e di Ferla
By: GIUSEPPE GARRO – The study presented below analyzes the rituals of fire in the small towns of Cassaro and Ferla located in the prov. of Syracuse in South Eastern Sicily. Specifically, the analysis considers the use of the ampelodesma plant used during the procession of Sant’Antonio (Cassaro) and of the Holy Saturday at Ferla.…
An Ethnographic Account of Sudalai Cult, Tamil Nadu, India
By: SIMON S. JOHN – Worshipping of Demon plays a significant role in the folk religious practices of Tamil Nadu, South India. Sudalai – a male folk deity is considered as a chief of all evil spirits by the people in that region and hundreds of temples for Sudalai exist in the southern region of…
Perceiving Pain: Health, Culture and Ritual
By: DAN E. HOUSER, GERALD W. ZAMPONI – For most of us, coming into contact with some form of pain is a daily occurrence: it is both a usual part of the humanexperience and lexicon. Not surprisingly, pain has many differing and contextually specific meanings, and although it isnearly universal across the realm of human…