In 1963, Pope Paul VI circulated the Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), in which he formulated one of the chief aims of the liturgical reform by suggesting that full participation in the liturgy be encouraged to all people in the congregation. Recently, the Catholic schools of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, exemplified this point by stating that the Diocese standards offer necessary tools to support full participation in worship in schools and in parishes. The purpose of this study is to explore how teachers and administrators interpret the meaning of full participation in terms of musical interaction within the ritual of school Masses and classroom rehearsals, and to examine how they interact with one another to plan and implement a successful experience in which students will continue to return to these rituals. In this study I investigate full participation in parochial chorus—informed by classroom and/or rehearsal interaction rituals. These rituals are understood through the lens of Collins’s Interaction Ritual Chains (2004). Collins posits that feelings of group solidarity are charged by potential emotional effervescence and symbolic content. This study originates from the works of sociologists Durkheim (1912/1995) and Goffman (1959). The methodical approach is one of a micro-ethnography. The data collection was organized using ethnographic field notes and case study applications. Data and analysis from this dissertation suggest that students and teachers embrace the vast history of Catholic Church music in parochial schools. For this dissertation I interviewed Catholic priests and music teachers who play a unique role in educating the whole person by means of a moral, spiritual, and academic foundation. I asked questions about how priests and music teachers interpret the meaning of full participation in parochial chorus. Considering the renewal of faith in the Catholic Mass is certainly a ritual experience charged up with high emotions, I suggested that a larger theoretical framework to embrace various musical settings would show a need for further research and present opportunities to understand how students interact with each other in sacred and secular environments.

The purpose of this thesis has been to contribute with an increased understanding of how funeral rituals can contribute to relatives' grief work as a coping strategy and to see what distinguishes and what unites Christian and civil funerals. This has been investigated using qualitative, semi-structured interviews that have been analyzed with a hermeneutic approach. The theories applied to the collected material are SOC according to Antonovsky, religion as coping according to Kenneth Pargament and rite de passage according to Arnold Van Gennep. The results of the survey show that fellowship with other mourners can be perceived as meaningful and that the farewell is the part of the funeral that helps relatives to accept the loss and move forward in their grief work. The results of the survey also show that religion can act as a support for some individuals but not for all.

This research study looks at the online game Final Fantasy XIV and the players who have participated in the Ceremony of Eternal Bonding, to gain further understanding behind motives for partaking in an online matrimonial service with another player. This study can be relevant for researchers looking into how players interact with events meant to generate intimacy between players. A qualitative semi-structured interview approach was conducted with five couples total to gauge how the event was viewed by each of the pair and its significance to their relationship. The findings of the study could not identify a singular ritualistic effect as part of the ceremony, concluding that its effect stayed within the confines of the game world and did not transfer over to the players real life relationship. The significance of the ceremony was highly dependent on the players’ own engagement with the game and their partner, and while not as transformational as a traditional real-life wedding, it served to solidify social bonds between players and encourage further play within the game.  Further research would be required to assess the details regarding religious symbology present and how gender is performed through the ceremony.

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The lintels of Yaxchilan Structure 23 seem to be a demonstrable case wherein specific symbols are singled out and deliberately used in an ordered sequence. Taken together as a unified series, Yaxchilan Lintels 24, 25, and 26 summarize the multi-step process of royal autosacrifice. An iconographic study of the huipil patterns depicted on these lintels yields a better understanding of complex bloodletting iconography and the way in which depictions of ceremonial autosacrifice reinforce Classic Maya beliefs relating to the divine role of Maya elite in eliciting communion with the gods and the subsequent rebirth of the cosmos. The rich iconography of the lintels gives depth to our understanding of importance of royal bloodletting on a cosmic level. Their detailed imagery clarifies what seems to have occurred during each step of the ritual process. The events and symbolism depicted on the three lintels build from each other to form a unified iconographic whole centered on the rebirth of the gods and the cosmos through royal autosacrifice. Iconographic changes from one lintel to the next communicate the pervasiveness of cycles of death and rebirth in Classic Maya cosmology. The symbolism of each lintel communicates the interrelatedness of death and rebirth, while underscoring the role of the ruler in initiating cosmic renewal through autosacrifice. As Yaxchilan Lintels 24, 25, and 26 present themselves in an interrelated series, the subtle differences within the iconography from one lintel to the next represent important progressions within cycles of death and rebirth, elucidating the significance of certain steps within the royal bloodletting ritual and the cosmic rebirth that takes place as a result. As a set, the combined iconographies present on the queen's huipil—crosses, flowers, and toads—epitomize the objective of the ritual, namely rebirthing the cosmos and the gods through the sacrifice of divine blood.

Hearths and cooking pits are common remains from the Bronze Age. It is a trace of human activity possibly over a short or sometimes a longer period of time. Settlement, cooking and crafts are what we associate them with, but these remains have an underestimated potential to tell us more about the people who used them. Being o pen to a broader perspective might provide a  better understanding of the phenomena. By examining more closely new interpretations of hearths and cooking pits, we see new meaning and significance of these features which can be seen as a previously overlook ed cultural expression. Based on previous studies, the thesis will further explain and argue for the cultural significance of hearths and cooking pits from the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Since their inception, the actual use of nuclear weapons in conflict is extremely limited. There have been only two documented occurrences which were committed exclusively by the United States. By contrast, however, state posturing with nuclear weapons occurs with regularity transcending historical situations, national wealth, military power, or even the actual possession of nuclear weapons. Rationalist arguments that depict nuclear posturing as a means of deterrence appear insufficient given its tendency to unbalance perceptions of equilibrium, and the public nature in which it occurs. Instead, I examine nuclear posturing by the United States during the Cold War as a form of political ritual providing for three distinctive, but complementary functions. First, posturing was a means to create coherence between foreign nuclear policy and domestic civil defense by manipulating symbols of fear. Second, posturing allowed the state to present itself in its new role as a shamanic authority over a new and powerful realm. Finally, posturing allowed for a normalization of the contradictory roles assumed by the state as it upheld its commission to defend the citizenry by means that would most probably destroy them all.

This dissertation examines the production and reproduction of knowledge among Salafi groups in post-Soeharto Indonesia. It specifically discusses the issues of how Salafi groups produce the knowledge they claim to be based on the authentic form of Islam in the context of social, political, and economic change. Salafis advocate the need for a return to the authoritative religious sources: the Holy Qur’an, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Salafi manhaj (methods and paths of Salafi teachings). Without the last element, Salafis claim, the proper understanding and practice of Islamic teachings are impossible. The research was carried out in three major sites: Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Makassar, where significant numbers of Salafis are found. Ethnographic fieldwork, conducted from January to June 2011, and from July 2012 to February 2013, focused on the individual roles, organizational networks, and historical and sociological processes which shaped the reproduction of Salafi knowledge. To create an ideal community based on the Salafist understanding of Islamic ethics, many Salafis create separate enclaves where they erect madrasa and mosques, two strategic institutions fundamental for their development. Claiming to be based on the authority of the Prophet, Salafis develop a medicine and market it to other Muslim groups. Most Salafis engage in endogamous marriage to maintain the groups’ solidity. The roles of women within Salafi groups are highly circumscribed. While having careers is possible, women are expected to stay at home and take care of their families. Salafis represent only a tiny minority of Indonesian Muslims, and they compete with a diverse admixture of Muslim groups, which challenge Salafi interpretations of Islamic knowledge. The political aspects of Salafism are visible in a number of matters of religious knowledge and practice. Salafis use the issues of religious purification as a political tool to maintain their identities and to attack other Muslim groups. Heated debates between Salafis and traditionalist, and to a lesser degree, reformist Muslims, which sometimes lead to violent conflicts, are inevitable. While creating sharp social and religious divisions, debates also result in an exchange of ideas among Muslim groups, heightening the diversity of Salafist forms of knowledge and practice.

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