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The case of the “Temple of 18 Deities” (十八王公廟) is an example which shows that the process of changes in religious culture can be both gradual and sudden. From the first glance it seems that the boom of “Temple of 18 Deities” cult suddenly appeared from nowhere. But the analysis of the temple origin mythology and it symbols shows that the opportunities for such sudden changes were created gradually during the long period of religious culture development when fazes of change and conservation were taking turns endlessly in Taiwan societies. Those opportunities traces into more remote times of gradual development of numerous religious cultures which were brought in Taiwan by multitude of migration waves. The “Temple of 18 Deities” cult conserved many stable religious elements which were created in the period of Eurasian cultural unity and bring us to the Neolith and even Paleolithic epoch. One of the most stable elements in the “Temple of 18 Deities cult is the symbol of a dog. The geographical area of the former dog’s worshiping cults distribution is spread all over Eurasia with the most western point in the British Isles and the most eastern point in Taiwan. The dog symbol in mythologies of many various peoples all over Eurasia is connected to another stable religious element – an idea of the life after death and underworld. The underworld conception origin also should be dated by Paleolithic epoch, because it stability occurring everywhere spreading. Paleolithic hunting religious ideas should be common all over the world, because all the societies passed this faze of evolution in their history.

The cult of the saints was a widespread and important element of medieval European society. It is also an area of history where historians’ explanations of events are usually very different from those of the historical actors studied. This thesis is an attempt to find some common ground between them. It examines the interactions between commoners and the non-canonised saint NilsHermansson, bishop of Linköping, in early fifteenth-century Swedish miracle tales. The thesis argues that the cult of the saint functioned as his social network. It further argues that in this network the dead saint functioned as a social actor, that is as someone who acted in society for purposes of his own and who had different relationships to different people. These premises haveproven very fruitful for the understanding of the development, structure and function of the cult, and of what the cult meant to people who took part in it. The bishop’s network included the canons of Linköping, the fellow departed saint Bridget, and many people who were connected to the bishop by patron-client relationships. Viewing the departed saint as a social actor sheds light on the varied and prudent ways in which medieval Swedish commoners interacted with him. The study indicates that the making of vows to the saint may have been regulated by custom in a way thatwas related to the Country Law then in force. There was a remarkable degree of continuity between the social network of the living bishop and his cult after death.

This paper aims to explore the connections between the rural communities of Early Modern Castile and the saints they venerated through their festivities, relics and advocations and the roles that these relationships fulfilled in their societies. The Castilians of the sixteenth century seem to have used their interactions with saints not only for the purpose of the salvation of their souls, but rather, as ways to ensure the survival of their population, to cement social cohesion and identity, or to preserve the memory of their communities. Through the topographic relations of Philip II, a fantastic source that reproduces the voices of members of rural communities of Central Castile, this paper analyses the boundaries between the utilitarian and the cultural in the worship of saints, and the limits of local culture and identity.

Submitted by admin tede (tede@pucgoias.edu.br) on 2018-02-07T11:20:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Alessandra Bezerra da Silva.pdf: 1475101 bytes, checksum: 59c9536e29a087f35182243413671df7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-07T11:20:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alessandra Bezerra da Silva.pdf: 1475101 bytes, checksum: 59c9536e29a087f35182243413671df7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-10-26 / The present work aims to study the practices of popular Catholicism manifested in the pilgrimage that departs from Quirinópolis towards the Shrine of the Eternal Father in Trindade - Goiás. There is a mixture of culture, religion and traditions renewed every year. The participant research was supported by bibliographical references to offer the theoreticalmethodological support and emphasizes the relevance of this historical and ethnographic work. We seek to understand the practice of pilgrimage as a sacred period that transcends time and space during walking. The sources are elements supported by orality, to understand the characteristics of the pilgrimage, allied to the photographic images of photographic images of the rites. These elements remain embedded in a tradition and demonstrate it. The first chapter was constructed from concepts that evidence the motivations that lead pilgrims to Trinity as a sacred place. In the second chapter, the story of the religious center of destiny, which from a medallion attracts devotees from all over Brazil and conquered the devotion of the Christian people. Finally, in the third chapter, the ethnographic research with the pilgrims of Quirinópolis is presented. They show their devotion to the Eternal Father in the form of thanks to the graces they have gained, walking to fulfill their promises. / O presente trabalho visa estudar as práticas do catolicismo popular manifestadas na romaria que parte de Quirinópolis em direção ao Santuário do Pai Eterno em Trindade – Goiás. Ali se vê uma mescla de cultura, religião e tradições renovadas a cada ano. A pesquisa participante foi amparada por referências bibliográficas para oferecer o suporte teórico-metodológico e enfatiza-se a relevância deste trabalho histórico e etnográfico. Buscamos compreender a prática da romaria como um período sagrado que transcende o tempo e espaço durante o caminhar. As fontes são elementos sustentados pela oralidade, para compreender as características da romaria, aliadas às imagens fotográficas dos ritos. Estes elementos permanecem inseridas em uma tradição e a demonstram. O primeiro capítulo foi construído a partir de conceitos que evidenciam as motivações que levam os romeiros até Trindade como um lugar sagrado. No segundo capítulo, a história do centro religioso de destino, que a partir de um medalhão atrai devotos de todo Brasil e conquistou a devoção do povo cristão. Por fim, no terceiro capítulo, apresenta-se a pesquisa etnográfica com os romeiros de Quirinópolis. Eles mostram sua devoção ao Pai Eterno em forma de agradecimentos as graças alcançadas, caminhando para cumprir suas promessas.

Religious life in Taiwan has experienced a great revival since the political relaxation in 1980's; especially the popular religion and new religious movements have been blooming. Temple festivals are growing again; restored or newly established events organized by temples emerge. There is usually one main deity in the centre of the temple cult, but there are many other deities worshipped in a particular temple as well. The temple is often a centre of a town or a village, especially in the countryside. Temples organize or at least support many activities (not only religious ones, but also sport and educational activities etc.) in villages and towns. The thesis introduces temples and their work in the field of belief. At the same time it looks at the ways a temple help people to create a local community, and what is the relationship between the state and temple cults. There is an attempt to see the potential of traditional temple religions to fulfil function similar to function of modern civil society. The thesis also introduces the development of the status of temple cults in Taiwan on the background of political and social changes during the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st century. During this period, the popular religion gradually transforms from a superstition that should be annihilated...

This dissertation contributes an interpretation of the ancestral altar tradition among Vietnamese American first and second generation practitioners. It traces the contours of the shifting transformations in domestic religious practice, specifically the transnational and diasporic dimensions in people's lives. I address how and toward what ends the "spiritual" is accessed, experienced and/or transformed in the materiality of everyday life, in the context of a complex relationship to a diasporic homeland and an emerging second generation. The research was conducted in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio (Texas), Carthage (Missouri), Sài Gòn (Viet Nam) and Pulau Galang (Indonesia). I make two main assertions. The first is that domestic religious practices matter in exploring issues of cultural citizenship and belonging. As a collection of things, I explain how altar assemblages are constituted through the purposeful and chance encounters of the practitioner(s), which is a way to talk about the global (such as transnational mobilities or the discourses about diasporic citizenship) through the intimately local. My second claim is that ideas of cultural citizenship can intersect with religious motivations and practices, and that they happen (are performed, imagined and circulated) transnationally, or more precisely, translocatively. I document how practitioners' and groups of practitioners' struggle to combat the (current Vietnamese) state's interventions in re-narrating the circumstances of their exile and also the relative invisibility they face as historical subjects in the United States. By carefully examining ancestral altars as a constitution of "things" and as situated "spaces," I address various facets of what they are and how they work -- as ways to express a familial or diasporic imaginary; or as assemblages of things that are both intimately meaningful and private, yet situated at the intersections of geopolitical engagements and cultural politics. / text

As the deities known as Inari, foxes are vital to the religious and cultural landscape of Japan. Inari are given little consideration in the academic study of Japanese religions in English, despite their overwhelming presence and popularity in Japan. This is, in large part, due to the privileging of a Protestant definition of religion in the academic study of religion. Animating Inari addresses this lack of consideration by seeking to better understand Inari in Japan, particularly through the contexts of contemporary Shintō and popular worship (which are also severely underrepresented in scholarship). In order to explore Inari on the ground, this project is situated in the context of Fushimi Inari Taisha, the headquarters of Inari worship located in Kyoto. This project investigates the anime (animated television series), Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha (or Inakon), which depicts Fushimi Inari Taisha through the life of a young girl, named Inari, and her relationship with the deity, known as Uka. In conjunction with my own experience at this shrine, I use Inakon as a tool with which to consider the popular aspects of Shintō, particularly as visible through Inari worship. By examining Inari worship, the characters and themes of Inakon, and the presence of fox characters in other Japanese popular media, it is apparent that Inari’s popularity is in large part due to the warm relationships they have with Japanese people and how they respond to their everyday concerns. This is in direct contrast to the more nationalistic leanings of the Jinja Honchō (National Association of Shintō Shrines), which is too often privileged in the academic study of Shintō at the expense of popular worship. Inari reflect the more popular concerns of contemporary Shintō: the connections and intimate bonds that exist between people, as well as the deities. By highlighting the functions of and attitudes towards Inari, especially in contrast to Jinja Honchō, it becomes clear that Inari resonate with Japanese on a profound level.

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