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Toward a Theory of Pre-Modern European Folk Ritual: The Case of Polish Wigilia

This study aims to formulate and evaluate a methodology for the study of rituals in historical time periods. The methods developed in the field of Ritual Studies for the investigation of present-day, observable rituals are assessed in terms of their usefulness for studying rituals practiced in the past, and these methods are adapted to the particular needs of historical study using the pre-modern Polish custom of Wigilia, a Christmas Eve supper ritual, as a case study. This paper suggests that despite the limitations in applying Ritual Studies methodology to rituals practiced in the past, these methods are useful for helping to construct a generalized reconstruction of historical rituals and in using that reconstruction to understand dimensions of popular religion in historical time periods. In looking specifically at Wigilia, this study argues that the customs associated with this ritual are perceived by participants to have effective utility in their everyday lives.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04262007-140653
Date13 June 2007
CreatorsSlevinski, Sarah Catherine Kane
ContributorsPaula Kane, PhD, Adam Shear, PhD, David Birnbaum, PhD, Oscar Swan, PhD
PublisherUniversity of Pittsburgh
Source SetsUniversity of Pittsburgh
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04262007-140653/
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