Understanding Rituals

Rituals have always been seen as highly important by the members of any given society and the popularity of ritual and ceremony has recently enjoyed a revival in westernised countries, particularly in Europe, despite (or perhaps because of) the relaxation and elimination of national boundaries and the move towards federalism. "Understanding Rituals" presents six different contributions on how to understand rituals within the frame of contemporary social anthropology and shows how rather diverse theoretical viewpoints seem to lead to the common feeling that rituals now constitute one of the most fertile fields of anthropological research. The distinguished contributors present analysed rituals taken from a wide range of societies and link the Vedic time to the present situation in India; a West African society to Wittgenstein's requirement for comparison with Western feelings; and link and contrast the different modes of participation in a Nuba village of Sudan, as well as the confronting Punbjabi and English communities of a London suburb.