TY - JOUR
KW - festival
KW - Hrönir
KW - Matsuri
KW - Namahage
KW - ritual
KW - UNESCO
AU - Michael Foster
AB - This paper explores Namahage of Akita Prefecture as it assumes three different instantiations: 1) enactment as a private ritual within individual households on New Year’s Eve; 2) performance as a public festival at a shrine in mid-February; and 3) celebration as an “element” inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. I argue that in the first instance, Namahage is part of a vernacular religious “structure of feeling” in which religious elements are inseparable from community life; in the second instantiation, religion is more explicit and codified; and in the third iteration, religion is only vaguely articulated. Tracing the “same” tradition through different forms provides insight into the changing needs of communities and into the dynamics of change itself. With this in mind, I propose a model called hrönirism through which to broadly conceptualize notions of change and difference within traditions such as matsuri.
DO - 10.1163/9789004466548_006
M1 - 1
N1 - Journal Abbreviation: Matsuri and Religion: Complex., Continuity, and Creativity in Japanese Festivals
N2 - This paper explores Namahage of Akita Prefecture as it assumes three different instantiations: 1) enactment as a private ritual within individual households on New Year’s Eve; 2) performance as a public festival at a shrine in mid-February; and 3) celebration as an “element” inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. I argue that in the first instance, Namahage is part of a vernacular religious “structure of feeling” in which religious elements are inseparable from community life; in the second instantiation, religion is more explicit and codified; and in the third iteration, religion is only vaguely articulated. Tracing the “same” tradition through different forms provides insight into the changing needs of communities and into the dynamics of change itself. With this in mind, I propose a model called hrönirism through which to broadly conceptualize notions of change and difference within traditions such as matsuri.
SP - 118
EP - 164
TI - Eloquent Plasticity: Vernacular Religion, Change, and Namahage
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85141556685&doi=10.1163%2f9789004466548_006&partnerID=40&md5=6fdb0947c32ce4fb35dea1c14f521051
VL - 9
SN - 22118349 (ISSN)
ER -