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The aim of this paper is to analyse facial similarity and apply it to identify the individuals depicted in the mural paintings of the apse of St. Leocadia Church, located in Chaves Municipality (North of Portugal), which were painted during the first quarter of the 16th century. This study also compares the portraits of this mural paintings with the oil paintings by the Proto-Renaissance Portuguese painter Nuno Gonçalves. Through this research, the feasibility of face recognition technology is explored to answer many ambiguities about Manueline stylistic identity and iconography. Additionally, it aims to associate historical events, artistic discoveries, and the expansion of portraiture as propaganda of power during the Portuguese Proto-Renaissance and Early Renaissance. On the other hand, it focuses on the prevalence of the religious and devotional over the sacred in Manueline painting. A proposal was made to identify the characters that are fundamental to the meaning of the mural paintings. An experiment was conducted on seven characters from the paintings at St. Leocadia Church, which were then compared to Nuno Gonçalves' portraits. Facial similarity analysis was conducted on the faces portrayed in the Panels of St. Vincent, a remarkable portrait gallery from 15th-century Portugal, which has been the subject of national and international research for 130 years. Other paintings that were analysed were the oil paintings of St. Peter and St. Paul and of Infanta St. Joana, which were created by the same Quattrocento master. The purpose of the mural paintings of St. Leocadia Church could be catechetical in nature or related to the ritual practices of royal ancestor worship in royal portrait apses of the churches. It could also be associated with the Portuguese maritime expansion and the macro-imperial ideology of D. Manuel I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scroll paintings for ancestor trees have been used to inherit the spirit of ancestor worship as a historical record of family development since the late Ming Dynasty in China. A severely degraded scroll painting of an ancestor tree (made of cotton textiles) needs intervention and conservation treatment to mitigate further deterioration. On the basis of the previously reported characterization results for the painting, in this paper, a suspension that is composed of 0.6% cellulose nanofibril (CNF) and nanosized 0.15% MgO in aqueous solvent (denoted as the CNF-MgO susairpension) was prepared. Conventional characterization methods were used to assess the properties of model samples before and after treatment with the CNF-MgO suspension, as well as before and after degradation under two sets of conditions. The results show that the treated model samples are slightly alkaline, given the deposit of alkaline particles, and demonstrate good mechanical properties before and after degradation due to the increase in fiber-to-fiber bond and mitigation of acid-catalyzed hydrolysis. In spite of the non-transparency of CNF and MgO nanoparticles, they have little impact on the optical properties of textiles, as verified by transmittance data and the determination of color changes. This suspension was then used to reinforce and restore the scroll painting in a practical conservation process. The application of CNF and MgO nanoparticles on textile objects investigated in this study would expand our understanding of the conservation of such objects, especially for those that have already become acidic and degraded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of studying is determined by the ongoing renaissance of the ohuohai dance in the cultural practice of modern Yakut people. The novelty of the research is seen in the proposal of a scientific version: circular dances following the course of the sun (from east to west) signified movement downward, while dances against the course of the sun (from west to east) signified movement upward. It is noted that the west and east reflected different worlds, and movements in a circle symbolized a journey along the fragile boundary between the two worlds. The work implements a comprehensive approach to the subject of study using historical-comparative, structural-semiotic, functional types of analysis, synthesis and generalization of folklore, ethnographic, linguistic, leading to a unified picture of the semantics of circular movements. The authors conclude that the modern name ‘ohuohai’ dance is an innovation of the Soviet period, absent in sources from the pre-revolutionary and early Soviet periods, in which the term ‘үҥкүү’, equally meaning the circling-dance of the shaman, is consistently mentioned. It is emphasized that the ohuohai round dance included ecstatic elements of shamanism, clearly similar to the shaman’s beliefs about transitions to other worlds.

Through the lens of performance study, this article analyzes five sacrificial texts that are read or sung in ritual performances worshipping ancestors (and deities) organized by the Chen and Wang lineages in Qimen County, Huangshan City, traditionally known as part of Huizhou area. Viewing these texts in a communicative process rather than as static and isolated items, I firstly entextualize them and find them to be structured in a set of distinctive communicative means or keying devices such as special formulae, parallelism, and archaism, which aim at the arousal and fulfillment of formal expectations to evoke the resonant associations among audiences. The sacrificial texts are then recontextualized in different communicative events to endow the aesthetic forms with social meanings. I find that the keying devices of sacrificial texts and their interactive processes within the ritual performances establish the ancestral authority in an imperial metaphor that both reflects and shapes current social and political realities. This article aims to facilitate a better understanding of generic flexibility, form-function relationship, and text-ritual interplay in theoretical concerns across disciplines such as folklore, anthropology, history, and literature. Keywords: sacrificial text--ritual performance--ancestor worship--keying device--imperial metaphor--Huizhou, Since the late 1980s, there has been a performative turn within and across various disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, folklore, and cultural studies that "reflects significant rethinking about human nature" [...]

This paper analyzes changes in sacrifice by burning and the space inhabited by ghosts in ancient China from philological and linguistic perspectives. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, rulers believed that they could convey their offerings and reverence to their ancestors in heaven by burning firewood and sacrifices (尞). From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Han dynasty, the ancient Chinese metaphors for naming the underground space inhabited by ghosts experienced a transformation from a natural space (Yellow Spring (黄泉)) to human settlements (li (里), big cities (都)) and then to government institutions for criminal penalty (government (府), prisons (狱)), which symbolized the gradual establishment of a living order in the space inhabited by ghosts based on the human society. When the new living order of the space inhabited by ghosts was established, the ancient Chinese began to reconstruct sacrifice by burning during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and the objects burnt were represented by joss paper. The use of the term "transforming (化)" to refer to sacrifice by burning suggests that people believed that burning with fire was a way to transfer objects from the real world to the world of ghosts. The act of burning joss paper not only embodied the Chinese concept of ancestor worship to "treat the dead as if they were alive" but also gave "fire (火)" rich religious connotations while greatly simplifying the process and cost of sacrificial rituals, thus gradually becoming popular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1995, thousands of people in Taiwan have pledged each year to donate their cadavers to the medical college run by the Buddhist Tzu Chi (Ciji) Foundation. The "surge of cadavers" seems intriguing in a society where ancestor worship continues to be salient. Drawing on my fieldwork in 2012–2013 and 2015, the purpose of this paper is to describe a series of practices involving the transformation of a cadaver into a Buddhist moral subject: the donor, the family, and the medical school engage in various endeavors and rituals involving "emotional practices" to honor the deceased; situate the donation as a "good death"; and fulfill the family's obligations to ancestor worship. I argue what makes the ritual transformation efficacious is the dominant currency of emotional practices. Emotional practices "authenticate" the ritual transformation. The main ethic for commemorating the cadaver donation is not generosity or dāna but equanimity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original beliefs of the Uyghurs, which have been overshadowed by their conversion to Manichaeism and Buddhism, have not been thoroughly studied until recently. However, Uyghur inscriptions as well as Chinese and Islamic sources provide us with some information regarding their beliefs. In the first part of this article series, the Uyghurs' belief in various cults related to celestial and natural beings was explored. In this second part, other religious elements will be analysed. The Uyghurs possessed a cult of ancestors, in which souls were believed to fly away. Funeral ceremonies called yoγ are noted to contain animal and human sacrifices as well as self‐harming activities. Worship included animal sacrifice and idol worship. Qam (shamans) performed rituals, including fortune telling and weather magic. Religious terminology included qut (divine fortune), ülüg (destiny), yol (luck), and yazuq (sin). They held the numbers seven and nine in high esteem as sacred numbers, while sacred lights descending from the sky and the sacred consort of a mythological ruler were important motifs. Although some scholars have written that Buddhism was practiced by the Uyghurs before their conversion to Manichaeism in the 760s, further research has shown that this was not the case. This article also reveals how their ancient beliefs survived even after their conversions to major religions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "Fisher-Hunter-Gatherer Complexity in North America" edited by Christina Perry Sampson explores the concept of complexity among hunter-gatherer societies in North America. The book challenges the traditional binary categorization of simple vs. complex hunter-gatherers and argues for a more nuanced understanding of variability within these societies. The authors emphasize that complexity should not be limited to socioeconomic aspects but should also include other domains such as worldviews, ritual, knowledge, and historical trajectories. However, the reviewer disagrees with the book's premise and argues that complexity should primarily be understood in terms of socioeconomic inequalities. The reviewer also critiques the book for oversimplifying the ethnographic record and creating strawman arguments. Overall, the book does not offer new perspectives but instead attacks traditional concepts of complexity. [Extracted from the article]

Previous researches have maintained from the perspective of relevant literature that mountains and birds from Sanxingdui Site are both related to ancestral gods, but none of them have identified the close relationship among mountains, birds and ancestors from the perspective of iconology. Based on the unearthed cultural relics in Sanxingdui Site, and combined with the background of bird worship in the Shang Dynasty and prehistory period, it is found that the sacrificial pattern is ancestor worship and new-year pray ceremony held by Sanxingdui people on the mountains in spring. In Sanxingdui, birds are respected as ancestral gods (totems) and god of agriculture. At the same time, mountains are seen as a symbol of ancestral fertility. In the ceremony, the main sacrificial representative of the bird ancestor, who communicates with the gods, would symbolically sows seeds and prays for the new year together with the sacrificial assistant. Ivory and Yazhang (a blade-shape jade) are both divine objects for new-year praying. The inheritance and exchange among the Sanxingdui bird belief and the prehistory period and Shang Dynasty ones fully reflect the diverse and integrated pattern of early Chinese civilization. In addition, compared with the concept of women germination in Xindian culture, Sanxingdui culture emphasizes the reproductive role of men in the sowing and germination process, and incorporates mountain worship into the Sanxingdui sacrificial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sacred stone veneration is a global mythical phenomenon historically practiced by many groups, including ancient Semitic-speaking peoples. In their physical capacity, sacred stones themselves are not the object of worship or veneration. Their sanctity comes from the divine spirit believed to dwell within them. The common denominator among the mythological traditions of sacred stones veneration is the belief that they possess enormous spiritual powers that enable them to act as mediators between the worshipper and the gods. Stones were employed as tools in the rituals of veneration in many types of sanctuaries, such as stone circles. This study highlights this type of religious folklore in Palestine, representing one of the bridges linking the Palestinian present to its distant Canaanite past. It traces the various patterns of sacred stones in the central region of Palestine, the rituals that were practised using them, and the remnants of these practices found in oral folklore traditions. To these ends, the researchers relied on religious and historical primary and secondary sources, including oral interviews where available and possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is home to many different cultures, traditions and customs articulated and represented by different ethnic groups, communities and castes. The cultures have emerged in India through the development of indigenous civilizations and the arrival of different cultural groups from different parts of the world at different times. Kapala is a distinct community living in Kodagu district in the state of Karnataka. They look like the mixed descendants of the Ethiopian Siddis (Siddhis) of the South African continent. Kunhi Boltu is a folk deity and immortal personality of the community who has attained god-like status. The Kapalas worshipped their ancestors and respected the forces of nature that governed their lives. The aim of the ethnographic study is to get to know the Kapala community and their way of life, beliefs and practises. To learn more about the Kapala society and their culture, anthropological research tools and techniques such as holistic, ethnographic, comparative and historical methods were used. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were used in the study. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data required for the study was collected in the field while the secondary data was obtained from the existing literature on the Kapala community. The research paper is organised as follows: The first part deals with detailed information about the Kapala community. The second part deals with the Kapala society and their way of life, beliefs and practises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the aspects of sacral and divine kingship in the Seleucid Empire and Western Han dynasty. It explores the divine origin of rulers, their role as chief priests, their divinity, and the authority derived from the gods. The article provides a cultural comparison between ancient China and ancient Hellenistic states, discussing the deification of rulers in both empires. It also includes a list of various books and articles related to the topic, offering a comprehensive collection of resources for further research. [Extracted from the article]

Through the lens of performance study, this article analyzes five sacrificial texts that are read or sung in ritual performances worshipping ancestors (and deities) organized by the Chen and Wang lineages in Qimen County, Huangshan City, traditionally known as part of Huizhou area. Viewing these texts in a communicative process rather than as static and isolated items, I firstly entextualize them and find them to be structured in a set of distinctive communicative means or keying devices such as special formulae, parallelism, and archaism, which aim at the arousal and fulfillment of formal expectations to evoke the resonant associations among audiences. The sacrificial texts are then recontextualized in different communicative events to endow the aesthetic forms with social meanings. I find that the keying devices of sacrificial texts and their interactive processes within the ritual performances establish the ancestral authority in an imperial metaphor that both reflects and shapes current social and political realities. This article aims to facilitate a better understanding of generic flexibility, form-function relationship, and text-ritual interplay in theoretical concerns across disciplines such as folklore, anthropology, history, and literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Annals of Cultural Studies / Roczniki Kulturoznawcze is the property of John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Institute of Cultural Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ancestor worship is regarded as the key element of the Han people's belief system across most of China. However, the rituals pertaining to death, such as in funerals and annual ancestor worship, vary from place to place. For decades, the state has made tremendous efforts to reform and standardise funerals consistent with its path to modernization by insisting on more socialist practices rather than those that are perceived as 'superstitious' and 'irrational', such as burning paper and incense or performing rituals. I argue that despite regulating the use of funeral materials or memorial types, the state has failed to reform the essence of death rituals, that is, the duty of filial piety and people's conception of the afterlife. In addition, funerals and other rituals related to death contribute to individual's social reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The list of filial duties from the Aqhatu story constitutes a passage unique to the literature of the ancient Near East, emphasized in the epic by its fourfold repetition in close proximity. This is why the list has attracted much attention of scholars, who are particularly interested in the wisdom nature of the list, the ancestor worship in Ugarit and in the Ancient East, the family ritual and the responsibilities of children towards their parents, as well as the Sitz im Leben of the list, considered by some to be part of a larger and independent work, which has been included in the Aqhatu story because of loose connections with the topic of son and heir. As the current translation and interpretation efforts seem insufficient, the article proposes a new translation and a new attempt to highlight the meaning and the context of both individual duties and the entire list.

Copyright of Revista de Historía da Sociedade e da Cultura is the property of Revista de Historia da Sociedade e da Cultura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Taiwan Law Review is the property of Angle Publishing Co., Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Taiwan Law Review is the property of Angle Publishing Co., Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Turkish Culture & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly is the property of Turkish Cultur & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Philippe Papin writes: "The stele contains more than the archive.... No Vietnamese historical document goes so far and so deep into the society of the past.... In Vietnam there exists no source more specific, more technical, more arduous than what village epigraphy allows to be known" (9-10). Papin discusses how stele rubbings were made and have been preserved, problems of dating, and local oral accounts of steles. Papin concludes that the ideology of the literati was not a peasant practice; the inscriptions show how people circumvented the ideology. [Extracted from the article]

This paper explores the theory of 'interaction ritual chains' proposed by the sociologist Randall Collins in understanding popular religion in China today. It contributes to ongoing conceptual debates over approaching Chinese religions and draws conclusions for general socio-economic theory. We concentrate on the specific phenomenon of the resurgence of ancestor worship and lineage rituals which we have explored in fieldwork done in Shenzhen metropolis. We study two empirical cases, the re-emergence of ritual spaces that project the ritual infrastructure of the traditional village onto the modern urban infrastructure, and the role of the internet in mediating ritual activities between the local and the global. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The list of filial duties from the Aqhatu story constitutes a passage unique to the literature of the ancient Near East, emphasized in the epic by its fourfold repetition in close proximity. This is why the list has attracted much attention of scholars, who are particularly interested in the wisdom nature of the list, the ancestor worship in Ugarit and in the Ancient East, the family ritual and the responsibilities of children towards their parents, as well as the Sitz im Leben of the list, considered by some to be part of a larger and independent work, which has been included in the Aqhatu story because of loose connections with the topic of son and heir. As the current translation and interpretation efforts seem insufficient, the article proposes a new translation and a new attempt to highlight the meaning and the context of both individual duties and the entire list. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1994, I migrated to New York City to pursue my art, freedom, and potential. Over the last 27 years, I learned to understand and respect the differences of people with different values, genders, religions, and races. I continued self-transforming by looking at issues from different angles with flexible thinking. Living far away from Japan, I reaffirmed my roots and rediscovered myself objectively. It's especially interesting to me that the relationship between Japan and the United States has been strengthened through the atomic bomb. Behind this is the influence of Shinto and Buddhism on the Japanese way of thinking. Their teachings play a major role in peace operations. In addition, the power of faith is sometimes abused, and serious social problems are occurring. "Kusudama" means medicine ball. In my Peace and Harmony Workshop , many individual participants, who all experienced the same pandemic disaster, created medicine balls while sharing our common wishes for health, long life, and peace. Faith is, to me, the power to believe in ourselves. The symbolic work of a sphere, connecting faith and art, opens up a world full of charity, not division. Looking back on what I learned through my life and artwork, I consider and write about what kind of future we hope for, and what role religion and art can play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Ancient East, the temples were considered houses of the gods and that is why they were also identified with the noun bitu (house); in addition to this term, the term qds, mqds (sanctuary) was also found at Ugarit. At the royal palaces belonging to the ancient peoples of the Cannean space there were also chapels, where especially the deified ancestors were worshipped, and in these places there were also cult images, made of precious metals, but which - in general - were not preserved as historical relics, these being over the centuries the object of robberies, for their value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

En los Andes surandinos, las prácticas funerarias incluyeron una diversidad de actos rituales en torno a los restos de los difuntos que iban más allá de la preparación del cuerpo y el lugar de depósito. El desarrollo y las características de estos actos dependían principalmente de la condición social que tenían los muertos en vida. En el Pucará de Tilcara, definido como capital de la provincia incaica de Omaguaca, se detectan una amplia variedad de formas de inhumación, pero en este trabajo abordamos el caso de un contexto mortuorio de una mujer, cuya muerte se estima ocurrió hacia el final del período Incaico o inicios de la época Hispano-Indígena. Análisis interdisciplinarios del contexto arqueológico y, particularmente, los estudios entomológicos de la fauna cadavérica y bioantropológicos permitieron determinar que esta mujer estuvo expuesta antes de quedar sepultada por procesos naturales. Proponemos que esta exposición ocurrió en el marco del culto a los ancestros difundido por todo el imperio, y sirvió para remarcar su estatus social. El acompañamiento mortuorio y los análisis de estroncio sugieren que la mujer formó parte de un grupo de elite oriundo de otra región del Tawantinsuyu, que pudo trasladarse y asentarse en la Quebrada durante la caída del Imperio inca, buscando refugio ante la inminente envestida española. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We encounter mysterious manifestations of the supernatural in all societies, whether "primitive" or contemporary. Perceptions of the supernatural have evolved throughout human history and turned into strict rules. Anthropology enables us to see the supernatural perceptions and practices that are transmitted from generation to generation through imitation or advice, not from a limited belief window, but from a broad perspective in the processes of change, transformation and development of human societies. Some situations that can be seen more clearly in "primitive" societies due to their simpler lives become obscure in today's multi-layered world of beliefs, which is the result of historical accumulation. The supernatural practices of the Turkish Cypriots were investigated retrospectively in the text of Ox the Yellow Myth. The myth is compiled from Hıfsiye Alkan (1918-2018). She was born in Karye-i Bladanisa, a Turkish village in Cyprus. She did not go to school, and learned to read and write by herself. It is worth examining as an example of Turkish eschatology myths that attempt to explain the afterlife. The beliefs about the supernatural that the Turkish Cypriots had in different ages in Ox the Yellow Myth, which has an eclectic structure with the deconstruction method that based on investigating the unexpected relationships between different parts of a text, were analyzed. It provided important information about how social intelligence designed the supernatural, its symbolic representations, the reflections of different beliefs in daily life, and finally the layered order created by different religious approaches. As a special type of anthropological syncretism, which expresses the fusion and harmony of beliefs or rituals that seem alien to each other, the concept of religious fluidity has been used to make sense of the situation in which a certain society contains belief elements belonging to different ages at a given moment. Ox the Yellow Myth is a simple example of eschatology myths. It tells us what will happen to people after this world and what will be the end of the world. It has shown that naturalism, vitalism, ancestor cult and shamanistic elements, which were included in the beliefs of the Turks before they embraced Islam. The beliefs were blended with Islam and carried to the present day. Within the scope of the research, the mythical narrative, on the one hand, allows us to obtain imaginary clues about the important stages of the Turkish Cypriots in the evolution of religious culture, on the other hand, the sacred symbols and images do not disappear immediately despite the religious changes. It has also shown us that it is transferred in accordance with social needs. This situation points precisely to the concept of religious fluidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviewing the spatial organization of the ritual activities in the I sallis wastais i , the author makes clear that these ancestors had their fixed place in the É.NA SB 4 sb and suggests that it therefore has to be considered to be the institution of the official ancestor cult. The last chapter of the book investigates the evidence that the É.NA SB 4 sb "Stone House" was the most prominent place for the cult of the death and ancestors. The chapter also addresses the long-discussed distinction between the É.NA SB 4 sb "Stone House" and the institution called SP NA4 sp I ekur i . [Extracted from the article]

As the title suggests, the author specifically targets her analysis on understanding the food and liquid offerings related to mortuary contexts via either burial, funeral, or post-mortem offerings and traditions ("Totenpflege"). At Qatna, likewise, she uses inventory list texts to theorize methods of ancestor worship, though the main usefulness of the dataset from Qatna seems to be drawing from the internal divisions of the well-documented Royal Tomb itself. The book under review, written by Sarah Lange-Weber, is an in-depth examination of the evidence from a wide range of grave contexts in the northern Levant (modern day Syria). [Extracted from the article]