Last lecture Todays class

1
Last lecture Todays class

• More about Christmas
• Epiphany a water festival
• Intro. to Bogatyrev
• American rites
• Make sense on one level
• Yet lots of peculiar acts

• Bogatyrev principles of magic as they apply to
  ritual
• Spring video
• Tell them about pysanky

2
Interpreting ritual

• Ritual involves doing lots of weird things
• Chopping trees
• Dressing up
• Acting like an idiot
• What do they mean?
• Bogatyrev on old interpretive methods
• Looking back in time own culture
• Looking geographically to primitive peoples
• His proposal must find what it means NOW
• Synchronic versus diachronic

3
Lights at Christmas example

• Fire magic bring back the sun at darkest period
  of the year
• Showing wealth
• People on TV brag how much they spend
• Neighborhood contests
• Suing neighbor for light pollution
• Context of other shows of wealth
• Gifts, cards
• Holiday parties at work
• Retail season

4
Multiplicity of meanings

• Change from individual to individual, community
  to community
• Change over time
• What does the Halloween tree mean?
• How about Christmas tree?
• Other tree uses
• Bogatyrev example chain on table legs

5
Ritual act must have meaning

• No survivals
• Chopping Christmas tree
• Old sacrifice of vegetation
• New father/son bonding
• Pumpkin
• Old celebration of death
• New artistic prowess

6
Greg at work. Is this folk?
Is using kits okay? Should kid do own design?
7
Multiple meanings, reinterpretation

• Childrens rhymes
• Ring Around the Rosie
• Farmer in the Dell
• Pop culture folk
• Yellow ribbon
• Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
• Jingle Bells
• And parodies

Desire for ONE meaning work on Brama
8
Types of magic based on FrazerImportance of
Frazer

• Contagious
• Objects
• Law of contact
• Folk uses
• Voodoo doll
• Foot prints, dead water
• Milk from affected cow to summon witch
• Pussywillows on Palm Sunday

• Sympathetic
• Actions
• Law of similarity
• Like visualization in sports
• Folk uses
• Conspicuous consumption at weddings, holidays
• Summer effigy defeats winter effigy

In everyday life, like celebrity endorsements,
touching celebrity Cal Ripkins dirty jersey
9
Direct action Indirect action

• On self as bathing in dew on Ivan Kupalo for
  beauty
• Leading horses through fire to purify them
• Putting money in shoe of bride
• Wishbone at Thanksgiving

• Bogatyrev person clucks like chicken to affect
  chicken, not self
• Giving gifts to kids to pacify the dead at
  Halloween
• Real estate agencies put flags out on Flag Day,
  pumpkins on Halloween

10
Principles continued

• Positive to achieve a result
• Feed cookies to cattle so they will be healthy
• Take lucky pencil to exam
• Bouquet, garter at wedding

• Negative to avoid a result (taboo)
• Folk no sewing on Friday no yawning
• No diapers out at night
• No step on dead water
• American no spill salt, no step on crack
• Smoking cessation, diet, drug use avoidance
• Hard to sell usually public service Just say
  no

11
Double reality the very foundation of
advertising

• Folk eating fruit out of season deprives dead
  children of fruit in heaven
• Crying for the dead means their coffins fill with
  water
• Ritual American and Slavic actions on New Year
  set pattern for whole year, basis of resolutions
• American widely used in commercials
• V8 vegetable juice is healthy and attracts
  beautiful women
• Advil gets rid of your pain and helps you pitch
  like Nolan Ryan
• Aleve gets rid of pain and makes other women
  admire you
• Joe asked his doctor about Viagra
• American commercialization of ritual in general

12
American commercialization continued

• Holiday decorations to entice you into store
• Seasons marked in candy
• Soup cans
• Toilet paper
• Oreos
• Soda cans, bottles
• Even SaranWrap it is same product, only
  different color

13
Motivated Unmotivated

• People know the reasons for their magic acts
• Perform egg ceremony to cure illness
• Invite lots of guests so that they will wish them
  well basis of Christmas party

• People dont know why they do it, but feel it is
  important
• Crossing self at threshold, before meal
• Tree at Christmas
• Pumpkin at Halloween
• Many, if not most actions are unmotivated

14
More unmotivated acts

• Unmotivated acts can become games
• Ring Around the Rosie
• Similar Russian Kostroma game
• They can be entertaining
• Bargaining at wedding
• Kissing under mistletoe
• Commercials dont need to make sense
• Ask your doctor about Flonase
• Mysterious quality adds power
• Spate of funny commercials
• Pepsi Twist and Osbornes/Osmonds

15
Motivated/unmotivated

• Motivated are flexible you know what is
  important, what you can vary, substitute for what
• Other evergreens for tree at Christmas
• Unmotivated rigid when you dont know meaning,
  fear of change less you miss something you dont
  realize is important
• Unmotivated can be very meaningful
• Religious ritual, divine mystery
• When rituals games, become flexible again

16
Ascribing new meaning to unmotivated acts (not
Bogatyrev)

• Already did chopping tree
• Ann Landers, Dear Abby, Miss Manners and new
  meanings of things like wedding invitations in
  US usually has to do with money
• What should guests give to pay for meal they
  get after wedding
• What if they dont show? Should they be charged
  for meal?
• Woman is bridesmaid. Helps bride with dresses.
  Bride asks for present regardless

17
More principles of ritual magic

• One person versus group
• Most ritual is group, but you can do things for
  self at holiday times like make resolutions
• Use of verbal formulas/lack of formulas
• Carols at Christmas, various other holiday songs,
  including commercially produced
• Trick or treat (what kids say now)

18
Particular days and times

• Can transform ordinary into extraordinary
• Water at Epiphany
• Eggs at Easter
• Herbs on Ivan Kupalo
• Crappy candy in US
• Valentines
• Halloween
• Even Easter, Christmas