MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF FEASTS AND FESTIVALS IN HUMAN SOCIETY

Authors

  • S M Michael University of Mumbai

Keywords:

FEASTS, FESTIVALS, HUMAN SOCIETY

Abstract

There is a growing trend in anthropology to understand humankind through its experience. The anthropology of experience deals with how individuals actually experience their culture.  In almost all cultures, life is experienced as pulsating and rhythmical. It is a combination of breaks and reunions. Rituals and rites are the means by which these experiences of life are communicated. Hence, experiences of humankind are heavily embedded in cultural symbols, particularly those of feasts, festivals, rituals, celebrations and other powerful performative genres.

 

 

Author Biography

S M Michael, University of Mumbai

Dr. S. M. Michael is Professor of Anthropology, University of Mumbai; he is one of the consultors for the Pontifical Comission for Inter-religious Dialogue, Rome, and the Programme Co-ordinator of the Institute of Indian Culture, Mumbai.

References

Turner, V. and R. Burner, “Cultural Performance as Celebration,” Anthropology of Experience, 23-47, New York: Columbia University Press, 1986.

Burner R., Anthropology of Experience. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, 12.

E. O. James, Comparative Religion: An Introductory and Historical Study, London: Methuen & Co., 1961.

Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (First published in 1909), London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960.

Gluckman S., Sociology of Religion, New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, 4.

Monier Williams, Hinduism, New York: Macmillan & Co., 1919, 248.

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, London: Fontana, 1971, 69.

Monier Williams, cited in Festivals in India, Special Volume of Vivekananda Kendra Patrika, 6,1 (February 1977), 24.

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Published

2003-09-30

How to Cite

Michael, S. M. (2003). MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF FEASTS AND FESTIVALS IN HUMAN SOCIETY. Journal of Dharma, 28(3), 366–376. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/jd/article/view/612