Ritual objects for the feast of sukkot: Theoretical analysis of the Talmudic prescriptions and some of their ethnographical achievements in the Balkans
Can we think of the artifact as an integral part of an anthropology of life as it has developed in the wake of the anthropology of nature founded by Philippe Descola? Judaism clearly fits within this perspective since a vast body of normative texts, notably the Babylonian Talmud, defines an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institute for Balkan Studies SASA
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Balcanica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-7653/2024/0350-76532455211V.pdf |
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| Summary: | Can we think of the artifact as an integral part of an anthropology of life
as it has developed in the wake of the anthropology of nature founded by
Philippe Descola? Judaism clearly fits within this perspective since a vast
body of normative texts, notably the Babylonian Talmud, defines and
discusses the jewishness of artifacts - whether ritual or everyday - by
endeavoring to determine their correct position on a graduated scale ranging
from nature to artifice, understood here as emic categories. This article
aims to support this reflection by studying two ritual objects related to
the festival of Sukkot: the skhakh, the roof of the sukka hut, and the
lulav, the bouquet of the four species. As we shall see, the making of the
ritual object according to specific rules shows us its place in the
encounter with the supernatural, the goal towards which any ritual device
aspires. After a theoretical analysis of the Talmudic prescriptions, we will
look at some of the practical ways in which the Sukkot hut can be documented
photographically in the Balkans, in the broadest sense of the term. We will
present examples from Greece, Romania and Bulgaria. |
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| ISSN: | 0350-7653 2406-0801 |