The Anthropological Importance of Ritual Gatherings

Selected readings on the subject of gatherings from an anthropological/ethnographic perspective.

'Community events provide a space in which individuals with commonalities can bind together in order to experience and sense of belonging'

Why do we gather together?

Why is marking an occasion important?

As part of my renewed work plan and more focussed research on specific areas, I've been reading more about the significance of gatherings past and present. I've collated some findings and responses here.

I found this article on the Unesco website: https://ich.unesco.org/en/social-practices-rituals-and-00055#:~:text=Social%20practices%2C%20rituals%20and%20festive%20events%20involve%20a%20dazzling%20variety,settlement%20patterns%3B%20culinary%20traditions%3B%20seasonal

I pulled out some key passages that have helped shape some ideas for some drawings and paintings

Social practices, rituals and festive events are habitual activities that structure the lives of communities and groups and that are shared by and relevant to many of their members. They are significant because they reaffirm the identity of those who practise them as a group or a society and, whether performed in public or private, are closely linked to important events. Social, ritual and festive practices may help to mark the passing of the seasons, events in the agricultural calendar or the stages of a person’s life. They are closely linked to a community’s worldview and perception of its own history and memory.

Book: Emerging Ritual in Secular Societies : A Transdisciplinary Conversation, edited by Jeltje Gordon-Lennox, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=4773942.

Created from ual on 2023-11-01 11:18:50.

'Human beings unwittingly strive to achieve homeostasis, our state of intrinsic emotional and physical wellbeing. We do so through the unconscious trial-and-error search for physical and emotional stability and pleasure. The perceptual rewards for this ideal state of being are profound. Balanced and imbalanced states of autonomic function are associated with positive and negative sensations or ‘feelings’ that prompt us to seek or avoid such perceptual states. Inevitably, through trial and error, we seek events and procedures that provide the physical and emotional rewards of homeostasis. The most prominent rewards are those that enhance affiliation within the family, group, neighbourhood, tribe, congregation or country. Through trial and error manipulation of rewarding behaviour, we establish rituals that perpetuate the physical and emotional rewards of homeostasis, heal the group’s trauma and consolidate the bond that is necessary for perpetuation of homeostasis through affiliation'.

Thinking about the ritualistic aspects of drawing and the capacity for a the physical act of drawing to be a personal ceremonial in some way. For the duration of this course I've been drawing and painting solo. I find this space important to sit with ideas and let them evolve in their own time without the demands of anything else.

This is countered by the workshops I run for teachers and children and I also really value being able to draw and paint into these educational settings. This also feels quite ceremonial- all making together, thinking independently but concurrently, opening up conversations about art and why we make it. In so many ways the two inform the other. The ideas I think of solo can be tested out in an educational setting - and the observations I make in these settings feed back into my ideas.

Chapter: THE RHYME AND REASON OF RITUAL MAKING by Jeltje Gordon-Lennox

Ref to Peter A. Levine.

'Human beings are very resilient. During precarious periods of history, humankind’s adaptive capacity is put to the test. As a species we have braved – and so far survived – wars, disasters (natural and humanmade), violence and personal betrayals. In the face of uncertainty, ritual contributes to our sense of security by beating time to our natural rhythms, helping us make sense of our world and enhancing our social bonds'.

Source: Alison Booth. 20 May 2020, Anthropology of events from: The Routledge Handbook of Events

Routledge

Accessed on: 31 Oct 2023

https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9780429280993-10

'Community events provide a space in which individuals with commonalities can bind together in order to experience and sense of belonging'

'Communities are nurtured, strengthened and grow through the shared experience. Community gatherings bring a sense of belonging and a sense of shared memory, thus reinforcing a sense of identity and communitas. Successful events offer content that reinforces specific cultural identities and associated memories that bind culture and society. From a social anthropological perspective, public occasions create a comparative formalisation of space, time and behaviour that distinguishes events from mundane ordinary life. Public events, in any genre and cultural context, are designed with human emotion. The experience and memories may not be positive, as events are a manifestation of humanness and may engender ugliness as well a beauty, and hatred not less than desire. Not only may events affect social order, they may also affect it'.

The feeling of belonging can be experienced in micro-affiliations with friends and families at private events, or via participating in the larger macro-environments of festivals and concerts with like-minded people.

Helping to ascertain the difference between anthropology and ethnography

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/why-we-post/about-us/what-is-anthropology

Also - https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-anthropology-and-vs-ethnography/

What is the difference between Anthropology and Ethnography?

• Anthropology mainly deals with humans whereas ethnography is more concerned about the culture and way of living in a particular community.

• Anthropology has its holistic approach to man whereas ethnography attempts to understand why and how people differ from past to present based on their thinking and acting.

• Ethnography is the detailed account that the ethnologist prepares after his/her studies.

Both these terms are Sociological terms and simply we can identify them as the studies of humans and human nature. However, the key difference between both is that the anthropology is the study of man, both in the present and past. The major interest of this field is to investigate details on the past and present status of human beings. Ethnography, on the other hand, is another kind of study of human beings, but this field specially deals with different cultures and tries to understand the diverse patterns of behavior around the globe.

I was interested to read about the the significance of private and public ritual and how for us all, there may be personal habits we form that become part of our individual culture, or that of our small family unit. As individuals we develop strategies to navigate life and these vary hugely according to the life and background of the individual. Some strategies/rituals may be destructive or some may be rejunivating. Whichever they are, they are in some way a response to external and internal worlds.

I can see how I have developed certain rituals and habits over the years that are wide ranging. Wanting to go to familiar places, read certain books, watch certain films etc etc. Wanting to avoid certain places too. As I've got older and maybe become more self aware I can see the over arching objective of this has been he seeking of comfort, reliability, restoration, seeking of peace and perhaps avoidance of difficult experiences or emotions. As a parent it's all too clear how repetition and habit are grounding for young children (reading the same books, walking the same walk) and maybe we assume this leaves us behind as we become adults -but I'm not sure it really does.

When I'm drawing or painting, I'm not planning what I'm doing so much as thinking about something to do with a place or feeling and somehow marking this on the paper. I enjoy the medadtive feeling of meandering marks and painting around and around. In this way, I suppose I'm attempting to capture the concept of gathering, community and containment. In my work individually as well as my work as an educator I experience two types of gathering. One that is personal and more private and a way for me to distill and generate ideas - and another that is in a group and shared. I definitely couldn't do one without the other.