Healing rituals

This issue and the following issue of EJOSS host a comprehensive editorial project. It stemmed from a panel presented at the IUAES 1 Congress on "Identity, Separation, and Belonging", which took place in Istanbul in 2023. This project consists of two monographic issues of EJOSS dedicated to the Seven Sleepers legend and cult in both Christian and Islamic world. The tale of the Seven Sleepers, Aṣḥāb al-Kahf (Companions of the cave) in Islam, represents a trait d'union among the three Abrahamic faiths. It deals with the Christian legend dating back to the V century in Asia Minor, which has some antecedents in the Jewish tradition such as the Abimelech's and Maccabees' stories. Then it flowed in the Holy Koran with original innovations, precisely in the first part, verses 9-26, of the sura al-Kahf (The cave). The legend scattered in both Eastern and Latin Christendom, permeated the collective imaginary of the Mediterranean populations and of inland regions, spreading eastwards to China following the Nestorian Christian missionaries on the Silk Road. The fundamental message is the truth of the Resurrection and the belief in the life after death. The legend tells that seven Ephesian youths, escaping from the persecutions during the Roman emperor Decius' reign in the 3rd century, took shelter in a grotto in the mountain surrounding Ephesus. Here they miraculously fell asleep for about two centuries and woke up during Theodosius II's reign. After the miracle they died in front of the Ephesian citizens and authorities, hence a liturgical commemoration was established in their memory and a basilica was built over the cave. Over times the cave was visited by a moltitude of pilgrims returning back from the Holy Land, as an Austrian archaeological mission revealed at the beginning of the last century. The related cult has partially faded away in the Catholic Christianity but is still widespread in Orthodox one and is very much alive throughout the Islamic world. The evidences of this devotion where it is no longer in force are still visible nowadays in material culture, i.e. in objects (talismans, icons, frescoes, reliefs, miniatures etc.) as well as in ancient texts (manuscripts, liturgical codes, hymns, synaxaries etc.). In the past some renowed scholars such as Louis Massignon and Ignazio Guidi and more recently scholars such as François Jourdan, Ernst Honigmann, John Koch and Paul Peeters studied the origins and the diffusion of the Seven Sleepers tale. They examined it from different points of view, from the historical to philological and eschatological perspectives and so on. This editorial project aims to give new data and informations and a fresh ethnological perspective of analysis on the today cult sites. In this first monographic issue, which consists of four articles, the topic is addressed from textual to icongraphic, artistic and anthropological scrutiny, through the methodologies of various disciplines.

The Sundarbans in linguistic Bengal in the Indian Subcontinent constitutes a unique ecosystem. Living conditions in these environs have been riddled with specific bounties as well as hazards. Historical records since the early medieval times reveal how society has created its own mechanisms for physical and psychological sustenance in these natural conditions. With time these have manifested in the form of a number of cults and rituals at the grassroots. They got mingled with higher cultures which came later into the region, giving birth to a variety of significant faiths like those propitiating the Goddesses Manasa, Candi, Sitala and the Bon Bibibridging the cultural divides. Review of historical data since early medieval times reveal how these faiths and practices have been crystallized into a cultural paradigm embraced by popular folk society in need of psychological solace in the face of imminent threats of devastating natural and health conditions.

Abstract: This work presents a research proposal that aims to understand how black and white black women and mourners and black and white men, residents of Viçosa and the microregion of Viçosa MG, learned such craft and the mapping where these practices remain until today. In this sense, I will try to understand with whom and how they and they learned to bless and pray and the benefits to the community that make use of these practices, as these wisdoms pass to future generations from their own
memories and identities. The focus on black women is related to the need to understand the relationship 0f race and gender condition, their eventual inequalities, and Afro-Brazilian religious dynamics. The practices of these women show a process of identity and religious resistance against the Christian fundamentalism that grows as a state policy, promoting the religious persecution of these minority groups. Despite the scientific advances in the health field, these women play a very relevant role in their
communities, both in the healing processes and in the preservation of traditional knowledge aboutmedicinal plants and, above all, in the affirmation of aspects of Afro-Brazilian culture and identity.
Keywords: Benzedeiras and mowers. Afro-Brazilian religious practices. Traditional knowledge.

Este artigo se propõe a adentrar neste duplo universo: o aspecto mágico/religioso dos saberes das benzedeiras e o papel da palavra enquanto elemento de cura. Esse conhecimento, das quais somente estas são conhecedoras, se faz presente e se performatiza no instante, em que visível e invisível irão compor a força e o poder das palavras das benzedeiras, que não podem ser ensinadas à esmo sob pena de perder sua “força”. Assim, questiono por que as benzedeiras não ensinam o significado de suas preces, a não ser em determinados contextos de transmissão do saber? Que implicações esse preceito traz para o ofício nos dias de hoje? A partir das orações pronunciadas nos rituais de cura, elas performatizam a palavra, a voz, as narrações e memórias. O objetivo é alcançarmos essa fonte de saber existente na oralidade, a benzeção, desvendando a essência existente por trás da palavra, pois mais do que o significado literal, as palavras têm o poder de curar, sem a necessidade de possuir uma função d...

Patients seek cures from a variety of medical systems. In the traditional medical systems, medical traditions partly cover other sectors of social life. In contrast to traditional health care system, the official health care system is based on Western science and technology. Gaddis employ different ways in case of sickness. Traditional medical knowledge is coded in to household cooking practices, home remedies; ill health prevention and health maintenance beliefs and routines. Like other rural parts of India, health care in Bharmour among Gaddis is characterised by medical pluralism. Among Gaddis, the health care includes self care, consultation with traditional healers-chela; and /or primary health care. Spirit possession is acknowledged as an illness among Gaddis. The cause is a spirit, the effect is spirit possession and the cure is controlled spirit possession. Among Gaddis, deities and evil spirits possess men as well as women. It is believed by Gaddis that traditional medical system is competent of restoring health of the body (herbs) or the mind (chela). Modern education, technology, biomedicine has not threatened the traditional therapeutic healing as there are no alternatives. The integration of the two systems is conceptual. These systems just co-exist, side-by-side. To dismiss traditional medical systems as ineffective or weak is to overlook their relevance and benefits in the contexts of their socio-cultural systems. At the same the shortcomings of modern medical systems: their technical complexity, rising costs, curative rather than preventive focus, and limited accessibility for large population sectors can not be overlooked.

The storied landscapes of Ireland are dotted with holy wells―hallowed springs, pools, ponds, and lakes credited with curative powers and often associated with Catholic and indigenous saints. While many of these sites have been recently lost to development, others are visited daily for devotions and remain the focus of annual community gatherings.

Encouraging both their use and protection, Holy Wells of Ireland delves into these irreplaceable resources of spiritual, archaeological, and historical significance. Reserves of localized spiritual practices, holy wells are also ecosystems in themselves and provide habitats for rare and culturally meaningful flora and fauna. A so-called "post-Catholic" Ireland has seen renewed interest in holy wells as popular domains with organic faith traditions. Of the roughly 3,000 holy wells documented across Ireland, some attract international pilgrims and others are stewarded by a single family. This volume shares the transdisciplinary work of contributors who study these wells through the overlapping lenses of anthropology, archaeology, art history, biomedicine, folklore, geography, history, and hydrology. Braiding community perspectives with those of scholars across academia, Holy Wells of Ireland considers Irish holy wells as a resilient feature of ever-evolving Irish Christianity, as inspiration to other faith traditions, as places of pilgrimage and healing, and as threatened biocultural resources.

Resumo O objetivo deste estudo é compreender as experiências (pessoais, religiosas, sociais e culturais) e as transformações desenvolvimentais das benzedeiras ao longo de suas trajetórias de vida, bem como sua relação com a promoção da saúde em suas comunidades. Foram entrevistadas 10 benzedeiras residentes em cidades do interior dos estados de São Paulo e Minas Gerais, com média de 62,5 anos de idade e de 26,2 anos de ofício. O referencial teórico empregado foi o da Rede de Significações, associado às contribuições etnopsicológicas. A maioria relatou a transmissão do ofício a partir de um familiar, destacando a prática da benzeção como algo que pode ser ensinado, aprendido e transmitido por meio da tradição oral. Mesmo assim, o ofício também é compreendido como um dom inato que atravessa o desenvolvimento, o que requer dedicação, paciência e abnegação. A dificuldade de transmitir o ofício aos mais jovens pode estar relacionada a uma maior urbanização, ao maior acesso a equipamentos...

Sarasvatī Śāradā typeface. Akṣaras and akṣara components have been further adjusted, enhanced etc. with Glyphs 3. Document preparation and output have migrated to LaTeX. Implementation of Vedic accents in accordance with L.v. Schroeder. More ligatures have been added (acc. to mss. as well as: Walter Slaje, Śāradā; Hamburg 1993). Some akṣara components have been replaced with different allograph renditions in order to display a more generally representative and transparent presentation of the Śāradā script (e.g. the initial d-element in ligatures); while also keeping some scribal idiosyncrasies taken from the original indicatory handwriting (e.g. ṇo) as well as others (e.g. lbhya). Preparation and reading of this lecture (KS XI.10,8 with mantras of XI.9,7) took place during the Winter term of 2022/23. Work in progress.

Using the minutes of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, journals and diaries kept by early Mormon women, and letters written about healing blessings, this thesis looks at how nineteenth-century Mormon women used rhetoric in healing rituals to build community, claim power, and comfort one another thorough illness, death, and birth. Claudia L. Bushman points out that "Mormon women were much like other American women of their day, but their allegiance to the faith led them in some new directions." Instead of retreating to acceptable standards of femininity, Mormon women claimed and used godly power and authority. The women who offered healing blessings believed they held the power of God and demonstrated that connection through healing rhetoric. In several recorded blessings, women used strong opposing forces that mirror Biblical miracles such as life and death, blind and sight, and near death to complete health, to show the power of healing. Unity was important to many new religious and spiritual movements; the healers' rhetoric makes this clear. Tricotomous tendencies were well ingrained within the structure of narrative and belief: often three women participated in the healing ritual and used the rhetoric of three (such as having three women involved in blessing, or being healed the third time someone visits to give a healing blessing) to claim healing power. Sometimes the women giving the blessing asked for healing and other times they rebuked disease. Analysis of healing rhetoric illuminates the religious and cultural experience of these women during a time of transition in Mormonism and in American culture, showing that Mormon women were, at least in part, able to claim power over their own spiritual and medical needs. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my thesis committee for their sacrifice, kindness, and evercompassionate criticism. They were wonderful in every way. Thank you also to my friends and family who have cheered me on and strengthened me when I felt weak. I will forever be thankful to those who taught me how to think and move forward through difficulty, especially for the doctoral students and professors in the Technical and Professional Writing program. You showed me showed me what I want to become. My husband Richard and our children Katherine, Erik, and Kirk have shown me graciousness undeserved and love without limits. To them I say, I love you. 4

The Sundarbans in linguistic Bengal in the Indian Subcontinent constitutes a unique ecosystem. Living conditions in these environs have been riddled with specific bounties as well as hazards. Historical records since the early medieval times reveal how society has created its own mechanisms for physical and psychological sustenance in these natural conditions. With time these have manifested in the form of a number of cults and rituals at the grassroots. They got mingled with higher cultures which came later into the region, giving birth to a variety of significant faiths like those propitiating the Goddesses Manasa, Candi, Sitala and the Bon Bibi bridging the cultural divides. Review of historical data since early medieval times reveal how these faiths and practices have been crystallized into a cultural paradigm embraced by popular folk society in need of psychological solace in the face of imminent threats of devastating natural and health conditions.

India has been swept by pandemics of plague, influenza, smallpox, cholera and other diseases. The scale and impact of these events was often cataclysmic and writers offered a glimpse into the everyday life of ordinary people who lost their lives and livelihoods and suffered the angst and trauma of mental, physical and emotional loss. This paper focuses on the devastation caused by pandemics especially in the Ganges deltaic plains of India. Through selected texts of 20th century Hindi writers – Munshi Premchand, Phanishwar Nath Renu, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Bhagwan Das, Harishankar Parsai, Pandey Bechan Sharma – this paper aims to bring forth the suffering and struggles against violence, social injustices and public health crises in India during waves of epidemics and pandemics when millions died as they tried to combat the rampant diseases.

What is illness and in what way does Christian understanding of it differ from that handed down from pre-Christian Antiquity? Wolfgang Häfele analyzes The Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John, written by the subsequent patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronios, between 610 and 614 AD. This text is commonly yet unjustly thought to harbour a certain hostility towards doctors and medicine. While Sophronios does sharply criticise the conduct of the contemporary medical (and by then Christian) elite, he also appreciates what contemporary medicine is capable of and uses the latter's approaches to describe diseases. However, a second major aspect of illness becomes apparent in the text, particularly when it comes to diseases of the soul: illness and its treatment as metaphor. The book contains six chapters, a preface, bibliography, and register.

India has been swept by pandemics of plague, influenza, smallpox, cholera and other diseases. The scale and impact of these events was often cataclysmic and writers offered a glimpse into the everyday life of ordinary people who lost their lives and livelihoods and suffered the angst and trauma of mental, physical and emotional loss. This paper focuses on the devastation caused by pandemics especially in the Ganges deltaic plains of India. Through selected texts of 20th century Hindi writers – Munshi Premchand, Phanishwar Nath Renu, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Bhagwan Das, Harishankar Parsai, Pandey Bechan Sharma – this paper aims to bring forth the suffering and struggles against violence, social injustices and public health crises in India during waves of epidemics and pandemics when millions died as they tried to combat the rampant diseases.

A master thesis discussing the notions of body and disease, as they are presented in the Mesopotamian healing prescriptions collected in the genre of medical compendia referred to as the "therapeutic texts" by the assyriologists. An attempt to reach at least some level of the bodily experience of a dead culture. The thesis focuses on prescriptions for fevers, with regard to general context.

Abstract: In the recent times, it has been often reported that different rituals are being practiced and many deities are being worshipped to ward off the Covid-19 pandemic when the human beings are facing disorder and uncertainties and the large medical institutions are failing to invent vaccine as soon as the world demands. It has proved the claim of Victor Turner and Arnold van Gennep that rituals arise and become popular at the time of disorder, uncertainty, and anxiety. The practice of religious rituals of different deities to prevent illness and disease has also been very prominent still in the 21st century in the areas deprived of timely and advanced medical facilities as found in the different parts of West Bengal, India. In Bengal, many folk deities like Shitala, Olabibi, Ateshwar, Babathakur, Basalee, are worshipped to get rid of the diseases like smallpox, cholera, diarrhea, infertility. This dependency of the folk people on gods and goddesses to get relief from illness has shaped the cultural activities of the Bengalis as Ernesto de Martino defines culture as „result of the victorious struggle of the health of the pitfalls of disease?. This paper aims to argue how „disease?, „illness?, and rituals have been intertwined for a long period, and find out how many deities, some of them having no human form, have been worshiped since the pre-medical times to achieve a disease-free life in Bengal. It also seeks to explore how a different culture has been formed with the rituals.

Keywords : Ritual, Disease, Sickness, Bengal, Folk Deities, Culture

The modern healthcare in India post-Independence has seen large scale growth, with influences of western health systems in the country prevalent, the influence of religious, social and traditional habits affect the healthcare seeking behaviours of the Indian population, especially in the rural populations. The influences can be seen on the treatment of mental problems, contagious diseases such as measles, smallpox and chickenpox, snake bites, etc. The treatment of the diseases are usually associated with a deity. The paper discusses one such deity, Sheetla mata (referred to be the goddess of smallpox in prevalent literature), and her influence in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. The paper also discusses the rituals associated with the Goddess and how it influences the health seeking behaviour of the local population.
The following section deals with the cult of Sheetla mata in the Indian sub-continent and the iconography of her depiction. The second section deals with the ancient literature available on Sheetla mata and the rituals associated with her. The third section talks about the myths and oral history regarding the goddess in the Kangra district and the procedure followed in the temples for the treatment of diseases. Lastly, the paper concludes with a discussion on the influence of the goddess on the healthcare systems and the future research that can be undertaken in this regard.

The diseases which are liable to create epidemic in colonial Bengal, cholera takes the formidable position. This contagious disease and effects of epidemic to the soldiers creates a bar to the company to implement a well-decorated administrative system. Water pollution was the key reason for braking out cholera epidemic. It became worse due to the lake of mass-awareness and inability to reduce water pollution. Naturally people started worshiping Ola-Bibi or Ola-Chandi to protect the mselves or to get rid of themselves from this fatal disease. At last the British government managed pure water as a result the paws of epidemic gradually weaken. The contemporary Bengali literature tried to portray the condition of colonial Bengal and the reaction of the mass.

While our Hindu ancestors endured some of the hardest conditions in rural farming communities, crossed the seas to a land not of their own and suffered hardships under their bounded masters, they retained their worship of Devi (Amma / Mother). Generally, in North India, the Divine Mother is worshipped as Kali Mai, while in the South, She is worshipped as Mariamman. On May 5, 1838 our ancestors migrated as indentured servants to the various British claimed colonies, where their ancient beliefs were suppressed in order to promote local customs and traditions (e.g. conversion to Christianity, change of last names, break away from speaking native language and speak English). Although, there were differences in caste, customs and traditions, British officials would group similarly skilled laborers and put them to work on plantations. Periodically, there would be an addition of new "bound coolies," which caused an increase in population and a rise in unsanitary conditions. Since the land was not properly cultivated and hospitals were not readily accessible illness and demoralization occurred. During this time, the Divine Mother was not worshipped the same as She was in India.

Most studies concerning folk healing and healers emphasise on either the efficacy of healing or the modalities of the healing process itself. I focus here on the knowledge acquisition and transfer among low caste healers who build their knowledge from individual events and innovations. The experiences that healers accumulate are highly variable, and thus the stock of knowledge is different from one healer to another. In this essay, I look at the ways in which such knowledge is influenced and structured by salient events in the life of individuals who become healers. Tulu healers produce their own knowledge and generally do not share it with their clients. 1 The healers are mostly seen as possessing a technical or practical capacity. But, at the same time, some of their knowledge is linked to belief, and in this case the healers' lore may be embedded in 'the narrative traditions of folk healing' as Selberg (1995: 35) stresses, although her work deals with faith healing narratives from the Christian tradition. But some healers only share their life stories with other healers since these stories focus on how they have got their knowledge. Such sequences of learning may constitute a biography but is not necessarily presented as such. But other healers tell us how they became devotees of a particular deity, with whom they identify, and who helps them to heal. We also find, in the Tulu region, mediums whose inspiration is supernatural and who are patronised, at times, by patients. But the difference between healers and mediums is not clear-cut since some healers get possessed by local deities or bhutas. Mediums often produce narratives of how the goddess intervened to bestow healing powers, often after a life crisis. These life stories are well known by their devotees, and must be confirmed by possession.

Magical Ceremonies during the Ritual Year of the Greek Farmer.  In Minniyakhmetova, Tatiana and Kamila Velkoborská (eds.): The Ritual Year 10: Magic in Rituals and Rituals in Magic. The Yearbook of the SIEF (Société Internationale d’Ethnologie et de Folklore) Working Group on The Ritual Year. Innsbruck/Tartu: ELM Scholarly Press 2015: 41-60.

Abstract:
In the wake of the British scholar, James G. Frazer’s claim that Greek religion reflects peasants’ concepts connected with fertility magic, the very term has been criticized by most humanists during the entire twentieth century, while it has been present in scholarly literature written by anthropologists. Through a comparison between modern and ancient Greek festivals and rituals taking place across the ritual year, the article illustrates the importance of fertility magic to ensure the food both for the modern and ancient farmers, since sympathetic magic is a persistent characteristic of ancient as well as contemporary festivals. While performing various fertility rituals, the farmer assists nature to pass the worst of the winter. The point is that the magic works, and an important magical means of communication is indeed the festival and all the factors that it consists of.

This article is an attempt to understand ‘locality’, where the issues of subversion, subordination and marginalization as well as the problematic notions of liminality and empowerment are more vibrant and real. We shall demonstrate that while the low castes and untouchables were engaged in economic conflict, at various levels, with the high-caste landowners, which resulted in occasional uprisings too, the popular belief system was used by the marginalized as an instrument of assertion of their power against social coercion. It is argued that the social and ritual protest aimed at diluting or subverting the local caste hierarchy in a stratified society is an efficacious threat to the power of the high castes; that the hope of social revision becomes an
alternative to economic subordination. More important, the symbols of empowerment are not the ones controlled by the high castes, but those which are located in the specialized rituals of the marginalized dalits. This article is about these symbols, which are liminal in nature, and how they empower, if only for a brief while, the economically exploited and socially marginalized dalit practitioners.

Drawing on original fieldwork, this book develops a fresh methodological approach to the study of indigenous understandings of disease as possession, and looks at healing rituals in different South Asian cultural contexts. Contributors discuss the meaning of “disease”, “possession” and “healing” in relation to South Asian religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Sikhism, and how South Asians deal with the divine in order to negotiate health and wellbeing.
The book goes on to look at goddesses, gods and spirits as a cause and remedy of a variety of diseases, a study that has proved significant to the ethics and politics of responding to health issues. It contributes to a consolidation and promotion of indigenous ways as a method of understanding physical and mental imbalances through diverse conceptions of the divine. Chapters offer a fascinating overview of healing rituals in South Asia and provide a full- length, sustained discussion of the interface between religion, ritual and folklore. The book presents a fresh insight into studies of Asian Religion and the History of Medicine.