Informazioni sul corso

Ritual Studies: Feasting, Fasting, and Festivals

The ritual customs of feasting, fasting and festivals are age-old, and universally recognized. They have been instituted in countless different forms in most if not all human cultures. From the traditions of the Lent and the Ramadan to Christmas, National Day, and the Bénichon, fasts and feasts are important parts of contemporary Swiss and European life – and so are festivals!

Food and drink are some of the most basic but significant forms of embodied material culture, and especially significant as parts of festive events and occasions. Festivals can involve special kinds of food items, and special relationships to food – either an abundance of food and drink, or a specific rejection of food or drink. Eating, drinking, and food items become ritually significant through the symbolic acts of indulgence, abstinence, sharing, and exchange. They can be part of ritualized offerings, formal banquets, village festivities, and family celebrations. Food-related ritualization is evident in countless customs from the choice of food items to their production, presentation, distribution, and consumption. In addition to the special foods and foodways, ritual can also show other sides of the relevant symbolism through forms of ritual intoxication and extreme abstinence.

Feasts, fasts and festivals involve collective celebration, marking social events and establishing identities, and are often interpreted as grand expressions of shared cultural and religious values. However, sometimes they are theorized to act as channels of cultural transgression and the transversal of norms – as is the case with traditions such as the Carnival or the Polterabend. In addition, some ritual forms focus more on the individual or small groups than the wider social circles.

This seminar presents a range of historical examples of ritualistic feasts, festivities, fasts and other forms of abstinence, and explores the main theories related to these events, customs, and behaviours. The students will examine contemporary examples of feasting, fasting, and festivals, and compare their findings to the elements of historical and exotic counterparts.

The course language is in English, but intermediary language skills will be sufficient. The seminar will include lessons, seminar discussions, group assignments and a written examination.