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Folklore 97: Uncertain Rituals

The special issue Uncertain Rituals (Folklore 97) explores how people across cultures respond to uncertainty and crisis through ritual practices.

The guest editors of the special issue are Laurent Sébastien Fournier, Maria Bernadette L. Abrera and Jesus Federico C. Hernandez.

The early 21st century has been marked by global disruptions such as pandemics, wars, large-scale migration, climate change, and social and technological challenges, all of which have intensified feelings of precarity and unpredictability in everyday life as well as in knowledge production. The issue builds on discussions initiated at the 16th SIEF Congress held in Brno in 2023, where uncertainty was addressed both as a lived experience and as an epistemological concern.

This special issue is based on two panels organised by the Ritual Year Working Group and examines how rituals are transformed, adapted, or discontinued in situations where established regularities are disrupted. The contributions approach rituals as practices of protection, faith, identity, and social cohesion, as well as creative responses to crisis.

The first part of the issue focuses on ritual practices in times of uncertainty in different cultural contexts. Case studies from Lithuania examine protective rituals against natural and social disasters, demonstrating how religious symbols continue to provide a sense of security in contemporary crises. An Italian case study analyses the transformation of a Catholic ritual for the dead during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a traditional procession was replaced by digital and later modified forms. A study of a Shinto shrine in Japan shows how ritual life is sustained through the interaction of human and non-human actors, including objects, spaces, and technologies. Research on weddings in pandemic-era Hungary highlights how couples reinterpreted tradition while navigating restrictions and uncertainty. An ethnographic study of Monaco’s Saint Devota festival explores the interplay of tradition, modernity, and national identity, while an analysis of masquerading rituals demonstrates their intermittency and close connections to political change.

The second part of the issue brings together a selection of scientific articles on music, epic traditions, humour and discourse from various regions. Topics include spirituality in Ukrainian lyro-epic folklore, transnational humorous reactions to the Wagner Group rebellion in Estonia, Poland and Belarus, the historicity of Central Asian heroic epics, a discourse analysis of the ancient Abdera decree, and the role of aesthetics in musical performance in Chinese folk and Western music.

The issue concludes with a book review and news items. Folklore is a peer-reviewed international journal published continuously since 1996.

Explore the newest issue here: https://www.folklore.ee/folklore/