Suchergebnisse

In the North-Tunisian town of Testour one can observe the role of the saint most respected in Testour society: Sidi Ali el Arian. People visit his shrine to make individual offerings and for collective celebrations, especially the annual festival known as a zerda. Sidi Ali's main role is that of a protector of the people of Testour and their enterprises, and many legends and tales recount his successes in those domains from health to politics. The appeal to Sidi Ali requires a visit to the shrine where the petitioner offers a prayer to God and leaves a modest offering and may burn a candle. An annual festival occurs in the spring and involves the sacrifice of cattle and a communal meal on the resulting meat, and a collective celebration involving drumming, singing, and dancing with occasional trancing.

Issued also in print format. ; Series: Africa, missing voices series 5 ; In the African context, shrines are cultural signposts that help one understand and read the ethnic, territorial, and social lay of the land. The contributions gathered here by Allan Charles Dawson demonstrate how African shrines help to define ethnic boundaries, shape group identity, and symbolically articulate a society's connection with the land it occupies. Shrines are physical manifestations of a group's claim to a particular piece of land and are thus markers of identity - they represent, both figuratively and literally, a community's 'roots' in the land it works and lives on. The shrine is representative of a connection with the land at the cosmological and supernatural level and, in terms of a community's or ethnic group's claim to cultivable territory, serves as a reminder to outsiders of ownership. Shrines in Africa explores how African shrines, in all their variable and diverse forms, are more than just spiritual vessels or points of worship - they are powerful symbols of ethnic solidarity, group cohesion, and knowledge about the landscape. Moreover, in ways subtle and nuanced, shrines represent ideas about legitimacy and authenticity in the context of the post-colonial African state. ; Yes