RELS 160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Bruce Lincoln, John Neihardt, Awi People
15 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Lecture #16: ritual as sacred action, zunzi. He who tries to enter it with the uncouth and inane. Special context involving what participants take to be sacred: akitu festival. Seasonal ritual to secure the continuance of the seasonal cycle. First 4 days are somber: express powerless and desolation of the king, prayers at the temples, chaos and death --> order and new life. 6-8th day: priests and people acted out over victory of marduk. 9th day: triumph of precession of the king, new year"s feast. 10th day: feast held for kings gods priests, return of fertility to the land, marriage between female temple slave and king. Ritual: cosmic and political level, cosmically the fertility of the new year is ensued, politically the king"s authority is renewed. Festival: renews the city, renews the king, renews the people. Gaster: akitu is founded on the enuma elish, myths and rituals are always connected, humiliation and restoration = death and resurrection.
