"Dandling" the Child Jesus

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  • 幼子イエス像をあやす
  • 幼子イエス像をあやす : メキシコ西部村落におけるカトリックの実践を事例に
  • オサナゴ イエスゾウ オ ア ヤ ス : メキシコ セイブ ソンラク ニ オケル カトリック ノ ジッセン オ ジレイ ニ
  • A Catholic Practice in a Rural Village in Mexico
  • メキシコ西部村落におけるカトリックの実践を事例に

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Abstract

<p>The aim of this study is to investigate the current worship of an image of the child Jesus in a rural village of Mexico, focusing not only on the rituals but also on the daily practice of caring for the image.</p> <p>In Mexico, many people are Catholics, with many Catholic images in churches or chapels all over the country. While Catholic festivals are celebrated everywhere throughout the year, devotees also can get their own images, representing God, the Virgin or other saints, to display in their house.</p> <p>Pre-existing research about Catholic saints in Central America has focused on the social functions that they serve. As emblems of a social group, the saints enable the unification of their group's members. In addition, several researchers have reported that the images of Catholic saints are considered emblems of the comunity, with people carrying the image as they visit nearby comunities, and vice versa, to construct a diplomatic relationship with them. However, researchers have not paid sufficient attention to the relation between the images and their worshippers.</p> <p>Furthermore, in pre-existing research about the Catholic festivals (fiestas) of Central America, religious images are normally considered symbols bearing some meaning, or as objects conveying a meaning that is imbued unilaterally by humans.</p> <p>Alfred Gell rejects that epistemological approach, arguing that both people and things are social agents that mediate social relationships by acting. Taking almost the same position, Pinny clarifies that in Hindu rituals, the religious image becomes more powerful through the bodily perfomance of the devotees with it. He says that the devotees in such a relationship are not only agents who empower the image, but are also a recipient of the divine power from the image.</p> <p>(View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)</p>

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