“Divali is for The Dead”: Abiding Relatedness and Bittersweet Revelries in a Tamil Nadu Village
In the face of orthodox ritual imperatives to alienate and render them ineffable, how are ancestors made present to and represented by their living kin, specifically during festivities? This article juxtaposes Divali’s customary overtones of triumph over evil and darkness and cultivations of prosper...
| Published in: | Material religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2020]
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| In: |
Material religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Tamil Nadu
/ Divali
/ Ritual
/ Death
/ Custom
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BK Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism KBM Asia |
| Further subjects: | B
Festivals
B intimate theology B ritual infrastructure B Mourning B Ancestors |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | In the face of orthodox ritual imperatives to alienate and render them ineffable, how are ancestors made present to and represented by their living kin, specifically during festivities? This article juxtaposes Divali’s customary overtones of triumph over evil and darkness and cultivations of prosperity with additional, if not alternative, associations with mortality, mourning, and memory in a village in Tamil Nadu. In delineating the funerary and melancholic nuances of this “festival of lights,” I demonstrate how—contrary to Hindu ritual norms—the deceased are not simply exiled to an otherworldly realm to be invoked only on discrete occasions. Instead, they continue to be part of a lingering intimacy and an everyday sociality that hinges upon cooking, eating, gifting, and sharing. Through the material infrastructure underpinning rituals and the casual routinization of remembrance, these villagers evoke, include, and continue to care for their deceased kin. The dead haunt festivities not as unwelcome ghosts or unexpected guests but as intensely longed for kin. In the process, an alternative and intimate theology of death, mourning, and remembrance emerges. |
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| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2020.1840315 |