There was a time when priests started cracking jokes, telling anecdotes, speaking in an obscene manner to entertain their audience and raise a laugh. Their indecent buffooneries transformed Easter celebrations into carnivals – some of which took on quite extreme shapes. Later, the Church persecuted those involved in this practice, but traces of it still remain in Eastern Orthodox traditions. We cannot find a single link to risus paschalis in the Scriptures, nor in the writings of the Apostles, nor even a clue in the religious practices of the first Christian generations. We laugh at the transgression of the dying and rising Christ in the same way as we laugh at the clown thrown on the ground and jumping up again. Still, the cultural history of the clown rituals is an even more contested issue. What does Christ have to do with this tradition? What epistemological qualities bind them together?

The Records of the Evangelic Religious Clergy as a Source of Studies on the Christian Mnemotope in Central and Eastern Europe

In the context of the notion of mnemotopos as the memory matrix related to a place and its dynamics, the article analyses the autobiographic materials recorded by the Evangelical religious clergy. Among others, it examines the autobiography of Reverend C. Gottlieb Rehsener, of Pomeranian origin, working in the area of so-called Lithuania Minor near Klaipeda. The mnemotopic reconstruction permits revival of the forgotten cultural areas that had been present in the history of Europe till around 1945.

The Origins of the Franciscan Sisters, Servants of the Cross in Laski according to Archive Materials

The Order of the Franciscan Sisters, Servants of the Cross was founded by Mother Elizabeth Roza Czacka in 1918. The official date of its origin is recognised as 1 December 1918, although we know that the congregation existed on an informal basis previous to this. The order’s main objective was to bring aid to blind people. It was to work closely with the Society for the Care of the Blind, which had been formed, also thanks to Roza Czacka, in 1911. The Order of the Franciscan Sisters, Servants of the Cross was the first female monastic order to be founded in the Polish lands after Poland regained independence. After a long period in which the partitioning power imposed drastic restrictions on monastic life and secret congregations had formed, there were few models for an order of nuns to follow. The source documents preserved in three archives in Laski – the Archive of the Franciscan Sisters, Servants of the Cross, the Archive of the Society for the Care of the Blind, and the Archive of Father Wladyslaw Korniłowicz – show the interesting way in which the founder developed the new order.

Australian Fire Ceremonies – Gadjari and Buluwandi among the Warlpiri

This article examines the symbolism of fire in the Gadjari higher initiation ceremonies and Jardiwanpa ceremonies among the Warlpiri. Fire is used in these ceremonies in three forms: high flame torches called witi/wanbanbirri, wandabi projectiles made out of bark, and djindjimirimba sticks. The analysis of the myths connected to fire reveals that the Warlpiri associate it with the motif of cosmic catastrophe in which their ancestors, manipulating high, sacred paraphernalia, cut through the Milky Way. The result of the separation of the stars is a huge bush fire. According to the myth, the sight of a flame falling from the sky forced the ancestors to conduct initiation ceremonies. The patron of these ceremonies is associated with the Coalsack Dark Nebula in the Milky Way, and the wanigi paraphernalia used with the Southern Cross. Fire is of ambivalent significance for the Warlpiri – on the one hand it brings death and destruction, and on the other it provides cleansing and brings to life that which is dead.

“God Speaks through the Voice of the People”. The Religious Rhetoric of the Eurorevolution in Ukraine 2013/2014

During “Euromaidan” – sometimes also called Eurorevolution – in Ukraine in late 2013 and early 2014, religious rhetoric was widely used. An attachment to the ideas and language of religion appeared in the expressions and slogans of protesters and their opponents, including representatives of the “old” regime, in statements, interviews, speeches of representatives of religious organizations, public figures, and intellectuals, in articles by columnists, and in the analytical evaluation of theologians and experts on religion. Religious interpretation of the events of the revolution and demands of demonstrators was often focused on religious justification for the feasibility of Ukrainians’ peaceful struggle to have a say in their country’s development, the rule of law, democracy and their rights and dignity.

Papus Martinism – Gerard Encausse as a Continuator of Esoteric Tradition

The Martinist ideas movement, perceived as a mystical-esoteric branch of Christianity, emerged in the 18th century. The three original founders (Martines de Pasqually, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz) brought different elements to it, moulding the final shape of the doctrine. Martinism owes its modern revival and popularity to another esotericist. Gerard Encausse (1865-1916) brought fresh spirit to the inheritance of his antecedents and gave it its final architecture. The present text describes the birth of this movement, with special attention to the role of Encausse in its formation.

The Yam Festival in Contemporary Ghana: Tradition Beyond Religious Boundaries

This article is based on ethnographic field research conducted in the central part of Ghana, in the Brong Ahafo region. It gives a description of two yam festivals performed in 2010 in the small town of Jema and the nearby village of Kokuma. The author depicts the meanings associated with yams in traditional indigenous cultures and vernacular religions in Ghana as well as within the broader region of the Gulf of Guinea. Contemporary yam festivals are interpreted in relation to the old symbolic and sacred meanings of the yam as “the king of crops” as well as in relation to the contemporary circumstances of African societies which are becoming modernised and less dependent on traditional agriculture. A special focus is placed on the position of chiefs, royal attributes (stools) and involvement of people from different religious backgrounds (Christians, Muslims, “traditionalists”). The concept of “sensational forms” proposed by Birgit Meyer is discussed in relation to yam festivals, which are treated here as performances generating a specific religious “style” shared by contemporary Ghanaians irrespective of their religious affiliations.