玛雅艺术中的祭祀披风

古代中美洲各个不同文化在贵族的礼仪服饰上共享很多传统。文化中的礼仪服装的相互关系以及跨越时空的仪式活动连续性展示了它们之间内在的历史联系。这篇文章意在探究玛雅早期壁画和后奥尔梅克石碑雕刻中刻画的礼仪服装所表现的象征对应关系的内涵。这些服装的样式和象征内涵衍生于早期奥尔梅克的鸟神祭祀的装束。至后盛期,玛雅祭祀披风在样式和象征意义方面呈现多样化特征。但是,它们仍然出现在一些类似SanBartolo壁画里祭祀活动的场合。     

玛雅历法和2012年预言

本文详细介绍分析了玛雅"长数"历法中对2012年的"预言"以及相关的几种玛雅历法。玛雅各种历法的产生和运用都和玛雅创世神话及宗教信仰直接相关。文中列举了玛雅纪念碑和手抄本中的历史记载。从玛雅历法的循环性质可以得出结论:2012年12月23日并非玛雅人预告的"世界末日",而仅仅是一个记日历法中一个循环期的结束和另一个循环期的开始。     

化生家国:女娲崇拜的神话学探析北大核心

对于女娲偶像及其神话的信仰,深深地刻录在中华民族的文化基因之中。远古的“治水补天”神话将女娲塑造为平息世间战事、自然灾害的英雄之神,“抟土造人”神话及变种则将女娲定位为保佑家族繁衍、香火兴旺的高禖之神,后续的“赐酒作簧”神话将女娲列位于引导个人舒心健体、修身养性的调和之神。女娲神话及其信仰体系并非一成不变,在可以考证的文献中能够发现,女娲的各类传说和民间形象在各个历史时期呈现出不同样貌,共同构成了直至今日社会认知且崇拜女娲的文化基础。     

中国古代黄帝神话中的仪式和图腾研究

本文以神话-原型批评为基本方法、以古代神话故事的文本解读为依据,力图对中国古代的黄帝神话进行重新诠释和组合。作者认为,中国古代的黄帝神话是以表现黄帝作为古代氏族领袖、巫师以及部落保护神的活动及信仰为基本依据的。作者尝试在禳解仪式、表现仪式和升仙仪式三种相对独立,却又相互联系的仪式结构中去追溯黄帝故事的仪式和图腾原型,并以此为依据去研究古代黄帝信仰的来源、演变、图腾以及在不同阶段的仪式特征等问题。作者认为,作为古代仪式和图腾的表现形式,黄帝神话的重新诠释和组合应该以黄帝从古代巫君、神王到氏族和部落保护神以及后来的跨部落"最高神"的演变为基本线索。在文章最后部分,作者指出,在春秋战国时期神仙思潮兴起的背景下,黄帝作为古代信仰中的"最高神",被纳入到早期神仙传记的修仙范例之中,转化为神仙。这种成仙神话构成了古代仪式和图腾向宗教形态过渡过程中的原型演化形式。     

玛雅神圣球赛和古典时期韦拉克鲁斯关系的几点研究

在古代墨西哥和危地马拉所有民族中都存在一种作为运动和宗教祭祀的橡胶球赛。这种球赛的祭祀功能在古典时期的玛雅人以及他们在墨西哥湾的近邻中十分重要。本论文对比论述古典时期的玛雅和韦拉克鲁斯地区的一些很可能与球赛相关的宗教活动。论述的重点是跟球赛相关的一种雕刻器物——"轭"——它在两个文化区域的共同点、它作为重要身份地位的标记和它的宗教形象的来源。论文还讨论两个不同文化区域在轭"的材料选用以及宗教形象方面的一些重要的区别,以明确各自文化是如何把球赛当作一项最基本的宗教祭祀来实施的。     

《狄奥尼索斯秘仪图》的图像学方法分析

"图像学"起源于19世纪西方的传统图像志研究,并迅速发展为国际艺术史研究中具有统治地位的学科之一,现已衍生为一种全新的艺术史和艺术学的研究方法。通过帕诺夫斯基图像学理论来解读古罗马时期庞贝壁画中的《狄奥尼索斯秘仪图》,观者可见其通过刻画的一个重要的古希腊神话中的秘密宗教仪式以及对狄奥尼索斯崇拜,可以窥视出古罗马时期庞贝城的社会状况和社会文化的一角,揭示出其象征意义和美学价值。     

中国古代神话中黄帝的形象和图腾演变

本文以宗教社会学理论为基本依据,结合神话—原型批评的研究方法,解读中国古代黄帝故事的神话学和宗教学内涵.我们认为,通过研究与黄帝信仰相关的图腾在古代神话和仪式中的表现和演变,可以较为清晰地解读出黄帝作为部落领袖和巫师在古代巫术—仪式中的活动情况,以及黄帝从古代部落领袖、巫师演变为部落最高神以及古代神祗被纳入到早期神仙群体的完整过程.同时,这样的研究也将为古代黄帝神话的诠释、整理和重构提供一种新的思路.     

从古代小说看道教世俗化过程中神仙形象的演变

神仙形象源自于早期神话和信仰中的"神"的形象.因此,早期的道教神仙被描绘为生活在远方异域,与凡人完全不同的特殊群体.随着道教神仙观念的发展,道教的神仙形象也在逐渐"人性化":神仙逐渐摆脱了过去的神秘色彩和"非人"特征,较多地吸收了"人"的形象特征.宋元以后,这一趋势变得更为显著.神仙形象中"神"的特征进一步减弱,而"人"的因素、特别是普通人的特征日益明显.我们通过对不同时期中国古代小说中神仙形象的比较,可以清晰地发现这一变化.在这篇论文中,我们也试图探讨道教的世俗化趋势对神仙形象的影响以及不同的神仙观念在中国古代小说的神仙形象中留下的痕迹.     

伊甸园神话人学寓义试析

本文认为 ,伊甸园神话故事蕴含着深刻的人学义理。通过构想人的起源、原罪和惩罚等情节 ,以神话形式依次回答了“人是什么”这一人学总题中的三个基本分题 ,即人的由来、本质和命运是什么。故事表明 ,人是由神创造的特殊生物 ;由于人类先祖亚当夏娃违犯神诫摘食智慧之果 ,使人类改变了伊甸园时代的自然本质 ,成为以意识、智慧为本质的精神生命体 ;人的智慧本质特别是矛盾观念 ,使人陷入不能自拔 (甚至神也爱莫能助 )的苦难命运中     

女娲制笙簧及相关问题考

女娲又称女娲氏、娲皇,传说其人首蛇身,是伏羲的妹妹和妻子。神话中其抟土造人、炼石补天,后来逐渐成为中国神话中的人类始祖、婚姻之神。从历史的观点看,其应是中国传说时代的上古氏族首领。当然,除了前述神迹,历史记载还有一些事迹,比如制造笙簧。女娲与其他中原的古代皇与帝一起创造了灿烂的中原音乐文化,是中国传统音乐及诗乐文化的重要组成部分,并世代相传,至今仍有遗留,影响着中国人的精神生活。     

Image and identity: Religious symbols and symbolic representation on European Masonic nineteenth-century certificates

Masonic certificates have a fascinating and unique iconography. Many of the documents possess great artistic value. Other certificates, like the one drawn during the Napoleonic wars by a French prisoner of war in Okehampton, Devon, testify to how readily the language of Masonic symbolism was used and understood during this time. The spiritual, mystical and extremely eclectic character of Freemasonry presented a challenge for artists who tried to give the ideas of the Craft artistic form. It became their charge to develop a whole new iconographic system in order to present the unique social and moral identity of this fraternal society, and they drew their inspiration from sources as varied as Egyptian, Jewish, Christian, Greek and Roman mythology, religion and architecture.     

Standing in Between: The Healing Praxis of Mayan Women Intermediaries in Post-Genocide Guatemala

ABSTRACT

This article examines how Mayan intermediaries make meaning of their roles in accompanying Mayan women survivors of gross violations of human rights as they search for truth, justice, and reparation in post-genocide Guatemala. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the authors analyzed in-depth interviews with six intermediaries who worked with survivors in the context of a seven year feminist participatory and action research project. The findings reveal that healing from the legacies of armed conflict as well as from historical racialized gendered oppression are at the core of Mayan intermediaries’ work with the Mayan women survivors with whom they established an intersubjective relationship, contributing to each other’s healing. The importance of economic justice for survivors’ healing and the scant and circumscribed talk about sexual violence—the grievance central to the work with most of the survivors—emerge as important findings of this study and require future exploration.     

Multiple meanings in South Indian temple worship

The survival of the cosmos is said to depend upon proper performance of the complex daily liturgy in large Hindu temples. This paper describes such daily worship in the Murukan temple at Kalugumalai, South India. After considering the significance of the principal stages—unction, decoration, food‐offering, and lamp‐showing—in the pūja rite which forms the basis of worship in Saivite temples, it seeks to understand this liturgy with reference to Hindu metaphysics, iconography and mythology, and notions of divine sovereignty. It is argued that such multi‐thematic analyses, which combine ethnographic and indological approaches, are essential for understanding contemporary Hindu practice.     

Numbers in social practices: the case of Tseltal Mayan children / Los números en las prácticas sociales: el caso de los niños y niñas mayas tseltales

Abstract

From a historical and cultural perspective as well as a critical ethnographic approach, this work analyses the numerical relationships that take place within the social practices of the Tseltal Mayan community. In this social group, children learn to identify numbers through the use of cultural artefacts and natural elements, as well as collaborating with adults and other children, bringing body, emotions and cognition into play. We describe how for Tseltal Mayan children, numbers constitute a way of naming the world.     

Language input and acquisition in a Mayan village: how important is directed speech?

Theories of language acquisition have highlighted the importance of adult speakers as active participants in children’s language learning. However, in many communities children are reported to be directly engaged by their caregivers only rarely ( Lieven, 1994 ). This observation raises the possibility that these children learn language from observing, rather than participating in, communicative exchanges. In this paper, we quantify naturally occurring language input in one community where directed interaction with children has been reported to be rare (Yucatec Mayan). We compare this input to the input heard by children growing up in large families in the United States, and we consider how directed and overheard input relate to Mayan children’s later vocabulary. In Study 1, we demonstrate that 1‐year‐old Mayan children do indeed hear a smaller proportion of total input in directed speech than children from the US. In Study 2, we show that for Mayan (but not US) children, there are great increases in the proportion of directed input that children receive between 13 and 35 months. In Study 3, we explore the validity of using videotaped data in a Mayan village. In Study 4, we demonstrate that word types directed to Mayan children from adults at 24 months (but not word types overheard by children or word types directed from other children) predict later vocabulary. These findings suggest that adult talk directed to children is important for early word learning, even in communities where much of children’s early language input comes from overheard speech. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgA4CxmBTNk&feature=youtu.be     

Schooling and traditional collaborative social organization of problem solving by Mayan mothers and children.

Traditional indigenous social organization in the Americas has been characterized as involving horizontal multiparty engagements, in contrast with schooling, which often relies on hierarchy and division of labor. This study examined whether the social organization of problem solving of Guatemalan Mayan indigenous mothers and children varied with the mothers' extent of experience with school. We observed 47 mothers as they constructed a puzzle with 3 children (ages 6-12 years). Mayan mothers with little schooling (0-2 grades) were involved more in horizontal, multiparty engagements, whereas Mayan mothers with extensive experience with schooling (12 or more grades) were involved more in hierarchical, division-of-labor engagements with the children. The results suggest that Western formal schooling contributes to the reshaping of traditional collaborative social organization among indigenous Mayan people.     

The "Flower Songs" Tradition:Indigenous Histories as Depicted in Mexican Codices (14th-16th Centuries)

Mesoamerican groups never constituted a single political or linguistic unit from the 14 th to the 16 th centuries, but there are some fundamental and long-term cultural elements which allow us to link Mesoamerican peoples.One of the principal sources are the objects known as codices.In this paper I will discuss a particular aspect of Mesoamerican codices known as the"Flower Songs"tradition. I will discuss some fragments of stories depicted in codices proper to the Mixtec and Nahua traditions, and will show how modern scholars-including myself-reconstruct the meanings of some of their images.     

Language Shift and the Inclusion of Indigenous Populations in Large-Scale Assessment Programs

Indicators of academic achievement for bilingual students can be inaccurate due to linguistic heterogeneity. For indigenous populations, language shift (the gradual replacement of one language by another) is a factor that can increase this heterogeneity and poses an additional challenge for valid testing. We investigated whether and how indigenous populations can be validly included in a large-scale assessment program. We gave Mexican preschool Mayan students aged 5 to 6 years the same set of mathematics items in three versions: (1) original in Spanish, (2) Mayan translation, and (3) content equivalent, developed from scratch in Mayan. Also, we collected information on the students’ and the teachers’ use of Spanish and Mayan, and on the communities’ support of the two languages. Students performed poorly on the three versions. Generalizability theory-based analyses revealed considerable performance inconsistency across items and language versions and low generalizability and dependability coefficients. This performance instability appears to stem from a dwindling support of the Mayan language in Mayan schools and communities. Fair, valid assessment of indigenous populations in either their languages or their countries’ dominant languages appears to be difficult to accomplish with current testing models and policies.     

Organizational patterns in problem solving among Mayan fathers and children

This study examined the social organization of Guatemalan Mayan fathers' engagement with school-age children in a group problem-solving task. Twenty-nine groups of Mayan fathers varying in extent of Western schooling and 3 related school-age children (ages 6-12 years) constructed a puzzle together. Groups with fathers with 0 to 3 grades more often constructed the puzzle through shared multiparty collaboration involving a common agenda, whereas groups with fathers with 12 or more grades more often structured their contributions through a division of labor. Groups involving fathers with 6 to 9 grades demonstrated patterns of coordination that fell between the other two types of schooling groups. Fathers with greater schooling were also found to propose more explicit division-of-labor plans to children than were fathers with no to little schooling. The results indicate that Western schooling may be gradually transforming the collaborative social organization of group problem solving of indigenous Mayan families.     

Privileged treatment of toddlers: cultural aspects of individual choice and responsibility

This study examined the idea that toddlers in some communities are accorded a privileged status in which they are allowed what they want, assumed not yet to "understand" how to cooperate. U.S. middle-class and Guatemalan Mayan mothers and 3- to 5-year-old siblings were observed while the siblings and toddlers (14-20 months) both sought access to attractive objects. The Mayan toddlers' desires were usually respected by both the mothers and the siblings, who often voluntarily cooperated without mothers' intervention. In contrast, the U.S. middle-class toddlers seemed to be expected to follow the same rules for sharing (with some leniency) as the older children. The Mayan pattern fits a cultural model prioritizing both responsibility and respect for others' freedom of choice.