Abstract
The chapter deals mainly with forms of interrituality that arise through individual, idiosyncratic choices at the level of ordinary faithful. This may offer an interesting comparative counterpart to the study of more structured and institutionalized manifestations of contemporary interrituality. After briefly sketching a comparative model, Albera focuses on a number of occurrences of religious mixing in the Mediterranean area, following the thread of Marian devotion common to both Christians and Muslims. The figure of Mary transcends her role in Christianity, and there is also an Islamic Mary, with a prominent role in the Qur’anic revelation. Many Christian sanctuaries consecrated to Mary have been and are still now attended by Muslims. This centuries-long Muslim attendance at Marian Christian shrines offers fertile ground for the study of the interaction between believers from different religious traditions. An analysis of the practices that stem from these encounters in terms of interrituality shows a number of religious mixtures that may be explored in terms of co-presence, interaction, and merging.
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Notes
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At Marian shrines, Muslims sometimes practice circumambulation around, for example, a statue of the Virgin Mary. Circumambulation is quite difficult to situate in a classificatory grid. On the one hand, it is an Islamic ritual scheme that is present in the ziyâra tradition and has also been ‘canonized’ in the pilgrimage to Mecca, where it is an important component of the official choreography. On the other hand, circumambulation is a trans-religious ritual that is largely present in several traditions (Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.).
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I do not have enough space here to discuss the perspectives put forward by John Sheveland (2010, 2014), who has made a parallel and very inspiring usage of the notion of polyphony in relation to comparative theology. I would like to thank my colleague Nicolas Elias for alerting me, in a discussion concerned with different topics, to the notion of heterophony.
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Albera, D. (2019). Ritual Mixing and Interrituality at Marian Shrines. In: Moyaert, M. (eds) Interreligious Relations and the Negotiation of Ritual Boundaries. Interreligious Studies in Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05701-5_10
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