Ecstatic Time: Japanese Rites and Prayers

Abstract

To reflect on the concept of festival or simply on the duration of a ritual or a celebration inevitably leads one to consider the role of time not only for the festival itself, but also in relation to the distinction between the time of the celebration and the regular flow of ordinary time. The essay analyses this temporal arrhythmia whereby time quivers and is shaken out of its anonymous flow through the works of renowned authors as Mircea Eliade, Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner, as well as by considering particular instances in Japanese cultural practices such as rites, celebrations and festivals.