THE SYMBOLISM OF RITUAL GESTURES IN THE ROMANIAN TRADITIONAL MENTALITY
THE SYMBOLISM OF RITUAL GESTURES IN THE ROMANIAN TRADITIONAL MENTALITY

Summary/Abstract: The traditional affective community obviously distances itself from the traditional rational society. Therefore, the ritual gestures, the nonverbal communication associated with the utterance of chanting formulas or only with slightly playful ones, are kept by the collective memory and repeated in the context of holidays over the year. We will refer to ritual sequences still practiced in Oltenia during the holidays in the popular calendar (govia in Oltcounty) and in the context of raising the oath crosses (field research in Gorjcounty). The symbolism of ritual artifacts (paintings by children "sold" in the govia dance) and ritual gestures are associated with the symbolic values of the consecration time and the place of performance. The sequences can be interpreted by the make-believe theory according to which the function of the image can be independent of the creator’s intention. The image is not seen as a means of communication, but as a support for the viewer in perceiving the fictional world. The ambivalence of the symbol in ritual artifacts and gestures generates new forms of communication in the context of the popular holiday or in celebrating the cult of the dead.

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