Emma’s Willow: Historical Anxiety,Mormon Pilgrimage and Nauvoo’s Mater Dolorosa

Religious institutions establish collective identities through the production of a usable past, and thereby provide adherents with a sense of heritage. This article examines how this process functions in a Mormon pilgrimage site, Nauvoo, Illinois, where not one but two competing institutions, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and Community of Christ, have established alternative narratives of identity. I focus on the thousands of (almost exclusively) LDS pilgrims who visit the town each summer. I argue that the presence of multiple interpretations raises significant anxieties for many of these pilgrims. In an attempt to mediate these anxieties a vernacular religious site, a willow tree, is employed to point pilgrims to a Saint figure, Emma Smith, Joseph Smith Jr.’s widow, in order to fortify an alternative narrative existing outside of either official representation of Nauvoo’s past.     

female figurines in early christian egypt: reconstructing lost practices and meanings

Abstract

This paper addresses the great diversity of female figurines produced during the Christian period (iv–vii ce) in Egypt, from Aswan to Karanis to the Abu Mina pilgrimage city. While not documented in any texts, by their sheer number the figurines offer important evidence of local religious practices performed under the aegis of Christianity (e.g., at saints’ shrines) yet without any ostensible connection to Christian liturgy or mythology. Their usage seems to have been predominantly votive, signifying a desired procreative body to deposit in hope, while the diversity of figurines points to an autochthonous, rather than imported or imposed, ritual tradition. The paper, part of a larger project on the local sites of Christianization, uses these figurines and their forms to reconstruct the iconographic strategies of the workshop, the ritual procedures of the client or ritual subject (at shrine or tomb), and the nature of domestic altars as stages for images.     

Pilgrimage and Visual Genre: The Architecture of Twentieth-Century Roman Catholic Pilgrimage in Scotland

Abstract

As Roman Catholics gained confidence in twentieth-century Scotland, they revived pre-Reformation shrines and pilgrimages and created new shrines with transnational connections to the modern Catholic world. Three sites in this campaign were Carfin, a new pilgrimage center based on Lourdes; Whithorn, site of medieval pilgrimages to Saint Ninian; and Dunfermline, associated with the canonized Queen Margaret of Scotland. Each had different meanings for Scottish Catholicism. The landscapes of these shrines included proposed new buildings, completed buildings, including shrines and churches, and existing features, notably caves or grottoes and medieval ruins. Whether found, professionally designed, or made by the clergy and their congregations, these sites framed and ordered pilgrimage rituals and lent them meaning. Seeing common architectural, visual features across these pilgrimages, and drawing on new archival research, we suggest that the employment of recognizable visual genres was a key way of creating a consensus among the faithful. International symbols of saintly presence were remade for the local context, with intertwined religious and political intentions, giving tangible expression to a revived Catholicism in Scotland, and promoting a new vision of Scotland as a Catholic nation.     

Ex-votos in lourdes: contested materiality of miraculous healings

ABSTRACT

The modern Marian shrine in Lourdes (southern France) attracts six million pilgrims every year. While the site is known worldwide for the miracles that occur there, the dominant official discourse hardly recognizes people's miraculous experiences. This ethnographic study focuses on ex-votos, the religious objects by which pilgrims offer their thanks to Mary for working a miracle. These are situated on the contested boundary between pilgrims' lived religion and officially prescribed religion at the Lourdes site. The article aims to understand what power politics are at stake in the handling of ex-votos as well as what motives pilgrims have to leave offerings at the site. This is illustrated by the in-depth analysis of the story of one ex-voto that also shows that the bonds within families, and between families and Mary, are crucial elements of the stories told. By offering an ex-voto, pilgrims not only remember Mary, but also their family and ancestors.     

设计赋能汨罗市文化旅游产业的理论与路径

目的 研究设计赋能文化旅游产业的理论和路径,可为地区经济的高质量发展提供借鉴。方法 以湖南省汨罗市为例,通过理论探讨、文献综述和案例分析开展研究。结果 文化旅游产业发展存在“去文化”“文化朝觐”2种不同发展模式,在“去文化”模式向“文化朝觐”模式的转型过程中,设计可以通过嵌入式、参与式和整合式3种不同的路径赋能产业发展。结论 应紧抓文化旅游产业从“去文化”向“文化朝觐”的转型契机,充分协调政府和企业管理者、设计师和设计从业人员、消费者及普通民众三者之间的关系,把握好设计嵌入式、参与式和整合式赋能的路径,加强顶层设计,注重设计资源对接与扶持,普及设计教育,尽快形成有利于“文化朝觐”式旅游产业发展的氛围。     

Landscape Underwater,Underwater Landscapes: Kangaroo Island Diving Site Names as Elements of the Linguistic Landscape

A linguistic and cultural analysis of diving site names and their role as toponyms is absent in scuba diving tourism research and landscape research. This paper argues for using place-names for the identification of historical landscape features and that diving site names as place-names and historical landscape features could be of interest for creating and documenting coastal and underwater landscape inventories. It claims that diving site names of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, and diving site toponymy in general, are linguistic ephemera linked to tourism activities, which may provide a greater understanding of the ‘linguistics of landscape’, the ‘linguistic landscape’, and the ‘landscape of language’. In conclusion, this paper speculates about the function of diving site names as worthwhile pilgrimage locations connected with tourism of particular cultural landscapes.     

Nature in Hindu art, architecture and landscape

The article explores the Hindu attitudes towards nature as discerned through art, architecture and landscape. In this transcendental view, nature is seen as manifestation of divinity. The symbolic meanings of natural elements such as tree, mountain, water, and earth in religious thought are described. These meanings form a basis on which the order of nature is represented as a cosmic ideal within sacred landscape and architecture. In the arts and literature, continuity between the natural and human world is expressed as a consequence of natural elements being anthropomorphised as gods and goddesses. Hindu tradition therefore shows little of the duality between nature and culture which is encountered in some other traditions.     

Conservation of historic water systems in Champaner-Pavagadh,Gujarat, India

Champaner-Pavagadh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Gujarat, is an interesting and unusual case study in how religion, culture, terrain, and climate interact in creating water systems that sustained large communities for 800 years between the eighth and sixteenth centuries. Water is central to Hindu worship rituals and at Pavagadh Hill, embodiment of the goddess Kalika, is symbolic of her nurturing aspects. The ornate water architecture of Champaner city at the foothill, inhabited by Muslims, celebrated water not for its symbolic value but for its sensual and utilitarian aspects. In ‘water-intelligent’ settlement planning at Champaner-Pavagadh, historic water catchment and conveyance systems ensured availability of water throughout the year. The article concludes with outlining the landscape approach to sustainable heritage landscape conservation within which water systems are restored and made functional, to serve the needs of local residents and pilgrims, and to enhance the legibility of this complex and layered site.     

古代文创产品漫谈

当代的博物馆文创开发者们在面对古人留下的物质文化精品时,绞尽脑汁思索如何让他们以不同的形式融入当代人的生活。本文则意在揭示文创开发古已有之,我们不仅利用古物作为文创的素材,同时还可以借鉴古人的文创开发思路。博物馆文创是立足于文物的创意,古代的文创思路在今天仍对文创开发人员们有着重要启发。对于很多来自全国各地,乃至世界各地的观众来说,博物馆之旅就是他们的朝圣之旅,由博物馆带回的文创产品就是他们的朝圣纪念。对于热爱博物馆的人们来说,博物馆为他们提供了穿越时空、与历史对话的平台。如何满足这些人的文化想象,了解他们的精神需求,是当今博物馆文创成功的关键因素。     

明清齐云山香道景观序列分析

道教踪迹始于唐代的安徽齐云山,在明清时期达到鼎盛状态。经过多方促进形成的满足信众朝山进香通行需求、观赏需求的香道,成为齐云山一个景观丰富的线性空间。在自然环境基础上,探寻促进齐云山作为道教名山发展的3个主要社会性缘由：道教、徽商、香会。并通过古籍查阅、现场调研所得资料,以图文互证的方式,从开端、发展、高潮和终局4个空间演变阶段来研究齐云山香道的景观序列,揭示其各部分空间的景观特征及标志性景观背后表达的意蕴。由此,可更加清晰地了解古代道教名山的景观空间营造,对现代相关类型风景名胜区的建设具有一定参考意义。