FOLLOWING THE PATH OF THE ANCIENTS
FOLLOWING THE PATH OF THE ANCIENTS

Summary/Abstract: Spilamberto, a little town in the middle-north of Italy, has a Sinhalese Buddhist community, formed in the last fifteen years. The heart of this community is the monk, who lives in the temple hosted in a farmhouse rented from a private. The Theravāda tradition of Sri Lanka preserves the ancient heritage of texts in Pāḷi language, that in modern times is only written but not spoken, so only the monks preserve the knowledge of this language, which is used to chant the set of texts of the Theravāda tradition during the rites. Nowadays, also the Buddhist community of Spilamberto continues to practice this kind of rites. Moreover, analyzing the life inside the community and the chanting performances during the rites according to an ethnomusicological perspective, I found out some interesting connections between practice and memory. Through the adaptation of the Sinhalese rites in Italy, the community rebuilds the bound with its tradition. The core of this process is the monk, who is the keeper of the memory. Despite the observation of all these practices, the community had to adapt its rites to the new socio-economical and cultural context. As a result, the spiritual life of this migrated community has become the only moment in which the Sinhalese reconnect themselves to their Sri Lankan identity.

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