Religijsko-ritualni funkcioneri i kultna mesta u istočnoj Srbiji
Religious and Ritual Funcionaries and Cult Places in Eastern Serbia

Author(s): Danijel Sinani
Subject(s): Customs / Folklore, Culture and social structure
Published by: Srpski genealoški centar
Keywords: religious-ritual functionary; church persons;professionalization; possession; places of cult;
Summary/Abstract: The research in the town of Knjaževac and surrounding villages reveals that the phenomenon of spirit possession influences the formation of a special category of ritual functionaries, called "church persons". Depending on the degree of professionalization of their abilities, the services those persons offer range from communicating with the dead (channeling their souls' voices) to becoming the key religious functionary in a community, where he/she, besides communicating with the other world, healing, and foreseeing the future, also organizes religious life and offers religious, moral and ethical sermons, which play an important role in the community through the foundation and maintenance of important places of cult. Church persons are upwardly socially mobile, in terms of economy and status. The actions of these functionaries subsume the two previously known categories – medicine men and priests. They apply their knowledge in ways close to the popular spirit,with additional authority generated by the phenomenon of spirit possession.

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