as a mediator between the ancestors or sprits and the community he or she was serving.as an oracle, or the shaman could function.

In this form of shamanism the shaman “priest” had various roles. The term was earlier related to the so-called Northern Shamanistic Belt, which extended from northern Scandinavia to Siberia, Manchuria, and Korea in the east. Trance rituals are strongly associated with the early belief system usually called shamanism. In this “other” state of mind the performer/performers of the ritual, and sometimes also members of the audience, are able to contact the spirit world. This is not, however, the case in many of the Asian cultures in which later religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, did not abandon the earlier layers of belief systems but rather assimilated them into their own ideologies and practices.Ī shamanistic ritual dance from the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula Jukka O. In many of the Christian and Muslim cultures these early examples of religious expression were forbidden and destroyed. They often seem to precede the present institutionalised religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Trance Rituals and ShamanismĪs a broad generalisation, one could say that the rituals connected with trance elements seem to represent a very early stage of ritual performances. They developed from the age-old sacred gestures used in religious rituals by the Brahman priests.Īn abundance of ceremonial elements can still be found in many of the Asian theatrical traditions simply because most of them stem originally from earlier rituals, and actually a dance or theatre performance itself can, in many cases, still be regarded as a ritual. One example of how theatrical practice evolved from rituals is the mudras or symbolic hand gestures, so crucial to Indian dance and theatre traditions. Symbolic hand gestures of Indian dance Sakari Viika Many forms of performance, for example temple dances, are, in fact, regarded as offerings, prayers, gaining merit or a kind of spiritual meditation. In most of the Asian religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, such a strict division between the sinful body and “pure” spirituality has not existed and thus the human body has retained its holiness it has been accepted as a worthy medium to praise even spirits and gods. God may be praised through the visual arts, architecture and even singing, but more physical expressions were more or less prohibited in a religious context. In the monotheistic religions that originated in the Near East, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, the human body is regarded as something sinful and thus corporal art forms were banished from their rituals. This may be at least partly explained by religious attitudes. In Asia, particularly in South and Southeast Asia, the bond between religion and theatre and dance is very strong even today. Miettinenĭance offering in a Hindu temple in Lopburi, Thailand Jukka O.

Parts of a western drama