The Liturgical Lens

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Notes

¹The word ‘spiritual’ is used frequently and yet it is difficult to define one agreed upon set of meanings and uses. I employ it as it is used in performance writing, which is normally in relation to themes and uses of the body in performance. Actions or themes that recall ritual and/or religion, whether from the audience or artist's point of view are referred to as spiritual.

²Abramović was brought up in the former Yugoslavia, which has a long tradition of Christian Orthodoxy. While she herself does not follow one spiritual tradition, she has worked and spent time with various other cultures, learning about their philosophies and practices. She absolutely refuses to be associated with any religion or spiritual practice.

³This piece was offered to the people of New York as a response to the events of 11 September 2001. Abramović had conceived of a performance involving fasting and silence a few years before, but, as Sean Kelly says in his introduction to her book, the events of ‘9/11 changed everything profoundly for us all’ (Abramović 2004: 5).

⁴This piece resulted in many articles, a book by the same name documenting the entire twelve days (and the use of her set in the television programme Sex and the City).

⁵One recent publication has sought to redress the lack of research into Christian practices. Fenella Cannell's The Anthropology of Christianity (2006), contains twelve essays by anthropologists researching manifestations of Christianity from around the world. This work is welcome both for the scope of the essays and for the provocative introduction by Cannell, which challenges the role played by Christianity in the history, development and influences of anthropology. Performance studies would do well to follow this example and look again at Christianity as an important basis of Western performances of belief, as well as for how it has shaped current approaches to the analysis of ritual.

⁶The participant-observer method does not, of course, preclude its use by those already part of a culture – a Corsican can study the rituals of Corsica – but its history has been predicated on the idea that there is more value in the ‘other’.

⁷There are many styles of Christian liturgy. Among the oldest forms are the Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, and Roman Catholic.

⁸The official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is that the blessing of the bread and wine by the priest transubstantiates the elements into the body and blood of Jesus.

⁹Other religions have long been part of European society. This article only picks up on the influence in language and performance from Christianity.