Ethnography of three fertility rites and transmission of heritage: the construction of time in an Alpine territory

Abstract

In the Eastern Alps the german community of Vinschgau still performs a lot of fertility rites. In the Klosen rite diabolic masks catch people with chains, donkey masks pinch the women and they make an acoustic paroxysm. In the Pflugziehen rite a plough is conducted ritually along the streets and the battle of good against evil is performed. In the Scheibenslagen rite people gather to throw some hoops of fire over the forest, so they can forecast about seasonal trend. Many authors have analyzed this method of managing annual time linked to the ancient seasonal agricultural practice. Man needs to scan time through ceremonial moments that pertain to the sphere of the sacred. Therefore, the feasts and rites of the different regions of Europe, as the rite we analyzed, are an excellent material for understanding the transformations of the conceptions of the time in contemporary societies.

Keywords

• anthropology
• italy
• alps
• ethnology
• fertility rites
• fertility rituals
• heritage
• memory
• history