Graduation in Denmark: Secular Ritual and Civil Religion
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
Graduation in Denmark : Secular Ritual and Civil Religion. / Warburg, Margit.
In: Journal of Ritual Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2, 2009, p. 31-42.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Graduation in Denmark
T2 - Secular Ritual and Civil Religion
AU - Warburg, Margit
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Secular rituals are ceremonies having the characteristics of religious rituals but without a transcendental reference. The traditions and ceremonies associated with graduation from the secondary school system in Denmark is apparently such a secular ritual, and the entire period of graduation has all the characteristics of a rite of passage. The graduates wear a traditional cap with a cross as cockade emblem; this special cross is a symbol of Denmark. For graduates of non-Christian background, alternative cockade emblems are available, e.g. a Star of David or a crescent; this shows that the cross emblem is also perceived as a Christian symbol. Social anthropologists Sally Moore and Barbara Myerhoff have suggested a scheme of the categories of religious versus scared for analysing secular rituals where religious symbols are sometimes exhibited. The applicability of their approach is discussed in the analysis of a central part of the Danish graduation ritual, which is a tradition-laden ride through town with the graduates sitting on the platform of a richly decorated old truck. Finding that the approach of Moore and Myerhoff is not particularly yielding in this case I suggest that it is more meaningful to analyse this ritual ride as an expression of Danish civil religion.
AB - Secular rituals are ceremonies having the characteristics of religious rituals but without a transcendental reference. The traditions and ceremonies associated with graduation from the secondary school system in Denmark is apparently such a secular ritual, and the entire period of graduation has all the characteristics of a rite of passage. The graduates wear a traditional cap with a cross as cockade emblem; this special cross is a symbol of Denmark. For graduates of non-Christian background, alternative cockade emblems are available, e.g. a Star of David or a crescent; this shows that the cross emblem is also perceived as a Christian symbol. Social anthropologists Sally Moore and Barbara Myerhoff have suggested a scheme of the categories of religious versus scared for analysing secular rituals where religious symbols are sometimes exhibited. The applicability of their approach is discussed in the analysis of a central part of the Danish graduation ritual, which is a tradition-laden ride through town with the graduates sitting on the platform of a richly decorated old truck. Finding that the approach of Moore and Myerhoff is not particularly yielding in this case I suggest that it is more meaningful to analyse this ritual ride as an expression of Danish civil religion.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - Religionssociologi
KW - Civilreligion
KW - Studentereksamen
KW - Ritualer
KW - Sociology of Religion
KW - Civil religion
KW - Graduation
KW - Ritual
M3 - Journal article
VL - 23
SP - 31
EP - 42
JO - Journal of Ritual Studies
JF - Journal of Ritual Studies
SN - 0890-1112
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 16249495