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The comparative and functional analysis of myth and ritual as constituent parts of a mythoritual religious entirety
Abstract
The author treats the problem of ritual studies as relevant to the study of religion. Mytho-ritual is a relatively new concept, unfamiliar to many specialists. The author tries to define this concept, trace its origin and essential characteristics, and finally, on the basis of all this, posit a link uniting myth and ritual. Importance is given to the functional analysis of ritual, highlighting the essential role of ritual and rite. The theories of the Bielefeld and Moscow schools, the theory of V. N. Toporov regarding religious ritual, and those regarding ritual and rite proposed by A. K. Baiburin and K. S. Saringulyan are examined. The author then proceeds to an analysis of the functions of myth and examines the theories of M. Eliade and the Cambridge School. Finally the author compares the various functions of myth and ritual and fi nds that the number of actual functions of myth proposed by Russian and foreign experts, sociologists, ethnologists and folklorists, is rather small and closer in number to that of the functions of religion rather than of ritual. The author enumerates 36 functions of ritual as compared to only 12 functions of myth and 24 functions of religion.
Keywords
religion, mytho-ritual, functions of myth, functions of ritual, ritual studies, sociology of religion, ethno-linguistics, functional analysis, comparative analysis
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