April – Oct 2014

Ritual is an inevitable component of our culture it deeply pervades our social interactions, extending from the largest-scale social and political processes to the most intimate aspects of our self-experience.Rituals structure our lives, shape public expressions of powerful emotions, while building a sense of communal belonging. Even though we tend to believe that our contemporary world is entirely profane or secular, we may nonetheless find ourselves connected, consciously or unconsciously, to the memory of something sacred. Rituals help us to perceive, experience and relate to time and space differently, offering a different perspective upon the everyday, transforming ordinary routines into extra-ordinary realities. And thus, we slowly transcend the humdrum of the mundane. Whether or not we recognise them as such, rituals are able to bring order and texture into our chaotic lives, slowing down reality.

With this issue, we invite speculations and assertions which look at the functions ritual plays within everyday life.