Fêtes et processions de Maaloula : une mise en scène des identités dans l’espace d’un village chrétien

The Ba‘th regime has appropriated most festive events in Syria. A few popular festivals continue, however, and reveal through their exceptional nature a variety of generally discouraged or banned identities popular among Syrians. Such is the case of the Christian village of Maaloula where, at the en...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sylvia Chiffoleau
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Université de Provence 2006-12-01
Series:Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/3028
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Summary:The Ba‘th regime has appropriated most festive events in Syria. A few popular festivals continue, however, and reveal through their exceptional nature a variety of generally discouraged or banned identities popular among Syrians. Such is the case of the Christian village of Maaloula where, at the end of the summer, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches jointly celebrate a Feast of the Cross, before honouring their respective patron saints. A mixture of identities dominated by a regionally differentiated and doctrinally diverse Christianity are enacted in the village setting. The enactment and resulting identities, marked by strong Syrian influence, emerge as a process of renewal and modernization leading to social change, global integration and to religious and secular independence. The festivals of Maaloula assume a utopian dimension and suggest that another world is possible, a world based on freedom.
ISSN:0997-1327
2105-2271