Ritual Gone Wrong

About this book

Rituals go wrong all the time - someone does the wrong thing, says the wrong phrase, or shows up late. Crucial ritual items go missing or get broken, or acts of God conspire to undermine the venue. Most of the time, these mistakes are smoothed over with substitutions or procedural adjustments, and the ritual goes forward. However, ritual theorizing has tended to focus on perfect rituals, rituals as prescribed in sacred texts. 'Ritual Gone Wrong' embraces the fact that rituals rarely go as scripted. In addition, it argues that ritual traditions themselves acknowledge this fact and are often prepared for it, sometimes developing extensive ritual literature on how rituals can be disrupted, how these disruptions can be addressed, and when disruptions have gone too far.