How Magical Power of Sacred Objects Disintegrate and Circulate:the Life History of Abandoned Deity Statutes in Teoswa
As sacred objects,deity statutes may face the fate of being discarded and replaced.Previous studies on abandoned deity statutes have focused on ritual practices and abandonment in family life.What is missing in existed research is how different actors participate and how magical power operates in these abandonment processes.In Teoswa rural society,public temple organizers,family members,and craftsmen all could be the actor to abandon and replace deity statutes.In the village community,the rituals of deity statute abandonment and renewal led by the public temple organizers contributed to the reorganization of the social order and the circulation of the magical power of the statutes.In family context,the life course of the deity statutes and the worshippers were entangled;the magical power of the abandoned statutes did not truly leave after the ritual of retreating.In the production-commission relationship,the craftsmen possessed"divinity"when he inherited generations of sacred object crafting experiences.His craftsmanship gives statues the image and names of deities.The"divinity"of the craftsmen and the"materiality"of the statues together attracted uninvited magical power coming to the statues.Therefore,deity statutes are not just symbolic representation of deities,but also objects in practice that is entangled with identities,feelings,emotion,and experiences of actors involved.The flow of the magical power of deity statutes happens in the interaction between the representational system and the actual practices.
Deity statute abandonmentMagical powerSacred objectSocial life of thingsTeoswa
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