ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a special kind of rituals, namely yaktovil healing rituals in Sri Lanka. It provides some information about the background of the yaktovil. Their aim is, to put it briefly, to negotiate with the demons in order to cure the patient. The chapter describes an extract of a large-scale healing ritual as observed during the author's fieldwork in Sri Lanka in 2010. Thereafter, it summarizes Kapferer’s main argument. The chapter juxtaposes the description of the large-scale ritual of the section “celebrating emotions” with the depiction of a small-scale ritual. It analyzes reasons for this shift from collective to more pri-vate rituals, characterized by the diminished importance of performative media. The chapter thus examines the move from a celebration to a taming of emotions in healing rituals due to modernist discourses.
