ABSTRACT
The endurance of collective rituals and the revitalisation of local folklore throughout Europe since the 1970s provides evidence that rituals, traditions and festivals have an important place in contemporary societies (Boissevan 1992). Indeed, rituals continue to be important occasions for communities, families and individuals to express in public their identities, lifestyles, social relation and sense of belonging. While doing so, they experience time out of time through the interruption of daily activities to participate in activities that may be extraordinary in many ways (Falassi 1987). In this sense, participation in or attendance at a ritual is likely to be a liminal experience that takes people out of their workaday world, while also offering opportunities for socio-cultural affirmation and personal transformation (Picard and Robinson 2006). Rituals may also be a means to build social capital and to nurture resilience through the sharing of values, with both insiders and outsiders, interests and traditions that are central to the community and how it is represented (Adger 2000; Derrett 2009).
