ABSTRACT
Important symbolic meanings and rituals are connected with the festival. The ambivalence of the sacred is the topic of an essay on the religiosity of popular festivals. After making a well-documented introduction on the developments of "religious" sociology in France, which is dominated by the figure of Gabriel Le Bras and by the discussions on "de-Christianization"- another term for secularization-Isambert outlines, deepens, and critically reexamines popular religion, the festivals, and the sacred. Silvano Burgalassi, a sociologist at the University of Pisa, is a pioneer in Italian sociology of religion. The chapter gives an idea of the religious and social Italian reality, analyzes the psychological and sociological components of religious behavior and some aspects of religious vitality or with general interpretations. The religious gestures are connected to an unaware collectivity that has a capacity for growth. Religiosity is any manifestation, exterior or inner, of the relation between divinity and man.
