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POETIC RITUALITY AND TRANSCULTURALITY Rituals can also be described as scenic forms of representation. Similar to theater performances, rituals often possess performative elements and are based on a script that precisely defines the ritual process. Ihus, for example, the liturgy is described as a ritual practice, which relies on a text such as the Rituale Romanum in the Catholic Church, which, similarly to the staging of a dramatic text in theater, is realized through the performance of the ritual. Likewise, myths, but also the protocol of state ceremonies, have been described as such “texts” on which the ritual is centered. Both in the theater and in rituals, props are used, and stylized gestures and actions — as well as recitations, songs, dance, and music — are performed. The costumes of the actors in the theater correspond to the festive clothing of ritual specialists: both theater and ritual can distinguish themselves as important and significant actions and draw attention to what is being performed through these garments. Both theatrical performances and rituals reflect the culture in which and for which they are performed." Rituals interrupt the flow of social life, as Victor Turner emphasized, and enable the group of agents who perform them to “take cognizance of its own behavior in relation to its own values, even to question at times the value of those values.””” In doing so, they set reflexive processes in motion and incorporate them at the same time. Hence, theater and ritual create “cultural frames in which reflexivity can find a legitimate place”! Comparable to rituals, the performance of a drama can also be interpreted as a form of a culture’s meta-comment — so to speak." In research, rituals are, therefore, generally regarded as “the master keys to understanding cultures”! Whereas on the one hand, the affinity between theater, drama, and ritual is more than obvious, on the other hand, one should not forget that despite their many similarities, theater and ritual are not equivalent cultural practices. Third: The Different use of Rituality and Theatricality in Ritual and Theater / Drama Especially complex ritual performances are undoubtedly theatrical. However, they are not theater in a narrow sense since they follow other communicative rules. Rituals, as Walter Burkert pointed out, depend on a “theatricality Erika Fischer-Lichte: Theater als kulturelles Modell, in L. Jäger (ed.): Germanistik: Disziplinäre Identität und kulturelle Leistung. Vorträge des deutschen Germanistentages 1994, Weinheim, Beltz, 1995, 164-184; Erika Fischer-Lichte: Theater und Ritual, in C. Wulf — J. Zirfas (eds.): Die Kultur des Rituals. Inszenierungen. Praktiken. Symbole, München, Fink, 2004, 279-292. Victor Turner: From Ritual to Theatre. The Human Seriousness of Play, New York, Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1982, 92. Turner: From Ritual to Theatre. Mary Douglas: Purity and Danger. An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, London, Routledge, 1966. 15° Catherine Bell: Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice, New York, Oxford University Press, 1992, 7. + 35 +
