__NOTOC__ Ritual clowns, also known as sacred clowns,Cazeneuve (1957) p.254 quotation: are a characteristic feature of the ritual life of many traditional religions,Jones, Lindsay (2005
''Encyclopedia of religion'', Volume 6
p.1498 quotation: Cazeneuve (1957) p.242 quotation: and they typically employ

scatology In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of faeces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and diseases ...

and obscenities. Ritual clowning is where

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

originated; in Ancient Greece, ritual clowning, phallic processions and ritual '' aischrologia'' found their

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...

form in the plays of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

.Reckford, Kenneth J. (1987
''Aristophanes' Old-and-new Comedy: Six essays in perspective''
pp.449-51, 461-67 quotation: Two famous examples of ritual clowns in North America are the ''Koyemshis'' (also known as ''Koyemshi'', ''Koyemci'' or ''Mudheads'') and the ''Newekwe'' (also spelled ''Ne'wekwe'' or ''Neweekwe'').Bonvillain, Nancy (200
''The Zuni''
pp.24-5 French sociologist Jean Cazeneuve is particularly renowned for elucidating the role of ritual clowns; reprising

Ruth Benedict Ruth Fulton Benedict (June 5, 1887 – September 17, 1948) was an American anthropologist and folklorist. She was born in New York City, attended Vassar College, and graduated in 1909. After studying anthropology at the New School of Social ...

's famous distinction of societies into Apollonian and Dionysian, he said that precisely because of the strictly repressive (apollonian) nature of the Zuni society, the ritual clowns are needed as a dionysian element, a safety valve through which the community can give symbolic satisfaction to the antisocial tendencies.Cazeneuve (1957) p.244-5 quotation: Durand (1960) p.421Durand (1984) p.106 quotation: The Koyemshis clowns are characterized by a saturnalian symbolism.

Notes

References

* Jean Cazeneuve (1957
''Les dieux dansent à Cibola: le Shalako des indiens zuñis''
pp. 242–254. English version translated by Madeleine Turrell Rodack: ''The gods dance at Cibola''. **Republished in 1993 as ''Les Indiens Zunis — Les dieux dansent à Cibola'', éditions du Rocher/Nuage Rouge, preface by Olivier Delavault. Excerpts on sacred clowns from the 1993 edition

* Gilbert Durand (1960
''Les structures anthropologiques de l'imaginaire''
* Gilbert Durand (1984
1964''L'imagination symbolique''
also found i
SUP.: Initiation philosophique
(1954) * Revue de métaphysique et de morale: Volume 65 (1960)
Volumes 64-65Volume 65
Review of Cazeneuve (1957), pp. 117-seq

See also

Notes

References

Further reading