__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,Jonathan Z. Smith (1995) The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion pp.1093-1094Jones, Lindsay (2005) Encyclopedia of religion, Volume 6, p.1498 quotation: Cazeneuve (1957) p.242 quotation: and they typically employ scatology and obscenities.Louis A. Hieb (1972) Meaning and Mismeaning: Toward an Understanding of the Ritual Clown In: Alfonso Ortiz (ed.) (1984) New Perspectives on the Pueblos; pp. 163-195. quotation: Ritual clowning is where comedy and satire originated; in Ancient Greece, ritual clowning, phallic processions and ritual aischrologia found their literary form in the plays of Aristophanes.Reckford, Kenneth J. (1987) Aristophanes' Old-and-new Comedy: Six essays in perspective pp.449-51, 461-67 quotation: Thomas H. Lewis The Medicine Men: Oglala Sioux Ceremony and Healing p.151Aristotle, in the Poetics, famously mentioned ritual clowning (phallika) and said that it is where comedy and satire originated. Poetics, 1449a-b 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 (2005)The Zuni pp.24-5Cazeneuve (1957) p.242 quotation: French sociologist Jean Cazeneuve is particularly renowned for elucidating the role of ritual clowns;Makarius, Laura (1970) Ritual Clowns and Symbolical Behaviour in Diogenes, March 1970 18: 44-73. Also collected in Diogenes Issues 69-72, pp.52-3 quotation: reprising Ruth Benedict'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.Revue (1960) p.118 quotation: Cazeneuve (1957) p.244-5 quotation: Durand (1960) p.421Durand (1984) p.106 quotation: The Koyemshis clowns are characterized by a saturnalian symbolism.
See also Avadhuta Clown Booger dance Chou role Clown society Contrary (social role) Divine madness The Fool (tarot card) Foolishness for Christ Heyoka Jester Pueblo clown Sacred Clowns Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Trickster
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: Quand les Katchinas dansent a Cibola(2). DANSEURS MASQUES ET CLOWNS SACRES DES ZUNIS Gilbert Durand (1960) Les structures anthropologiques de l'imaginaire Gilbert Durand (1984) 1964 L'imagination symbolique also found in SUP.: Initiation philosophique (1954) Revue de métaphysique et de morale: Volume 65 (1960) (Volumes 64-65, Volume 65) Review of Cazeneuve (1957), pp. 117-seq
Further reading Jean Cazeneuve (1956) Sacred Clowns in New Mexico/Clowns sacrés du Nouveau Mexique, in Paris Review Jean Cazeneuve (1958) Les rites et la condition humaine. Paris : P. U. F.