Introduction. Processions and the construction of communities

Abstract

In this short introduction, we outline several theoretical premises concerning the particularities of processions and how they can contribute to the construction and smooth running of a community. Notwithstanding their meagre details, the sources provide a glimpse of how the ritual particularities of processions actively contributed to create and shape communities, and how the inhabitants imagined their communities. Processions are performative not only because they consist in a performance, but also because they construct reality. They are not mere reflections or images of communities; rather, they contribute to the creation of the community itself, the group in action. To borrow Kertzer’s words on ritual, “it is by participating in rituals that people identify with larger political forces that can only be seen in symbolic form”. Processions probably represent one of the most vibrant of rituals; they are also among those that actively involve the greatest number of people, as they depend heavily on actors and spectators alike, as will be discussed below. Given that “the reality of community lies in its members’ perception of the vitality of its culture”, as Anthony P. Cohen remarked in his seminal study on the construction of communities, the study of processions is a key element in understanding how a community functions.