The Victim and Its Masks An Essay on Sacrifice and Masquerade in the Maghreb |
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| Author:
| Hammoudi, Abdellah |
| Translator:
| Wissing, Paula |
| ISBN: | 978-0-226-31525-6 |
| Publication Date: | Nov 1993 |
| Publisher: | University of Chicago Press
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| Book Format: | Hardback |
| List Price: | USD $99.00 |
Book Description:
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Each year, in a solemn Sunni Muslim feast, the Ait Mizane of southern Morocco reenact the story of Abraham as a ritual sacrifice, a symbolic observance of their submission to the divine. After this sober ceremony comes a bacchanalian masquerade which seems to violate every principle the sacrifice affirmed. Because of the apparent contradiction between sacrifice and masquerade, observers have described the two as entirely separate events. This book reunites them as a single ritual...
More DescriptionEach year, in a solemn Sunni Muslim feast, the Ait Mizane of southern Morocco reenact the story of Abraham as a ritual sacrifice, a symbolic observance of their submission to the divine. After this sober ceremony comes a bacchanalian masquerade which seems to violate every principle the sacrifice affirmed. Because of the apparent contradiction between sacrifice and masquerade, observers have described the two as entirely separate events. This book reunites them as a single ritual process within Islamic tradition.