We’re listening to the sounds of a dance which is a form of ritualized combat. It’s part of the celebration of the Festival on San Antonio which takes place in Venezuela this month. It turns out that many traditional festivals around the world include some kind of symbolic conflict – our question is why? I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“I think that culture’s always being negotiated and always being fought over. That it is a struggle and that ways in which thousands and thousands of people can come together, many times in a very excited way with music, drink, dancing and have a way in which to both challenge norms and control them at the same time, demands the type of framework that festivals give.”
David Guss is a Professor of Anthropology at Tufts University. He tells us that festivals provide an arena where revelers can confront social tensions, while staying within the boundaries of ritual and tradition.
“Festivals are about resolving all sorts of anxiety in terms of national identity, racial, ethnic, community identity and that festivals are ways of resolving those questions. Even if it’s very short term. What this shows is that festivals are very dynamic historical processes and, like culture themselves, they’re continually unfolding and changing. Festivals are a way of collectively acting out these problems and questions and perhaps finding some short term resolutions for them.”
Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.