Introduction to the Program
News
Religion for Lunch: “The Making of the Maypole: Sacred Masculinity and ritual preparation at Glastonbury’s Beltane Festival”
The ritual preparation of the Maypole for Glastonbury’s Beltane festival is a complex process, involving four separate rituals spread over seven weeks prior to the day itself. In this presentation I examine this process in detail and describe the nature of Glastonbury’s Green Men, an all-male ritual group tasked with this sacred responsibility. The Green Men embody a specific vision of sacred masculinity, within a religion, Neo- Paganism, in which it is the divine feminine which is more typically prioritized. This presentation examines how concepts of gender and community are both challenged and reconciled in the preparation for the Beltane rites at Glastonbury.
The ritual preparation of the Maypole for Glastonbury’s Beltane festival is a complex process, involving four separate rituals spread over seven weeks prior to the day itself. In this presentation I examine this process in detail and describe the nature of Glastonbury’s Green Men, an all-male ritual group tasked with this sacred responsibility. The Green Men embody a specific vision of sacred masculinity, within a religion, Neo- Paganism, in which it is the divine feminine which is more typically prioritized. This presentation examines how concepts of gender and community are both challenged and reconciled in the preparation for the Beltane rites at Glastonbury.
Religion for Lunch: “Why Were They Arrested? Religious Leaders and Korea’s 1980 Gwangju Democratization”
My talk will focus on the role Catholic priests and women associated with the YWCA played during a violent attack by the South Korean military on the South Korean city of Gwangju in May, 1980. I will ask why they were arrested, but Protestant pastors and Buddhist monks were not.
My talk will focus on the role Catholic priests and women associated with the YWCA played during a violent attack by the South Korean military on the South Korean city of Gwangju in May, 1980. I will ask why they were arrested, but Protestant pastors and Buddhist monks were not.
