Ritual - Demetres Xygalatas

WINNER OF THE CAROL R. EMBER BOOK PRIZE FOR SCIENTIFIC ANTHROPOLGYSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE From fire walking to funerals, the hidden science of the rituals that give life meaningRitual is perhaps the oldest, and certainly the most
enigmatic, thread in human culture. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented
society: from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we learned to farm, we were gathering in giant stone temples. And yet,
though rituals exist in every culture and can persist
nearly unchanged for centuries, their logic
has remained a mystery until now. Today, a fearless new generation of anthropologists is venturing into this shadowy realm. Armed with
cutting-edge technology and drawing on discoveries from a huge range
of disciplines, they emerge with a powerful new perspective
on our place in the world. Join the pathfinding
scientist Dimitris Xygalatas on a tour of human culture at its strangest. In coronations, in silent prayer, in fire-walks and in all the bewildering variety of humanity's ritual life, Xygalatas reveals the deep and subtle
mechanisms that bind
us together.