In:
Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, Cambridge University Press (CUP), Vol. 53, No. 3 ( 1998-06), p. 481-504
Abstract:
A rite, called the “spreading of the sheet”, was practiced in Fes from the 13th century til the 1950s. The rite finds its source in the social, religious and political history of the city during the Middle Ages. In the first part of this study, after having established the existence of the Sheet rite in the 13th century, we will examine the content of the rite, in other words, the anthropological form of the rite that the oulema had occasion to judge. The latter, pretending to ignore the magico-pagan dimensions of the rite, were content to condemn the ritual for socio-economic reasons. The second part of the paper analyses the main functions of the Sheet rite within the city and makes a distinction between a manifest, obstetrical function, aimed at warding off a demographic threat, and a latent function of islamic urban integration. Finally, in the third part, the Sheet rite acquires a competitor in the Trousers rite, whose latent function is to provide the Merinides with the religious legitimacy that they were lacking since they took hold of power. One can also offer the hypothesis of a battle between the two rites, which would pose the question of the relationship of symbolic domination between the political cite and the civil society, between the Prince and the city.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0395-2649
,
1953-8146
DOI:
10.3406/ahess.1998.279679
Language:
English
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Publication Date:
1998
detail.hit.zdb_id:
298-7
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2209294-8
SSG:
8,2
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