The Burning Saints Cognition and Culture in the Fire-walking Rituals of the Anastenaria Dimitris Xygalatas
Published by Equinox Publishing Ltd. UK: Unit S3, Kelham House, 3 Lancaster Street, Sheffield, S3 8AF USA: ISD, 70 Enterprise Drive, Bristol, CT 06010 www.equinoxpub.com First published 2012 Š Dimitris Xygalatas 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. ISBN
978-1-84553-976-4
(hardback)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data [to follow] Typeset by S.J.I. Services, New Delhi Printed and bound in the UK by MPG Books Group
Contents
List of illustrations Acknowledgements
viii ix
1. Introduction
1
2. Tradition in the making
13
3. The ethnographic setting
35
4. Fire-walking in Agia Eleni
61
5. Knowledge and revelation among the Anastenaria
97
6. Ritual and Cognition
113
7. Costly Rituals
131
8. Arousal, emotion, and motivation
143
9. The physiology of high arousal rituals
173
10. Putting it all together
191
Notes Bibliography Index
203 211 ???
vii