TY - JOUR

T1 - Graduation in Denmark

T2 - Secular Ritual and Civil Religion

AU - Warburg, Margit

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - Secular rituals are ceremonies having the characteristics of religious rituals but without a transcendental reference. The traditions and ceremonies associated with graduation from the secondary school system in Denmark is apparently such a secular ritual, and the entire period of graduation has all the characteristics of a rite of passage. The graduates wear a traditional cap with a cross as cockade emblem; this special cross is a symbol of Denmark. For graduates of non-Christian background, alternative cockade emblems are available, e.g. a Star of David or a crescent; this shows that the cross emblem is also perceived as a Christian symbol. Social anthropologists Sally Moore and Barbara Myerhoff have suggested a scheme of the categories of religious versus scared for analysing secular rituals where religious symbols are sometimes exhibited. The applicability of their approach is discussed in the analysis of a central part of the Danish graduation ritual, which is a tradition-laden ride through town with the graduates sitting on the platform of a richly decorated old truck. Finding that the approach of Moore and Myerhoff is not particularly yielding in this case I suggest that it is more meaningful to analyse this ritual ride as an expression of Danish civil religion.

AB - Secular rituals are ceremonies having the characteristics of religious rituals but without a transcendental reference. The traditions and ceremonies associated with graduation from the secondary school system in Denmark is apparently such a secular ritual, and the entire period of graduation has all the characteristics of a rite of passage. The graduates wear a traditional cap with a cross as cockade emblem; this special cross is a symbol of Denmark. For graduates of non-Christian background, alternative cockade emblems are available, e.g. a Star of David or a crescent; this shows that the cross emblem is also perceived as a Christian symbol. Social anthropologists Sally Moore and Barbara Myerhoff have suggested a scheme of the categories of religious versus scared for analysing secular rituals where religious symbols are sometimes exhibited. The applicability of their approach is discussed in the analysis of a central part of the Danish graduation ritual, which is a tradition-laden ride through town with the graduates sitting on the platform of a richly decorated old truck. Finding that the approach of Moore and Myerhoff is not particularly yielding in this case I suggest that it is more meaningful to analyse this ritual ride as an expression of Danish civil religion.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Religionssociologi

KW - Civilreligion

KW - Studentereksamen

KW - Ritualer

KW - Sociology of Religion

KW - Civil religion

KW - Graduation

KW - Ritual

M3 - Journal article

VL - 23

SP - 31

EP - 42

JO - Journal of Ritual Studies

JF - Journal of Ritual Studies

SN - 0890-1112

IS - 2

ER -