Children in the Context of the Celebration of the Day of Remembrance of the Dead in Sicily: Status, Beliefs, Ritual Practices in the Past and Present

The author considers the place of children in the context of the celebration of the Day of Remembrance of the Dead in Sicily in the past and present; it is their central role in the local scenario of the healing of this formally Christian, but actually dating back to ancient cults holiday that makes the research region unique. The purpose of the analysis, in addition to detailed coverage of all the components of the celebration scenario, which has repeatedly attracted the attention of the researchers, but has not yet been comprehensively studied, is primarily to “decipher” the status and function of children involved in the festive action in the paradigm of anthropology, i.e. as “connectors” between the world of the dead and the world of the living ones, as well as associated beliefs, rituals and actions, in particular, the practice of gifting children. The study is based on the results of the author’s long-term fieldwork (from 2000 to 2022), as well as on data from ethnographic/historical sources. Using methods of structural and functional analysis, the author relies on concepts and theoretical and methodological principles developed in the depths of cultural and historical anthropology on the problems of religious studies, ancient cults, festive rituals, etc.; the historical approach allows us to identify the fundamental laws of the evolution of ritual practices, and regional studies — to correlate theoretical conclusions with the realities of the region under study.