Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/585
Author(s): Silva, Francisco Vaz da
Date: 2004
Title: The Madonna and the Cuckoo: An exploration in European symbolic conceptions
Journal title: Comparative Studies in Society and History
Volume: 46
Number: 2
Pages: 273-299
Reference: Silva, F. V. da (2004). The Madonna and the Cuckoo: An exploration in European symbolic conceptions. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 46(2), 273-299. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417504000143
ISSN: 0010-4175
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417504000143
Keywords: Portuguese ethnography
Simbolismo -- Symbolism
Renaissance painting
Cuckoo
Christian themes
Procreation
Abstract: The main hypothesis underlying this paper is that tiny faults in the seamless conceptual order of things may reveal unsuspected realms of meaning. The following discussion makes a case for this by examining a minute ethnographic problem at a Marian sanctuary in northern Portugal. But seeming pointless trivia may only yield insight into worldview, so goes the argument, on the condition that the analysis of data unfolds beyond both the conscious formulations of informants and the immediate ethnographical context. In other words, to get beyond the superficial aspect of things requires a comparative procedure. Hence, this piece is an experiment in the reconstitution of plural, interlocking contexts for the purpose of symbolic analysis. From a local question regarding the identity of a bird on statues depicting the Holy Family at the Portuguese sanctuary, the inquiry will unfold through folklore, ethnography, Christian art, and the Scriptures to evoke the mental landscapes that could reveal the enigmatic bird and make sense of it. As a solution gradually emerges, the newly found bird will, in turn, bring to light some basic traits of a metaphysical theory of reproduction that has long been perennial in Western cultures and, in fact, beyond.
Peerreviewed: yes
Access type: Open Access
Appears in Collections:DA-RI - Artigos em revista internacional com arbitragem científica

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