We are glad to share the photo serial “Jaffna thiruvilas” realized during her fieldwork by Stine Bruland, a PhD Fellow at the institute of Social Anthropology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
For almost 4 months, from June to September, the people in Jaffna worship and celebrate their Gods in the different temple festivals – the kovil thiruvilas- all over the town and the peninsula. When the festival in one temple ends, a new one starts in another temple. The men put on their veetis and the women their best saries – carefully selected days and sometimes months before. The elderly men polish their old, but mostly very well kept cars to bring their family to the temples. They go to see God, to see and be seen by others, to enjoy with their families, sit in the sand while waiting for God to come out of the temple while chatting and getting the latest news from friends and family, eating sweets and snacks from the many small temporary shops – all fully vegetarian as is also their diet during these months.
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
© Stine Bruland, 2012
About the author
Stine Bruland is a PhD Fellow at the institute of Social Anthropology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Her research concerns transnational family relationship among Sri Lankan Tamil families in Jaffna, Oslo and Paris, with a particular focus on generational relations, belonging and family rituals. Before taking up her position as a PhD fellow at NTNU, Stine was a research assistant at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, undertaking research on Sri Lankan Tamil families in Diaspora, concerning religious and family practices, and long-distance nationalism.
Publications:
Bruland, S., Forthcoming: “ ‘The eye like’: attractive aesthetics and creative processes of religiosity among Tamil Catholics and Hindus”. In (eds.) Savesek, M. and Meyer, B., Creativity in Transition. Politics and Aesthetics of Circulating Images. New York: Berghahn Books
Bruland, S., Forthcoming: “Long-distance aesthetics: Being here and there. Aesthetics and Emotions in Tamil Nationalism”. In (eds.) Fuglerud, Ø. and Wainwright, L., Art, objects and value; perspectives on creativity and materialization. New York: Berghahn Books
Bruland, S., 2013: “Transgressing Religious Boundaries. The Power of aesthetics in Tamil Hindu and catholic Prayer”. Journal of Material studies.
Bruland, S., 2012. “Nationalism as meaningful life projects in transnational Tamil families”. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35:12, 2134-2152. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2011.599851
Bruland, S., 2011. ‘Making Home(s). Repères générationnels et nationalisme comme instruments de making home(s), ”faire son chez-soi” chez les activistes politiques de la diaspora tamoule de Norvège’. Hommes et migrations, vol. 1291