Ritualets betydning for hinduer i udlændighed

Resumé

Using the Srilankan-tamil Hindus in Denmark as an example, this article discusses the ways rituals can contribute to the making of identity in a cultural encounter and thus change the intentiónality in Sri Lanka. This can result in either a ritual exclusiveness, where the Srilankan-tamil Hindues point out their religious particularity, or an enlargement, where a religious ritual becomes a common cultural expression among the Tamils whether they are Hindus, Muslims or Christians.

At the same time the article emphasizes through these examples that the rituals must be understood as a category in and by itself and not in a combination with either myth or any text as put forward in the re.enactment theory.