Ex-voto

A ex-voto is an offering made with a god in thanks: Statue S, statuettes, crockery,… By extension, the term also indicates an object or inscription placed in, a place of worship, a church or a place of Pèlerinage in thanks of a grace obtained. These objects can take multiple forms: plates, crucifix, but also, according to the areas and the subjects of the prayers: models of boats, tee-shirts of sportsmen, military decorations, etc In Latin, ex voto means “ according to the Wish ” (in accordance with what was wished). Also says itself, by denigration, of a bad table whose subject is pious.

Ex-voto :

Etymologiquement, “ ex-voto ” is a loan with the Latin language attested for the first time in 1643 in Saint-Lover (Saint-Lover, Poésies). The term is composed of Latin “ ex ” (following, according to) and of “ voto ” (wish), is derived from Vovere, Votum (to make a wish) and is resulting from the expression “ ex-voto suscepto ” meaning “consequently wish”. The dictionaries propose a whole of them a definition, except for some alternatives, similar: “objects placed in a place venerated in achievement of a wish or recognition”. It is to be specified that liturgical encyclopedias (Dictionary of Christian archeology and liturgy, article: ex-voto and donarium .) also return at the end official of the canonical legislation: “ Donarium, Donaria, Donaria votiva and Tabellæ votivæ ”.

This definition distinguishes two paramount aspects for comprehension from the votive gesture: the deposit of an intended object, either to support a request near a divinity, or to thank for a grace obtained, the first is thus known as propitiatory, the second gratulatoire. The last shape of offering, with undetectable typology, is sometimes attested; it consists in depositing an ex-voto without defined reason, only in order to remember to the memory of the called upon divinity, one it known as supererogatory. These various gestures reveal the single nature of the ex-voto: the exchange. An intrinsic nature, tinted idea of contract; the exchange of a tangible property against a desire. But the deposit of these objects is characterized by the creation of a bond sacrilized between dédicant and the guardian divinity and by spiritual engagement or the gratitude of dédicant. The ex-voto has of another value only that which is granted to him by the direction that one gives him. That it is a fine marble sculpture or a simple shard, it is never that symbol and has of another singularity only that which is due to its function; quality, the artisanal and technical performances do not intervene in its exclusively sociological statute. It is constitutive of the human being to exchange, and as regards wishes, all can be offered, so the ex-voto is not easily seizable typologiquement and sociologiquement since it is the universality of the social process of the exchange; whether it is propitiatory, gratulatoire, or supererogatory.

Historical and diffusion area.

The concept of ex-voto is originally in correlation with that of divinity; it would be thus possible to make some go up the concept as of the Neolithic eras or in civilizations Egyptian woman and mésopotamienne. However the first attested votive deposits are localized in Cyprus around first front millenium J.C. In right-hand side filiation, it seems, of the use that made the Greeks of them, the Etruscans and the Roman world used abundantly of the ex-voto in its meaning théurgical. If it appears attested that the ex-voto did not take share with the Gallic religious rites, it will a contrario be assimilated perfectly as a Gaulle Roman, particularly within the framework of the worship of water and the divinities healers (C. Middle-class, Divona. Divinities and ex-voto of the Roman worship gallo of water , Paris, De Boccard, 1991.). Certainly inherited paganism, these habits will perdureront within high Christianity. Initially fought by the Church during the Early middle ages, the deposit of ex-voto will be standardized without being however attached to any officialized liturgical exercise. In all Christendom, the votive fact will be integrated into the pertaining to worship demonstrations and the pilgrimages. In aside of the official worships, the popular religion will use of the ex-votos sometimes at the borders of the superstition, even of the profanation. Western Christianity will then have a catalyst effect on their use which will be diffused in the colonies (specifically in Latin America); the orthodoxe religion will extend some, it, the use as far as minor Asia. A direct transmission of paganism to Christianity, if it is not to exclude in certain particular aspects, remains to be shown in all the votive uses and specifically with regard to the anthropomorphic ex-votos.

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