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Past Papers by Sabrina J Russo

It was just before dawn on the morning of May 1 st , 2011. The sound of voices mingled with the g... more It was just before dawn on the morning of May 1 st , 2011. The sound of voices mingled with the glow of electric lighting, as a drum beat and the faint notes from an old cassette broke the silence of sleep. In the kitchen of a Scottish farmhouse, I found myself surrounded by a crowd of about twenty people, some familiar, others less so, all assembled in this place with a particular sense of purpose. We drank tea together, as a sort of fortification against the cold we were all dreading outside, comparing the lengths of sleep we'd managed to get the night before, and discussing enthusiastically the sleep we intended on getting once our business was finished. In this room, we were individuals, joined with the purpose of participating in a ritual to honour the fertility of Spring, and to banish the Winter until the year came full circle once more. We assembled in the fields, singing dissonant songs of the warring seasons, simultaneously individuals, each with differing views of the concept of divinity, and part of a collective; a group observing a practice whose origins are as old as Mankind itself. Here, in the context of the ritual, the distinction between the concepts of the 'self' and the 'other' commingle in the morning light. Each individual present attended the ritual to experience a deeply personal communion with the divine-a personal experience that could not have been the same without the communal aspect of the group. The ritual places the participant between the poles of 'self' and 'other', and in those moments just before the sunrise, we experienced both, simultaneously reinforcing the significance of personal communion, and the significance of being a part of all that is: a communion with each other.

Miscellaneous by Sabrina J Russo

Papers by Sabrina J Russo

Ethnographic Encounters, Feb 15, 2012

It was just before dawn on the morning of May 1 st , 2011. The sound of voices mingled with the g... more It was just before dawn on the morning of May 1 st , 2011. The sound of voices mingled with the glow of electric lighting, as a drum beat and the faint notes from an old cassette broke the silence of sleep. In the kitchen of a Scottish farmhouse, I found myself surrounded by a crowd of about twenty people, some familiar, others less so, all assembled in this place with a particular sense of purpose. We drank tea together, as a sort of fortification against the cold we were all dreading outside, comparing the lengths of sleep we'd managed to get the night before, and discussing enthusiastically the sleep we intended on getting once our business was finished. In this room, we were individuals, joined with the purpose of participating in a ritual to honour the fertility of Spring, and to banish the Winter until the year came full circle once more. We assembled in the fields, singing dissonant songs of the warring seasons, simultaneously individuals, each with differing views of the concept of divinity, and part of a collective; a group observing a practice whose origins are as old as Mankind itself. Here, in the context of the ritual, the distinction between the concepts of the 'self' and the 'other' commingle in the morning light. Each individual present attended the ritual to experience a deeply personal communion with the divine-a personal experience that could not have been the same without the communal aspect of the group. The ritual places the participant between the poles of 'self' and 'other', and in those moments just before the sunrise, we experienced both, simultaneously reinforcing the significance of personal communion, and the significance of being a part of all that is: a communion with each other. Calling the quarters 1 : the elements converge Sitting in the crowded coffee shop I had chosen for my first venture into an anthropological understanding of the Pagans of Fife, I could not help but recall memories of my first meeting with the people I would later come to work with. I have always had an interest in Paganism, particularly in the strong community bonds of those who identify themselves as Pagans share. The term 'Pagan' is an umbrella term, used to encompass a wide variety of religious beliefs, generally

It was just before dawn on the morning of May 1 st , 2011. The sound of voices mingled with the g... more It was just before dawn on the morning of May 1 st , 2011. The sound of voices mingled with the glow of electric lighting, as a drum beat and the faint notes from an old cassette broke the silence of sleep. In the kitchen of a Scottish farmhouse, I found myself surrounded by a crowd of about twenty people, some familiar, others less so, all assembled in this place with a particular sense of purpose. We drank tea together, as a sort of fortification against the cold we were all dreading outside, comparing the lengths of sleep we'd managed to get the night before, and discussing enthusiastically the sleep we intended on getting once our business was finished. In this room, we were individuals, joined with the purpose of participating in a ritual to honour the fertility of Spring, and to banish the Winter until the year came full circle once more. We assembled in the fields, singing dissonant songs of the warring seasons, simultaneously individuals, each with differing views of the concept of divinity, and part of a collective; a group observing a practice whose origins are as old as Mankind itself. Here, in the context of the ritual, the distinction between the concepts of the 'self' and the 'other' commingle in the morning light. Each individual present attended the ritual to experience a deeply personal communion with the divine-a personal experience that could not have been the same without the communal aspect of the group. The ritual places the participant between the poles of 'self' and 'other', and in those moments just before the sunrise, we experienced both, simultaneously reinforcing the significance of personal communion, and the significance of being a part of all that is: a communion with each other.

Ethnographic Encounters, Feb 15, 2012

It was just before dawn on the morning of May 1 st , 2011. The sound of voices mingled with the g... more It was just before dawn on the morning of May 1 st , 2011. The sound of voices mingled with the glow of electric lighting, as a drum beat and the faint notes from an old cassette broke the silence of sleep. In the kitchen of a Scottish farmhouse, I found myself surrounded by a crowd of about twenty people, some familiar, others less so, all assembled in this place with a particular sense of purpose. We drank tea together, as a sort of fortification against the cold we were all dreading outside, comparing the lengths of sleep we'd managed to get the night before, and discussing enthusiastically the sleep we intended on getting once our business was finished. In this room, we were individuals, joined with the purpose of participating in a ritual to honour the fertility of Spring, and to banish the Winter until the year came full circle once more. We assembled in the fields, singing dissonant songs of the warring seasons, simultaneously individuals, each with differing views of the concept of divinity, and part of a collective; a group observing a practice whose origins are as old as Mankind itself. Here, in the context of the ritual, the distinction between the concepts of the 'self' and the 'other' commingle in the morning light. Each individual present attended the ritual to experience a deeply personal communion with the divine-a personal experience that could not have been the same without the communal aspect of the group. The ritual places the participant between the poles of 'self' and 'other', and in those moments just before the sunrise, we experienced both, simultaneously reinforcing the significance of personal communion, and the significance of being a part of all that is: a communion with each other. Calling the quarters 1 : the elements converge Sitting in the crowded coffee shop I had chosen for my first venture into an anthropological understanding of the Pagans of Fife, I could not help but recall memories of my first meeting with the people I would later come to work with. I have always had an interest in Paganism, particularly in the strong community bonds of those who identify themselves as Pagans share. The term 'Pagan' is an umbrella term, used to encompass a wide variety of religious beliefs, generally