Anthropology Research seminar: Inducing trance and ecstasy in the “borica” ritual from Transylvania, Romania

The “borica” has been performed in the “Three villages” probably since the Middle Ages. What is intriguing is the essential difference between the movement strategies of the two main groupings, the young men, and the masked figures called “kuka”. While the former execute a rigorous choreography consisting of precise, coordinated steps and sophisticated spacial shapes, the “kukas” perform in an opposite way, acknowledged by local people as 'anti-dance'. My hypothesis is that the two types of strategies lead to different modalities of altered consciousness, which are trance-like and ecstasy-like. After a whole day of performing patterned, repetitive, focused, energetic dance movements with small amplitude the youngsters reach the “automatization” of their acting, arriving to an interiorized state of mind. The “kukas”, who behave without spacial and temporal restrictions in a hyperactive, chaotic, unregulated way, may go wild. This generates a “breaking the rule” feeling, a frenzy of the illusion of liberation from physical laws and social norms. As they say, they “go up to the fairy heaven”. A short film will be shown as part of the presentation.