them Christmas is just a day for gift giving and Easter has no significance
at all. (Easter is actually the more important holy day since it celebrates the
resurrection of Jesus, that which for many makes him truly the messiah,
the Christos, or anointed one.) Often those who claim to not be religious,
the so-called “nones,” do feel that certain kinds of “rituals” are extremely
important. It is not a stretch to argue that many sports events are deeply
spiritual for those who are avid fans. The annual football celebrations in
the United States are extremely important to many people. The Stanley
Cup finals in hockey and the World cup in soccer are examples. There is
almost a “religious” devotion to those events. But if someone watches a
hockey game or a soccer tournament it makes no sense what is going on
unless we know what the manifest and subtle aspects of those games
involve. We have to know the point of the game to get anything whatsoever
out of watching. Often those who are the most attentive to sports are those
who have themselves at one time been active players. They “know” the
game. When I watch the Super Bowl I know a bit about what is going on
because I played football in high school. I was a very poor player, still
largely uncoordinated at age seventeen, but nevertheless I do have at least
a rudimentary idea of the way the game ought to be played. I can appreci-
ate the beauty of the game. Despite all of the violence there is also a great
deal of subtle grace. The study of the international sport world and “sport”
in a globalized world of mass media is a fascinating topic in itself (Sage,
2010 );but, I bring it up here merely for the sake of comparison. Just as we
could study any specific sport in terms of a thick description of that sport,
we can also study the Balinese temple ritual. The sport (e.g., soccer) may be
very familiar to us and the Balinese ritual may seem utterly foreign, but the
methodological principles are essentially very similar.
When we describe any secular ritual or sacred ritual we have to know
alot just to begin to make meaningful observations. It would be impossi-
ble to simply observe and be absolutely inductive about what we see.
That is, we could report our findings on the basis of thick description
alone, but those familiar with the ritual would be a bit surprised we went
to such elaborate lengths to get it only half right. If we watch a match at
Wimbledon and have no idea what tennis involves, then it seems a lot
like two people just hitting a small ball. Similarly, if we observe a Jewish
Sabbath, and have no idea what it means to the celebrants (Zeitlin, 2012)
thenit seems a lot like it just involves people lighting some candles and
having a meal together. We cannot even begin to do “thick description”
until the rough contours of the symbolic interaction make at least a bit of
sense.
Geertz’s “Thick Description” and a Balinese Temple Ritual 93