Rôles et caractères comparés des confreéries dans les fêtes provençales. (French)

PROVENCE (France); FRANCE

This article tries to study the functions and significance of brotherhoods in local feasts in Provence (France). The analysis, based on classical research and on two precise examples, shows that different kinds of brotherhoods exist. They are specific both in their actions and in how they represent themselves. Being involved in a brotherhood means being concerned with popular religion and traditionalism, as well as with folklore and local development. Brotherhoods can also be classified by criteria such as their age, their more or less serious way of performing rituals, the way they are organized, or how their members participate. In spite of their differences, however, these groups play a prominent part since they give an official structure to local social life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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