Varieties and transformations in emic interpretations of Catholic rituals in contemporary Podhale: a semiotic perspective on religious change

Abstract In this paper, I examine intergenerational differences in emic interpretations of various types of ritual references in the religious culture of the Podhale region (Poland), which is known for its lavish celebrations of Catholic holidays and rites of passage. Drawing on Roy Rappaport’s theory of ritual communication, particularly the distinction between self-referential and canonical messages, I analyze Podhale highlanders’ attitudes toward the self-referential messages communicated by ritual participants. The analysis of my respondents’ narratives revealed that a change in attitude toward ritual messages considering individual social status correlates with a change in the conceptualization of the ritual’s reference to its transcendent object. This paper presents this phenomenon through the lens of the basic concepts of Charles Sanders Peirce’s theory of semiosis and demonstrates that some changes in the religious culture of Podhale can be interpreted as changes in the dynamics between the components of the sign.