The Way Mixed-Methods Can Capture Ritual’s Identity Modifications: The Case of Boules in Naoussa, Greece

Alexandros Rizopoulos

Ionian University

My PhD research started right in the middle of the pandemic period and forced me to examine how I could deal with virtual techniques in collaboration with physical fieldwork. An approach that blended these two techniques appeared as the most appropriate tool to research an upcoming ritual from Naoussa (Imathia, Greece) as well as the way in which the identity of the ritual was modified in response to changing circumstances brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Naoussa is a small city in northern Greece that is renowned for its active music and dance community, which organizes numerous significant events throughout the year. Bules is the most popular of Naoussa’s events and takes place annually at the end of February. It lasts for two weeks and coincides with the Carnival period. The people of Naoussa begin organizing the ritual almost two months before its actualization. The ritual starts early in the morning and stops after dancers and musicians have performed non-stop for about fourteen hours. Participating is quite hard, which is why the vast majority of the participants are young people. The two-month-long organization period includes dance and music rehearsals, smaller celebrations, and the manufacturing of special costumes. Participants’ families, as well as friends, colleagues, musicians, and older dancers, who no longer take part in the ritual itself, are all involved in this organization period.

My interest as an ethnographer was initially piqued by the diverse meanings people hold for Bules. This ritual, firstly, is so popular that many tourists visit Naoussa for a couple of days. As such, the event remains a financial and commercial highlight that helps the local economy. Secondly, as Bules occurs during the Carnival period, many people perceive it as an opportunity for partying, drinking, dancing, flirting, and, in general, having fun. The third character of the ritual is linked with the ancient Dionysian Greek rituals. Several scholars from Naoussa, such as Emmanouil Valsamides (2004), Christos Zalios (2009) and Dimitris Baitsis (2010), argue that Bules is an ancient ritual deeply rooted in the region’s past. The kinaesthetic features of performance, as well as various elements of the ritual, such as the costumes and masks, illustrate the ancient Dionysian ritual identity. In conclusion, financial, celebrational, and Dionysian are the three ideological aspects which form the identity of Bules.

I was scheduled to prepare for my trip to the field at the end of November 2021, although I felt that conducting fieldwork during the pandemic period might be too risky. At the same time, the Greek government imposed new restrictions which did not allow me to solidify my schedule completely, or be sure that I was on track for my program. For those of us who were supposed to conduct fieldwork, “the pandemic had made contingency planning a central part of our research designs” (Krause and Szekely 2021). Due to new restrictions, any musical performance in Greece, including Naoussa, was prohibited. Reflecting on my own thoughts, I considered the claim that, “as the pandemic is closing off traditional fieldwork options, it is opening others. In a world of social distancing, cyberspace is ‘the field’” (Krause et al. 2021, 1). Until the day I arrived at my fieldsite, I supposed the virtual field was only the internet articles and the e-books I had already read. Even though virtual ethnography had been prominent for several decades (see Lysloff and Gay 2003), I was planning on conducting more “traditional” fieldwork. Lockdown, however, forced me to proceed with more hybrid solutions which helped me understand how physical and virtual fields can be combined.

I knew that people from Naoussa did not have the chance to organize their ritual during the total lockdown during the previous year. This is why the whole city had a powerful desire to make it happen in the year 2022. The way they started preparing for the event was an interesting issue. I had already observed that social distancing and fear of spreading the virus necessitated virtual communication. Social media and individual posts, such as older ritual’s videos, photos and comments, were important tools for promoting the forthcoming event. Unfortunately, a few days before the Bules period, the Greek government decided to continue to prohibit any Carnival event or celebration. People were well prepared, and they wanted to find a way to hold Bules at any cost. However, trespassing restrictions had a tremendous penalty fee and, moreover, defying the government’s restrictions could negatively affect future festivals in upcoming years.

During my stay in Naoussa, I witnessed how people communicate their feelings and thoughts when speaking about the ritual and how the ritual itself, in turn, affected people. In fact, the three ideological aspects discussed earlier, financial, celebrational and Dionysian, are not entirely separate from one another. People are not divided into the three groups; they just address their distinct meanings when discussing the ritual’s moral and ethical issues. Communication was even more influential through social media, because people could express themselves more freely. COVID limitations as a pre-existing protocol and the winter period increased virtual communication even for older people who before did not frequently use this form of communication. I was watching how people from Naoussa were reacting to the new restrictions and getting depressed about the upcoming period of isolation. It seemed to me as a time-lapse where, day by day, people started to care less about the financial and commercial aspects of the ritual and more about its deeper and more existential identity. Nobody can prove the connectivity between Bules and historical ancient Greek Dionysian rituals, but local scholars argue this connection helps locals embrace their cultural identity. The Dionysian meanings Bules addresses are the passage from death to life, from winter to spring, from adolescence to maturity.

I was not aware that being physically in the field could affect the virtual field and my perception of it. I realized that, by physically being in Naoussa, I began to receive more specific local information due to website cookies and online location recognition. As a consequence, the field itself was occurring in two places: the first consisted of physical space, and the second consisted of cyberspace information, especially that of social media. This mixed-methods research approach, composed of both physical and virtual fields, was the main methodology I used in order to capture how the Bules ritual changed in the context of the Greek government’s restrictions.

During the last week, before the pre-ordered ritual’s start, I witnessed a special occasion: while any Carnival event was still prohibited by law, a group of individuals, consisting of super active people on social media, made a strategic decision to emphasize the ancient Greek Dionysian aspects of the ritual. Every year, by custom, the ritual receives its actualization permission from the municipality. Due to the restrictions, there was no chance of receiving this consent. Despite that, this group argued that Bules is not a Carnival celebration, but rather, its identity is linked to ancient Greek Dionysian rituals. It is a dramaturgic performance dealing with the deepest existential idea: the passage from death to life. This was the only way the ritual could be separated from the rest of the Carnival customs. Subsequently, they suggested performing it without an audience. Since this performance would not be linked to Carnival, and be carried out only by the dancers and musicians, this group argued that the government’s restrictions should not apply to the Bules ritual.

Finally, Naoussa received permission and performed the ritual without an audience and without any penalty fee. It was important that this initiative was undertaken by the people of Naoussa and not the local authorities. They made a significant decision about the identity of the Bules ritual, which allowed them to find a solution to their problem. They had the agency to address their opinion, to feel free to form and transform their ritual identity, and this demonstrated why and how Bules is such a significant ritual for them. The only technique that helped me to capture this transformation successfully was an approach that combined both physical and virtual field opportunities.

References

Baitsis, Dimitris. 2010. Gianitsaroi and Bules from Naoussa. Naoussa: Omilos.

Balsamides, Emmanouil. 2004. The Rhythms of the Songs in the Ritual “Boules of Naoussa.” Naoussa: Type Press.

Krause, Peter, Ora Szekely, Mia Bloom, Fotini Christia, Sarah Zukerman Daly, Chappell Lawson, Zoe Marks, et al. 2021. “COVID-19 and Fieldwork: Challenges and Solutions.” PS: Political Science & Politics 54 (2): 264–69.

Lysloff, René T.A. and Leslie C. Gay, eds. 2003. Music and Technoculture. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press

Zalios, Christos. 2009 Traditional Dances and Customs of Naoussa. Naoussa: Private Edition.