JASO - Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology - University of ...

A Quaker Ritual 29
declare it as their intention to apply their experiences and insights to the 'needs of
our times'. For the ritual to be acceptable to friends, it needs not only to be simplified,
shorn of images, crosses, and holy shrines, but also to express their presentday
beliefs and concerns.
In adapting an ancient ritual, Quakers have produced a pilgrimage meaningful
for their religious life in the post-modem age. Charles Jencks, approaching postmodernism
as an architect, considers that it has 'a concern with meaning, continuity
and symbolism' (1996: 46), while multiculturalism and the idea of plurality are
basic features of the movement (ibid.). The weakness of the movement, he notes,
is that it gives rise to social insecurity. The tendency to fragmentation in the Society
in the late twentieth century is a cause for concern among its members and has
led to much self-questioning as to the meaning of the message and the search for a
unifYing principle. There are an astonishing number of groups in so small a Society,
ranging from long-standing committees concerned with the peace testimony,
education, or social concern, to more recent groups such as Quaker Green Concern
and Quaker Lesbian and Gay Fellowship, and to the more theological New Foundation
Fellowship and the Quaker UniversaIist Group-the two extremes of
Quaker belief. In her Swarthmore Lecture of 1997, Christine Trevett presses for a
renewed study of the lives and teaching of the founding members. Dandelion, citing
their way of conducting business-no voting, a nominations committee, use of
special phrases-suggests that 'the only glue left' is 'the Quaker way of doing
things' (The Friend, 26 June 1998: 13). Peter Collins suggests that 'plaining', the
substitution of elaborate ritual by very simple symbols and an unostentatious lifestyle,
is deeply ingrained in Quakerism, and this forms a powerful bond. 'Plaining',
he writes, 'is a polysemic practice through which Quakers with different
theological inclinations can identifY themselves as united' (1996: 287). The
Quaker pilgrimage can be added to Collins' examples of 'plained activity'.
The Quaker pilgrimage can only be a partial answer to the Society's need for a
unifYing activity. Apart from the Youth Pilgrimage, which began as part of young
Friends' education-and leaving aside the residential Summer Gathering-the
pilgrimages attract no crowds, and most participants act on their own initiative.
Nor are pilgrimages the only activity undertaken to revive the memory of early
Quakers and the world in which the movement had its origins. At a 'William Penn
Weekend' in 1996, Quakers rehearsed the 'Penn-Meade Trial', perhaps the first in
England where the jury asserted its right not to convict on the instruction of the
judge. In 1997, the 350th anniversary of the Putney Debates, this event was acted
out with live debates on comparable issues of today, ones of international and
global concern. Some local Meetings celebrate their own tercentenaries or other
anniversaries.
Other Quakers, however, are unhappy about marking any times and seasons.
Complaints were voiced when The Friend produced special articles for the Christmas
issue, whereas others felt that Good Friday and Easter should have been