Symbolic Time
SYMBOLIC TIME is understood to be the temporal form that organizes the symbols of a religious system into an order of periodicity. The analysis of symbolic time extends the understanding of religion as a symbolic system, so that the major functions of time within the system may be taken into account: (1) the time intrinsic to the formation of religious symbols and to the ritual performance (i.e., the time that is internal to the sacred event), (2) the connection that symbolic time has with the history and dynamic of a religious social bond, and (3) the time that is specific to the intentional life of the individual.
Intentional Character of Symbolic Time
Symbolic periodicity encompasses, in its temporal structure, both change and duration, implying a sheer sequence of symbolic events and also a type of internal correlation of events and symbols that reflects the functional unity of the interval of time and the continuity of its structure.
The calendrical structure of the symbolic system has a complexity that differs from that of a means of time reckoning or chronology. The temporal order of symbolic events is quite different from the abstract concept of time as a continuous quantity infinitely divisible into successive parts that are homogeneous and impenetrable (Hubert and Mauss, 1909, p.
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