Pageantry and secularization : the Malta case

Abstract

In this paper 'pageantry' is being, understood as the 'display of the magnificent', in whichever medium this display is expressed. Sociology is interested in pageantry in so fair a,s it is a: very effective mode of mass communication, and to the extent that, through it, social forces are generated in a way that drives men to participate with intensity in group life. My main interest here is 'religious pageantry", but this type of pageantry cannot be fully understood without reference to other, largely non-religious, types.