The Encyclopedia of World Religions

mystery religions S 307

music. Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas, pas sions, and B-minor Mass, Georg Friedrich Handel’s oratorios, including the Messiah, Franz Joseph Haydn’s The Creation, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Gabriel Faure’s Requiem, and Johannes Brahms’s German Requiem are just a few examples. SIGNIFICANCE There is a close relationship between religion and music. Music has contributed significantly to most, if not all, religious traditions. At the same time, religion has inspired the creation of musical masterpieces throughout the world. Further reading: Albert L. Blackwell, The Sacred in Music (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999); David W. Stowe, How Sweet the Sound: Music in the Spiritual Lives of Americans (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004); Lawrence E. Sullivan, ed., Enchanting Powers: Music in the World’s Religions (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997).

ordinary speech is inadequate for reciting sacred words, so one intones them instead. Chanting is often done by religious specialists: cantors, priests, reciters of the Q UR ’ AN , monks. Some Tibetan Bud dhist monks have developed an intriguing manner of chanting whereby a single voice can produce two pitches simultaneously, a fifth or a sixth along with a deep tonic. Some forms of chant are relatively simple. Each syllable receives a note or two. Other forms of chant are very ornate. Each syllable receives a large number of notes. The first kind of chant is called syllabic, the second melismatic. Chants in which syllables receive a moderate number of notes are called neumatic. In the Gregorian chants of the Roman Catholic Mass, chants that aim to instruct are syllabic, those connected with ritual action are neumatic, while those that aim to pro vide a basis for contemplation and reflection are melismatic. At one time or another, religious people also have used musical instruments of very kind: instru ments that are solid and vibrate, such as bells; instruments that have “heads” that vibrate, such as drums; instruments in which air vibrates, such as flutes; and instruments in which strings vibrate, such as zithers. Instruments are most often used to accompany singing. For example, indigenous North Americans often accompany their sing ing with drum beats or flute music. Instrumental music may mark the beginning and end of ritu als. In many temples people ring bells to attract a deity’s attention before they pray. It is relatively rare for purely instrumental music to be by itself the central RITUAL activity. Religions may give rise to special musical performances. These performances may focus on music, especially vocal music, or they may combine music with other arts, such as dance or drama. African religions often combine music and dance. So does Japanese S HINTO , in an event known as kagura. Performances in which Indo nesian gamelan orchestras accompany the telling of traditional myths such as the Ramayana ( see R AMA , R AMAYANA ) are well-known. Religion has also inspired some of the masterpieces of European

Muslim See I SLAM .

Muslim, Black See Islam, Nation of.

mystery religions Esoteric religions in the ancient Mediterranean world. Those who practiced mystery religions promised not to speak with out siders about the central RITUALS of these religions. As a result, the rituals were called “mysteries.” In the ancient Mediterranean world, people often practiced religions defined by the specific social and political communities to which they belonged. Families, villages, and states all had their own religious observances. Mystery religions were different. People practiced mystery religions apart from families, villages, and states. As single persons they joined special “associations.” These associations were formed solely in order to prac tice the mysteries.