[The Coffin in the attic: gifts, debts and the catholic church in rural Lithuania. Lina Pranaitytė] : recenzija

EN'The Coffin in the Attic' is based on Lina Pranaitytė’s anthropological fieldwork carried out in the Dzūkija region in 2008 and 2009. The book focuses on the Catholic Church and exchange practices among Catholics in rural Lithuania. Based on detailed ethnographic descriptions from her field site, Pranaitytė explores the parishioners’ relationship to the Church, to the priest, to each other, and to the dead. Pranaitytė analyses the importance of ritualised gift-giving among Catholics from a Maussian perspective. She wishes to demonstrate that conducting an analysis of Catholic practices through a focus on exchange can bring new insights into the ways we perceive Catholicism, as the Church is held together through the act of gifts and debts. This angle emphasises how tight the priest/Church/parish are bound together by the constant exchange of gifts and services, without which the Church would not be able to function. [...]. [Extract, p. 176]