סינקרטיזם תרבותי בישראל: התחדשות מסורות אתניות של עולים ושילובן בתרבות החברה הקולטת

The article deals with immigrant groups in Israel constructed their ethnic identity by reviving their ethnic festivals and turning them into part of Israeli society, starting in the 1960s. For the immigrants, especially the younger generation, these festivals serve as a collective “definitional ceremony,” with an intersection of ethnicity, culture, and identity, and have developed cultural and religious syncretism.The revival of the ethnic festivals of the immigrants from North Africa, Kurdistan, and Ethiopia was an aspect of the protests by marginal groups against the political and social center. It was part of an ongoing process of “ethnic politics,” that is, attempts to acquire political power by means of rhetoric and symbols of ethnic identity, with the bulk of the activity focused in the cultural sphere .Immigration to Israel is a classic case of what is known as “ethno-national homecoming,” that is, a national political movement of return to the homeland, under the auspices of the nation-state. Scholars have shown that this type of relocation can provide the immigrants with a platform for progress and release from the tensions that may derive from ethnic labeling. At the same time, however, their new home is an arena of struggle fueled by their expectations of belonging, as in the case of Israeli society .In this complex ethnic situation, the article examines the movement of the ethnic festivals to the Israeli cultural center, and analyzes the ways in which immigrants and minorities, directed by their leaders, employ rituals and ceremonies to open and close social and cultural boundaries with the Other. Its discussion of the social and political leaders’ ethnic activism may provide important insights about the ways in which immigrant leaders employ their ethnic tradition asa resource for mobilizing cultural, social, and political capital that will facilitate their penetration of the cultural mainstream.