ABSTRACT

Drawing on the Manchester and Salford Whit Walks, a Church of England Whitsuntide procession, this research adopts della Dora’s concept of the infrasecular to interpret the interstitiality of the religious or civic nature of leisure experiences in the urban context. Processional walking at Whitsuntide originated as a pre-industrial custom that was simultaneously a religious and a leisure practice. However, with the decline of religion the meanings the Whit Walks have changed in a number of dimensions. Using the lens of infrasecular geography, this research explored the ways in which these Walks have remade sacred space in the secular city through an historical account of their evolution, interviews with participants and observation. The research re-emphasises the continuing importance of custom to contemporary leisure practice and through the infrasecular lens enables new insights into the dynamics of the historical spaces of leisure practice. The study concludes that religion remains an important influence on leisure and that the concept of the infrasecular merits further investigation in leisure practices.

摘要

本研究借鉴了英格兰教会 Whitsuntide 游行的曼彻斯特和索尔福德惠特步行道，采用 della Dora 的非宗教概念来解释城市环境中休闲体验的宗教或公民性质的间隙性。Whitsuntide 的游行队伍起源于前工业时代的习俗，它同时是一种宗教和休闲活动。然而，随着宗教的衰落，惠特步行的含义在许多方面发生了变化。本研究利用亚世俗地理学的视角，通过对其演变的历史叙述、对参与者的采访和观察，探索了这些步行如何重塑世俗城市中的​​神圣空间。该研究再次强调了习俗对当代休闲实践的持续重要性，并通过次要视角使人们对休闲实践的历史空间的动态有了新的见解。该研究得出的结论是，宗教仍然对休闲产生重要影响，并且次要概念值得在休闲实践中进一步研究。