Abstract

This article examines folk ritual practices, including rituals for peace and well-being, votive-offering rituals, and spiritual interpretation, from the perspective of sacred consumption and ritual services in contemporary society. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the article demonstrates that people actively select, use, and pay for ritual services in the expectation of addressing specific concerns relating to employment, family, health, and everyday life. In this process, ritual specialists act as intermediaries between human beings and the sacred realm. Through their ritual knowledge, their ability to interpret misfortune and unexpected events, and the perceived efficacy of the rituals they perform, they make the sacred available as a resource that people can mobilize to cope with the uncertainties of contemporary life.

Keywords: Folk beliefs, modernization, ritual specialists, sacred consumption, spiritual security.