The ritual’s plain simplicity argues against its being a deliberate fabrication
Evidence
Finally, the fundamental symbolic gestures remain elementary and unembellished. Were the descriptions merely concocted to fool an audience, they would be more elaborate and unnaturally precise, for exaggeration and the wish to impress are inseparable. The fact that mafiosi are generally well-versed in the art of impressing others makes the simplicity and directness of their ritual all the more striking. It possesses a concentration of evocative power typical of ritual in oral cultures. Everything converges on the blood spilled on the card, which is then set on fire: the two original symbols become indistinguishable, la stessa cosa. The details may be forgettable; the essence clearly is not. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 393
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- DEEPTHINKING: The argument that fabrications would be elaborate while genuinely functional symbols stay simple — because simplicity is what endures in oral transmission — is a subtle inversion of the intuition that legends embellish themselves. This is a methodological point about how to read invented vs. real tradition.