Obstinate forms, latency, change: From a Vovellian notion to contemporary festive practices

While studying festive practices, historian Michel Vovelle identified “obstinate forms”—“formal structures capable of rising from their ashes in entirely different contexts.” Re-examining the criteria of such “obstinacy” allows us to update this 1980s concept. In its reformulated version, it connects with the notion of “latent custom” (Van Gennep), as well as with more established concepts such as “revitalization” and the “invention of tradition.”