Despite explicit and emphatic reiteration of the metaphysics believed to be at play in the acts and the theology upon which such metaphysics are predicated, the Festival of Colors remains a popular event for Mormons. How such distinctly non-Mormon religious practice can be understood as—and commodified as—wholesome entertainment with a dash of cultural education for Mormons makes the Festival of Colors a fascinating case for the study of religion.
Not only does the Festival of Colors illustrate the simplicity and thus limits of traditional categorical divides between, say, “commerce” and “ritual,” “religion” and “entertainment,” it also complicates conceptions of religious practice itself, particularly “proselytization.”
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