Празникът „Кюстендилска пролет“ и социалистическата празничност: „Изобретяването“ на празника (Част I)
Kyustendil Spring Day and Socialist Festivity: the “Invention” of the Holiday (Part I)
Author(s): Svetla I. KazalarskaSubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Anthropology, Social Sciences, Cultural history, Customs / Folklore, Geography, Regional studies, Human Geography, Regional Geography, Governance, Communication studies, Sociology, Local History / Microhistory, Political history, Social history, Special Historiographies:, Theology and Religion, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure , Theory of Communication, Social development, Social differentiation, Rural and urban sociology, Sociology of Culture, History of Communism, Social Norms / Social Control, History of Religion, Politics of History/Memory, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Институт за етнология и фолклористика с Етнографски музей при БАН
Keywords: Kyustendil Spring Day; socialist festivity; festive calendar; carnival; beauty contest
Summary/Abstract: The article examines and analyses the process of “inventing” Kyustendil Spring Day in the context of socialist festivity. Based on the local tradition of welcoming spring in Kyustendil, which integrates pre-Christian rituals related to the day of spring solstice, the Day of Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the Orthodox calendar and Mladentsi in the folk calendar, the holiday is gradually “domesticated” by the socialist authorities in the late 1960s, purged of its religious elements and re-invented – engaged with “new, socialist content”. Having combined various festive forms, symbols and rituals and occupying various urban spaces throughout the years, the holiday eventually established itself as a successful “invented tradition” during the socialist period, including several elements: a beauty contest, a ceremony for handing over the symbols of spring, a carnival procession, a public celebration on the Hisarlaka hill above the town, and accompanying cultural and sports events.
Journal: Български фолклор
- Issue Year: XLVIII/2022
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 053-075
- Page Count: 23
- Language: Bulgarian
- Content File-PDF