JAK ROCH „ZSZEDŁ NA PSY” O PROBLEMACH UCZESTNICTWA ZWIERZĄT WE WSPÓŁCZESNYM PRAKTYKOWANIU TRADYCJI KULTUROWYCH
ON THE PROBLEMS OF ANIMAL PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE OF CULTURAL TRADITIONS

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses some of the difficulties related to the participation ofanimals in contemporary cultural traditions, using the example of the animalblessing held annually in Mikstat on St. Roch’s Day. This custom is one of thefew traditional cultural phenomena involving live animals included on Poland’sNational Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and in some respects it isunique. The rapid cultural and social transformations, manifested in changingways of thinking and lifestyles, as well as modern technology and economicpractices in animal breeding, are giving rise to challenges in the cultivating ofthis tradition. The emergence of a new type of human–animal relationship, and consequently of animal species other than “traditional” taking part in the animalblessing, has had a twofold effect: on the one hand, it offers fertile ground enablingthe custom to persist; on the other, it generates a kind of tension at the intersectionbetween theological narrative and social practice.

• Details
• Contents