Rítusjátékok a széki gyermekvilágban
Children’s Rite-Games in Szék (Sic)

Summary/Abstract: The present work proposes an analysis of a kind of popular child’s game from the Transylvanian Szék (Sic) village in which children imitated wedding or funeral rites.In the beginning, these were formed spontaneously; the children got together, shared the roles and played the rites from beginning to end: they walked around singing,dancing, reciting poetry, etc. Teenage girls had a similar game bringing more impishness and humour into their performance. In the communist era, the young people from Szék even performed their wedding rituals on the scene of the Opera House in Kolozsvár (Cluj). Although such performances weren't especially ideological, they were in accordance with the official attitude towards folklore at the time. Their function was different from that of the games performed spontaneously in the street. Beginning roughly from the 1980s we see another type of ritual game in which children act out weddings in front of their parents. This type of role play is different again and it reflects another approach.

• Details
• Contents