O dekristijanizaciji narodne kulture
On the Dechristianization of Popular Culture

Summary/Abstract: Popular culture in Croatia in the last forty years has been submitted to various pressures. A process of repudiation of ritual (as described by Peter Burke) was going on as well as a process of dechristianization. Because of various reasons Croatian ethnology did not study this domain of popular culture (political pressure, lack of theoretical interest, conceptions concerning the influence of church and religion on the popular culture). Although popular culture is most often treated as a marginal phenomenon of social and political life, the debate about celebration of Christmas in the years 1986-1989 showed, to the contrary, how in times of crisis a phenomenon of folk culture can be transformed into a crucial political question. The present author pleads for ethnological research of the process of dechrisianization as well as of popular piety. An approach from the standpoint of critical appraisal of everyday culture is recommended.

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