Знаменито место Тршић као простор одржавања годишњег ритуала евокације – Вукови сабори седамдесетих година 20. века
The Memorable Location of Trsic: a Space of Annual Ritual of Evocation Vuk’ Assemblies During the 1970’s

Author(s): Dajana Đedović
Subject(s): Politics, History, Anthropology, Politics of History/Memory
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: Vuk’ assemblies; ritual; ideology; politics; emotions; symbolic order
Summary/Abstract: Seventy five years has passed since the foundation of Vuk’ assemblies thus providing a good opportunity for analysis of instrumentalization, ideologization and political affairs connected with the manifestation, in the light of different social orders and cultural politics. This is a very special manifestation, dedicated to the “reformer of the Serbian language”, Vuk Karadzic, who provoked a creation of a special social myth in Serbian culture. Old festivities, such as assemblies and many other rituals had given a sense of stability and continuity to the people, while they provided at the same time, security and sense of belongings to the society that rejected tradition. A need of the mass for this kind of celebration and rituals has corresponded with the interest of the ruling political and intellectual elite, to obtain status quo, a certain social and political order. Every political movement that comes close to Vuk could count for one piece of his aura. This is the reason why Vuk’ assembly had managed to continue, as a central state/national manifestation through different time periods, since the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, to period of socialism, as well as in times of national euphoria, till the period of transition. In the 1970, the assembly has got its permanent structure, as an annual ritual, with a basic tendency to be “an exemplary and significant parade of the Serbian culture”. The natural amphitheatre in the memorial complex in Trsic, with a scene made in 1964, has provided ideal conditions to the directors of this ceremony; it is held for almost four decades according to the same protocol, to attract mass gathering on an annual basis. The mighty goddess of political mythology- the Nature- is somehow always present in the service of totalitarian regimes. In the case of Vuk’s birthplace, it signifies “purity, while green cauldron of Trsic requires trees and flowers to be loved and free flow of its water”. In such ambient, along with all the rest elements of a ritual of evocation, aimed to remind us on some stereotypes buried deep in the basis of our collective identity, it was not difficult to evoke emotional collective characteristics of a community. Emotions aroused during the ritual are emotions of a given community, and thus each member could be integrated into a social order. The final celebration of Vuk’ assembly emphasizes the dominant values of the community, posts models of thinking and behavior, which individuals imitate later on, in a real life. The people in charge with this manifestation have powerful weapons- Vuk himself and his hearthstone. For people living in this area, hearthstone is of a special importance: it is a central place in a home, a collective place of a family and extended members. It is a place where people gather to talk and discuss things. This very idea of the symbolism carried in hearthstone was behind an attempt to renew Vuk’s house; however, many professional remarked that the renewal could bring back to life an original house, renewed in 1933. This type of house has been made some 30 years after Vuk was born, when he was already residing in Vienna. This is just another confirmation that scientific truth is not taken into account in front of ideology and symbolic order.

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