Vatra kao domovina smrti u Nodilovoj Religiji groba

Author(s): Suzana Marjanić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

The starting part of the chapter "The Grave Religion" from the study "Old Faith of Serbs and Croats" (1885-1890) by Natko Nodilo deals with incorporating Croatian and Serbian culture and civilization within the pre-Christian context of cremation of the dead. Nodilo is very cautious when creating the opposition between the (old) Slavic/pre-Christian incineration and the Christian inhumation; for no matter how he tried to ascribe the Croatian and Serbian pagan ethnos to the pre-Christian cult of the lustral fire, still and inspite of everything he notes that cremation was not common for all the Slavs. He point to the Aryans (except for the Iranians) practicing double care of the dead body, by cremating or burying it, whereas the ritual or cremating -- according to the historical testimonies -- was most practiced by the Antae (the Eastern branch of the Slavs), the ancestors of the Russians. When writing about the Croatian and Serbian ethnos, he assumes that the pagan incineration survived longer in Serbian funeral customs. For example, he thinks, just as Lubor Niederle does, that the Slavic burying was adopted only after they have been Christened, but using the archaeological data, Niederle claims that the Christianized transition to inhumation did not take place immediately. There was the biritual archaeological period. Lubor Niederle also points to the existence of the Slavic inhumation also before the Christianization (for example, in Dneiper, and Danube areas and in the Baltic), under the Roman, Avarian, Byzantene and Frankish influences, but for the most part under the influence of the bans in the Charles the Great's capitulary from the year 785. However, the final and real victory of the cult of the Earth (the grave as regressus ad uterum) was achieved by Christianization. Discussing the physical and mental boundaries between the soul and the body, Nodilo induces interpretatively the (old) Slavic practice of incineration, and cites as his (only) source the report by the Arab traveller Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who was present at the (status) cremation of an (unknown) Russian nobleman while travelling to visit the Bulgarian king on the Volga (921-922). However, the Arab traveller's report deals with, as Niederle points out, the Nordic Russians who were already at that point melting with the Slavs, which makes this custom untypical (exceptional) for Slavic funeral customs. Besides that, Nodilo also cites the changed Krek's translation of Ahmad ibn Fadlan's report; while Krek's translation described cremation in the vessel on the ground, Nodilo transposes his translation as the cremation in the vessel in water.

Kraljice u Akademiji

Author(s): Ivan Lozica / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

Starting from the description of the "staging" of customs at the 100th Anniversary of the Academy in 1966, the author summarizes Croatian and Serbian interpretations of the custom of kraljice [queens] and links it to the pre-Christian koleda [Christmas carol] and the custom of electing the king, using ethnochoreological sources and comparing the custom to the Slovak and Czech sources. He offers a new argumentation of three variants of the origin of kraljice (belonging to the old Slavic stratum, who took over the custom with its common pre-Indoeuropean origins from the non-Slavic population of the Southeast Europe). The paper deals most with the interpretation of the relationship between myth and ritual/custom (especially in consideration with the myth of androgyne and the gender issue) as well as with the role of scholars in the preservation of tradition.

Verbalno nasilje i (raz)gradnja kolektivnih identiteta u iskazima ratnih zarobljenika i političkih zatvorenika (1945.-1995.)

Author(s): Renata Jambrešić Kirin / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how recent public interest in testimonies of war prisoners after WWII and political prisoners of the former Yugoslav Republic of Croatia reveals the salient politicization of public memory as adjustable to the concurrent socio- -ideological values. On one level, I emphasize how individual selective processes of memorizing and forgetting are guided by the strategy of alternation which is defined by Berger and Luckmann as the "reinterpretation of past biography in toto, following the formula 'Then I thought..., now I know...' ". On another level, I indicate how the positive attempt to "reconcile" all members of the Croatian socio-political body at the beginning of the 1991 war — by turning the popular Christian imaginary of national victimization into the imaginary of a long and legitimate struggle for independence — was infiltrated by the right wing's restraints on historical knowledge. However, my first sociolinguistic and ethnological aim was to clarify the frequent use of the same offensive names for the opponents in the recent war, the same examples of verbal violence as a means of identity destruction, the similar methods of torture recounted by recent war prisoners as those depicted in memoirs of political prisoners in former Yugoslav "camps for rehabilitation". The same repertoire of hate speech is revealed in reminiscences of non-partisan Croatian combatants and civilians who were part of communist rulers' ritual humiliation and punishment through "death marches" called the "Crucifixion path" in 1945. They were primarily designed to humiliate prisoners — using shared imaginary and traditional symbolic values — and to clearly "exhibit the crime" on their suffering bodies so that the torturers, together with the witnesses, could "justify the fairness of punishment" (Foucault) as well as the official needs for confinement and permanent surveillance of "state enemies".

Govorni žanrovi u Gjalskijevu djelu Pod starim krovovima u kontekstu povijesnih, političkih i ekonomskih zbivanja

Author(s): Vilko Endstrasser / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

The paper offers an analysis of the short story collection "Pod starim krovovima" ("Under the Ancient Roofs" by Ksaver Šandor Gjalski in the historical, political and economic context. The analysis showed that larger prose units consist of a number of language genres, incorporated into text using different literary strategies. It is also shown that a narrating character is the basis of a novel or larger prose form — for, by talking, he transmits particular statements that already exist in the language of the community whose part it is, adding to them his own attitudes and opinions. This way, the language communication channel is created, and the statements of the prose characters point the literary text towards the references external to literature, embracing the entire social life of a particular community. Besides discussing the theoretical literary issues, the paper also presents the relationships between the fiction literary text and the various social reality it refers to. This problem is not being theoretically discussed, but by placing different spoken genres from Gjalski's collection within the historical context, whose description and analysis have been taken from the detailed historical study by Mirjana Gross and Agneza Szabo, Prema hrvatskome građanskom druπtvu [Towards the Croatian Civil Society].

Odjeci dekapitacije vola u Pupnatu na otoku Korčuli: Hrvati između tradicionalizma i modernizma

Author(s): Jasna Čapo Žmegač / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

On the basis of newspaper articles, the author analyses public opinions regarding the revitalised custom of beheading of an ox in the village of Pupnat on the island of KorËula, particularly in relation to the role allocated to that custom in creating the image of modern Croatian identity. Public reactions showed the current intensive dilemmaes and uncertainties in the construction of Croatian identity as belonging to the East (the Balkans) or to the West ("Europe"). They are reflected in internal political squabbles in 1999. The discussions about the decapitation of the ox's head show how supportive citizens of Croatia were of a more modern image of the Croatian state and nation. Although their advocacy here is primarily based on giving prominence to a new sensibility towards animals, they testify to the wish of Croatian citizens that Croatian identity be more firmly linked with the value system of modern European societies, and not with the particularities of their own history and traditions. In a dilemma between tradition and modernity they opted for modernity, which for them is epitomized in Western Europe. Public discussion about the ox's decapitation thus speaks of the failure of Croatian identity production in the nineties based on historical tradition and the negation of modernity.

Vedski obred u neohinduističkom kontekstu

Author(s): Zdravka Matišić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

Vedas, the sacred books in which the religion of the Indo-European tribes which came to India is preserved in minute detail, gave their name to an era more than 3000 years old. This is not to say that the Vedic ritual which arose during that time disappeared with the Vedic Age. Quite the contrary, due to precise instructions in the texts as well as the uninterrupted oral tradition, Vedic rites, a relic of a long-dead era, continue to be performed in India even in the present day as the most sacred part of Hindu tradition. As might be expected, the tradition is now carried on only by scattered groups of brahmins throughout the country, so that for a given sacrifice, those brahmins who specialize in that sacrifice or a part of it will be called for, from whatever part of the country they live in. In Poona (Pune) from Monday, April 29, to Saturday, May 3, 1969 (a day of full moon), one of these Vedic sacrifices, a soma sacrifice (jyotiπtoma) was held. The article discusses this sacrifice at Poona, not from the standpoint of describing the ritual, but for the purpose of trying to convey to the reader an idea of the atmosphere of the ritual, the impressions it leaves on the observer, and perhaps something of the spirit of the ritual. On Friday morning, May 2, the Sankaracarya of Satara appeared in order that he might be paid homage. The dias on which he sat, was west to the sacrificial ground. After a group of priests who were also taking part in the sacrifice, chanted some Vedic mantras, another priest performed puja (act of worship of modern Hinduism). There was no integration of modern symbols of Hindu worship with the Vedic ritual. Even though they took place at the same time and the same place, and even the same priests were participating in both, foreign observers felt them as entirely alien to each other.

Obnove i lokalna značenja običaja: Kumpanije na otoku Korčuli

Author(s): Zorica Vitez / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

After almost fifty years of non-performance, kumpanjija has been revived in 1997 in the village of Pupnat. It is a custom known to four more villages on the island of Korčula. A non-professional folklore expert Vido Bagur has played a significant role in this revival. The custom has been revived in 1966 in the village of Žrnovo, which was strongly influenced by the ethnochoreologist Ivan Ivančan, the author of the book on kumpanije-custom on the island of Korčula. Ivančan has, with his book and as Vido Bagur's teacher, indirectly influenced the revival in Pupnat. The Žrnovo and the Pupnat revivals have taken place with thirty years in-between. They are connected by the same revival model: singling out the parts of kumpanija that are "presentable" by themselves and thus usable as a theatre scenes for the audience (the drama prologue, dance with swards and old dances). Other contents of the custom have also been partly revived, but they do not carry this kind of significance. The common point of all the kumpanija-customs from Korčula used to be the decapitation of an ox, which has been left out of the custom in the villages of Blato, Smokvica and »ara long ago. The performance of the revived kumpanija in 1966 in Žrnovo was adjusted to the usual model of public displays of the time: it was organized to honour the "25th anniversary of the Revolution", followed by "placing wreaths" on the monuments of the communist government, and including the speeches that were held at the festive dinner of kumpanija, which were a representative example of political rhetoric of those times. The decapitation of the ox did not provoke any reaction. The Pupnat kumpanjija was revived in the post-war, independent Croatian state, in the atmosphere of new social and political values, followed with the increased attention by the media and the omnipresent desire for Croatia to participate in political, social and cultural community of Europe. The decapitation of the ox calls for a public scandal. The defenders of the decapitation are in the first instance the inhabitants of KorËula (but not only they), among which were the participants in the revival. Their arguments are respect for tradition, and their attitude is based on the local understanding of the custom, formed by the legends and the values of the past times. The opponents of the decapitation of the ox use contemporary, globally proclaimed values as animal protection as their arguments. The local is probably going to lose the battle of the two attitudes. The revived kumpanija is not identical to the former tradition, for it has been folklorized for the purpose of public display, but it still remains a symbol of the local identity, the grounds for the social life in the small communities of Korčula and the cultural heritage usable for the purposes of tourism.

Keltski tragovi u tradiciji sv. Martina i njihov odraz na hrvatskom prostoru

Author(s): Antonija Zaradija Kiš / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

St. Martin has a significant place within the context of studying the traditions and cults of the early Christian saints in the Croatian territories. The strong west European Martinmas tradition has been created on the pre-Christian Keltic grounds whose traces can be found not merely in the temporal characteristics of this festivity, but also in some of the customs preserved until today, especially in Ireland and France. The St. Martin's Day (or Martinmas, 11th November) corresponds with the great Keltic New Year's festivity Samain, characterized by the spiritual contact with the realm of the dead. St. Martin has thus taken an important place between the winter and the summer annual cycle, which is also evident from the iconographic images of the famous legend of the soldier and the pauper. The west European features of the saints, which often insist on sacrifice and bloodshed, have not reached the Croatian territories in these forms. On the contrary, their influence has been interpreted as the characteristic wine customs associated with the St. Martin, which in a way present the Croatian features of the Martinmas festivity. It could be to a great extent ascribed to the military knight mediaeval heritage that marked the northwestern part of Croatia and through which the pre-Christian sacrifice elements were substituted and transmitted to the Croatian territories.

Ekonomsko-antropološki pristup u izučavanju creskoga ribarstva

Author(s): Goran Pavel Šantek / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

Using the economic-anthropological approach, the author has shown in this paper that the production intended for sale has been existing since the pre-historic periods on the island of Cres, and that it became the dominant means of economy in the late nineteenth century at the latest. The early twentieth-century Cres economy can therefore be defined as the goods economy. Regarding Wolf's classification of the rural communities into open and closed, due to its firm economic, political and cultural connections with the world, the Cres community can be defined as open. This way, neither in Croatia nor outside the country, in ethnology much preferred ideal of the village as the closed corporate community does not dominate. It has also been shown that the process of industrialization has taken place in Cres simultaneously as in other parts of the world, followed by identical effects: the rural community becomes increasingly dependent on its social surroundings, and the fishermen become industrial workers. The Adriatic fishing- -trade has been discovered as an exceptionally early feature (about 6,000 years old) and as a folk trade, meaning that it was accepted by the Croats living along the coastline and that it therefore became a part of their tradition, but not folk in the sense of being a feature that would be characteristic of the Croats from the pre-historic times and that could be used as a distinctive feature that differs them from other ethnic groups. Having emphasized that other ethnological approaches to the study of economy do not have a thoroughly worked out system of researching the goods economy and the continuing changes that occur in an open community, as well as that they do not have a possibility of viewing such a community in its diachronic and synchronic contexts, the author advocates for a more intense use of economic anthropology in the Croatian studies of the rural economy.

Regionalne crte usmene hrvatske književnosti

Author(s): Maja Bošković-Stulli / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 2/2000

The paper discusses the varieties of the regional features of the Croatian oral literature, as well as the impossibility of implementing national characteristics into the framework of its own distinctive ethnic features. It analyzes the empirical studies on regional and national characteristics to be found in folklore on the one hand and the modern interests for ideology that can be traced in this type of research on the other. Using examples of the Croatian oral tradition and following the traces of historical change, this paper explores the historical cultural contacts within the complex state organizations covering parts of today's Croatia. It also points to the influences of the neighbouring states, to the ones born from the migrations, both internal and external, as well as to the features created due to the specific administrative and social status (for example, the Military border or Vojna granica). The author discusses the characteristics of the Croatian traditions of the Dinaric, Adriatic-Mediterranean, Pannonic and Central European area. These are the starting points for the author's presentation of the Croatian variant of the international tale of Midas's donkey-ears (ovo treba joπ provjeriti!) and her discussion of the oral tradition from the swampy ground of the Neretva estuary, the tales and poems of Prince Mark (KraljeviÊ Marko) originating from continental Balkan area, as well as the change occurring in epic poems coming from other areas. The paper deals with the belonging of the famous ballad Asanaginica (da li je sigurno bez 'h'?), with the stylistic differences between the epic and the lyric dominant forms, with the oral tradition of the border regions (especially those between Croatia and Slovenia), with bilingual informants (for example, in Istria), with the features of the Adriatic folklore and its openness to the streaming from other Mediterranean countries. The German version of this paper is going to be published in the volume "Sprache, Literatur und Kunst in Kroatien" (Language, literature and art in Croatia), as a part of the series "Abhandlungen der Göttinger Akademie der Wissenschaften".

Szadkowianin "szczurem Tobruku" - rzecz o Janie Stradowskim

Author(s): Dorota Stefańska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2004

Dwór w Rzepiszewie współcześnie

Author(s): Agnieszka Ogrodowczyk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2004

Założenie dworsko-folwarczno-parkowe w Prusinowicach

Author(s): Andrzej Nowak,Roman Kopacki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2004

Faktorfúga.Göncz Zoltán: Bach testamentuma. A fúga művészete filozófiai-teológiai hátteréről

Author(s): Tibor Pintér / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 02/2009

Bach’s Testament On the philosophico-theological background of The Art of Fugue by Zoltán Göncz

Aredõs papsapkagomba és a tudásmenedzsment

Author(s): Iván Székely / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2007

„Đulistan“ - prvi bošnjački ženski časopis

Author(s): Nusret Kujraković / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 29-30/2010

Text is the kind of cultural-historical view of the first Bosniak women's magazine “Đulistan”. The text points out emancipation and cultural significance of this magazine, but also its paricular rarity in Bosnian culture of that time. It is the importance which indicaties the tumultuous period of modernization and historical, often tragic turmoils, but also the maturity of a one special culture, arisen at the crossroads of civilization and the various religious streams.

Kultura na granici

Author(s): Faruk Dizdarević / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 29-30/2010

Text describes the situation in the area of culture and cultural policy in the Sandžak region (Serbia; Montenegro), which is a specific cultural, social and demographic space. The article criticized the topical treatment of culture, or lack of will to fix and improve situation in Sandžak culture. It was pointed out the importance of intercultural activities, cooperation and seaside between different cultures, especially in multi-ethnical environment such as Sandzak. It was, also, pointed out the fact that just such a process makes the Western Balkans closer to the European Union, and brought out the optimistic view that cultural activity in the Sandzak region, however, gives indications of positive development.

Decenija Orhana Pamuka

Author(s): Ljiljana Šop / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 29-30/2010

The Essay „Orhan Pamuk's Decay“ by Ljiljana Šop is recapitulation of Orhan Pamuk's novels - namely of his novels translated in Serbia. Mentioning own experience of Turkey, from which it is shining particular delight with the Ottoman Empire, imbued with inspired observations about Pamuk`s novels, Ljiljana Sop, in her own way, points to the importance and value of literary works of this Nobel Prize winner. In the focus inspired, sublimated interpretation, are the key peculiarities of Pamuk literary work, his aesthetic values, power to penetrate into the complex reality of contemporary Turkey and the rich history of the Ottoman Empire and, especially, Pamuk`s relation to Turkey, its traditions and dilemma facing at present. Special attention is devoted to the novels “Snow” and “Black Book”. It was pointed in the translation activities in Serbia, and the importance of translation of Pamuk's novels.

Society: Gay Hating: It’s Not Just a Russian Thing

Author(s): Sarah Fluck / Language(s): English Issue: 02/18/2014

A couple of recent reports remind us that it’s dangerous to be gay in a wide swath of the post-communist world.

Arts and Culture: Jazz with a Touch of Pilaf

Author(s): Dengiz Uralov / Language(s): English Issue: 02/18/2014

A young jazz group in Uzbekistan seeks to take the form forward, in part by looking back.