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Ivan Milčetić's (1853-1921) biographers have divided his overall scholarly work into several large groups: the first is made up of his literary-historical works, the second of his philological research, while the third covers his works in the fields of ethnology and folkloristics. Milčetić's ethnographic and folkloristic research made a valuable contribution to the development of ethnological thought in Croatia and he is regarded in Croatia as one of the founders of Croatian ethnology as an independent field of scholarship. Comments are given in the article on his views of narodopis, or ethnology, and then on his efforts in the conception of the first ethnological journal in Croatia, The Journal of the Folk Life and Customs of the Southern Slavs, which was the result of his developed conception of scholarly work as a whole, and of ethnological and folkloristic papers, with particular reference and ethnological analysis of travelogue reflections on the Moravian, Lower Austrian and Western Hungarian Croats, whom he visited in 1895 and 1898.
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In this paper I have analysed the archives and published articles on Romany population in Zbornik za narodni život i običaje. At the end of 19th century, the Croatian Academy of Science and Art carried out etnographical research in Croatia, and one of research tasks was to describe the Romany population: their family life, profession, relation towards their families and the rest of society. Many of ethnographic researchers describe Romany people as thieves, swindlers, loafers and immoral persons. Most of the articles were written in first half of the twentieth century and this ethnographic work is important in the analysis of the history of Romany population in Croatia.
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Holte in Hannover was the birthplace and the starting point of the life path of Bernardo Kohnen. He was born there in 1876. Having moved to Travnik in Bosnia with his parents, he left Germany as a child. He spent his childhood years in the Travnik area, attending school in a Jesuit institute. However, after the sixth grade he left for Verona and joined the order Figli del Sacro Cuore (F. S. C.), whose activities were concentrated in Africa. He took holy orders and became a priest in 1902. In the same year, he was sent to Sudan, to the mission among the Shilluk tribe. He was living and working there until 1933, when he was transferred to Rome due to his illness. He died on 21 st January 1939. During the thirty years of his living in the area of upper flow of the Nile river in the southern part of Sudan, he became an acclaimed expert on languages and cultures of the Nile tribes, especially on the Shilluk tribe, among whom he had spent the major part of his mission. Kohnen’s letters, stories and reports are interesting documents of his activities and the circumstances of the Nile tribes during the first half of the twentieth century. He found himself in a surroundings until then untouched by the European civilization and unchanged by European influences and thus was able to document legends, beliefs and songs that had been preserved merely as a part of oral tradition up to that point. He studied the origins, languages, customs and rituals, and was a witness to the characters and features of the tribes he was living with. For evaluation of his work it is very important to note that no traces of eurocentrism can be found in his writings, which makes both them and the materials they contain a reliable source. Today, they are a valuable source for studying history and culture of the Nilotic peoples, primarily the Shilluk, as well as a testimony to the changes caused by the spreading of the Christianity and the inflow of the European civilization. Besides being one of the first researchers into the south Sudan tribes, Kohnen was also the author of the first grammar books and dictionaries of the Shilluk language. He composed grammars in Italian and English, wrote Shilluk-Italian dictionary and translated parts of the Bible and some other books into the Shilluk language.
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The present article examines the reports on food in the Balkans made by pilgrims on their way to or back from the Holy Land. The research is focused on reports of pilgrims originating from Western Europe as well as the Russian territories from the period between the 11th and 15th century. Among those pilgrims are the Englishman William Wеy, the Germans Arnold von Harff, Felix Fabri, Johannes Schiltberger, Bernhard von Breydenbach, Ludolph von Suchem, the Burgundian Bertrandon de la Broquière, the two Spaniards Pero Tafur and Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo, the Italians Pietro Casola, Bernardo Michelozzi, the Irishman Symon Semeonis, the Russians Danilo, Antonius of Novgorod, Zosim and others. The article traces out their routes through the Balkans and the food possibilities that they discovered in Dalmatia, Constantinople, Peloponnese or the interior of the Peninsula. It gives answers to the following questions: what preparations did the pilgrims make before their journey to the Holy Land; which food they preferred and was most likely to satisfy their needs – the meal in taverns, monasteries, on the ship, on the ruler’s table or the self-prepared food; was there any difference between their food in different parts of the Balkans; which were their favourite meals; were there any differences between the food preferences of the Western European and the Russian pilgrims. Some travellers compiled dictionaries to facilitate their communication with the local people and to assure easier procurement of food and shelter. The article analyses the words in different languages referring to food included in the dictionaries; this gives an idea about the differences between the tastes of the Balkan population – Slavs, Greeks, Albanians, Turks.
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The present article attempts to elucidate some less known facts related to the process of writing of the book “History of the April Uprising“ by Dimitar Strashimirov. It gives answer to the question why the edition was published without the pictures ordered to famous photographs. In connection with this particular case, the article studies also the development of the photograph collection of the National Library in Plovdiv. The critical conclusion of the author is that sometimes from places of memory the Bulgarian archival and library repositories transform into “a knowledge graveyards“. This conclusion has its logical explanation in the text and, to some extent, it explains the “absence“ of the photographs from the history of the uprising. The appendix to the article contains a list of the available photographs in the Plovdiv Library related to the whole narrative about the writing of the history of theApril uprising.
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Northern Dalmatia is a region of two cultural traditions — Dinaric and Coastal Adriatic — which intertwine in many aspects, including the wedding rituals. The coastal zone has been exposed to dynamic cultural change due to commerce and sea-faring activities, as well as to overseas emigration since the second half of the 19th c. Inland Dalmatia has remained more conservative in many aspects of everyday life. The wedding ritual always reflects, the cultural concepts and attitudes of a certain community in a certain time. At the same time it reveals the degree of conformity or resistance of various individuals to cultural norms. Culturally defined sex roles are demonstrated clearly in the wedding ritual. In northern Dalmatia, the power of an individual has been determined primarily by his/her sex. Despite numerous social and economic changes during the second half of the 20th c, the privileged position of men within this patriarchal cultural order is still expressed in all phases of marriage arrangements: asking betrothal and wedding proper. This ritual reality may stand in contrast to everyday life which deviates often from traditional norms.
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The Lucijanić family from the village of Vučjak near Karlovac was among the last ones organized on zadruga principle. Their way of life, their possessions, residence and farm buildings were described by Vjekoslav Jurmić in 1935 (but published only in 1960). The author of this article undertook research among the Lucijanićs from 1961 to 1964 and again in 1984, in order to find out about their destiny after 1935: the zadruga division in 1938 and its causes, life after the break up, and the final disappearance of the common hearth in 1969. While studying land ownership records, the author has discovered the surprising fact that the Lucijanić family de jure ceased to be a zadruga as early as 1892. From that time onwards, legal records have considered them co-owners, while they de facto continued to live as a single household for almost half a century longer.
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Filling a gap in earlier ethnological research on the European diet, this contribution offers a long-term historical perspective, as well as a cultural-historical periodization, of alimentary habits on the continent during last seven centuries. Dietary practice is understood as a cultural system which is dependent on the structure and development of the society as a whole. Hence, the analysis of this cultural system must necessarily take into account its class character: habits and menus of aristocracy, bourgeoisie and peasants have never been identical, but they have always had a dynamic effect on one another. The periodization which the author offers in this article concerns general trends of changes in the history of European diet. It can serve as a model, that is, as a standard against which one can better evaluate practical and regional deviations and particularities of nutrition. The model specifies four phases in. the development of alimentary habits: from the year 1300 to 1500, from 1500 to 1650, from 1650 to 1800, and from 1800 to the year 2000.
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The author presents three important works which deal with the life of the Croatian peasant in the past. By offering realistic data and descriptions, they significantly depart from romantic idealizations which have often marked cultural-historical ethnology. In the second part of the 18th century, A. M. Reljković, an adherent of the enlightenment, condemned Slavonians for bad living habits and instructed them as to how they should live. Thus he gave us an account of the real life at the time, as well as an ideal prescription for it. The Questionnaire of the Croatian-Slavonian Economic Society from the mid 19th century reveals two different concepts, in fact, two political orientations, concerning the life in zadruga: a romantic and economically conservative one which holds that zadruga can be the basis of national economy; and the other one which discloses ills and economic malfunctioning of the family zadruga. Rudolf Bičanić was the editor of the series »How the People Live«, appearing in the 1930’s, as well as the author of a couple of books in the series. Although to some extent adhering to Radio's ideology, in his economic analyses of people's life Bičanić radically departed from it. He was very critical towards idealizations of peasant life, and his works herald the problematique which is later taken up by economic anthropology.
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Ethnomusicology is a special discipline closely related to musicology and ethnology. There has always been a split, sometimes even misunderstanding, between historians of music and ethnomusicologists. In Slovenia, the interest in recording folk music grew strong in the second half of the 19th century, and the collections by Vraz, Ziljski, Štrekelj, Kocijančič, Murko, and others, resulted. In the first half of the 20th century, the most distinguished person in the field was France Marolt. The author analyses in more detail works of M. Bajuk and R. Hrovatin. Early ethnomusicological studies were based on the material collected mostly by amateurs (travelers, priests, teachers, Slavists, organists etc.) who did not have adequate training, sensibility, nor technical means for recording subtleties of folk music performance. The research into instrumental folk music did not start in Slovenia before World War II. It still remains a major task of Slovene ethnomusicologists.
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In that period, the basic forms of ethnomusicological activity were: collecting data, their publishing, their scientific analysis and discussions of certain theoretical questions. The published material consisted of: direct registration of music phenomena; arrangements for chorus performances; and single-voice recordings with piano accompaniment. (Folk instruments and instrumental music are subjects of another paper prepared for this conference.) Following individual research efforts, more systematically organized fieldwork was carried out in the 1920’s and 1930’s by the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb, as well as by activists of Hrvatska seljačka sloga in connection with folklore festivals. Illustrating theoretical issues of the time, the author presents researchers' views of the subject of ethnomusicological research. It is pointed out that F. S. Kuhač included urban folk songs among folk music as early as 1890’s. Among the theoretical problems, the ethnomusicologists of that period paid most attention to the question of tonal relations, especially to the so-called Istrian scale.
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Jakob Volčič (1815—1888), a Slovene priest who lived in Croatian part of lstria, published in Slovenian journals, especially in the central journal Novice, data on folk traditions and life of Croats in lstria. His work can be categorized in two groups: 1. publications of folklore material (language, literature, customs and games, and folk beliefs); 2. descriptions of inter-ethnic relations which included data on economic and social position of Slavs (Croats and Slovenes), and their relation with governing non-Slavs (Italians). Volčič’s understanding of folk traditions and life in lstria is determined by two major values: nationality and piety. His perception of folk life is also manifested in two ways: on one hand, by collecting folklore he searched for Slovene national spirit (being influenced by romanticism); on the other hand, by adding realistic comments to collected folk proverbs, he pointed to social context and some basic truths of folk life at the time. (For instance, the proverb: »The Sun shines on Saturdays for the poor ones« is followed by Volčič’s comment »...so that they can wash their clothes for Sunday« — underlined by J. F.)
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As an important center of northwestern Croatia, the town of Varaždin has had a characteristic style of urban life ever since the Middle Ages. The life of Varaždin was especially interesting and thriving in the 15th and the 16th centuries. Rudolf Strohal described that period in his contribution to Zbornik: »The Županija of Varaždin from 1550 to 1660« (vol. 27, no. 2, 1932). He accounted for the life of all social strata: serfs, church and secular nobility, citizens (purgari), soldiers and prisoners. He also described the surrounding villages, social relations, some customs associated with property relations, and the feudal social/economic circumstance in general.
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1. Osvrt na zbirku Gospodarstvo u Etnografskom muzeju u Zagrebu, by: Branko Đaković 2. Pregled stručnog rada Regionalnog zavoda za zaštitu spomenika kulture u Zagrebu na obradi i zaštiti tradicijske arhitekture, by: Ana Mlinar 3. VIII Megunaroden simpozium za Balkanskiot folklor. Ohrid 7—8 Juli 1983., by: Vesna Turčin 4. Prvi zajednički kongres Jugoslavenskih etnologa i folklorista, Rogaška Slatina 4—8. X 1983., by: Olga Supek-Zupan 5. Izvještaj o radu sa Savjetovanja konzervatora Jugoslavije (1983. g.), by: Ksenija Marković 6. Review of: “Etnološka istraživanja 2”, Etnografski muzej u Zagrebu; Katica Benc-Bošković, “Konavle, tekstilno rukotvorstvo i narodna nošnja”, Zagreb 1983., 182 pp.; by: Zorica Šimunović-Petrić 7. Review of: “Zbornik za narodni život i običaje južnih Slavena”, knjiga 49, JAZU, Zagreb 1983., 505 pp.; by: Zorica Šimunović-Petrić 8. Review of: Dragoslav Antonijević, “Obredi i običaji balkanskih stočara”, SAZU, Beograd, 1982.; by: Maja Kožić 9. Review of: Branko Ćupurdija, “Agrarna magija v tradicionalnoj kulturi Srba”, SAZU, Beograd, 1982.; by: Maja Kožić 10. Review of: Irma Krstonjević, “Čobanske igre”, Županja, 1982.; by: Maja Kožić
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The cultural life of members of Czech national minority in Croatia is very complex. It may be followed through diverse customs marking everyday life, as well as through the work of various cultural societies and institutions. Though researchers from the present Czech Republic have already recorded several aspects of cultural life, there is still a lack of surveys on the contribution of individual cultural societies to the nurturing of the cultural heritage of members of Czech national minority. This paper focuses on the operation of a part of rural youth that became not only a strong link to other cultural associations of members of Czech national minority, forming together with them a whole, but also the propagator and holder of Czech culture in the area of the present Bjelovar-Bilogora County. Organised independent work of members of rural youth commenced later, after they had gained useful experience in Czech besede (associations) under the patronage of senior generations. Since they were not satisfied with this type of relationship, and sometimes not even with the content of the work itself, young people decided to start their independent activity. The first such association, named Rural Junior Youth Society, was established in 1935 in Lipovac (Ljudevitino Selo) near Daruvar. Subsequently, further associations of the kind were established in the wider Daruvar area, in villages where the majority of the population were members of Czech national minority. In the period 1935–1941, in the wider Daruvar area, fifteen such associations were established; in 1940, they numbered 920 members, which made around 60 members per village. Though every association had a leadership of its own and was independent, they were all united within the common Rural Youth Association, which also had a common management led by Karlo Herot, teacher and chairperson, who was the chief initiator of establishing rural youth associations and the leading creator of their policies. These youth associations were the moving force of the cultural life and work in their midst. It was possible to follow their operation until the outbreak of World War Two in 1941.
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In 1965. Zagreb Local Branch of Ethnological Society of Yugoslavia gave a suggestion to begin with systematic evidention of ethnographic material on the greater Zagreb area. This initiative was accepted by Ethnographical Museum in Zagreb and after longer preparations the investigation has begun in 1969. Investigations are made on fundamental themes as follows: transport and transport tools, food, hygiene and folk medicine, wedding customs, annual customs, death customs, customs following farm work, economics, hunting and fishing, inhabitants and their social structure, manual trade and home handicraft, preparation of weaving material, weaving Technics, folk costume and head dressing, settlements, houses and their interior, games and leisure. Till now, all planned areas except the southern part of Zagreb have been investigated. In 1981. it is expected that the work on the project will be finished. The gathered material is vast and it will be put in order and published gradually.
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