Electronic Library of Scientific Literature
Electronic Library of Scientific Literature
PhDr. Zuzana Benuskova,
Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Jakubovo nam.
12, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia
In the 20th century, the importance of religion in the life of
various social groups and communities has differentiated, and
the process of secularization has provided an alternative every-day
life independent of the sacred sphere. The influence of church
institutions on the organization of social life has also changed.
For many, religion is only a sort of background, which is activated
especially in connection with important moments in the life of
the person and society, with festivals and ceremonies.
The phenomenon of faith and religion is so closely connected with
research on ceremonies and festivals that in foreign literature,
it is often part of attempts to define the concept of ritual.
The analysis of the secular and sacred elements in ritualized
behaviour, showing that not all ceremony is connected with religion
or belief in the super- natural is a reaction to the definition
based on sacred character.
Research shows that secular and sacred phenomena in ceremonies
have one place on the institutional level, while in industrial
and post-industrial societies these two phenomena are clearly
divided. They have another position on the level of their perception
by the individual, or on the level of values, where they are less
clearly distinguishable.
L. Schmidt takes an untraditional look at the overlapping of the
sacred and the secular, giving a whole series of examples. He
observes that the same custom may have various meanings for its
participants, and that the search for new meanings of customs
is a new chapter, which needs to be included in ethnology. In
the 20th century, the Catholic Church has appropriated some attributes
and celebrations which did not originate in the sacred environment,
for example the Christmas tree, advent wreath and Mothers' Day.
The need for people to have a secure orientation in the world
is served by the established social order, in which centralized
institutions of both sacred and secular character participate.
Their activity is reflected in the everyday way of life of individuals
and social groups, mixing with their cultural personalities and
remelting into a compromise form acceptable for majority participation.
It is often difficult to decide whether this involves sacralization
or secularization, since many secular ceremonies and festivals
were connected with the Church, so that after a certain time,
they were accepted by the people as "sacred". Important
moments in the life of society and the individual may also acquire
a sacralized form, with their repeated emphasizing from the side
of secular central institutions, for example the orthodox rituals
of modern politics. Whoever controls the course of social ritual,
controls society.
Originally religious ceremonies and festivals in the calendar
and annual cycle acquired secularized forms especially where they
were state supported, and the participation of the Church was
limited.
In the recent past research on religion in Slovakia was negligeable
or conceived in a one-sided way. The politicization of religion
in the years 1939-45, topical in Slovakia even after 1989, also
contributed to the sensitivity of this subject. Conflicting forms
of religion are also covered only minimally in Western European
literature. However it also exists there, although not in such
a prominent form as we meet with in Slovakia. However religion
is interpreted from the political point of view, one of its levels
remains relatively immune to politics. This is folk religion.
The results of atheist activity in the former communist regimes
should have appeared precisely on this level, but it appears the
folk religion in Slovakia does not show substantial differences
from neighbouring countries with uninterrupted democratic regimes.
This confirms the known experience that spiritual culture does
not immediately succumb to political changes, but factors are
active in it, which preserve its continuity more strongly than
the conflicting situations in the development of society.
Citizens found themselves in situations where they were confronted
with different ideological pressures from the Church and state,
and were forced to publicly express their position. This particularly
applied to family ceremonies, in which the institutional component
of the citizen became the object of pressures from traditions
and opposing ideological systems. The problems which arose were
usually not manifested in the actual course of the ceremonies,
but they were experienced in the intimacy of family life.
pp. 159-166
PhDr. Elena Mannova,
Institute of Historical Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova
19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia
When studying the problems of continuity or generalization of
"middle class culture" on the territory of Slovakia,
it is impossible to ignore the development of the German townspeople
in the period of fundamental and general societal changes in the
19th and 20th centuries. Voluntary association sources bring nearer
the elements of civic culture, stage celebrations, the relation
of people to art, the use of symbols, definition in relation to
other groups in the population (the gentry, working class and
others). Analysis of the annual reports and committee minutes
of the German choral society Liedertafel in Bratislava/Pressburg
(1857-1938) show that in spite of the permanent contact with the
dynamic German nationalism, the Germans in the city retained an
identification with the Kingdom of Hungary. The German singers
manifested their identification with the Kingdom of Hungary (Hungarian
language, repertoir, symbols) in contact with offices and events
with public participation. They used exclusively German in internal
activity. The Hungarian language and patriotic terminology relating
to the Kingdom of Hungary, are replaced by the German language
and German nationalist vocabulary in the changed conditions of
the first Czechoslovak Republic.
If the thesis about the constituting of a "middle class"
by means of a common culture applies, then the development in
the Kingdom of Hungary in the 19th century, was slowly heading
towards the creation of a homogenized social class, as a result
of Magyarization and linguistic and cultural assimilation. The
break up of the Kingdom of Hungary made a break in this process:
social changed to ethnic and social communication continued on
this level. The change of form and content of some types of public
celebrations held by the German choral society in Bratislava (concerts,
entertainments, excursions) documents the development of the self-representation
of the middle classes and the transformation of the value systems
under the influence of political and social relations.
In the voluntary association culture of the Bratislava Germans,
traditional elements (pride in the past of the royal borough,
patriotism towards the Kingdom of Hungary, attempts at good contact
with the aristocracy) overlap with modern features (connection
with a network of societies, the introduction of new cultural
norms of particular professional groups, of the formal equality
of people, emphasis on activity, action, the power of art, the
idea of harmony and progress). The voluntary association culture
of the Germans in Bratislava in the 19th century oriented itself
towards the citizen and the inhabitant of the city, without
articulating the needs of national emancipation.
pp. 167-176
Nora Labadyova,
Beskydska 6, 811 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
The play about St. Dorothy is one of the less widespread folk
plays in Slovakia. Thematically, we assign it to the plays on
martyrdom or heroism. Groups of players performed this play around
Christmas, after Christmas, in places throughout January and especially
at the beginning of February, when the Church celebrated the feast
of St. Dorothy (6th February).
The play originated in the early Middle Ages. It was performed
in churches or monasteries on the occasion of the feast day of
the saint. The subject derived from Church literature - lives
of saints and legends. In the Middle Ages, this play already spread
to various European countries, but the theme became most frequent
in Germany and Bohemia.
The Slovak play about St. Dorothy is similar to the Czech and
Moravian variants of the play from the textual and dramatic points
of view, and it probably penetrated into Slovakia from there.
According to some sources the play about St. Dorothy was especially
performed in Augustinian monasteries. In Slovakia these monasteries
were found in regions which approximately correspond to the sphere
of distribution of the play. Apart from religious orders, journeymen
and apprentices from glass works were spreaders of the play, since
many records of plays come from the glass making region.
The play about St. Dorothy achieved its greatest flourishing in
the Baroque period. In Slovakia these plays were mainly performed
in the period from the First World War to the Second World War,
but its occurrence was already rare.
The play about St. Dorothy is a dramatized account of events from
the life of the saint. King Fabricius cannot resist Dorothy's
beauty and offers her marriage. Dorothy, a faithful Christian
refuses this offer. She also refuses the offer of the executioner
who wants to ransom her. After many tortures, the king gives the
order for Dorothy to be beheaded.
In our territory we can distinguish two types of play: the lesser
Dorothy play with 2-5 characters and the greater Dorothy play
with five characters. The basic story of the play requires three
main characters: Dorothy, the king and the executioner. Theophilus,
to whom Dorothy sends fruit from the garden of paradise, after
her death, the devil with comic scenes, a knight and an angel
are supplementary characters who develop the dramatic story. In
Slovakia we identify four basic types of play, which are almost
identical. They are distinguished only by changes in some of the
speech, or by missing motifs.
The costumes and staging of the play were simple, with use of
clothes of the period or their parts (military or liturgical dress
of the period), which identified the characters. Originally the
play was usually performed inside a house, in a street or the
courtyard of a house. Later it was performed in churches.
Today it is sometimes performed in a house of culture. Sometimes
the participants brought with them some scenery representing a
prison. All the action was performed pictorially and by symbols.
At present in Slovakia, this play is performed only rarely in
some communities - in Hrinova and Horna Suca, but the tradition
also survived among Slovaks living in the Romania, in the county
of Bihar.
pp. 177-196
PhDr. Gabriela Kilianova, CSc.,
Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Jakubovo nam.
12, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia
Death, as the define conclusion of the life of the individual,
plays a key role in the human society. The author deals with death
as a general anthropological constant narrative theme. She analyses
the old personification of Death as a female being, clothed in
white. The assertition is supported by the material which the
author has been collecting in the fieldwork throughout Slovakia,
as well as from public and archival sources.
pp. 197-204