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Paper short abstract

The paper explores how, in Slovenia, both traditional and modern plant- and fruit-named festivities reflect the agency of nature, which actively shapes ritual, seasonal, and communal practices through symbolic and material participation.

Paper long abstract

This paper explores how, in Slovenia, both traditional religious festivities and contemporary fruit festivals reveal the agency of nature in shaping local ritual and festive practices. In some regions, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary (August 15th) is closely tied to the blessing of herbs and flowers, a rite in which plants are not only symbolic but active participants in mediating sacred and seasonal transitions. Nature—through its material presence in the form of gathered flora—acts as a conduit of divine protection, healing, and community cohesion.

In parallel, the emergence of modern fruit festivals, celebrating e. g. cherries, apples, or strawberries etc., reflects how specific plants and fruits continue to co-define local identities, economies, and temporalities. These festivals are not merely human cultural constructs but also responses to natural cycles, harvest rhythms, and the material agency of plants themselves.

Following Ingold’s (2000) relational ecology, Descola’s (2013) critique of the nature–culture divide, and Milton’s (2002) environmental subjectivities, this paper approaches nature as a co-agent in human social life. Plants and fruits are not passive symbols but actants embedded in dynamic networks of meaning, practice, and identity.

By focusing on plant- and fruit-named festivities, the paper highlights how nature is not only represented but participates in the shaping of communal life—ritually, socially, and symbolically—thereby reinforcing the entangled agency of human and non-human actors.