Paper short abstract:

The ritual of burning a boat on the eve of the day of Saint Devota in Monaco complements the present secular practices of instilling a sense of national belonging. It also points to the possibilities for local celebrations to survive transformations without losing its deep meaning for the community.

Paper long abstract:

Saint Devota's Day, the patroness of the Principality of Monaco, is celebrated with two days of festivities. The transformation of the tradition into a ritual of burning a boat was rooted as an integral part of national unity by intellectuals of the early 20th century. It has proven itself to be creatively productive for the education of national identity and instilling a sense of belonging to children from the age of 4-6 years through active participation in the ritual, as qualitative data shows. The symbolic and dominant content complements the existing secular practices of educating cultural identity, regardless of the presence religious beliefs.

There is, in addition, a further transformation of the ritual towards secularism, associated with modern communication systems, as well as security requirements. Many Monegasques, along with a deep association with the Saint as part of cultural identity, at the same time tend to see this ritual, in addition to initiating new generations, as an opportunity for a more extensive range of participants and guests of the Principality to participate in the local wealth, which in turn produces a beneficial effect on territorial valuation. The tradition based not only on the need to generate the symbolic wealth of the territory, but also to preserve community's identity from blurring, is offered to a broader public without any apparent risk of losing meaning and intimacy. We consider it an unusual phenomenon, which we propose for further study.