Paper short abstract:

What were the possible ways to survive/revive for the actors and principles of an erased folk culture movement in communist Hungary? How communities of popular culture changed and what were the possible scenarios for an uncertain future for them? Can a non-democratic system erase identity?

Paper long abstract:

During the interwar period, Hungary had a well-developed movement to safeguard and present popular culture: the Gyöngyösbokréta /Pearly Bouquet/ (1931–1948) started as a tourist attraction, but it the same time, it has become a movement with the aim to protect the still-living popular heritage of the peasants of the countryside. For nation-building reasons, the politics supported this movement, as ‘ancient’ popular culture could be used as a source of cultural supremacy and the movement was also a pillar of the revisional program. During the communist era, it was not only forbidden to continue this type of nationalist protection of popular heritage, but a whole new programme was built instead of this movement: the communist folk ensembles aimed to be the total opposite of the Gyöngyösbokréta. This article analyses the effects of the communist regime’s annulation of the previous structure of the preservation and presentation of popular heritage, and the different answers of the erased movement and its actors to survive/revive. How communities of popular culture changed and what were the possible scenarios for an uncertain future for them? In addition to the analysis of these questions, I will present a significant example of the strength of a minority group in a non-democratic system: one of the highlights of the research is the survival of the movement in the annexed territory of Vojvodina (today Serbia), where the movement could adapt and survive in the non-democratic system also to be a still-surviving festival.