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- Convenors:
-
Irina Sedakova
(Institute of Slavic Studies, Moscow)
Irina Stahl (Institute of Sociology, Romanian Academy)
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- Chair:
-
Petko Hristov
(Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at BAS)
- Discussant:
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Mare Kõiva
(Estonian Literary Museum)
- Format:
- Panel
Short Abstract:
This panel is a continuation of two decades of The Ritual Year studies into un- and re-writing of the patriarchal calendric customs in the 20th and 21st centuries. Ethnological aspects under examination will concern the form, the content and the relevance of the urban rituals nowadays.
Long Abstract:
For two decades, in many conferences, panels and publications, The Ritual Year working group has been scrutinizing the changes of calendric customs from the point of view of gender, history, performance, religion, politics, migration, and epidemics. This panel addresses the typology and examples of changes of the (predominantly) agricultural ritual year (Vladimir Y. Propp, Claude Lévi-Strauss and others) in the modern urbanized society. Since modernization (which occurred at different times in various countries), the rituals have gone through considerable transformations in their form and content. The rites had to adjust to the new urban settings, new occupations and professions, new types of communities, secular surroundings, migrations and multi-culturalism, etc. This process is still on-going, while crucial obstacles (COVID-19, wars, new technologies) drastically interfere with the natural flow of the ritual year.
Nowadays, when the patriarchal rural way of life has been almost deconstructed and people are not that close to nature and agricultural activities anymore, the questions we address are: What is still relevant for the urban citizens and what is not? What rites should be kept and transmitted to the new generations?
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper Short Abstract:
The căița headware, worn by married women in Southern Transylvania, declined in daily use by the 1970s but remained key in funerals and winter rituals. Urban women returned to be buried with it, and city boys joined village satirical rituals, preserving its symbolic role.
Paper Abstract:
The căița headware was an essential element of traditional customs for married women in Romania, particularly in Southern Transylvania, worn from their wedding to their funeral. While its daily use declined during the interwar period, it remained significant in key rites of passage, particularly weddings and funerals. Women who had lived in urban areas often returned to their villages upon retirement and chose to be buried in the căița received at their wedding, reinforcing the cultural ties between rural and urban life. Daughters of women who migrated to other countries continued to honor their mothers' wishes by including the căița in funeral rituals. This urban-rural connection is also highlighted during winter traditions, particularly around New Year, when urban-dwelling boys return to their native villages to participate in satirical masquerades. They dress as various characters, including a female peasant, wearing authentic women's attire complete with a căița demonstrating the ongoing link between rural heritage and urban modernity. The transition from maiden to wife, once marked by the ritual of învelitul or legatul miresei, where the bride's godmother placed the căița on her head, has faded by the 1970s, but its symbolic role in funerals persists. Fieldwork (2021–2024) reveals challenges in positioning the căița, often placed alongside the funeral shroud. The căița exemplifies a "language of clothing," expressing identity, status, and cultural values, bridging generations and locations. This research underscores the căița enduring role as a symbol of tradition in evolving contexts.
Paper Short Abstract:
Mumming is a dramatic mid-winter house-visiting custom notable for its use of rhyme and masks, featuring a scene of combat followed by death and resurrection. This paper examines the novel performances of professional mummers, Armagh Rhymers, that span the ritual calendar. The Armagh Rhymers founded in the late 1970s to bring Protestant and Catholic schoolchildren together during the conflict known as the Troubles to engage in mumming performances, which was so successful that they expanded their dramatic repertoire to perform for repeat audiences throughout the year. In my 2022 fieldwork, I experienced their creative interpretations of mumming throughout the ritual calendar, acknowledging the Celtic quarter days and other high points in the year. I demonstrate how the dramatic features of mumming can be applied to modern creative contexts.
Paper Abstract:
Mumming is a dramatic mid-winter house-visiting custom notable for its use of rhyme and masks, featuring a scene of combat followed by death and resurrection. This paper examines the novel performances of professional mummers, Armagh Rhymers, that span the ritual calendar. The Armagh Rhymers founded in the late 1970s to bring Protestant and Catholic schoolchildren together during the conflict known as the Troubles to engage in mumming performances, which was so successful that they expanded their dramatic repertoire to perform for repeat audiences throughout the year. In my 2022 fieldwork, I experienced their creative interpretations of mumming throughout the ritual calendar, acknowledging the Celtic quarter days and other high points in the year. I demonstrate how the dramatic features of mumming can be applied to modern creative contexts.
First, I provide background on the custom of mumming in Ireland based on my archival research conducted on mumming in the twentieth century. The Armagh Rhymers acknowledge the Celtic quarter days by incorporating ritual elements found in Irish folklore more broadly. I focus in on a children’s workshop for St. Brigid’s Day that incorporates elements of mumming, particularly rhyme and music, as well as the ritual of jumping through the críos bride and the crafting of St. Brigid’s crosses. I also discuss three performances for the summer solstice, one performed for television, that incorporate fire-jumping as a purification rite. I examine the way these performances are metatextual and incorporate an element of spirituality not found in traditional mumming.
Paper Short Abstract:
Inalpe and Désalpe, the vertical transhumance of livestock up and down the mountains, mark the agrarian calendar of alpine communities and are often ritualized during the “Alpine season”, recently recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. This paper discusses how the social and cultural links between rural and urban are renegotiating during these performs.
Paper Abstract:
In December 2023, UNESCO included the “Alpine season” in Switzerland in its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Alpine season is a living tradition that involves driving cows, sheep and goats to high altitudes during the summer months for grazing. In addition, during the Alpine season, certain festivals and rituals mark the lives of farming families and many of them are open to the public. These include the Inalpe et Désalpe in the French-speaking cantons, i.e. the vertical transhumance when farmers with livestock go up to the alpine pastures at the beginning of the season in May-June, or when they come down in September-October. Inalpe and Désalpe have marked the rural calendar of Alpine communities since the earliest human settlements and are highly symbolic. Today, they are events that involve both local communities and urban populations. Moreover, during the Inalpe or the Désalpe, cattle often parade through towns, led by farmers in traditional costumes. Starting from the 1980s, this contribution aims to propose a reflection on the current ways in which the "Alpine season" is represented as a living tradition. In particular, the work focuses on how Inalpe and Désalpe are staged, analysing how these events are organised and which actors are involved, while at the same time questioning how they contribute to the renewal of social and cultural relations between rural and urban.
Paper Short Abstract:
The aim of this presentation is to investigate the urbanization of a traditional custom of the peasant communities of the valley of the Jiu river: the ”nedeia”. In the last 20 years, the mayors of some mining towns have appropriated this rural custom, turning it into a modern festival.
Paper Abstract:
Valea Jiului is a region in southwestern Transylvania, situated in a valley of the Jiu river. The start of the mining in this region, in the second half of the 19th century, and the inherent immigration it triggered, has caused the emergence of two distinctive local communities: the natives (Romanian peasants) and the newcomers (foreign miners), which continue to redefine themselves, in opposition, but tightly intertwined. The aim of this presentation is to investigate the transformation of an important, old traditional custom of the region of Valea Jiului: the ”nedeia”. The ”nedeia” is a representative festival of the peasant community; it plays an important role in the local identity, and in some communities, it is also invested with a religious role as well. The importance of this traditional event, related to the most important calendrical and religious celebrations, is the main reason for its survival. Today, the ”nedeia” is organized by the village community itself in villages where its religious role is more pronounced. But more interesting is that the mayors of some mining towns have appropriated this rural custom, turning it into a modern festival, very different from the original peasant celebration. Are the city dwellers represented by their city’s festival, inspired by a tradition borrowed from the peasant communities? What do the peasant communities think about The nedeia organized by the city halls, given that they consider it to be their traditional holiday? In this presentation I will try to give some answers to these questions.
Paper Short Abstract:
This paper investigates the various Romanian rural traditions surrounding sudden death, in order to give a better understanding of the proliferation of memorials in Bucharest, since 1989.
Paper Abstract:
Since 1990, Bucharest has witnessed a significant increase in the number of memorials erected in places where people suddenly and unexpectedly lost their lives (mostly, but not exclusively, due to traffic accidents). This can be explained by a combination of historical, psychological and traditional factors. In previous studies I explored the historical context (related to the fall of communism and the return of religious freedom of expression that followed) of this increased memorialization and I discussed the psychological impact that the death of many young victims of the ”1989 revolution” had on the society. In this paper I focus on various rural traditions, some of them still ongoing, related to the sudden, thus an unexpected and unprepared for death.
Sudden death memorials are a culturally determined form of grief expression related to religious practices and beliefs regarding the soul and the afterlife. The religious context in which it is situated is, however, complex, due to the cultural diversity of the urban population. Aside from the conventional orthodox traditions relating to death, remnants of various ancient folk practices and beliefs are involved. These aspects of memorialization form a rather homogenous mixture, which nevertheless, allows for the identification of some specific local characteristics. Investigating sudden death memorials in Bucharest not only provides a window into contemporary Romanian society, with its recent accelerated transformation, but also its constant, strong religious faith.
Paper Short Abstract:
The folk choir Ukrainian Village Voices engages in a yearly practice of Koliada, or Christmas caroling, through the streets of New York's Ukrainian Village. While the external urban setting of these ritual songs may be the most apparent change from their agricultural origin in the home country, a focus on performance practice and transmission of vocal technique reveals adaptive capacities of ritual to change the bodies of performers as well as in the contexts of cultural meaning.
Paper Abstract:
Ukrainian Village Voices is a multi-ethnic choir based in the Ukrainian Village of Manhattan which is dedicated to preserving and performing the polyphonic vocal traditions of Ukraine's villages. In 2023, the choir was invited to participate in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC with a specific focus on the choir's performance repertoire of ritual song. In addition to performances throughout the New York's folk music scene, the choir engages in a yearly practice of Koliada, or Christmas caroling through the streets of New York's Ukrainian Village. In this most urban of settings, Koliada links together the sometimes frayed connections of the changing urban neighborhood of the Ukrainian diaspora community, while also engaging the multi-ethnic and cosmopolitan streets and audiences of New York.
This paper will explore the choir's understanding of its own ritual practice of Koliada and other ritual year vocal traditions such as Vesnianky (Spring Songs) and Kupala (Midsummer) in their urban setting and in relation to the source traditions in Ukraine. As a performing member of the choir, but as a non-Ukrainian, I explore this practice through a reflexive ethnographic analysis of my own vocal learning process and performance experience within the choir. While the external urban setting of these ritual songs may be the most apparent change from their agricultural origin in the home country, a focus on performance practice and transmission of vocal technique reveals the capacities of ritual song to change the bodies of diaspora performers while adapting to urban contexts of cultural meaning.
Paper Short Abstract:
This report presents an analysis of ethnographic data from press publications of Lithuanian youth in the Vilnius region between 1926 and 1939. These data are juxtaposed with the results of my own ethnographic fieldwork in the area, which aimed to identify the ritual year of the period.
Paper Abstract:
This report presents an analysis of ethnographic data from press publications of Lithuanian youth in the Vilnius region between 1926 and 1939. These data are juxtaposed with the results of my own ethnographic fieldwork in the area, which aimed to identify the ritual year of the period.
The largest number of publications devoted to calendar holidays can be found in the magazine “Jaunimo draugas” (145 issues), 47 one-off publications were used, ethnographic data is also provided by the magazine “Jaunimo kelias” (16 issues). The fieldwork material was collected between 1988 and 2012 through interviews with local informants (over 150 respondents). The data was then mapped, which facilitated an understanding of the regional specificity of the rituals under study.
The principal objective of examined press was to ensure the continued existence of an ethnic identity among young Lithuanians. However publications presented more customs from Western countries than from Lithuania or the Vilnius region. And folk beliefs related to holidays are often viewed with light ridicule, and the most archaic rituals are not even mentioned. A review of Lithuanian youth periodical press on the ritual year in the Vilnius region indicates a greater emphasis on modernising these traditions than on preserving the folk customs that have developed in this region. This situation will be subjected to detailed analysis in my report.
Paper Short Abstract:
This research examines the adaptation of rural rituals in Gümüşhane, focusing on folklore dances, culinary traditions, festivals, rest and recreation culture. Through qualitative interviews and field studies, the study highlights the significance of rural rituals in contemporary urban contexts.
Paper Abstract:
This research examines the adaptation and transformation of rural rituals in Gümüşhane, a small city in northeastern Turkey, highlighting their significant impact on urban society and cultural continuity. The study focuses on various cultural aspects, including folklore dances like horon and halay, culinary traditions such as pestil and köme, wedding customs, yayla culture, and rosehip festivals. Gümüşhane serves as a unique case study, where rural traditions are reshaped within an urban context due to rapid urbanization and globalization.
As rural populations migrate to cities like Gümüşhane in search of better opportunities, their rituals evolve to fit the urban milieu. This cultural blending results in a dynamic interplay between traditional practices and contemporary urban life. The transition from an agrarian economy to industrialization is a key factor influencing these transformations, affecting resource availability and ritual performance.
Additionally, the diverse social landscape of the city encourages interaction between individuals from various backgrounds, leading to adaptations in rural rituals that reflect urban preferences. This research employs in-depth qualitative interviews, documentary analysis, field studies across neighborhoods, and participant observations to explore the lived experiences of individuals influenced by these changes. While acknowledging its limitations, the qualitative approach enables a nuanced understanding of the phenomenological experiences of participants and the power dynamics at play, contributing to a broader comprehension of cultural transformation in modern societies. Recognizing the significance of rural rituals within urban environments is crucial as urbanization continues to reshape contemporary cultural landscapes.
Paper Short Abstract:
In this report, I'm going to examine the tradition of Christmas Eve dinner in a contemporary Lithuanian city and try to answer the question of how the different culinary traditions that existed in the past in the families of the husband's and wife's parents interact in the urban environment.
Paper Abstract:
When it comes to the Lithuanian ritual year of the late 19th - early 20th century, everyone had in mind the rural ritual year based on the flow of natural rhythms, religion and folk beliefs. In modern Lithuania, most of the population already lives in cities. In 1940-1941 and 1945-1989, the atheistic ideology, creation and introduction of socialist holidays and rapid urbanization led to radical changes in the ritual year. Already in 1988-1990, Lithuania started calling for the restoration of the old customs, discussing their adaptation to urban conditions. However, we can also talk about the rituals of Christmas Eve, which have been left behind by public debates, have been preserved and naturally modified by traditions passed down from generation to generation. My research on the Christmas holiday highlighted the culinary tradition of Christmas Eve in the city of Vilnius. Despite the atheistic policy of the Soviet era, the secularization of society and migration, the Lithuanian Christmas meals of Vilnius residents have not changed in principle even to this day. Preserved the specificity of fasting meals and a similar value hierarchy of individual meals. However, many urban families united people from different regions of Lithuania, sometimes of different religions (and different religiosity) and nationalities. How are the different Christmas culinary traditions that existed in the past in the families of the husbands’ and wives’ parents interacted in the contemporary urban environment? I will look for an answer to this question in the report, based on personal fieldwork data.
Paper Short Abstract:
The paper examines how the festival of the Epiphany is adapted to the secular environment in the city of Vilnius. It will be highlighted which idea is emphasized in the scenario and how it corresponds to the traditional festival.
Paper Abstract:
Traditionally, Epiphany marks the end of the festive Christmas period. Epiphany commemorates the evangelical legend of the three kings who came with gifts to greet the newborn baby Jesus. Traditionally celebrated in churches, this festival now moves to the streets of cities and is organized by secular institutions (cultural centers, municipalities) aiming to make it relevant to a wider population.
The festival of the Epiphany is celebrated today in the main cities of Lithuania. The scenario is similar in every city and is based on traditional mysteries performed in churches on that day. In Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, this festival has been renewed and adapted to the new secular environment of modern society through the efforts of the Vilnius Cultural Center.
In my presentation I’ll examine traditional and modern elements, which are included in the scenario of the Epiphany festival in the city of Vilnius. It will be highlighted which idea is emphasized in the scenario and how it corresponds to the traditional festival.
Paper Short Abstract:
Modern Halloween traditions, despite their connection with the Gregorian calendar All Saints' Day, dedicated to the "fathers" of the Christian church, are a phenomenon of modern urban culture. Due to cultural globalization and rapid adaptation to the needs of modern urban society, Halloween quickly spread around the world, including Lithuania. Today, we see strong opposition in society both according to ideologies or social groups. First, we will discuss those groups for whom Halloween is a completely acceptable fun pastime. Then about the „guardians of traditional culture“.
Paper Abstract:
Modern Halloween traditions, despite their connection with the Gregorian calendar All Saints' Day, dedicated to the "fathers" of the Christian church, are a phenomenon of modern urban culture. Due to cultural globalization and rapid adaptation to the needs of modern urban society, Halloween quickly spread around the world, including Lithuania. However, not everything is so simple. Today, we see strong opposition in society both according to ideological and social groups. First, we will discuss those groups for whom Halloween is a completely acceptable fun pastime. First of all, this is a part of children, for whom Halloween is a great opportunity to legally have fun and earn money or sweets. Second, representatives of club culture, for whom Halloween is opportunity to have a good time in their cultural group. And, most importantly, business knows very well where it could earn money here. There are far more groups outraged by the “destruction of tradition”. First of all, these are representatives of pro-Christian views. Who, not understanding much about the development of the cultural tradition and unable to critically evaluate sources from different periods, attribute meanings to Halloween that are not characteristic of it. Especially, when active and "enlightened” representatives of the clergy join the discussions on social networks. The guardians of traditional culture do not fare much better. The saddest thing is that representatives of all these social groups see the world only in black/white colors and are always the “only ones who know” what all the other social groups need.
Paper Short Abstract:
In my presentation, I will interrogate the relationship of carnival to the concept of “carnivalesque” as given to us by Russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin. I will examine the well-known carnival of Dunkirk, France. Although Dunkirk also promotes its carnival in the media, it remains a largely local (or at least regional) phenomenon. Its participants proudly proclaim it the most grass-roots carnival in France. The Dunquercoise boast that their carnival is the antithesis of that of Nice; that it is of, by, and for the people; that it is of the working and popular classes. The Dunkirk carnival is a rowdy affair. There are no floats; rather, it is a gathering of something like 50,000 people in costume. By all measures, the carnival would appear “carnivalesque” as described by Bakhtin. Despite Dunkirk carnival’s apparent flaunting of taboos, it can be reasonably hypothesized that Dunkirk carnival replicates power and gender structures, thus reinforcing rather than resisting or escaping them
Paper Abstract:
The Dunkirk carnival is a rowdy affair. Throughout the day, random groups of musicians plough their way through the crowd, caring little for anyone in their way. Another tradition involves men kissing other men, strangers, full on the mouth. This is described as having nothing to do with homosexuality. There is a great deal of profanity. Songs are joyfully sung by the crowd which describe “my aunts little dick,” “I love my brother’s dick when he shoves it in my ass:” and so on. Likewise, pastries depicting profane images are available. By all measures, the carnival would appear “carnivalesque” as described by Bakhtin.
Despite Dunkirk carnival’s apparent flaunting of taboos, it can be reasonably hypothesized that Dunkirk carnival replicates power and gender structures, thus reinforcing rather than resisting or escaping them. A performance approach to the carnival would see the benevolent city officials on high, tossing sustenance to the grasping “peasants” below. The entire event is physical, and a bit dangerous (people are warned that they may get hurt). Along with the wildly obscene lyrics to the songs, the carnival awards aggression, physical strength, and patriarchal hierarchy.
I am suggesting a post-bakhtinian paradigm for the study of carnival where we do not take carnival as necessarily, or essentially, resistant or oppositional; indeed, we may understand some instances as structural reinforcements of the established order OR RITUAL REINFORCEMENTS OF THE NORMATIVE STRUCTURES.. What I have described in fact functions as ritual, NOT JUST FESTIVAL,
Paper Short Abstract:
On the basis of field research, the paper will present how contemporary pagans living in urban communities transfer calendar rituals form ethnographic sources to completely new performative situation and reshape them in order to adjust to contemporary living conditions and needs of believers.
Paper Abstract:
Rodzimowierstwo (native faith) is one of the branches of contemporary paganism, which refers to the pre-Christian religion of the Slavs. It is a movement composed mainly of educated people, living in cities and working in various areas of the modern economy. Due to the limited number of historical sources concerning the Slavic culture from the pagan period, in the formation of their religious practices, believers often refer to ethnographic materials from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, treating folk beliefs and customs as the Christianized remains of the religion of the ancient Slavs.
Using the concepts of unwriting and rewriting, I would like to show how believers of Rodzimowierstwo try to transfer and transform calendar agricultural rituals in such a way as to adapt them to their needs and living conditions in modern urban societies. In particular, I will analyze two aspects of these transformations. The first one can be defined as a process of unwriting of written ethnographic sources, that is, restoring their performative dimension and revitalizing them as rituals composed of words, sounds, gestures and movements, as well as smells and tastes. The second one we can term as a kind of rewriting of rural calendric customs, which means their significant reshaping, namely, removing Christian content, adding Pagan content, and adjusting to the spatial and temporal conditions of a particular rite.
The basis for my considerations will be data collected during field research that I have been conducting among the followers of Rodzimowierstwo since 2018.