Nad „Peklom med vodami” do „Mohokosa”, „Železne gore” i „Per(n)jaka”

I  conducted  my  own  ethnographic  field  research  in  1998,  2004  and  2007.  Further  field research,  from  2010  to  2012,  under  the  title  ‘Folk  Piety  and  the  Transmission  of Ethnoheritage in  Upper  Meñimurje’, was  part of  Tomo  Vinšćak’s academic  project  Sacral Interpretation  of  Landscape,  organized  by  the  Matapur  Association  and  the  Ethnological and Anthropological Department of the Faculty of Philosophy in  Zagreb. The analysis and comparison  of  the  collected materials  has  contributed  to  research  into  the  fascinating and  still vibrant  –  though  under-researched  –  survival  strategies  of  pre-Christian  and Christian worldviews in the western and north-western parts of the northernmost districts of Croatia. I  conducted  my  own  ethnographic  field  research  in  1998,  2004  and  2007.  Further  field research,  from  2010  to  2012,  under  the  title  ‘Folk  Piety  and  the  Transmission  of Ethnoheritage in  Upper  Meñimurje’, was  part of  Tomo  Vinšćak’s academic  project  Sacral Interpretation  of  Landscape,  organized  by  the  Matapur  Association  and  the  Ethnological and Anthropological Department of the Faculty of Philosophy in  Zagreb. The analysis and comparison  of  the  collected materials  has  contributed  to  research  into  the  fascinating and  still vibrant  –  though  under-researched  –  survival  strategies  of  pre-Christian  and Christian worldviews in the western and north-western parts of the northernmost districts of Croatia.

Animal Real-Unreal in Traditional Conceptions of the World in Croatian Areas

Trying to interpret oneself and the other in the world, the traditional Man has established a real world and an otherworld. Specific herbal and animal attributes were ascribed to particular people who allegedly had the power to communicate between worldliness and transcendence. Also some human characteristics were linked with herbal and animal mediators. These attributes were folklorized as miraculous powers. Such supernatural beings from South Slavic traditional conceptionsof the world have been largely associated with the pre-Christian deities and their degradations, based on the observed real attributes of the vegetal and animal species. The interdisciplinary comparative way of treating South Slavic folklore real-unreal motifs through time and space in this article is its ethnological, animalistic and anthropological contribution

The Remnants of the Cosmogonical and Other Mythical Images in Examples of the Croatian Čakavian Ichthyological Dialectalisms

U osvit civilizacija čovječanstva, ljudi su se ribljim mesom hranili, ribljim kostima ukrašavali i naoružavali, ribljom kožom prekrivali prozorska okna, od riblje trbušne ljuske prozvodili lažni biser... Na brdima i u riječnim koritima leže fosili iz davnina, prije izdizanja stijenja iz morskog dna. Još od starovjekovnih pretkršćanskih i kršćanskih predaja Starog, ali i Novog svijeta, prežitci pojedinih kozmogonijskih predaja i drugih mitskih predodžaba u svezi s božanskim načelom ribe generacijski se prepričavaju i bilježe. I skupina hrvatskih čakavskih ihtioloških dijalektizama za ribe koje njihovi govornici drže ružnima, opasnima i/ili grabežljivima te za živopisne i/ili dvospolne ribe, u njezinu suodnošenju s primjerima starijih hrvatskih tradicijskih napjeva, vjerojatno dijelovima nekadašnjih pretkršćanskih stihovanih obrednih tekstova, upućuju na njih.At the dawn of human civilization, people used fish meat to feed themselves, fish bones to decorate and arm themselves, fish skin to cover window panes, fish ventral shells to make fake pearls... On hills and in rocky river-beds lie fossils from ancient times before the uplift of rocks from the seabed. From the ancient pre-Christian and Christian traditions of the Old World, and the New World as well, the remnants of certain cosmogonical traditions and other mythical images in connection with the divine principle of fish, have been retold and recorded for generations. A group of the Croatian Čakavian ichthyological dialectalisms for fishes that speakers consider ugly, dangerous and/or predatory, and for colourful and/or hermaphrodite fishes, juxtaposing it with examples of older traditional Croatian songs, probably parts of one-time pre-Christian ritual verse texts, also points to them

The Drava river and the Mura affluent as a homeland, barrier and mythical waters of the međimurje and the vicinal Kaikavian traditional poetry

Rijeka Drava i njezina pritoka Mura opjevani su motivi kajkavskih tradicijskih pjesama Međimurja, Podravine i Hrvatskog zagorja. One predstavljaju stvarne zavičajne rijeke koje su istodobno i fizička razdjelnica i komunikacijski put, od kojih se istodobno i zazire i živi. Katkad opjevane kao mitske vode između stvarnoga i onostranog svijeta, nisu izrijekom imenovane. Tajanstvene močvare, mora, rijeke, jezera, bezdani i zdenci, oko kojih se kreću božanstva ili nadnaravna bića, svjedoče o povijesnom susretanju i prožimanju hrvatske pretkršćanske i kršćanske duhovnosti.The Drava River and its the Mura affluent are the motifs of the Kaikavian traditional poetry of Međimurje, Podravina and the Croatian Hinterland. This flows represent a real local rivers, which are a physical barrier and a communication way at the same time, which give life and induce the backlash. Sometimes sung as the mythical waters which separate real world and otherworld, they don’t explicitly appointed. Mysterious swamps, seas, rivers, lakes, abysses and wells, which deities or supernatural beings get around, testify about historical encountering and pervasion of Croatian pre-Christian and Christian spirituality

The Drava river and the Mura affluent as a homeland, barrier and mythical waters of the međimurje and the vicinal Kaikavian traditional poetry

Rijeka Drava i njezina pritoka Mura opjevani su motivi kajkavskih tradicijskih pjesama Međimurja, Podravine i Hrvatskog zagorja. One predstavljaju stvarne zavičajne rijeke koje su istodobno i fizička razdjelnica i komunikacijski put, od kojih se istodobno i zazire i živi. Katkad opjevane kao mitske vode između stvarnoga i onostranog svijeta, nisu izrijekom imenovane. Tajanstvene močvare, mora, rijeke, jezera, bezdani i zdenci, oko kojih se kreću božanstva ili nadnaravna bića, svjedoče o povijesnom susretanju i prožimanju hrvatske pretkršćanske i kršćanske duhovnosti.The Drava River and its the Mura affluent are the motifs of the Kaikavian traditional poetry of Međimurje, Podravina and the Croatian Hinterland. This flows represent a real local rivers, which are a physical barrier and a communication way at the same time, which give life and induce the backlash. Sometimes sung as the mythical waters which separate real world and otherworld, they don’t explicitly appointed. Mysterious swamps, seas, rivers, lakes, abysses and wells, which deities or supernatural beings get around, testify about historical encountering and pervasion of Croatian pre-Christian and Christian spirituality

Magic and Witchcraft Survivals in Croatian Traditional Beliefs and Practices with Laboring Woman

Prema definiciji šamanizma kao magijsko-religijskog fenomena, u kojem šaman određenim postupcima manipulira vatrom i vremenskim prilikama te uspostavljanjem komunikacije između ovostranoga i onostranoga, nastojanja vračara/vračeva u svezi su s ekstazom, lječenjem i iscjeljivanjem. Polazeći od razmatranja antropologa Mircea Eliadea (1907. – 1986.) i Claudea Levi-Straussa (1908. – 2009.) da pri rađanju djeteta nazočnost osobe koji govori s bogovima jamči kozmogonijsku i mitsku povijest društvene zajednice u kojoj se rađa novi život, autorica nastoji pokazati da je dio hrvatski tradicijskih vjerovanja i postupaka, ugrađenih u pojedine običajne postupke vračara, babica i kuma s udavačom, rodiljom i babinjačom te novorođenčetom i djetetom do njegove prve godine starosti u svezi s predneolitičkim i neolitičkim magijsko-religijskim shvaćanjima na hrvatskom tlu.According to the definition of shamanism as a magical and religious phenomenon, in which shaman in certain procedures manipulates fire and weather conditions and establishes communication between this and that reality, the efforts of sorcerer/sorceress are in relation with the ecstasy, cure and healing. Taking as a starting point the study of the anthropologist Mirce Eliade (1907-1986) and Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009), according to which the presence of a person who speaks to gods in childbirth guarantees cosmogonic and mythical history of the social community in which new life is born, the author tries to show that some Croatian traditional beliefs and practices, embedded in customary procedures of sorcerer, midwife and godmother with marriageable girl and laboring woman and newborn child and child up to his first age, are in connection with Preneolithic and Neolithic magical and religious understanding on the Croatian territory

Echoes of the Slavic myth in intangible culture of Međimurje

Interdisciplinarnim i kombiniranim metodičkim pristupima u obradi prikupljene terenske i ekscerpirane građe u radu se nastoji utvrditi srodnost međimurskih i ne-međimurskih kulturnih elemenata u kontekstu slavenske vjere. Zahvaljujući spoznajama jezikoslovaca i indoeuropeista Jacoba L. Carla Grimma, Jana Peiskera, Jamesa G. Frazera, Georgesa Dumézila, Mircea Eliadea, Marije Gimbutas, Vladimira N. Toporova, Vjačeslava V. Ivanova, Borisa A. Uspenskog, Emily Lyle, Garretta Olmsteda i drugih, od razdoblja renesanse do danas u Hrvatskoj se proučava hrvatsko pretkršćanstvo. Istraživanjima o indoeuropskim i slavenskim kulturama, hrvatski znanstvenici Radoslav Katičić i Vitomir Belaj dokazali su elemente slavenske vjere u hrvatskoj nematerijalnoj kulturi. U tom kontekstu tradicijska kultura Međimurja još nije obuhvatnije istraživana. U seoskim zadružnim porodicama, kotoripsko kolo, krogljanska kola i svatofski pl(j)esi stoljećima su vjerno prenošeni usmenim putem. Njihove razgrađene stihove dijelom sadrže i drugi obredno-običajni stihovni oblici, predaje, bajke i priče iz života. Na određenim mjestima i u određeno doba dana i godine redovito su se izvodili do sredine 20. st., a pod utjecajem urbanizacije, folklorizacije i globalizacije sve reduciranije i rjeđe. Obilježeni kozmogonijsko-eshatološkim predodžbama slavenskih obrednih tekstova i kršćanskom reinterpretacijom u kontekstu srednjovjekovnih političko-ekonomskih i vjerskih zbivanja, međimurski napjevi u kolu svojim jezičnim, plesno-kinetičkim, pjesničkim, tekstološkim i meloritamskim obilježjima također su usporedivi s povijesnim grbom Leliwa i sa zakarpatskom pjevano-plesnom kolomyjkom, sa zabilježenim kulturnim obrascima na područjima povijesne i suvremene Hrvatske, napose s koledama i kraljičkim pismama. U povijesnoj protuosmalijskoj hrvatskoj vojsci u Međimurju sudjelovali su seljaci s feudalnih posjeda plemićke obitelji Zrinski. Slavenski knezovi te hrvatski i bosanski banovi, naizmjenično su vladali srednjovjekovnim Zahumljem prije uključivanja u Dubrovačku Republiku, pa historiografske, jezikoslovne, arheološke i genetičke spoznaje valja dopuniti usporednim etno(muziko)loškim, folklorističkim i tekstološkim prinosima s tih područja, napose iz franjevačke provincije Bosne Srebrene.From renaissance to the present, the pre-Christian Croatia has been a subject of studies thanks to linguists and experts in Indo-European languages. In their research of Indo-European and Slavic cultures, Radoslav Katičić and Vitomir Belaj, contemporary Croatian scholars, found evidence of elements of the early Slavic pre-Christian beliefs and practices in the Croatian intangible culture. Their reconstructions of Slavic myths inspired a number of scientific studies of other Croatian scholars. Those studies provide evidence of verse fragments of the ritualistic texts of the pre-Christian Slavic culture originating from the Slavic narratives and extra-liturgical ritualistic and customary practices. Supplanted by Christian legends and historic events, in the process of the Slavic sacralisation of sovereign territories, they comprise an idiographic account of the Indo-European mythical origin. However, a whole sacred text of the pre-Christian Croats and other Slavic ethnicities is not preserved. In diachronically and synchronically changeable sociopolitical and socioeconomic circumstances, the usual structural models and elements of earlier traditional songs have been reinterpreted and contextualized only superficially. For centuries, they had been transmitted orally from generation to generation, and from the 19th century, this transmission more often included written conveyances. Content-wise, and where form and semantics are concerned, they had been a subject of dismissals, interference, adaptations, modifications and they influenced personal and collective reception. Where the intangible cultural heritage of Međimurje related to the folklore and ethnomusicology is concerned, researchers have found thousands of traditional songs – a number of early prosodies, wedding, work and children’s songs, as well as songs with unknown history, place of origin or a type of conveyance that are believed to be created earlier than other songs. Songs from Međimurje and data related to them also include written evidence that has so far been only partially scientifically analysed. Songs from Međimurje are closely historically and culturally related to songs from the region of Slovenia located along the Mura River, as well as to those originating from the Hungarian region along the Mura River. The proven autochthonous presence of the Croatian ethnicity after their historic migration to settle in their new homeland (e.g. present-day parts of the Serbian part of Srijem; the Serbian and Hungarian part of Bačka; Boka Kotorska in Montenegro; coast and Trieste in Italia; coast, Bela krajina and Prekmurje in Slovenia, Pomurje in Hungary), has focused efforts of researchers to the ethnographic heritage, as well as to the heritage of the Croatian diaspora permanently settled in Gradišće, Italy and Romania, and to a large number of serbianized Croatian songs collected by the Serbian folklorist Vuk Karadžić in his field research and included in his books. For centuries, under the auspices of the rural communal families, the original form of the famous kotoripsko kolo and krogljanska kola (a traditional circle dancees accompanied by the singing) from Međimurje, as well as the wedding dance svatofski pl(j)esi had been orally transmitted from generation to generation. Until the 20th century, these circle dances were regularly danced on particular occasions, in particular locations, on a particular time of a day and during a particular part of a year. Afterwards, under the influence of urbanization, folklorization and globalisation, their limited variations were performed on rare occasions. Based on a comparison between the reconstructed elements of myths related to the early Slavic belief system and the functional, content-related, form-fitting, thematic, motivational, semantic, linguistically-stylistic and melo-rhytmic note values of songs of these circle and other forms of dances, the goal of this paper is to demonstrate that, although modified under the afore mentioned influences, they can be compared with other ritualistic and customary Međimurje and Slavic annual and life practices, narratives and semantic and linguistic forms. In spite of the historically changeable categories of time and space, those are the intangible evidence that corresponds to the tangible evidence related to the pre-Christian religious imagery of the Croatian paganism, as well as to the Christian imagery after the Christianisation. By using the ritualistic imitation of the mythical macro-cosmos to interpret the meaning of life, the meaning of the world and the meaning of existence for the sake of a personal and collective advancement, and transmitting its empirically founded and structured imagery into the real world of the micro-cosmos, Croats have preserved this evidence thanks to their national culture, reinterpretation and mechanisms of memorising and conveying. The body of evidence related to an earlier dancing tradition of Međimurje also suggests a need for its comparison with cultural elements of the pre-Slavic and Slavic communities founded in their original homeland and during the great migration before and after settling in Međimurje. Thanks to complex neurological, psychological and cognitive individual processes, as well as cohesive social processes under the umbrella of the community, structures of New Year’s and wedding ceremony practices, as well as traditional games, were the most persistent in resisting modification and change. In the process of a gradual alienation from the original sacral performance elements, contexts and meanings, early ritualistic versified units, partially modified or forgotten, have acquired profane characteristics. Contemporary folkloristic studies of these traditions are mostly focused on their contemporary formal characteristics, contexts and performances. Historically influenced by the Slavic ritualistic texts, the Christian reinterpretation and Medieval political, economic and religious affairs, songs from Međimurje sung in circle dances, in their visual, semantic, dance-kinetic, poetic, textual and/or melorhytmic patterns, as well as the most complete series of Croatian kolenda preserved in Croatian Dubrovnik hinteland and Romanian Rekaš area (Recaş), and of the Eastern Slavonian kraljička pisma, are also comparable with historical Leliwa coat of arms and with kolomyjka – a wedding combination of verses and dancing from the Carpathian area in the West Ukraine, and with orally conveyed literary and linguistic forms originating from Bijela Hrvatska (White Croatia). Since farmers from feudal estates owned by the Croatian noble family Zrinski were recruited in the historical anti-Ottoman Croatian army stationed in Međimurje, and since Slavic dukes and Croatian and Bosnian governors ruled the medieval Zachlumia before it joined the Dubrovnik Republic, historiographical, linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence should be supplemented along with the comparative ethno(music)al, folkloristic and textual contributions from these areas, especially from a Bosnian Franciscan province Srebrena. After several years of an individual field and archival research, cultural (ethnological, folkloristic, textual, linguistic, spectroethnologic, astro-ethnologic) enquiry, interdisciplinary (cultural-geography, cultural-history, cultural-anthropology and interpretation) analysis, carefully chosen methodical apparatus (analysis, comparison, diachronic-synchronic elaboration, contextualization) and interpretation, this paper is an endeavour to establish a relation between certain Slavic cultural elements – those originating from Međimurje and those that do not originate from this region within the context of the Slavic belief system in the historic as well as contemporary territory of Croatia, and to contribute to a better understanding of the Croatian traditional culture in general

Prikazi

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