Ethnologica Dalmatica, Vol. 8 , 1999.
Original scientific paper
Life Cycle Customs in ihe Region of Imotski and Western Herzegovina from the End of the 19th Century to World War II
Dinka Alaupović-Gjeldum
; Ministarstvo kulture, Konzervatorski odjel Split
Abstract
The customs of a life cycle include those practiced on the occasion of childbirth, marriage ceremony and death. So far there has not been much literature dealing exclusively with the customs of the region of Imotski and western Herzegovina; most accounts have been general and partial ones. The chapter on customs connected with childbirth is concerned with relationships of a family and a rural community towards a pregnant and a barren woman. Women used to give birth by the fireplace and were assisted by amateur village midwives. A hard delivery was accompanied with various magical practices such as gunshooting, fetching of relics, praying, etc. The following chapter describes the ways a boy and a girl meet, period of courting, an offer of marriage, preparations for a wedding in the houses of a bride and a groom, etc. The last chapter is about the omens that according to folk beliefs foretell death, funeral feasts and graves marked by a wreath of stones. All the customs of this region show similarities to those of a wider Dinaric culture area in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Croatia.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
108497
URI
Publication date:
10.5.1999.
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