Izlaganje sa skupa
https://doi.org/10.17234/SEC.37.2
The Walk Through the Year toward A Year of Croatian Folk Customs
Mislav Ježić
Sažetak
Professor Vitomir Belaj, in his work The Walk Through the Year, which went through two editions in 1998 and 2007, transferred the fruits of the philological research of Radoslav Katičić into a ethnological framework. This research examined the oral literature of Slavic and Baltic peoples in order to reconstruct the formulas of Proto-Slavic sacred texts from it. Already in 1939, Milovan Gavazzi outlined this ethnological calendar framework in his classic work The Year of Croatian Folk Customs. While Gavazzi could only arrange these customs according to the calendar, describe them carefully in a positivist ethnological manner and, where possible, compare them to known ancient festivals related to the corresponding days of the year, Belaj provided more interpretation of the meaning of the customs that occur throughout the year. This was because he could connect them with the texts of Slavic oral literature, which, although in an enigmatic, mythical way, still speak in a mythical guise about this meaning. Basing the interpretation of customs on the interpretation of sacred mythical Croatian and Slavic texts is perhaps the most significant theoretical step forward in our ethnology since Professor Gavazzi until today. Professor Belaj was able to carry out this transfer of new philological discoveries into ethnology, and thus incite a significant turn in ethnology, thanks to his broad and deep ethnological knowledge, philological education, knowledge of the languages of Slavic oral texts and the language of secondary literature, as well as his scientific curiosity and acumen. In addition to Katičić’s connection of the interpretation of texts to the interpretation of real landscapes based on toponymy, oronymy and hydronymy, Belaj also used Andrej Pleterski’s hypothesis about the spatial organization of Slavic sanctuaries of the three supreme deities into sacred triangles. Thus, together with his son Juraj, he worked out examples of such Slavic spatial organization in Croatia. When it came to the Christian reinterpretation of Slavic deities, he relied on his theological knowledge. The work of Professor Belaj left a notable mark in a very exciting period for the development of Croatian and Slavic philology and ethnology.
Ključne riječi
year of Croatian folk customs; Croatian and Slavic oral texts; mythical interpretation of customs; Slavic organization of sacred space; Vitomir Belaj; Radoslav Katičić; Andrej Pleterski
Hrčak ID:
342810
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.12.2025.
Posjeta: 245 *