Original scientific paper
ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS AT GRAČANI NEAR ZAGREB
Domagoj Novosel
; Zagreb
Abstract
The target of this paper is to describe 20th century Advent and Christmas customs at Gračani near Zagreb . The Gračani settlement is first mentioned in 1334, in the list of villages obliged to pay the desetina (tithe) to the Zagreb church. Geographically the settlement belongs to the Zagrebačko Prigorje region. Advent and Christmas days customs throughout the 20th century are described in the paper. Modifications of such customs take place due to the city of Zagreb's vicinity and the village-versus-city relationship. The social and public structure of Gračani changes because it is in the city's vicinity and and the Gračani settlement become a more urbanized and a less rural area. The undergoing changes on the eve of World War II and those in the war after-period are described, and also the relatively successful efforts to resume with old customs at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries when the local community becomes aware of the significance of cultural, historical and ethnographic heritage. The majority of the writing in the paper is based on unpublished records of the Sveti Franjo Ksaverski (St. Francis) parish to which the Gračani settlement belonged from 1942 till 1983.
Keywords
Gračani; Došašće (Advent); Zornice (early/morning service); Barbarinje (St. Barbara's Day); Sveta Lucija (St. Lucy's Day); Nikolinje (St. Nicholas Day); Zvezdari; Badnjak (Christmas Eve); Božić (Christmas); Blagoslov kuća (House Blessing); Štiefanje (St. Stephen's Day); Januševe (St. John's Day); Novo leto (New Year); Tre Kraljov (Epiphany)
Hrčak ID:
97792
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2012.
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