Original scientific paper
ECHOES OF THE DECAPITATION OF AN OX IN THE VILLAGE OF PUPNAT ON THE ISLAND OF KORčULA: THE CROATS BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY
Jasna Čapo Žmegač
orcid.org/0000-0001-6181-2860
; Intitute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
On the basis of newspaper articles, the author analyses public opinions regarding the
revitalised custom of beheading of an ox in the village of Pupnat on the island of Korčula,
particularly in relation to the role allocated to that custom in creating the image of modern
Croatian identity. Public reactions showed the current intensive dilemmaes and
uncertainties in the construction of Croatian identity as belonging to the East (the
Balkans) or to the West ("Europe"). They are reflected in internal political squabbles in
1999.
The discussions about the decapitation of the ox's head show how supportive
citizens of Croatia were of a more modern image of the Croatian state and nation. Although
their advocacy here is primarily based on giving prominence to a new sensibility towards
animals, they testify to the wish of Croatian citizens that Croatian identity be more firmly
linked with the value system of modern European societies, and not with the particularities
of their own history and traditions. In a dilemma between tradition and modernity they
opted for modernity, which for them is epitomized in Western Europe. Public discussion
about the ox's decapitation thus speaks of the failure of Croatian identity production in the
nineties based on historical tradition and the negation of modernity.
Keywords
tradition; national identity; politics
Hrčak ID:
33382
URI
Publication date:
4.12.2000.
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