Original scientific paper
The Ascension in Theology and Cultural Heritage of the Croats
Marko Dragić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5362-6814
; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Split
Abstract
The Ascension is a Christian feast observed on the 40th day
after Easter, always on Thursday, when Christ’s Ascension into
heaven is celebrated. By ascending into heaven Christ saved the
mankind. That’s why that feast is also called in Croatian language
“Spasovo” meaning “Salvation Day”. In Croatian cultural heritage
the Ascension Day is characterized by the Ascension processions,
with the so called bearers of the cross (križari/križarice) mentioned
for the first time in Bakar at the beginning of the 17th century.
The processions would start at the break of dawn with the purpose
of consecrating the fields, taking place on Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday on the eve of the Ascension Day, and those days were
called the Days of the Cross. The processions were forbidden in
1952 by the Communist authorities.
People also observe that day as a pastoral feast so that pastoral
celebrations, rites and customs are common. Long before, the
youth of Slavonia would celebrate that feast by singing, dancing
and rejoicing.
Although the Ascension Day is a very important holiday in
Croatia and although Croatia was rich in all kinds of customs and
celebrations, these customs have not considerably attracted the
ethnologists, anthropologists and philologists’ attention. Therefore,
in this work the author mostly uses the actual authentic fieldrecords.
Keywords
Jesus Christ; apostles; miracles; Ascension; folk rites; processions and customs; oral lyrical ritual songs
Hrčak ID:
41916
URI
Publication date:
30.9.2009.
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