Original scientific paper

DANCE IN CONTEMPORARY CARNIVAL CUSTOMS IN CROATIA

Stjepan Sremac ; Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research

Abstract

The article is based on the author's own fieldwork of carnival customs from 1970 to 1985 at the following sites: Lastovo on Lastovo Island (1970), Resnik near Zagreb (1975), Lobor (1976 and 1978), Velika Gorica (1977 and 1978), Čakovec (1979), Novi Vinodolski (1981, 1983 and 1985) and Pag on Pag Island (1982). Two distinct forms emerged in the carnivals under study. First are carnival customs as a vital, and usually uninterrupted tradition, which exist primarily to meet the needs of the inhabitants themselves. Here we can include the carnival customs from Novi Vinodolski, Pag, Lastovo and Lobor. The other basic form of carnival customs is tourist-oriented events, i.e. those intended to gather as large a number of people from the immediate and further vicinity as possible to take part in various programs, where a clear line is drawn between audience and performers.
The author notes and analyzes the total dance repertoire, .and
in doing so considers both folk dances, i.e. village dances, and
social dances, i.e. urban dances. Dancing at carnivals in the past in
Croatia, and the development and characteristics of contemporary
social dance in Croatia are covered respectively in separate chapters.
The author emphasizes the historical fact that urban and village dances have been in constant interaction throughout their parallel existence, influencing each other. He finds that both kinds of dance are firmly interwoven in contemporary carnival customs, and points to the necessity of giving urban dances equal ethnochoreological treatment.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

49332

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/49332

Publication date:

15.3.1988.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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