Ethnologica Dalmatica, Vol. 21 , 2014.
Original scientific paper
Love Divinations in the Cultural Heritage of the Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs and Poles
Marko Dragić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5362-6814
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu
Abstract
The paper presents a dozen Croats’ love divinations, which have been published in the scientific literature. It also includes around thirty contemporary and original field records of love divination examples. Love divinations are of ancient origin and are associated with Christian feast days. Most of them are related to St. Lucy’s Day, St. George’s Day and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Love divinations of the Croats are also associated with the following feasts: All Saints’ Day, the feast day of St. Andrew, the feast of St. Thomas, the feast of St. Sylvester (New Year’s Eve) and Ash Wednesday. Of all the given examples of love divinations, according to the testimonies in the field, a custom has survived in some places to write down the names of one’s darling persons on a dozen pieces of paper on St. Lucy’s Day. In addition to Croatian love divinations, the paper also presents a few Bosniak, Serbian and Polish love divinations. Those love divinations represent an exceptional ethnological and anthropological treasure. The narrators’ average age is 69. This fact serves as a warning that a large number of love divinations, as well as of intangible cultural heritage in general, have irretrievably fallen into oblivion.
Keywords
girls; boys; love; customs; rituals
Hrčak ID:
122150
URI
Publication date:
22.5.2014.
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