The Anthropological-Folkloristic and Religious Aspects of Marica Križe's Oral Literary Records

Abstract

Owing to the oral literary records of Marica Križe on the village Dubovec near Križevci, we gain insight into the abundant anthropological–folkloristic and religious content which in the nineteenth century rendered the identity of the Croatian people exceptionally rich and strong. This article examines the genre–diverse content of two of Križe’s manuscripts from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century in order to demonstrate a practical, living faith both in the customs and in the sacramental life of the villagers of the Prigorje region at the foot of Mount Kalnik. Marica Križe is the only woman who recorded the oral literature of the Križevci area and one of approximately ten women in Croatia who recorded the life and customs of the people in accordance with „The Basics for the Collection and Study of Material on the Life of the People“ by Antun Radić who took part in the Committee on the Life and Customs of the People at the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts of that time. Although she did not adopt in their entirety Radić’s instructions on recording material as a norm, but moreso as a template, she did make records of the traditional and oral literary realities according to his instructions and thus recorded the living culture and religious content of a particular locality.