Ritual Year 8 Migrations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences — SIEF Working Group on The Ritual Year Edited by Dobrinka Parusheva and Lina Gergova Sofia • 2014 THE RITUAL YEAR 8 MIGRATIONS The Yearbook of the SIEF Working Group on The Ritual Year Sofia, IEFSEM-BAS, 2014 Peer reviewed articles based on the presentations of the conference in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 26-29 June 2012 General Editor: Emily Lyle Editors for this issue: Dobrinka Parusheva and Lina Gergova Language editors: Jenny Butler, Molly Carter, Cozette Griffin-Kremer, John Helsloot, Emily Lyle, Neill Martin, Nancy McEntire, David Stanley, Elizabeth Warner Design and layout: Yana Gergova Advisory board: Maria Teresa Agozzino, Marion Bowman, Jenny Butler, Molly Carter, Kinga Gáspár, Evy Håland, Aado Lintrop, Neill Martin, Lina Midholm, Tatiana Minniyakhmetova, David Stanley, Elizabeth Warner The Yearbook is established in 2011 by merging former periodicals dedicated to the study of the Ritual Year: Proceedings of the (5 volumes in 2005–2011). Published by the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences ISSN 2228-1347 © Authors © Dobrinka Parusheva & Lina Gergova, editors © Yana Gergova, design and layout © SIEF Working Group on The Ritual Year © IEFSEM-BAS CONTENTS Foreword 9 THE SEED-STORE OF THE YEAR Emily Lyle 15 MODERN SPORTS AWARDS CEREMONIES – A GENEALOGICAL ANALYSIS Grigor Har. Grigorov 27 THE RITUAL OF CHANGE IN A REMOTE AREA: CONTEMPORARY ARTS AND THE RENEWAL OF A POST-COLD WAR PLACE Miha Kozorog 43 RITUALS OF MIGRANT COMMUNITIES: Changing Calendars and Transmission of Traditions THE RITUAL GAMES OF THE SCOTTISH DIASPORA IN THE UNITED STATES Laurent Sébastien Fournier 65 RITUALS IN THE SLOVENIAN DIASPORIC COMMUNITY IN ARGENTINA Jaka Repic 78 MIGRATION AND RITUAL – REACTUALIZATION OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN A NEW CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT Maria Kissikova 96 SEASONAL LABOUR MIGRATIONS (GURBET) IN THE CENTRAL BALKANS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED RITUAL CYCLES Petko Hristov 108 SYNCRETISM IN AN ETHNIC CELEBRATION AMONG DESCENDENTS OF IMMIGRANTS IN ISRAEL Rachel Sharaby 119 INHABITING DIVIDED TERRITORIES: ‘COMING HOME’ AND ‘RETURNING TO THE HOMELAND’. HEIRS AND RITUALS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BULGARIAN-TURKISH BORDER Meglena Zlatkova 142 NATIONAL COMMEMORATIVE MEETING ON PETROVA NIVA, BULGARIA: LOCAL/NATIONAL & TRADITIONAL/MODERN Lina Gergova 162 RITUALS OF MIGRANT COMMUNITIES: Cultural Interaction and Preservation of Tradition RITUALS AND CUSTOMS IN AN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY David Stanley 179 THE VIEW FROM THE MIGRANT’S WINDOW. INTERACTIONS OF THE ESTONIAN AND SWEDISH RITUAL YEAR Mare Kõiva, Andres Kuperjanov 193 CALENDAR CUSTOMS IN THE LATVIAN VILLAGE OF TIMOFEYEVKA IN SIBERIA Aigars Lielbārdis 216 THE RITUAL CALENDAR OF MIGRANTS: MOTIVES AND THE PROCESS OF MODIFICATION, FUNCTION AND EFFECT Tatiana Minniyakhmetova 228 ‘WHEN IT’S A FESTIVAL LET’S CELEBRATE!’ COMMUNAL FESTIVALS AND FESTAL INTERPRETATIONS IN GYIMES Judit Balatonyi 237 TRADITION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF TRADITION: THE EXPERIENCE OF RUSSIAN OLD BELIEVERS IN LATVIA Nadežda Pazuhina 264 THE RITUAL YEAR OF THE CONTEMPORARY POLISH MIGRANT COMMUNITY IN BULGARIA Katya Mihaylova 274 THE CHALLENGES OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES IN EUROPE. THE EXAMPLE OF HITIMA OR HATIM: A CELEBRATION AND A RITE OF PASSAGE FOR YOUNG MUSLIMS OF FRANCE AND BULGARIA Marie-Laure Boursin Lekov 286 LEARNING JEWISHNESS THROUGH RITUALS AND FESTIVITIES IN FORMER EAST GERMANY TODAY Karine Michel 305 MIGRATION OF RITUALS AND MYTHS SAINT NEKTARIOS, ‘THE MIGRANT SAINT’: FROM THE GREEK AEGINA TO THE ‘ROMANIAN AEGINA’ Irina Stahl 327 NESTINARSKI RITUAL COMPLEX N STOMANEVO VILLAGE – A NEW PLACE FOR AN OLD TRADITION Ana Stefanova 353 THE MIGRATION OF THE SEVEN SLEEPERS’ MYTH FROM EPHESUS TO BRITTANY: A CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE CASE Manoël Pénicaud 366 RITUAL HEALING ON TWO CONTINENTS: NATURE, TRADITION, AND BELIEF (PART I) Marlene Hugoson 375 RITUAL HEALING ON TWO CONTINENTS: NATURE, TRADITION, AND BELIEF (PART II) Nancy Cassell McEntire 388 CROSSING BORDERS WITH THE FESTIVAL OF BRIGID Bożena Gierek 402 FAIRIES IN THE RITUAL YEAR IN SCOTLAND AND GREECE Nikolemma Polyxeni Dimitriou 426 IN THE HANDS OF THE WOMEN, THE BABO DAY: FROM A MID-WINTER FESTIVAL IN GREEK MACEDONIA TO THE ANCIENT WORLD Evy Johanne Håland 442 FOREWORD As untimely as it now seems, a few decades ago observers proclaimed the twentieth century as the century of migrations, bearing in mind all wars, political unrest and violence causing those migrations, as well as economic inequalities and globalization were witnessed long before its end. Indeed, for the time being, the twenty-first century does not appear to have differed very much from previous patterns of upheaval and relocation. Commenting on cultural change in North America in the early twentieth century, Ellsworth Huntington stated the following: “History in its broadest aspect is a record of man‘s migrations from one environment to another” (1919: 2). The analysis of migrations has always been marked by a specific ambivalence that contains both hostility and curiosity. Very often migrations are regarded as traumatic experiences causing fear and nostalgia or as promotions of inequality—either economically or politically. When examined as agents of progress, they often are linked to the development of transport and communications. On a fundamental level, migrations embody the basic human right of movement and choice of the place to live. During the last several decades, research on migrations has resulted in valuable publications dealing with the migration processes, the life of the migrant communities, and their ways of accommodation and adaptation. In this volume, migration is not so much the object of research as it is a lens through which to observe ritual and ritual year. The authors explore the relationship between ritual and migration, focusing on how the latter influences the former. Movements and meetings of human communities promote analytical explorations in the area of rituals and festivity, and provide opportunities for new and sometimes unexpected insights. The articles in the volume have developed from presentations at the 8th Annual Conference of SIEF Working Group on The Ritual Year, which took place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in June 2012. The conference was organized by the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and by the University of Plovdiv, its official 9 host. Participants from three continents took part in the event. Bulgarian researchers were in the majority, but there were also guests from the USA, Great Britain, France, Norway, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Kosova, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Greece, and Israel. The articles presented here cover a wide range of topics and research locations, as well as a wide range of analyses, incorporating individual, regional, national, and global perspectives. Ethnographic work sites range from North and South America, through Europe and the Middle East, and into Ural and Siberia. The articles are organized into three main sections. Following the tradition of previous publications of the annual conferences of the SIEF Working Group on the Ritual Year, three articles serve as “starters,” each of which offers a different approach to the topic of migrations and/or the ritual year. Emily Lyle (UK) explores parallels between life cycles of plants and people according to the Indo-European calendar; Grigor Grigorov (Bulgaria) researches the ancient mythological layers of the Olympics award ceremonies; and Miha Kozorog (Slovenia) discusses the relation between contemporary rituals and tourism, using a case study of tourist-attracting events at the Slovenian-Italian border. In section one, Rituals of migrant communities: Changing calendars and transmission of traditions, authors consider how the ritual calendar changes as a result of migration. Laurent Sébastien Fournier (France) focuses on what the “Highland” games help us learn about the impact of migrations on the ritual calendar of the Scottish Diaspora. Jaka Repic (Slovenia) explores the role of rituals in Slovenian Diaspora in Argentina, focusing on concepts of community and identity. Drawing on fieldwork in Western Macedonia and Western Bulgaria, Petko Hristov (Bulgaria) discusses seasonal labor migration and its relation to the appearance of new calendar feasts. Maria Kissikova (Bulgaria) analyses the accommodation of an individual to a new environment and how it affects her identity. This section also includes articles that address the transmission of traditions from one generation to another. Rachel Sharaby (Israel) considers how descendants of immigrants from North Africa to Israel have achieved a new cultural interpretation of the Mimouna holiday. Meglena Zlatkova (Bulgaria) focuses on generational aspects of migration between Bulgaria and Turkey and how the collective memory of different national 10 communities influences the perception of borders. Lina Gergova (Bulgaria) analyses the rituals of the heirs of refugees who moved from Eastern and Western Thrace to Bulgaria. In section two, Rituals of migrant communities: Cultural interaction and preservation of tradition, the authors examine rituals as means of intercultural communication. David Stanley (USA) notes that the complexity of ethnicity and the immigration experience requires a broader scholarly focus – on the entire community rather than