DOCSLIB.ORG

In Search of History and Tradition

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
In Search of History and Tradition AKADEMIN FÖR UTBILDNING OCH EKONOMI Avdelningen för humaniora In search of History and Tradition A study on the historical potential and passage of tradition in the Romanian colind and descântec with comparisons to Eddic Poems case studies Robert-Cătălin Barbu 2020 Supervisor: Stefan Larsson 1 Abstract The present thesis aims at identifying the historical and traditional potential within two elements of Romanian folklore, namely colind and descântec. Analysis of the text and narrative of these phenomena shows their high potential in preserving cults, celebrations, myths and practices that pre-date the arrival of Christianity within Romanian lands. This analysis in turn relies extensively on parallels with three Eddic Poems: Völuspá, Hávamál and Skírnismál. By exploring notions of performance and orality the paper displays the unaltered character of the Romanian materials in question in contrast to Old Norse material. This in turn reinforces the analysis of cults, mythology and practices identified in colinde and descântece, contributing to the viability of the epistemological inquiries undertaken. Influences are explored-with preponderance Christian influence-in order to strengthen the analysis of their history and tradition. By exploring the ways in which Christianity could exert its influence on the Romanian material, the number of possible objections towards the authenticity of the history and tradition are reduced to a minimum. Comparisons with Eddic Poems will confirm the analysis of Christian influence in colind and descântec. Key words: colind, descântec, Romanian folklore, orality, performance, Poetic Edda, Roman celebrations, history, tradition, snake, Dionysus, horned animals, magic charms, winter solstice carols, Marija Gimbutas, Caraman Petru, Joseph Harris, Christian influence, magic and witchcraft, poetics. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2 Key words ................................................................................................................................................ 2 List of conventions .................................................................................................................................. 4 Designations and terminology ................................................................................................................ 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Hypothesis .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Main questions .................................................................................................................................... 8 Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Limitations ........................................................................................................................................ 11 Structure ............................................................................................................................................ 12 Introduction to the material ................................................................................................................... 13 Hávamál, Völuspá, Skírnismál.......................................................................................................... 13 Colinde .............................................................................................................................................. 15 Descântece ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Chapter I ............................................................................................................................................... 21 Orality and performance in Old Norse case studies .......................................................................... 22 Parallel analysis of orality and performance in colinde and descântece ........................................... 25 Chapter II .............................................................................................................................................. 31 Archetypal myths .............................................................................................................................. 31 Celebrations and cults ....................................................................................................................... 35 Descântece. Old and New ................................................................................................................. 38 Two animals, one God. ..................................................................................................................... 43 The horned animal ........................................................................................................................ 43 The snake ...................................................................................................................................... 45 Chapter III ............................................................................................................................................. 55 Christianity in relation to the Romanian Colinde and Descântece ................................................... 55 Eddic poems and the influence of Christianity within their narratives ............................................. 65 Different Church attitudes meant different degrees of influence ...................................................... 73 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 80 Summary of the main questions and identified answers ................................................................... 83 Present thesis and further studies ...................................................................................................... 84 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................... 85 3 List of conventions • The Eddic Poems quoted in the present thesis come from the translation of the Poetic Edda by Carolyne Larrington (2014); • The Romanian terms colind and descântec may appear in the text in both singular and plural forms as colinde and descântece (letter “e” marks the plural form). • rom. represents the abbreviation for Romanian. • eng. represents the abbreviation for English. • Scandinavian and Romanian terminology appear in original form through the usage of diacritics and accents. • When a Romanian text is presented, a translation provided by the author of the present thesis is presented in parallel (on the right-hand side) with the original text. • All the translations belong to the author of the thesis unless mentioned otherwise in the text. 4 Designations and terminology Folklore- Folklore seems to have no unambiguous definition. It is generally perceived as a ‘complex, multi-layered and fascinating cultural phenomenon’ (Hasan-Rokem & Bendix 2012, p. 2). It is a vast subject, comprising a plenitude of notions and phenomena, from riddles and songs to practices and rituals (Hasan-Rokem & Bendix 2012, pp. 2). For the present paper I have chosen to avoid endless discussions on the specificity of what folklore means, therefore I took folklore, as explained in the Oxford English Dictionary) to be the amalgam of ‘traditional beliefs, legends, and customs, current among the common people’ (OED Online 2020) of a nation. Tradition- In order to avoid a dialogue on the relative interpretation of what tradition means in modern terms, for the present thesis I decided to stick with a simple way of envisaging tradition as a set of customs, beliefs and ways of doing something, specific to a culture, that has survived until modern times, being passed over from generation to generation. Furthermore, tradition should be understood best in the context of folklore where it plays a major role in its definition (Hasan-Rokem & Bendix 2012, p. 9). Common folk- This term is used to refer to the overall population of a nation or society. More specifically, in Romanian context the syntax ‘common folk’ will be used as denominator for ordinary people and at times, depending on the context, to the rural population of Romania. Archaic- The term ‘archaic’ will primarily be used in relation to the term ‘belief’. By using the syntax archaic belief throughout the text, I refer to general cults with their respective rites and practices that existed before Christian arrival and that have survived until modern times. Generally, the term ‘archaic’ is in alignment with its usual connotation of something that belongs to an antique period or something outdated but still existent in practice. Belief- The term used in syntaxes such as; Christian belief, non-Christian beliefs and so on is ought to be understood as synonymous to the terms ‘faith’ and ‘creed’. Although in general this paper sees faith and creed as synonymous, the specific paragraphs in which the term ‘belief’ appears will display more specifically which of the two words does this term replaces.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Trade Balance of Romania - Evolutions and Correlations
    Vol.III (LXVI) 97 - 106 Economic Insights – Trends and Challenges No. 4/2014 The Trade Balance of Romania - Evolutions and Correlations Marian Zaharia*, Radu Şerban Zaharia** * Faculty of Economic Sciences, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploieşti, Bd. Bucureşti 39, 100680, Ploieşti, Romania e-mail: [email protected] ** Romanian-American University, Expozitiei 1B Blvd., Sector 1,code: 012101, Bucharest, Romania e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Due to the economic interconnections between EU member countries and with countries outside the EU, economic flows become an increasingly important role for the development of each country. Economic developments in the last decade and the beginning of the current decade have influenced quite strongly their intensities and directions. In these conditions, Romania's foreign trade has known, as in other countries, periods of growth and decline. Based on these considerations the paper presents and analyzes evolutions of foreign trade and trade balance of Romania during 2003-2012. The analyze focuses also on the correlations between the volume of exports, the employment rate and the volume of net investments whose growth can be a way of achieving a trade balance surplus. Keywords: foreign trade, trade balance, statistical analysis, regression, ANOVA JEL Classification: C25, F40, F47 Introduction The past decade of the beginning of this century, both economically and in terms of social, has been characterized by periods of growth and the crisis that led to increased instability that manifested and emphasized in this decade. These developments have had an impact on most states, including Romania and default on its foreign trade. To highlight the intensity of trade links between Romania and the other EU member states, we considered useful to separate the analysis of the evolution of Romanian foreign trade, within the EU, of at the non-EU countries.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of Abortion on Crime and Crime- Related Behavior
    Working Paper in Economics No. 769 The Impact of Abortion on Crime and Crime- Related Behavior Randi Hjalmarsson, Andreea Mitrut, and Cristian Pop- Eleches Department of Economics, June 2019 ISSN 1403-2473 (Print) ISSN 1403-2465 (Online) The Impact of Abortion on Crime and Crime-Related BehaviorӾ Randi Hjalmarsson Andreea Mitrut Cristian Pop-Eleches Abstract The 1966 abolition and 1989 legalization of abortion in Romania immediately doubled and decreased by about a third the number of births per month, respectively. To isolate the link between abortion access and crime while abstracting from cohort and general equilibrium effects, we compare birth month cohorts on either side of the abortion regime. For both the abolition and legalization of abortion, we find large and significant effects on the level of crime and risky-behavior related hospitalization, but an insignificant effect on crime and hospitalization rates (i.e. when normalizing by the size of the birth month cohort). In other words, the Romanian abortion reforms did affect crime, but all of the effect appears to be driven by cohort size effects rather than selection or unwantedness effects. JEL Classification: J13, J18, K42, I18 Keywords: Abortion, crime, Risky behavior Ӿ This paper would not have been possible without financial support from Vetenskapsrådet (VR), The Swedish Research Council, Grants for Distinguished Young Researchers (Hjalmarsson), VR project 2017-01900 and Jan Wallanders and Tom Hedelius Foundation (Mitrut). We thank Anna Bindler and seminar participants at the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University (SOFI) for helpful comments. Authors: Randi Hjalmarsson, Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Box 640, 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden, [email protected], Andreea Mitrut, Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, [email protected], Cristian Pop- Eleches, SIPA, Columbia University, USA, [email protected] 1 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Remaking of the Dacian Identity in Romania and the Romanian Diaspora
    THE REMAKING OF THE DACIAN IDENTITY IN ROMANIA AND THE ROMANIAN DIASPORA By Lucian Rosca A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Sociology Committee: ___________________________________________ Director ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Department Chairperson ___________________________________________ Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Date: _____________________________________ Fall Semester 2015 George Mason University, Fairfax, VA The Remaking of the Dacian Identity in Romania and the Romanian Diaspora A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at George Mason University By Lucian I. Rosca Bachelor of Arts George Mason University, 2015 Director: Patricia Masters, Professor Department of Sociology Fall Semester 2015 George Mason University Fairfax, VA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my thesis coordinators: Professor Patricia Masters, Professor Dae Young Kim, Professor Lester Kurtz, and my wife Paula, who were of invaluable help. Fi- nally, thanks go out to the Fenwick Library for providing a clean, quiet, and well- equipped repository in which to work. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Tables................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ...............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • A Game of Power Courtly Influence on the Decision-Making of Emperor Theodosius II (R
    A game of power Courtly influence on the decision-making of emperor Theodosius II (r. 408-450) Research Master Thesis Supervisor: Prof. Dr. L.V. Rutgers Consulting reader: Dr. R. Strootman RMA Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies Utrecht University 16-06-2013 Emma Groeneveld [email protected] 3337707 1 Index Preface ................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4 1. Court studies ..................................................................................................... 8 2. Theodosius ......................................................................................................20 3. High officials ....................................................................................................25 4. Eunuchs ..........................................................................................................40 5. Royal women ...................................................................................................57 6. Analysis ...........................................................................................................69 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................83 Bibliography.........................................................................................................86 Appendix I. ..........................................................................................................92
    [Show full text]
  • Differences in Attitudes Towards Theft Between British and Romanian Students Alexandra Diana Gorcea, University of Huddersfield
    Differences in Attitudes towards Theft between British and Romanian Students Alexandra Diana Gorcea, University of Huddersfield [email protected] Accepted date: 17th December 2018 Published date: 13th March 2019 Abstract Fear of crime as a subject has received increasing levels of attention from scholars over the years. The phenomenon has been explored across diverse crimes and cultures with varying results, the better part of the literature revolving around general fear of overall crime, serious offences and Western, English-speaking countries. Adopting a more focused approach to the subject, the present study considers a lower-level crime, namely personal theft, and its effects on students in Romania as well as the UK. The aims of the project were to explore the differences in fear of crime characteristics such as sensitivity to risk and perceived likelihood of victimisation at a country level, to compare physical and psychological responses to theft, and to assess the influence of external factors such as the media. It was found that Romanian students experience significantly more fear and awareness of possible threats in almost any context. Trust in the police and reporting attitudes were highly similar between the two countries. Romanian students’ attitudes towards theft were affected by both media influences and exposure to theft information through the social network, while British students were only sensitive to the latter. Several other relationships between variables are explored throughout the study. Possibilities for future research as an expansion of this topic are proposed. [1] Keywords: comparative criminology, fear of crime, victimisation, theft, students, Romania Introduction Reported crime levels have been steadily decreasing across the world in recent times.
    [Show full text]
  • Read Book the Fourth Crusade: and the Sack of Constantinople
    THE FOURTH CRUSADE: AND THE SACK OF CONSTANTINOPLE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Professor Jonathan Phillips | 400 pages | 07 Jun 2005 | Vintage Publishing | 9781844130801 | English | London, United Kingdom The Fourth Crusade: And the Sack of Constantinople PDF Book After the city's sacking, most of the Byzantine Empire's territories were divided up among the Crusaders. Dandolo, who joined the crusade during a public ceremony in the church of San Marco di Venezia , proposed that the crusaders pay their debts by intimidating many of the local ports and towns down the Adriatic, culminating in an attack on the port of Zara in Dalmatia. Boniface of Montferrat , meanwhile, had left the fleet before it sailed from Venice, to visit his cousin Philip of Swabia. It is a fact that a crime was committed here in the city years ago. In order to cover their retreat the Westerners instigated the "Great Fire", which burnt from 19 to 21 August, destroying a large part of Constantinople and leaving an estimated , homeless. Byzantine aristocrats also established a number of small independent splinter states, one of them being the Empire of Nicaea , which would eventually recapture Constantinople in and proclaim the reinstatement of the Empire. Secular Sacred Cross-in-square Domes. As an adult, Rupert has written about numerous battles from the ancient world to the Crusades , military expeditions, beginning in the late 11th century, that were organized by western European Christians in response to centuries of Muslim wars of expansion. About ships, horse transports, and galleys delivered the crusading army across the narrow strait, where Alexios III had lined up the Byzantine army in battle formation along the shore, north of the suburb of Galata.
    [Show full text]
  • Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    ICONS AND SAINTS OF THE EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Alfredo Tradigo | 384 pages | 01 Sep 2006 | Getty Trust Publications | 9780892368457 | English | Santa Monica CA, United States Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church PDF Book In the Orthodox Church "icons have always been understood as a visible gospel, as a testimony to the great things given man by God the incarnate Logos". Many religious homes in Russia have icons hanging on the wall in the krasny ugol —the "red" corner see Icon corner. Guide to Imagery Series. Samuel rated it really liked it Jun 21, It did not disappoint on this detail. Later communion will be available so that one can even utilize the sense of taste during worship. Statues in the round were avoided as being too close to the principal artistic focus of pagan cult practices, as they have continued to be with some small-scale exceptions throughout the history of Eastern Christianity. The Art of the Byzantine Empire — A Guide to Imagery 10 , Bildlexikon der Kunst 9. Parishioners do not sit primly in the pews but may walk throughout the church lighting candles, venerating icons. Modern academic art history considers that, while images may have existed earlier, the tradition can be traced back only as far as the 3rd century, and that the images which survive from Early Christian art often differ greatly from later ones. Aldershot: Ashgate. In the Orthodox Church an icon is a sacred image, a window into heaven. Purple reveals wealth, power and authority. Vladimir's Seminary Press, The stillness of the icon draws us into the quiet so that we can lay aside the cares of this world and meditate on the splendor of the next.
    [Show full text]
  • © in This Web Service Cambridge University Press
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-43093-7 - Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era c. 680–850: A History Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon Index More information Index Given the centrality of these concepts to the present work, the terms ‘iconoclasm, iconoclast’ etc., and ‘iconophile’ are not indexed. Monuments are normally listed under location. ‘Abbas, son of al-Ma’mun 409 Anatolikon 28, 70–1, 74, 159, 292, 294, 358, ‘Abd al-Malik, caliph 778 362, 364, 386, 410, 549, 553, 554, 586, ‘Abd ar-Rahman II, caliph 411 613, 633, 634, 691, 697, 704, 759 Abu Qurra, Theodore 188, 233, 234, 246 Anchialos 288, 290 acheiropoieta 35–6, 38, 55, 56, 774, 782 Andrew of Crete 20, 70, 80, 85, 90, 151, 643 Adamnan 58, 141, 781 Angelidi, Christine 216 Adata 410 angels, images of 776 adiectio sterilium 718, 720 Ankara 255, 289, 409, 540, 549, 552, 553, 561 Adoptionism 283, 309 Anna, patrikia 313, 424, 446 Adrianople 361, 362 Anna, daughter of Theodora and Theophilos Aetios, protospatharios 288, 292, 294, 637 433 Agathias 13, 54, 478, 776, 777 Annales Bertiniani 516 Agatho, pope 20 Anne, wife of Leo III 144 Agathos, monastery of 316, 424 Anthony, bishop of Syllaion 369, 390, 391, Agauroi, monastery of 397 392 Aghlabids 405, 411 Anthony the Younger, Life 735 Aistulf, king 169 Anthousa of Mantineon, monastery of 216, Akathistos, Synaxarion 93 240 Akroinon 76, 546, 553 anthypatos 593, 671, 673, 682, 712–13, 716, Alakilise, Church of the Archangel Gabriel 742, 764, 769–70 416 Antidion, monastery 425 Alcuin 281 Antioch (Pisidia) 75 Alexander, Paul 373, 375 Antoninus of
    [Show full text]
  • Investigation on the Relationship Between Romanian Foreign Trade and Industrial Production
    Munich Personal RePEc Archive Investigation on the relationship between Romanian foreign trade and industrial production Stefanescu, Razvan and Dumitriu, Ramona "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati 22 December 2014 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/62547/ MPRA Paper No. 62547, posted 04 Mar 2015 15:16 UTC INVESTIGATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROMANIAN FOREIGN TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Stefanescu Razvan Dumitriu Ramona Abstract: This paper investigates the interactions among the Romanian industrial production, exports and imports after the adhesion to European Union. We employ monthly values testing for the Granger Causality between the variables in a Vector Autoregression framework. Our results indicate significant causalities among the variables, especially the one from the returns of exports to the returns of the industrial production index. We could consider these findings as an argument in favor of the Exports-Led Growth Hypothesis. Key Words: Industrial Production, Exports, Imports, Granger Causality JEL classification code: F40, F43, O40, O49 1. Introduction In the last decades, in the context of increasing trade openness, the relationship between the outputs of the economic activity and the foreign trade became a key aspect of the macroeconomic decisions. In the specialized literature there were revealed the complex interactions between the variables of the economic output and the variables of the foreign trade. The exports could influence the performances of the national economy by various channels. The so-called “Learning by Exporting” mechanism highlights the improvement of firms’ performances due to exports activities (Clerides et al., 1998; Bernard and Bradford Jensen, 1999; Wagner, 2007; Damijan and Kostevc, 2010; Boermans, 2012; De Loeckera, 2013).
    [Show full text]
  • The Saracen Defenders of Constantinople in 378 Woods, David Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1996; 37, 3; Proquest Pg
    The Saracen defenders of Constantinople in 378 Woods, David Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1996; 37, 3; ProQuest pg. 259 The Saracen Defenders of Constantinople in 378 David Woods RITING ca 391, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus has left us a vivid description of the Roman defense of W Constantinople against the Goths shortly after their crushing defeat by these Goths at Adrianopolis on 9 August 378 (31. 16.4ff): Unde Constantinopolim, copiarum cumulis inhiantes amplis­ simis, formas quadratorum agmimum insidiarum metu ser­ vantes, ire ocius festinabant, multa in exitium urbis inclitae molituri. Quos inferentes sese immodice, obicesque portarum paene pulsantes, hoc casu caeleste reppulit numen. Saracen­ orum cuneus (super quorum origine moribusque diversis in locis rettulimus plura), ad furta magis expeditionalium re­ rum, quam ad concursatorias habilis pugnas, recens illuc accersitus, congressurus barbarorum globo repente con­ specto, a civitate fidenter e rup it, diuque extento certamine pertinaci, aequis partes discessere momentis. Sed orientalis turma novo neque ante viso superavit eventu. Ex ea enim crinitus quidam, nudus omnia praeter pubem, subraucum et lugubre strepens, educto pugione, agmini se medio Goth­ orum inseruit, et interfecti hostis iugulo labra admovit, effusumque cruorem exsuxit. Quo monstroso miraculo bar­ bari territi, postea non ferocientes ex more, cum agendum appeterent aliquid, sed ambiguis gressibus incedebant. 1 1 "From there [Perinthus] they [the Goths] hastened in rapid march to Con­ stantinople, greedy for its vast heaps of treasure, marching in square forma­ tions for fear of ambuscades, and intending to make mighty efforts to destroy the famous city. But while they were madly rushing on and almost knocking at the barriers of the gates, the celestial power checked them by the following event.
    [Show full text]
  • Fighting Against Organized Cross Border Crime in Romania: the Experts’ View
    European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Fighting Against Organized Cross Border Crime in Romania: The Experts’ View Marius TRĂISTARU Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania [email protected] Abstract This research aims to find out the opinion of the experts in fighting against organized cross border crime regarding the scale of this phenomenon in Romania. The paper pursued the following research objectives: the scale of the phenomenon of organized cross-border crime in Romania, the vulnerabilities induced by the phenomenon in Romania, what are the factors that influence the development of organized cross-border crime, what are the necessary legislative changes to combat the phenomenon and to help the well-functioning of the competent institutions and what can be done to strength the institutional cooperation for combating organized cross-border crime. In order to achieve these objectives, a qualitative research was conducted on a panel of experts, employed in Romanian institutions responsible for preventing and combating this phenomenon. The research findings show that the characteristics of the phenomenon of organized cross- border crime are constantly changing and launch permanent challenges for both Romania's security and its economic development. Keywords: organized crime; organized cross-border crime; Romania; panel of experts; economic development; JEL Classification: F01; N40; C89; O17; DOI: http://doi.org/10.24818/ ejis.2021.08 1. Introduction This research aims to find out the opinion of the experts about the organized cross border crime (OCBC) in Romania, looking to: the scale of the phenomenon in Romania, the vulnerabilities induced by the organized cross border crime in this country, what are the factors that influence the development of OCBC, the necessary legislative changes and public policies that should be implemented to combat OCBC, to support the function of designated institutions and to foster the institutional cooperation for combating organized cross-border crime.
    [Show full text]
  • Notitia Dignitatum As a Historical Source
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by MURAL - Maynooth University Research Archive Library An Assessment of the Notitia Dignitatum as a Historical Source for the Late Roman Bureaucracy A thesis submitted by: Ruth O’Hara For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisor: Dr Michael Williams Head of Department: Dr. Kieran McGroarty Department of Ancient Classics National University of Ireland, Maynooth, October 2013 Contents Abstract 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 3 1.2 Approaching the Notitia Dignitatum ................................................................. 5 1.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 10 2. The Notitia Dignitatum: Nature and Reception .................................................... 11 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 11 2.2 The nature of the Notitia Dignitatum .............................................................. 11 2.2.1 The nature of the text .................................................................................. 13 2.3 Dating ................................................................................................................ 17 2.3.1 The
    [Show full text]