The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
The ritual „Gramada” is a typical tradition of the Bulgarian ethnic territories that appeared between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. It represents a symbolic way of „escorting” (a sort of symbolic funeral) of a dead man, who committed an act unacceptable for the community, upon the world of the dead. The „Gramada” ceremony is observed as piling up some stones on a sacral...
The article is exposing some results of the study in bee-keepers’ spell as a featuring trait of Ukrainians’ world-view practice; the present research is the first work of such a kind in the home ethnology. The spell belongs to that sort of ritual text that might be characterized by a vivid and most active speech with its fully evident magical strength. Spell as a genre of folklore refers to peculiar...
The author discusses the first Polish systematics of magic spells against illness, which was proposed by Józef Obrębski in a brochure Index for „Treating the Polish people” by Henryk Biegeleisen in 1931. Obrębski introduced a division of spells into 9 groups, separated on the basis of their content, form and function. It was not an autonomous development. It have been created for the needs...
The line between Orthodox Christianity and pagan/folk customs and beliefs in the fifteenth century Slavia Orthodoxa was not precisely drawn. The population called upon spiritual forces of all kinds, to heal illnesses and injuries. Though the official position of the Orthodox Christian Church was to condemn and suppress these pre-Christian beliefs, certain elements such as magical words ...
The aim of this article is to give an anthropological description of verbal magic. The magical utterances are present in the following areas of traditional culture: folk medicine, family and annual rituals. They focus on a formula which, in the opinion of people expressing them, have some magical powers which cause positive effects in the real world. The empirical material, ...
The article focuses on some examples of magic in traditional folk lullabies and lyrical lullabies for children. The aforementioned types of genre should invoke child’s sleep by using special words or melody. On the other hand, traditional lullabies were used to protect children or bring them health and happiness. To accomplish this, the singer often called some „higher being” for help. In the...
The topic of the paper is the interpretation of the motivation for the personal names of certain mythological beings in curses and phrases of Slavic peoples. Curses, as well as certain phraseologisms, can preserve the names long-forgotten in the mythical and religious systems. However, due to their lapidarity and lack of ritual context, these names create the opportunity for ...
Beliefs and perceptions of word are based on existing mythological layer of culture that has specific mechanisms and functions. This mythological context of word determines its acceptance as a magical tool that has a certain force of impact. The power of speech is invisible, but exactly by the word, the individual and the community identify themselves and provide a link between...
‘Lesser mythology’ played an important role in the worldview notions of the Carpathian Ukrainians (Hutsuls, Boykos and Lemkos) during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It combines notions about various demonic figures, which may be divided into three types: figures of unearthly origin; transformed human souls; people in possession of secret knowledge and supernatural...
The article is dedicated to phenomena of verbal magic, which exploit in modern Russian semi-official discourse for the purpose of social consciousness’ manipulation.
The human face as a mask that can both hide and emphasise the main traits of human personality and thoughts was used by Turgenev and Conrad. In the society depicted in such novels as Under Western Eyes, Virgin Soil and Smoke where secrecy and hypocrisy are a universal condition of man, face reading becomes an essential factor. The references to eyes as well as words...
The essay titled „Pursuing the Magic of Words in the Twentieth-Century’s Croatian and Serbian Literature” discusses transformations of the awareness of the avant-garde and postmodernism from the perspective of its relation to magic thinking. The essay advances a vision of poetic language and the main figures of the avant-garde’s imagination, especially the aesthetic conceptualizations ...
In his rural themed short stories, Janko Veselinović gave snippets of life in the Serbian village of the XIX century that represent a valuable material for ethnological study. Folk meditations on sin, punishment, oath, damnation etc. were often the driving force behind his short stories. The subject of our work is Veselinović’s short story The Godfather’s Curse...
Interpretation of Momčilo Nastasijević’s narrative „An Account of the Gifts of my Cousin Marija” indicated the significance of the storyteller’s belief in the magic of words and in calamitous effect of words on destiny – not only his own destiny, but also that of his cousin Marija. Except the power of words – curse, and magic belief in it, important part in the events is...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.