Functional interpretation of ritual whirling among Serbs

Đorđina, Trubarac-Matić

Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU

2

421

436

http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/Article.aspx?ID=0350-08611702421T

2017-2020/03/24/15:59:35

On the basis of the ethnographic materials collected within Serbian ethnic area, ritual whirling and swinging are compared in order to mark the differences between them, since they have been understood as synonym actions till now. With the aim to discuss their inner ritual logic, the ethnographic data are analyzed by: 1) defining the annual calendar of their performance; 2) discussing their accompanying rituals and beliefs; 3) analyzing technics for the construction of the devices used for whirling and swinging; 4) comparing these data to the similar practices in other traditions of the world. The attention is drawn to the differences in the annual calendar of their performance, while Christmas and the Lent preceding week are marked as those during which both ritual actions were practiced at the same time. The results of analysis indicate that these two actions are closely inter-related, especially during the Lent preceding week, when whirling and swinging were the most intense and performed simultaneously in the same place. However, even then, their ritual functions were not synonymous, but complementary. Although both were performed to encourage fertility, their inner ritual logics were different: whirling was the simulation of a new cosmogonic process, while swinging was performed to awaken the biocosmic rebirth. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 47016: Interdisciplinarno istraživanje kulturnog i jezičkog nasleđa Srbije. Izrada multimedijalnog portala „Pojmovnik srpske kulture“]

ritual, Serbian tradition., swinging, whirling