Ewa Kocój

Artifacts of the Past as Traces of Memory. The Aromanian (Vlachs) Cultural Heritage in the Balkans

The purpose of this article is to answer several questions: (1) What traces of the Aromanian (Vlach) tangible cultural heritage can be found in present-day Albania, Greece, and the Republic of Ma­cedonia?; (2) What do such traces tell us about the local community and its history and significance in European culture?; (3) Is there today any Aromanian collective memory of the places where the traces of this heritage have been found? The article describes the regions which used to be inhabited by Aromanians, presents the initial criteria for the division of their cultural heritage into groups by attributing selected examples of historical monuments to this ethnos, and also indicates the selected meanings related to Aromanian culture which we discover when treating these monuments as the text of culture.
I used qualitative field research methods, including photographic documentation, interviews, and participant observations linked with the traces of this heritage in selected villages of Greece, Albania, and Republic of Macedonia. The research also focused on the secondary (historic and ethnographic) sources as well as on resources available on the Internet – I analyzed the narratives about the relevant monuments in ethnographic sources (past and contemporary memories of Aromanians) published in the new media, including on blogs and websites. The analysis is based on the comparative historical paradigm and on the interpretative paradigm, which made it possible to study the hidden cultural meanings and codes related to the Aromanian heritage.
The study showed that the Balkans is home to numerous Aromanian cultural heritage artifacts with which this ethnicity researchers associates different meanings (e.g. space organization, real and symbolic places, multiculturalism and conflict).

 

In recent years, interest in the cultural heritage of the Carpathian region has intensified. Projects from different countries offer new solutions that may contribute to the revival of this particular sphere of cultural heritage in Central and Eastern Europe. These projects are carried out by local communities and institutions (museums). Tangible and intangible cultural heritage of minorities has become a focus of increasingly strong identity narratives referring to old and new ideas and ideologies. These narratives often bring back former conflicts existing in local communities, thus becoming the symbols of these conflicts on the one hand, and on the other hand – allowing for new solutions in line with modern culture trends.
Objective: The following article presents the preliminary results of the pilot study conducted in 2015 on the minority cultural heritage and heritage management in the Carpathians. The goal of the study was to explore cultural codes and contemporary narratives related to the cultural heritage of minorities as well as to investigate the reception of the management of UNESCO sites present in the minds and notions of local communities and in institutional management. In addition, the study focused on traditional arts and crafts in the context of local entrepreneurship and on the strategies of minority heritage presentation in Carpathian museums.
Methodology: The article uses qualitative methods of scientific research applied from the emic (from within the group) and etic (from outside the group) perspectives. The following research techniques were used: standardized and free interviews, explicit and implicit participatory observation, analysis of legal and archival documents, storytelling, and visual material analysis.
Conclusions: The study showed, that there are more and more discussions on the minority cultural heritage in the Carpathians, which focus on the hidden agenda of UNESCO list entries, including on the reasonableness and related commercialization of such entries as well as on the consequences they have for local communities. The preliminary pilot study revealed, that it is necessary to explore the local community in depth as part of an interdisciplinary grant, which could help develop modern heritage management based on the local and cross-cultural perspective.
 

Since the beginning of the 21st century, we have been witnessing an increasing number of entries on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. With them, critical scientific trends describing its positive and negative effects began to emerge. In this article, I discuss the sense of such entries, showing their evaluative dimension as well as the difficulties of recognizing the areas of minority cultures as heritage – the areas which despite meeting all the entry criteria are in conflict with the modern ideas of European culture. I analyze these issues, using the Gypsy/Romani culture as an example – and more specifically the profession of bear handlers in Romania, which, due to its numerous similarities in history, training methods and folklore, I treat as representative of other European regions too. The text discusses the possible origins of this occupation, the place of the Ursari in the Romanian social structure together with their financial situation, and the attitude of the Church and State to bear handlers. It also presents the methods of animal training the Gypsies have used and passed on through the centuries, as well as the reasons why this profession has been disappearing in Romania. In the final (second) part of the article, I will discuss whether there is such a thing as the management of Ursari heritage (versus the management of inconvenient heritage), and if there is – what it entails.
The article uses qualitative research methods, including the analysis of historical sources (docu-ments from the offices of Moldovan, Wallachian and Transylvanian rulers and descriptions written by people travelling across former Romanian territories dated 14th–19th centuries) and ethnographic sources. In addition, the analysis also focuses on visual sources from Romanian territories associated with the Ursari as well as on the sources used during my own pilot ethnographic study on the cultural memory among the Roma from Romania.

 

Recenzja książki Adelaidy Chiroşca, Icoane mariale din patrimonial Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a Moldovei  (secolele XVII–XX). Catalog, Wydawnictwo: Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a Moldovei, Chişinău 2014, ss. 200, fot. 172

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE VILLAGE OF „DIMITRIE GUSTI” IN BUCHAREST
The purpose of this article is to describe the history and activities of one of the most interesting ethnographical museums in Romania – The National Museum of the Village of ,,Dimitrie Gusti”. The origins of this museum go back to the XIX century when, on the wave of an interest in the folk character, the Romanian researchers and enthusiasts of folklore commenced the action of collecting ethnographical exhibits in the villages of Romania. In the XX century the museum created one of the richest ethnographical collections in Romania. After the fall of the Ceauşescu regime, this institution underwent various changes in the effect of which in terms of its management and program of activity, the museum now belongs to one of the leading ones in Romania.
The latest trends in museology are resorted to, where one tries to combine harmoniously various scientific, educational and popularizing elements for the management of this institution. Attempts are also made to create certain economic mechanism which would serve its mission.

Memory and Identity. Tangible cultural heritage from the UNESCO World Heritage List in Romania (a short presentation)

In recent years the Romanian cultural heritage has been gaining more and more interest from European scholars. It is understandable, since the turn of the 20th and 21th century is regarded as the moment of the explosion of interest in the subject of heritage and collective memory. Romania, which in the time of Communist regime was a “stronghold” on the border of the East and West, can still boast unknown and unresearched monuments, which provide a lot of new information on Byzantine and post-Byzantine culture, as well as on the cultures of ethnic and religious minorities living in this country.
This article presents the characteristics of cultural heritage management in Romania, as well as the most important institutions dealing with this. Tangible cultural heritage listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites are presented, e.g. the painted orthodox churches and monasteries of Bukovina, the wooden churches of Maramure, the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăştie Mountains, and the fortified churches in Transylvania. The discourse around these monuments in the Romanian culture is also briefly commented on. It revolves around the ancient settlement myth referring to the Dacian heritage, the orthodox faith understood as fidelity to original Christianity and, gradually, the multicultural heritage of other ethnicities so strongly inhabiting the Romanian territory. It shows that Romania, just like other European countries, has the need to present its history through tangible heritage and emphasizing the Dacian-Roman and Orthodox identity, as well as the need to create new narrative and new post-communist countenance, with a clearly  emphasized aspect of a multicultural country inhabited by various ethnicities and religions.

The image of Gypsies in Polish collections of iconographic materials (19th century – first half of the 20th century) – reconnaissance

At least since the Middle Ages the people of Europe have shared their space with the nomadic Gypsy people. Its long, often troublesome neighborhood resulted in the formation of two parallel, though different, stereotypical images of the Roma in European culture. In one of them one, they are portrayed negatively, as the personification of all the pejorative and demonic qualities. Two words describing Roma Stereotypes in this language context are as follows: dangerous vagrants, thieves, criminals, living without any moral rules.
Under the influence of romantic ideas in European culture a different picture of the Gypsies began to take shape. According to this ideal, they were considered to be free people, living itinerant lives and in harmony with nature, free from hard work, colorful, cheerful, independent and artistic.
In this paper we would like to present how the ideas existing in the nineteenth-and twentieth century culture reflected in the iconography of Roma. On the basis of Polish collections we will show the most important themes and motifs associated with the iconography and mythology of this minority. At the same time, we will try to show to what extent the European images coincided with the real culture and tradition of the Gypsies. In the analysis we will use both engravings, woodcuts, paintings, graphics press and photographs found in public collections in Tarnow, Sejny or Krakow, as well as in various private collections.

The meaning of time in culture as presented on the examples of the folk names for the autumn and winter months in Romania

The category of time functioning in individual cultures, as well as calendars – the corresponding systems of time classification – can be perceived as examples of cultural phenomena. They prove to be extremely interesting, but at the same time difficult to analyze. In many cases the circumstances are quite complicated as there are various methods of measuring time within an individual culture. They correspond to the national, secular calendars, the official religion, the calendars of minority faiths, and the so-called folk tradition. The purpose of this article is to analyze the names of the months functioning in the Romanian folk culture in the context of the official names of months present in the Romanian language. Cultural anthropology, supported by the idea of research on cultural senses and meanings as well as the inter-translation among them denotes that the traditions presented vary, are incoherent and refer to various sources. However, for a few centuries they have been undergoing a process of formulation within one cultural domain. The fundamental issue for an anthropologist is to be convinced that a proper linguistic translation cannot be conducted unless the senses and meanings of a given culture are quite profoundly penetrated.
The ethnolinguistic as well as cultural analyses plainly indicate that behind the contemporary division into twelve months there might be another, even older tradition of time classification. A part of the folk nomenclature is of a very distant provenance; it is known to have been present in the religious texts around the Romanian land as long ago as at least the second half of the 16th century. The nomenclature corresponded to the phenomena observed in nature, the changes of seasons and the vegetation cycle of plants. Other functioning names mentioned household activities, agricultural labour performed in the fi elds and the village life. The names of the months and weeks within them encompass various mythological aspects. They refer to people’s beliefs and significant personas of the folk pantheon. The names also relate to religious attributes associated with saints from the liturgical calendar and the customs as well as rituals of the Orthodox Church performed at a given time of the year. They were a result of a different perception of time – not linear and historical, but rather cyclical, making a full circle during the year.
Despite the fact that folk culture is slowly disappearing and the global infl uence is gaining momentum, the folk names of the months are still present in the contemporary official language of the Orthodox Church as well as within the popular culture