“RETURNING” RELIGIOUSNESS AND NEW LOCAL IDENTITIES ON THE BALKANS
Keywords:
religiousness, collective ritual, community cohesion, local cultural heritage, local identityAbstract
As a result of my fieldwork research in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Eastern Serbia, I will show in my article how, through re-vitalisation of traditional ritual practices and “invention” of new ones, a new local and group identity is built in a number of regions in the central part of the Balkans. The role of “returning” religiousness in building cohesion of the group and local identities will be shown through examples of restored traditional collective celebrations (village sabors in deserted villages, for example), new ritual practices (so called “youth kurban” in Midwestern Bulgaria), and renovation of traditional cult places (village chapels, family votive crosses) by gastarbeiters who returned to their birthplaces in Serbia and Macedonia.
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