A Pan-Hungarian 'vessel ritual' in Romania

Povedák István: A Pan-Hungarian 'vessel ritual' in Romania. In: Politics, feasts, festivals 4. pp. 121-135. (2014)

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Abstract

The Whitsun pilgrimage of Csíksomlyó has been attracting pilgrims for more than five centuries. Until the 1940s it was the most important pilgrimage place for the Seklers1 and func-tioned as the sacred centre of Transylvania, the easternmost bastion of Catholicism. After the political changes of 1989 it has gradually turned into the most important Hungarian pilgrimage place. this transformation alone would not be of particular interest in itself, however, the history of Csíksomlyó contains several peculiar elements. the research concerning the history of the pilgrimage place reveal that the origin story of the pilgrimage site is an invented tradition which was meant to strengthen the arriving Seklers’ unity and harmony.2 according to Mohay, this is one of the first invented and constructed legends of the Hungarian nationalism taking shape from the 1780s on. the emerging sense of belonging in this legend helped the hidden and secret continuation of the pilgrimage during the years of the communist-socialist era. During the revitalization process from 1990 this sense of belonging has attracted about 4-500,000 Hungarian pilgrims every year, even though the pilgrimage site is situated 600 kilometres away from the Hungarian border, in the middle of Romania. the aim of this paper is to introduce the ideological transformation and reinterpretation of the revitalized Csíksomlyó pilgrimage of the past two decades connecting to elements beyond catholicism. I try to answer the question of how and why Csíksomlyó became a pilgrimage place for different neopagan religious groups and how they reinterpreted the site, what is the reason for their presence?

Item Type: Book Section
Heading title: Politics and the transformation of rituals
Journal or Publication Title: Politics, feasts, festivals
Date: 2014
Number: 4
ISSN: 2064-4825
ISBN: 978-963-306-254-8
Page Range: pp. 121-135
Series Name: A vallási kultúrakutatás könyvei
Language: English
Event Title: International Society for Ethnology and Folklore : Working group on the ritual year : annual conference (9.) (2013) (Szeged)
Related URLs: http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/67606/
Uncontrolled Keywords: Katolikus egyház - Erdély, Zarándoklat - Csíksomlyó, Vallásosság
Additional Information: Bibliogr. : p. 132-133. és a lábjegyzetekben ; ill. ; összefoglalás angol nyelven
Subjects: 06. Humanities
06. Humanities > 06.03. Philosophy, ethics and religion
Date Deposited: 2020. May. 20. 11:51
Last Modified: 2021. Nov. 24. 12:15
URI: http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/67094

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