Popular Beliefs, Folklore, Urban Studies

Autor na temelju vlastitih terenskih istraživanja, koje je periodično poduzimao od 2003. do 2008. godine u unutrašnjosti Dalmacije, govori o još uvijek živim tradicijskim vjerovanjima u nadnaravna bića poput vukodlaka, vještica, mòra i vila. Postavlja pitanje imaju li ta bića neke određene društvene uloge koje ih čine neophodnima za funkcioniranje određenih aspekata života i svjetonazora stanovnika ispitanog područja. Zaključuje da se vjerovanja u nadnaravna bića koriste kao alat zastrašivanja i prijevare u službi krađe, stjecanja materijalne dobiti, izbjegavanja kazne za neprihvatljivo ponašanje ili stjecanje bolje pozicije unutar zajednice. Kroz rad se također pokazuje da su vjerovanja u nadnaravna bića u prošlosti, ali dobrim dijelom još i danas, kod nekih pojedinaca toliko snažno ukorijenjena u duhovni svjetonazor da su određeni pojedinci na temelju te ukorijenjenosti u mogućnosti manipulirati drugima osobama.

This chapter explores supernatural beliefs in the urban space of contempo- rary Beijing. It examines representations of traditional demonic characters and plots in modern urban culture, the ways in which they survive and adapt in new social and cultural contexts, forms of interaction between traditional and contemporary mass culture, and some specific features of Asian traditions of ghostlore and ghost storytelling. It also discusses demonology as a special realm of Chinese culture, and its main features and new functions in urban conditions, as well as various authorities which influence the content of the supernatural in the spaces of the capital.

The article focusses on folk belief mechanisms of coping with one of the main sources of human fear – namely, death and fatal diseases. The article is based on traditional plague legends and modern narratives about diseases, like AIDS, SARS, anthrax, etc.

The article is dedicated to history and methods of urban legend studies. The author narrates the brief history of urban legend studies and covers upon some theoretical discussions concerning the terms “urban legend” and “contemporary legend”. Systematic research upon current folklore narratives began only in the 1940s, with contemporary legend becoming firmly established as an acclaimed research interest in the 1960s. Since the 1970s the issue of social reasons for emergence and popularity of certain plots becomes the key question of legend research. To answer it, folklorists follow the psychoanalytic “hermeneutics of suspicion”. They suggest that every legend contains a “hidden message” which needs to be perceived as a symptom of emotional status of the group. The author highlights two types of such psychoanalytic interpretation. Some researchers believe that legend’s function is articulation of nonconscious anxieties and fears of the group (the mechanism of folklore articulation, in terms of this paper). Other researchers suppose that a legend provides the group with an opportunity to compensate its moral discomfort (mechanism of folklore compensation). Nevertheless, the results of such interpretation were often arbitrary. This drew criticism in the 1990s, leaving the community in search of alternative explanations of why legends persist. But the question “Why?” is still unanswered. The theorists of ostension leave aside the issue of why a group produces and transmits a certain plot and focus upon how exactly the former is affected by the latter.

Сны – одна из наиболее распространенных тем русских повседневных разговоров. Обычный день нередко начинается с пересказа и обсуждения приснившегося за ночь.
Увиденный ночью сон вызывает по ассоциативной цепочке всплеск беседы: обсуждение и толкование этого сна, припоминание похожих снов и связанных с ними случаев из жизни.  Впрочем, при кажущемся разнообразии, рассказы о снах довольно отчетливо делятся на две группы: рассказы о сновидениях и рассказы о сбывшихся снах.
Определяющей жанровый регистр нарратива является мировоззренческая позиция, которой придерживается рассказчик. Структурное сходство и общая пресуппозициональная связка, формирующая общность семантики, позволяет говорить о рассказах о снах (сновидениях и сбывшихся снах) если не как об отдельном жанре, то как об особом типе нарративов среди других мифологических рассказов.

U ovom radu bavim se interpretacijom i kontekstualizacijom prakse uklesavanja Kristovog monograma IHS na ulazne portale šibenskih kuća u razdoblju od 15. do 18. stoljeća. Praksu sagledavam unutar antropološkog koncepta liminalnosti (van Gennep, Turner) i stavljam je u okvire povijesti mentaliteta i straha. Naime, ulazna kućna vrata često su mjesto postavljanja zaštitnih ritualnih oznaka i izvođenja praksi koje imaju apotropejsku ulogu. Takvim praksama nastojao se spriječiti prelazak granice kućnoga praga svim onim nepoželjnim bićima i pojavama koje predstavljaju strah. Iako ovaj trajno materijaliziran znak na arhitektonskim zdanjima predstavlja jedan manji segment bavljenja poviješću graditeljstva, on se ne može proučavati bez interdisciplinarnog pristupa koji uključuje etnološka i folkloristička znanja.

For the beginning student of folklore, an answer to the question “Who are the folk?” can provide both a fascinating and informative background on the subject of folklore. Who are the Folk? Written by Alan Dundes is one of the best descriptions available. This article elaborates folklore science and weight of folk perspective in study of folklore. Dundes’ discussion on the history of folklore study and concept of folk will take the readers to a confirm pronouncement that every human commune constituted of individuals possessing common cultural characteristics and behavioral patterns regardless of their socio-economic class in any context are folk. Folk may have unity of geographic boundary or beyond any physical boundary – unity of religion, belief, occupation, and even institution etc. Folk must not mean illiterate or rural or underclass. The group of Atomic Scientists has their own folklore and they are a folk group of course. Mass use of computer has created new folk. In fact, folklore is eternal, so is the folk. Every individual belongs to a group or community or a number of groups or communities. Everyone may claim that we are the folk.

Im Zuge des Reformationsprozesses wurde der Glaube an wandelnde Totengeister aus dem Fegefeuer abgeschafft - nicht aber der Glaube an Geister an sich. Aus der Sicht der reformierten Geistlichen handelte es sich bei diesen Phänomenen um Gespenster des Teufels, der sich in die Gestalt der Verstorbenen verwandeln konnte, um die Lebenden zu betrügen. Dies hielt die Menschen in und um Zürich jedoch nicht vom Glauben ab, dass in ihren Häusern unruhige Seelen spukten - manchmal mit fatalen Folgen.