AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
RITUAL ROUND WALK “LADIES“ (
PAŇIČKE) AS A SPECIFIC EXPRESSION OF IDENTITY OF
SLOVAKS IN VOJVODINA (SERBIA)
ªSILVIA LETAVAJOVÁ,
ᵇJAROSLAV ČUKAN,
c
BORIS
MICHALÍK,
ͩVIKTOR ĎURAKOV
Department of Culture and Tourism Management, Faculty of
Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra,
Štefánikova 67, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia
e-mail: ªsletavajova@ukf.sk,
ᵇjcukan@ukf.sk,
ͨbmichalik@ukf.sk, ͩviktor.durakov@ukf.sk
This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the
contract No. APVV-15-0104.
Abstract: The study deals with a specific element of the ritual culture of Slovaks in
Vojvodina (Serbia) – “ladies“. Evangelical Slovaks in Stará Pazova perform the
“ladies“ as an Easter round walk since their arrival in the second half of the 18
th
century. This custom is a manifestation of pagan-Christian syncretism. The actors are
children before confirmation who conduct a round walk on Palm Sunday. The aim of
the paper is to describe the circumstances of the origin and historical development of
this cultural phenomenon, its current form, as well as the changes and factors that
determined its persistence and transformation at present. In the study we will point out
the parallels and connections of the “ladies“ with other family and annual customs. We
will examine the “ladies“ mainly as an expression of ethnic and confessional identity
as well as family and social affiliation.
Keywords: “Ladies” (pa
ňičke), Easter, ritual round walk, Stará Pazova, syncretism,
Vojvodina.
1 Research methods
We have compared the information found in the literature with
the field research, which we carried out in Vojvodina localities
(Serbia): Stará Pazova, Slankamen
ské Vinohrady, Selenča,
Aradáč, Kovačica and Báčsky Petrovec during the years 2018
and 2019. The research included semi-standardized interviews
on the topic of family and annual customs with the inhabitants of
the mentioned localities (especially the town of Stará Pazova),
with the children who participated in the performance of
“ladies“, with representatives of cultural, social and religious life
and with representatives of local cultural institutions
1
.
Participant and non-participant observations were made in the
families of Slovaks, in formal and informal meetings of the
Slovak community and during annual festivals. The research is a
part of an ongoing several years lasting project that aims to map
and evaluate the current cultural potential of the Lowland
Slovaks in many countries (Serbia, Romania, Croatia and
Hungary)
2
. The annual customs and the “ladies“ were
considered as an important element of intangible cultural
heritage.
2 Characteristics of the research locality
In the literature but also in the common colloquial language, the
population, which is the subject of our research, is denoted as the
Lowland Slovaks. The Lowland
3
, in the broadest sense, refers to
the territory around the boarders of Hungary, Romania, Serbia
and Croatia. Slovaks started immigrating into these localities at
the end of the 17
th
century because of overpopulation, poor
economic conditions and religious persecution (Sirácky 1996,
1980). Immigrants to Vojvodina, Serbia (official name
Autonomous Province of Vojvodina) came from several regions
of Central Slovakia (Hont, Novohrad, Zvolen, Liptov, Turiec,
Orava and Gemer), partly from western Slovakia (Nitra, Trenčín
and Bratislava) as well as from the regions of Zadunajsko,
Novohradsko-
piesťanský and Békešsko-čanádsky region as a
1
We conducted the interviews with local evangelical priests, representatives of the
local branch of Matica slovenská, the Museum of Vojvodina Slovaks, the Association
of Pazova Women (a part of Slovak Cultural and Artistic Association of a hero Janko
Čmelík) and others. Respondents' direct statements are in italics in the text.
2
Based on these studies, several separate publications or scientific studies have been
created (for example, Čukan, Korina and Lenovský 2014, Čukan, Michalík, Zima
and Žabenský 2015,
2017, Čukan, Kurpaš, Michalík et al. 2018.)
3
The Lowland, also called southern regions or lowland Hungary, represent southern
regions of former Hungary, unlike the area called Upper Land (Horniaky), which
represented the northern mountainous regions of Hungary, inhabited predominantly by
Slovaks.
secondary migration of Lowland Slovaks. In 2002, more than
50,000 Slovaks lived in Vojvodina regions of Báčka, Banát and
Sriem, accounting for almost 3% of the total population (Bucher
2011).
Located in the south-eastern part of Sriem, Stará Pazova is
situated approximately 30 kilometres from Belgrade and 40
kilometres from Novi Sad. The oldest preserved record of this
town dates back to 1716. The first Slovaks came here from the
village of Selenča in Báčka region, where the Catholic
authorities forbade them as evangelicals to carry out their own
worship services and took their praying room that also served as
a school at that time. Military command allowed this population
to settle at the military border. Shortly after arriving in a new
location in 1771, the Slovaks built a church building and a
school here (
Čáni 2004 podľa Novotná 2009, Gavrilović 1972,
Babiak 2018). Life on the frontier and certain ethnic isolation
4
caused Stará Pazova to become a unique cultural island.
The Slovak population is now the largest ethnic minority in the
city. In 2002, there were 10,477 Serbs and 5,848 Slovaks,
representing 31.4% of the total of 18,645 inhabitants. Yugoslavs,
Croats, Romani, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Hungarians,
Ukrainians and others are also a part of the ethnic structure of
the town. Slovak language is the second most represented
language and, due to the high representation of Slovaks, it is,
together with Serbian language, the official language.
Bilingualism and the common presence of the Slovak language
in the communication of Slovaks and Serbs are omnipresent.
There are several ethnic-based institutions in the city:
kindergarten, two primary schools - Serbian and Slovak school.
Secondary schools (grammar school, economic school and
secondary technical school are not Slovak schools, Slovak
language is taught as an optional subject there). In the town there
is a radio Stará Pazova, which has two separate editorial offices
for broadcasting in both Serbian and Slovak languages. There is
a theatre with a Slovak and Serbian program composition
(Novotná 2009). Dialect of Stará Pazova has the character of
Central Slovak dialects, reflecting the contact of the Slovak
population with Serbian but also Hungarian ethnic groups (Štolc
1968, Hurban 1933).
The uniqueness of the lowland Slovaks, which manifests itself in
the studied phenomenon of “ladies“, is connected with the
syncretic character of their culture. Syncretism is based on the
interaction of the culture of the mother nation, the culture of the
surrounding nation, and other ethnic groups as well as the
culture created by the Slovak minority community in the new
homeland. In their culture, two opposing processes began
immediately after the settlement: following the original cultural
values acquired in their homeland and, on the other hand, ethno-
cultural changes caused by the processes of interaction with the
different ethnic community. The interaction of these factors
enriches and expands the area of material and spiritual culture,
and brings forth modifications, wide variability and specificity
of culture (Botik 2011).
3 Historical development and changes in the ritual round
walk “ladies“
“Ladies“ (
paňičke) are an exceptional cultural phenomenon in
the region of Vojvodina and all other regions inhabited by
Lowland Slovaks. They are a multi-layered formation that
combines ancient pagan rites of passage - the departure of winter
and the welcome of the new vegetation period and new life and
the Christian Easter holiday dedicated to the crucifixion and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. “Ladies“ were originally known in
other Vojvodina settlements as well, such as Aradá
č, Pazova or
Kovačica. Several decades ago, they were alive in Selenča,
where they were practiced among Slovak evangelicals. Slovaks
4
The nearest Slovak village of Kovačica is about 20 kilometres away.
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