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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
had to wear these colours to make obvious that they were
Slovaks from Stará Pazova. This colours are also used in the
clothing of “ladies“. Up to this day, the following are the
compulsory parts of the garment: knitted woollen pantyhose
(
panťuške), a white pleated apron called šata and specific hair
style. The girls have their hair tied in one braid plaited high in
the back of the head. Regardless of the season, the “ladies“
usually wear a black scarf (
ťurák) over their shoulders. From the
beginning the boys' clothes copied the clothing of adult men and
the groom. Boys are dressed in a Slovak folk costume, consisting
of a white shirt embroidered on the side and a hat (
kalapčok).
The use of rosemary twig on the hat or a peacock feather was
also a specific element. People in Stará Pazova kept peacocks.
People who kept peacocks were said to be proud.
Picture 3:
“Paničke in church”. Stará Pazova. April 2019.
(
Author. J. Čukan)
Some changes also occurred in performance of the round walk.
Originally children visited their relatives in the morning. From
the 1940s, a visit of the church was incorporated into the
program. At the end of the evangelical worship, the”ladies“
come in pairs to the church, walk around the altar, receive the
blessing and take their picture in front of the altar. After the
Sunday service, they dance and sing in front of the church, for
which they are rewarded. This tradition is still alive today. This
year (on April 14
th
, 2019) 28 pairs of children attended the
ceremonial worship in the evangelical church. Later, a priest
joined the program, telling the children about the content and
meaning of the Palm Sunday. The role of the church, a local
church community and local priest in shaping the present form
of this custom is very significant. An interesting component of
the tradition of “ladies“ is the sale, which has been organized on
Palm Sunday for two years. It includes the sale and exhibition of
Easter eggs, home-cooked meals and handmade souvenirs from
the entire area of Stará Pazova.
“Ladies“ are a constant expression of ethnic, confessional,
regional, family and social affiliation. Several generations are
currently participating in the performance of “ladies“, the
preparation of clothes, the rehearsal and the realization of the
round walk. Often they are the grandmothers who prepare
clothes for their grandchildren, dress them up and teach them the
lyrics of the traditional song. This phenomenon is an expression
of family identity and belonging and a condition for the
intergenerational transmission of tradition.
The clothing of “ladies“ also reflects the social status of the
family. Making clothing is quite difficult and expensive.
Dressing up the „lady“ is a complex technological process that
has from 12 to 15 successive stages in completing a girl's
garment. The number of garments and stages depends on
whether the girl has an opulent parta (bridal head outfit) or just a
little wreath on her head. Every family cannot afford to own
such a costume. Today people are in better financial situation.
They spend a lot on their children. They give a great wealth to
children. So the children are now dressed like a real bride.
Other families borrow this garment.
“Ladies“ in Vojvodina reflect ethnic and confessional affiliation.
Most often they were held among Slovak Evangelicals, although
the intergroup overlaps of ethnic and religious diversity were
also evident in this environment. Many times when a girl did not
have a Slovak girlfriend, they took their Serbian neighbour and
went with her. They dressed her in our folk costume and went
with her from house to house.
Ritual round walks of “ladies“ in the past were mainly connected
with the ceremonial prosperity function. The function of
entertainment was added to it later. At present, these functions
are interconnected. Pairs of girls and boys are now being
prepared by their parents, grandparents, godparents, school
teachers, folklore leaders and local church within the children's
Sunday schools in order for them to come responsibly and
seriously to the family, to stand in front of adult relatives and
show them what was always performed on Palm Sunday in Stará
Pazova in the past. The inhabitants of Stará Pazova consider the
tradition of “ladies“ to be a binding, necessary, natural and
essential part of this festive day as well as the entire Easter
custom cycle. Moreover, the visit of “ladies” in the homes of the
Stará Pazova families is considered a God´s blessing and a
promise of prosperity, health, and good harvest. Families who
are not visited by the “ladies“ feel offended and believe that it
will bring them bad harvest. Thus, tradition is regaining high
normativity and obligation, which is typical of ritual practices.
4 “Ladies“ in the context of Easter customs and children's
games
From the point of view of form, content, symbolism and
meaning, it is possible to connect the “ladies“ with several
traditions. As ritual round walks, we classify “ladies“ as the
annual custom of the Easter and pre-Easter cycle. The “ladies“
are an obvious remnant and distinctive transformation of the
ancient Slavic custom of carrying out the winter, which is known
in several regions of Slovakia, among the Lowland Slovaks, but
also in many other European cultures (described for example by
Čaplovič 1997, Niederle 1924). According to the ancient ideas of
the Slavs, the spring equinox period was symbolically as well as
realistically connected with the departure of winter and the
arrival of spring, it meant awakening of nature and starting of
agricultural activities. This period was seen as a transition, a new
beginning, a new year, the departure of the old and the arrival of
a new one. For this reason, there were a number of rituals
connected with it, that were supposed to bring health, prosperity
and fertility for people, but also for animals, land and nature in
general. As winter was traditionally perceived and personified as
a dangerous and negative being, the cleansing, protective or
prosperous magical acts were supposed to eliminate its
influence. The departure or death of winter was accompanied by
its ritual destruction. Winter, also called Death, Morena,
Marmuriena, Baba, Kiseľ or Kiseľica, was most often presented
as a female being. She had the form of a straw-stuffed dummy
on a wooden stick, dressed in women's clothes. Young girls
carried this dummy through the village on Passion Sunday or
Palm Sunday while singing (Elscheková,
Klepáčová 1995).
Morena was destroyed by burning, throwing in water or stoning.
The tradition of carrying out Morena was known among Slovaks
in Vojvodina as well. We observe it in Selenča, Kysáč, Kovačica
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