Bell Chiming. National Speciality or Invented Tradition?

Abstract

Pritrkavanje je že nakaj časa tako v znanosti kot širši javnosti opredeljeno kot 'slovenska posebnost, ki ji ni para zunaj naši etničnih meja'. Tovrstno prepričanje pa je temeljilo na raziskavah, ki niso nikoli presegale geografskih okvirov naše države. Zadošča, da primerjamo opredelitve 'slovenskega pritrkavanja' z nekaterimi drugimi praksami igre na zvonove, in ugotovimo, da je zelo razširjeno tudi v evropskem prostoru. Poudarjanje unikatnosti slovenskega pritrkavanja lahko razlagamo z vidika koncepta umišljene tradicije, kot enim od dejavnikov oblikovanja nacionalne identitete, s katerim narod išče samobitnost, unikatnost, avtentičnost in izvirnost lastne tradicije v primerjavi z drugimi. V prispevku obravnavam izhodišča za nastanek umišljenosti nekaterih aspektov pritrkovalske prakse v slovenskem prostoru, opozarjam na obstoj pritrkavanja v drugih evropskih državah ter na podlagi lastne terenske izkušnje podrobneje predstavljam sorodno prakso pritrkavanja v Nemčiji.

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In the professional and scholarly community, as well as in Slovenian public discourse bell chiming became regarded as a special Slovenian feature unrivalled outside Slovenian ethnic borders. The assumption was based on researches, which never exceeded geographical frames of Slovenian territory. But, only comparing the definitions of ‘Slovenian bell chiming’ to some other European practices of bell playing, one can establish that in Europe, bell chiming is a widespread practice. The case of promoting the uniqueness of Slovenian bell chiming can be explained from the viewpoint of the concept of invented tradition, as one of the factors of shaping national identity that a nation uses to find the character, uniqueness, authenticity, and originality of its own tradition in comparison to others. In this contribution, I discuss the origins for the invention of some aspects of the bell chiming practice, and give arguments for the existence of bell chiming practice in other European countries. Based on the fieldwork experience, I finally present the bell chiming practice in Germany.