Village Spatial Structure in Oral Tradition and Rituals of the Karst

Abstract

Članek je del širše raziskave o konceptualizaciji prostora kot socialnega konstrukta, kakor se kaže v ustnem izročilu na Krasu. Terenske raziskave so pokazale, da ljudje navzven enotno identiteto vaške skupnosti razdrobijo na manjše vaške identitete, ločene po prostorskih enotah. Notranje strukturiranje vasi se izraža skoz ustno izročilo, toponime in skupinske identifikacije, šege in navade ob ivanjskem kresovanju, ob pustovanju, ob smrti, pri čemer vsakemu delu vasi ustreza del pokopališča, in ob liturgičnih obredih. Na osnovi evropskih in neevropskih primerjav avtorica pokaže, da v notranji strukturiranosti vasi ne gre prepoznati zgolj posledice različnega časovnega zaporedja kolonizacije rodov ali različnih hierarhičnih struktur prebivalstva, temveč tudi splošno konceptualno načelo strukturiranja sveta, ki temelji na binarni opoziciji.

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The paper is part of a wider study on the conceptualization of space as a social construct through the oral tradition of the Karst. Research has shown that the identity of the village is fragmented into smaller village identities, separated by spatial units. The internal structure of the village is reflected in oral tradition, toponyms, group identifications, liturgical rites, and rituals such as lighting bonfires on St. John’s Day or Carnival, and death, where each part of the village corresponds a part of the cemetery. Based on European and non-European comparisons, it is suggested that the interior structure of villages is not simply a reflection of the stratification process of the rural population or colonizations of various lineage, but could also be a consequence of a general conceptual principle of structuring the world, which is based on the concept of binary opposition.