Mechanism of Tradition in Contemporary Religious Practices

Abstract

In the second half of the 20th century, a new generation of believers reached back to an older religious practice, thus embracing a tradition of earlier generations and adapting it to new social and church circumstances. Tradition has been given a new function and a new social role.

In Gyöngyös, a small town in Northern Hungary, the Franciscan fathers who care for the place of pilgrimage were able to revive the pilgrimage feast of Our Mother of Sorrows by announcing a gathering of portable procession statues and images of the Carpathian Basin for the feast. In this way, the feast of Our Mother of Sorrows became a cheerful festival of young people. My paper takes this example to examine why this innovation was successful. The most spectacular characteristic of the process is the festivalisation, the creation of a lively, mass public celebration rich in events, that is, in external appearances.

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V drugi polovici 20. stoletja je nova generacija vernikov posegla po starejši praksi, pri čemer je zaobjela izročilo starejših rodov in ga prilagodila novim družbenim in cerkvenim razmeram. Tradicija je dobila novo funkcijo in novo družbeno vlogo.

V mestecu Gyöngyös na severu Madžarske so frančiškanski brati, ki skrbijo za romarski kraj, oživili romarski praznik Žalostne Matere Božje. Za praznovanje so napovedali procesijo s prenosnimi figurami in podobami z območja karpatskega bazena. V članku je predstavljen ta zgled, da bi preučili, zakaj je bila ta inovacija uspešna. Najveličastnejša značilnost je festivalizacija, stvaritev živahnega množičnega javnega praznovanja, bogatega z dogodki, tj. zunanjimi oblikami.