Journal of Ethnology 2/2013 is devoted to the 1150 Methodius in Moravia. Jan Rychlík and Magdaléna Rychlíková in their introductory essay write about basic historical facts that accompany this event, as well as about relations of other Slavic nations to these personalities (The Cult of Sts. Cyril and Methodius and its Nationalisation in Modern Times). Marta Šrámková and Rudolf Šrámek focused on the investigated theme from the point of view of folkloristics and linguistics (Following the Cyril-and-Methodius Tradition in Prosaic Folklore and in some Moravia and Silesia’s Proper Names), Karel Altman drew attention to 1863 celebrations of the 1000-anniversary of Cyril and Methodius’s arrival in Moravia (The 1000-Anniversary of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the Czech-German Relations in Brno). Bulgarian ethnologist Katja Michajlova paid her attention to contexts in the development of the Cyril-and-Methodius feast day in Bulgaria (The Celebration of the Feast Day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Bulgarian Lands - History, Traditions, Politics, Present-Day Situation / (based on examples from Plovdiv). Aleš Filip, Jana Osolsobě, and Jan Osolsobě elaborated the theme of graphic expressions relating to Saints Cyril and Methodius (Cult of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Fine Arts /a key to their iconography/). Alena Křížová prepared a pictorial supplement Cyril and Methodius in Holy Pictures.
Section Review published A Memory of Alžběta Čihařová - Odehnalová, a Puppet Player and Collector of Folk Tales (by Leoš Vašek). Social Chronicle remembers the anniversary of ethnologist Jana Hrabětová (born 1943), ethnomusicologist Dušan Holý (born 1934) and ethnologist František Vrhel (born 1934), and publishes an obituary for choreographer Jiřina Mlíkovská (1925-2013) and ethno-choreologist Cyril Zálešák (1920-2013). Other regular columns include actual news from the branch and reviews of new books.
The Cult of Sts. Cyril and Methodius and its Nationalisation in Modern Times
The essay explains how the religious cult of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was changing during centuries. Both saints were - after the Great Schism in 1054 A. D. - considered saints mainly in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, while in the Catholic Church they were formally confirmed as saints only in 1880. Gradually, the cult obtained also national character. In the 19th century, Sts. Cyril and Methodius were considered mainly the Slavic saints because they brought Christianity to the Slavs, and according to the traditions, they were partly of the Slav blood. In addition, the particular Slavonic nations started considering them as national saints. Both brothers thus served as the factor forming the national identity of various Slavonic nations in the Balkans and Central Europe. The cult also led to disputes among the particular nations about the “nationality” of both brothers and mainly about the nationality of the Slavic people who they preached to. Because the place of birth of both holy brothers was in Macedonia, the Greeks, Bulgarians, and - in the second half of the 20th century - also the newly formed Macedonians began to claim Sts. Cyril and Methodius to become symbols of their national history and cultural heritage.
Following the Cyril-and-Methodius Tradition in Prosaic Folklore and in some Moravia and Silesia’s Proper Names
The essay’s aim is to trace the basic features as regards content, which characterize the Cyril-and- Methodius tradition in prosaic folklore, and which in form of a short message - regest - form a part of cultural and historical awareness. In folklore narrations in Moravia and Silesia, the Cyril-and-Methodius cycle keeps it stable position. The corresponding interest in this cycle is growing in dependence on the development in social and cultural conditions - e.g. in the second half of the 19th century in connection with strengthening the national identity (which found expression in the St. Wenceslas cycle in Bohemia) or with forming the historical awareness of so-called Moravian identity. It emphasizes the Christianizing and cultural importance. The present revitalization of the cult bears witness thereof. The cult is spread especially in the regions from the South of Moravian through Eastern Moravian to Silesia (so-called wider Opava Region) and adjacent regions of the ethnographic area of Haná (to the region of Litovel). In Western Moravia, only a reference to apostles’ journey to Bohemia occurs. The essay is concluded with an analysis of names occurring in etymological legends, as well as with notes concerning folk etymology.
The 1000-Anniversary of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the Czech-German Relations in Brno
The celebrations of the millennium, the 1000-anniversary of the arrival of Cyril and Methodius in Moravia, held in 1863, became one of the highlights of the so-called Cyril-and-Methodius movement. The celebrations were mainly connected with Velehrad as a cult place of pilgrimage, and Brno, the capital of Moravia. It was the life in this town, which determined in many respects social, cultural as well as political and national relations in the entire country, that was marked by the celebrations largely. The celebrations took place on 25 and 26 August and their manifold programme ran not only in the centre of the town, but also in Lužánky and Pisárky, traditional summer resorts. Altogether 61 singer’s clubs with 940 singers appeared on stages. The celebrations became the biggest event of that time in Brno, their cultural and artistic importance, however, was surpassed by their social and political - patriotic importance in many respects. Since this event, the relations between the Czechs and Germans in Brno as well as in Moravia began to change, because the impression of the celebrations brought significant consequences on Germans´ side. The period of conflict-free coexistence, defined by its mutual tolerance in everyday life as well as common participation in different forms of social life, was substituted by strict separation of the Czech and the German institutions and the corresponding division in social activities. The Cyril-and-Methodius celebrations, however, resulted also in internal differentiation inside the Czech national movement in Moravia because the disputes between the religious and the profane streams became deeper.
The Celebration of the Feast Day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Bulgarian Lands - History, Traditions, Politics, Present-Day Situation (based on examples from Plovdiv)
The article presents the tradition of celebrating the Day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Bulgaria and traces its development from a predominantly religious feast into a national holiday. The author points out that the first celebrations of the Feast Day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in 1850s through 1870s were connected with the struggles of Bulgarians against the Greek Patriarchy in Tsarigrad (Istanbul) under whose authority the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was at the time. These celebrations were expressions of the aspiration for independent autonomous church and religious service in Bulgarian language, and thus also for Bulgarian education. The article traces the history of celebrating the feast day of the holy brothers in the famous class school (later - a high school) “Sts. Cyril and Methodius” in Plovdiv. The author points out that before the Liberation Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1878, the day of the two Slavic apostles and holy brothers, which was celebrated in Plovdiv and in other towns of the Ottoman Empire, was perceived as a symbol of Bulgarians’ struggle for church independence and the celebrations were loaded with revolutionary pathos. After the national liberation, the Day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius continued to be loaded with explicit ideological meanings and became a symbol of the cultural and political unification of Bulgarians from the liberated Bulgarian lands, as well as for those that remained outside the state territory. Attention is paid to the special emphasis on the involvement of the celebration of this day within the educational process during World War II. The article discusses also the changed meanings of this festive day during the socialist period - in the direction mainly towards the educational activities of the two brothers. The reconstruction of the previous rituals on this feast day nowadays is also traced in the text.
Cult of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Fine Arts (a key to their iconography)
The essay pays attention to the iconography of Sts. Cyril and Methodius within the western Christian culture. There are more thoroughly analyzed the depictions of both brothers in the Middle Ages, both in Roma (Basilica of San Clemente) and in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. The depictions from the Modern Era are limited just to the Czech Lands, whereby they do not more concern the chronological succession, but the description of significant sings in the iconography of both saints, which are documented by particular examples. We have observed both the narrative cycles and the so-called iconic depictions where seven types of depictions of Sts. Cyril and Methodius are defined. The depictions are usually combined with each other: 1) brothers, 2) citizens of Thessalonica 3) monk and bishop 4) Apostles of the Slavs, 5) our fathers, 6) heathendom conquerors, 7) patron saints of the Moravian nation.
