Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in Bulgaria
This paper discusses the changing symbolic potential of items in the Bulgarian contemporary urban wedding. Based on my fieldwork material regarding the wedding cake and other items, I investigate cultural change in modern Bulgarian society not only as a result of the one-way process of transference,...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sciendo
2013-09-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/126 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832570762675879936 |
|---|---|
| author | Rozaliya Guigova |
| author_facet | Rozaliya Guigova |
| author_sort | Rozaliya Guigova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper discusses the changing symbolic potential of items in the Bulgarian contemporary urban wedding. Based on my fieldwork material regarding the wedding cake and other items, I investigate cultural change in modern Bulgarian society not only as a result of the one-way process of transference, adaptation and incorporation of mass produced commodities into Bulgarian culture but also as a process of cultural change and variation. In that sense, I investigate the alternation between global and local perspectives of the forms of material culture in which certain levels of meaning, inherent to objects, play a crucial role, as for example the social communication factor, kinship ties, cross-generational continuity, local ritual and symbolic systems, local food culture, and even the personal fate and private life of an object’s owner. In this article I focus mainly on the wedding cake as a specific ritual item, functioning in the contemporary urban Bulgarian wedding, transmitted during the last decades from West European culture into the Bulgarian wedding tradition, and analyse the specific dialogue between ‘global’ items and local culture. Furthermore, taking as my example the wedding cake and other ritual objects (the wedding chicken, the wedding bread, and the sponsor’s stick) I question the concept of the globalisation, homogenisation and unification of forms of material culture in contemporary society. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-35c4571ae22f470f9d010df6d950a452 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1736-6518 2228-0987 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2013-09-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |
| spelling | doaj-art-35c4571ae22f470f9d010df6d950a4522025-02-02T14:00:04ZengSciendoJournal of Ethnology and Folkloristics1736-65182228-09872013-09-017183104101Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in BulgariaRozaliya Guigova0Sofia University St. Kliment OhridskiThis paper discusses the changing symbolic potential of items in the Bulgarian contemporary urban wedding. Based on my fieldwork material regarding the wedding cake and other items, I investigate cultural change in modern Bulgarian society not only as a result of the one-way process of transference, adaptation and incorporation of mass produced commodities into Bulgarian culture but also as a process of cultural change and variation. In that sense, I investigate the alternation between global and local perspectives of the forms of material culture in which certain levels of meaning, inherent to objects, play a crucial role, as for example the social communication factor, kinship ties, cross-generational continuity, local ritual and symbolic systems, local food culture, and even the personal fate and private life of an object’s owner. In this article I focus mainly on the wedding cake as a specific ritual item, functioning in the contemporary urban Bulgarian wedding, transmitted during the last decades from West European culture into the Bulgarian wedding tradition, and analyse the specific dialogue between ‘global’ items and local culture. Furthermore, taking as my example the wedding cake and other ritual objects (the wedding chicken, the wedding bread, and the sponsor’s stick) I question the concept of the globalisation, homogenisation and unification of forms of material culture in contemporary society.https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/126wedding cakewedding chickenwedding breadwedding ritualsglobalisationmaterial culture |
| spellingShingle | Rozaliya Guigova Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in Bulgaria Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics wedding cake wedding chicken wedding bread wedding rituals globalisation material culture |
| title | Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in Bulgaria |
| title_full | Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in Bulgaria |
| title_fullStr | Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in Bulgaria |
| title_full_unstemmed | Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in Bulgaria |
| title_short | Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in Bulgaria |
| title_sort | anthropological interpretation of the meaning of ritual objects in the contemporary urban wedding in bulgaria |
| topic | wedding cake wedding chicken wedding bread wedding rituals globalisation material culture |
| url | https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/126 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rozaliyaguigova anthropologicalinterpretationofthemeaningofritualobjectsinthecontemporaryurbanweddinginbulgaria |