Broadside Ballads and Religious Pilgrimage Songs: The Virgin Mary of Vranov

Abstract

The paper by Marie Hanzelková describes the very popular and topical (at least at the time of writing) phenomenon of Czech broadside ballads: pilgrimage songs. Through a case study, she analyses the pilgrimage broadside ballads to a local pilgrimage site named Vranov. She focuses on the especially distinctive but also typical means of presenting and promoting Vranov (and by extension, all pilgrimage sites). Hanzelková particularly illustrates that pilgrimage broadside ballads, such as those about Vranov, primarily played a unifying role even though they also often reflected historical stereotypes and long-standing rivalries between national and religious groups—all or any of whom might visit pilgrimage sites.