The Role of Ritual Traditional Clothing among Bunjevci Croats in Serbia in the Revitalisation of Annual Customs and Rituals

Abstract

The article deals with the traditional costume worn in the course of calendar festivals and the feast marking the end of the harvest among a Croatian subethnic group in the region of Backa (county of Vojvodina) in Serbia. The traditional costume carries an important symbolic meaning in the process of revitalising customs and, as such, it represents an ethnocultural identity marker of the group. The customs analysed have undergone a great revival in the past twenty years, being observed in certain calendar periods or on specific days during the ritual year, such as the central cultural and social event – the prelo (spinning bee) in the winter period of Shrovetide, and the Pentecost pageant called kraljice, as well as on the occasion of the Dužijanca, a celebration marking the end of the harvest among the Bunjevci Croats in the region of Backa, which has existed as a public event for over a century. The article is based on the actual field data gathered by the author and her associates.