Welcome to the home page of Ethnographica et Folkloristica Carpathica. The journal is an international platform devoted to the research and current theory of Ethnology and Folklore.

Ethnographica et Folkloristica Carpathica has a long tradition as an annual yearbook of the Department of Ethnology at the University of Debrecen; the journal has chosen as its aim to contribute to a better understanding and increased awareness of the ethnography and folklore of peoples living in the Carpathian Basin. Since 1979 the yearbook’s intention was to highlight questions of contact, transmission and borrowing in the region and to invite foreign researchers to an extended communication concerned these topics.

After four decades we have realized that, even if the result was a professionally fruitful collaboration and conversation among international investigators and the volumes shed light on different cultural phenomena, the project needs rejuvenation. The renewal comes with the transformation of our editorial profile from a yearbook to a journal: Since 2020 Ethnographica et Folkloristica Carpathica has been supervised by a new international editorial board. Furthermore, we have expanded our focus and the journal is now published online.

We no longer place our space within the definite boundaries of the Central European region; the really new feature of the journal is to provide a forum where international contributors can discuss the ethnological, folkloristic, cultural anthropological or traditional folk art topics connected to the entire continent of Europe and beyond.

The profile of the department will remain faithful to its historical purpose and as “natives” we continue our research about the communities and folk cultures of the Carpathian Basin. However, we fully comprehend that none of the European cultural phenomena can be understood without taking into consideration a wider historical-geographical-social-cultural background, that is why we encourage our international colleagues to exchange their knowledge with us and with our audience.

Prof. Dr. Elek Bartha

Head of the Editorial Team