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• Sociocultural and Historical Perspectives on Diversity in Spain

  117-132

  András Lénárt

  Views:

  356

  The image of Spain in the 21st century is defined by the coexistence of the descendants of different peoples who have arrived in the region over the past centuries and decades. Since prehistoric times, the history of the Iberian Peninsula has been marked by interactions between the groups that settled there; sometimes these relationships have involved a certain type of subordination and domination (for example, conqueror versus conquered), and at other times they have been characterised by the peaceful or conflictual coexistence of different societies. Thus, immigration, coexistence and assimilation have always been fundamental to the social and cultural life of Spain. To this day, cultural historians and philosophers have not been able to agree on whether the diversity of society has been an advantage or a disadvantage for the development of Spain. In this article, I will examine the approaches to this social and cultural diversity in different historical periods and the basic arguments used by scholars and scientists to support their beliefs. In analysing the issue, we look at prominent works and authors in Spanish cultural history, searching for and comparing possible arguments. We try to answer the question to what extent the search for homogeneity or diversity has been part of the Spanish self-definition in a given historical period.

• Legends of a Transylvanian Shrine to the Virgin Mary

  43-68

  Zoltán Magyar

  Views:

  214

  My paper presents a legend tradition related to a well-known Hungarian (Transyl­vanian) place of pilgrimage. Csíksomlyó (Miercurea–Ciuc/Sumuleu) – cur­rently part of Romania ‒ has become a significant place of pilgrimage in the 20^th century, similarly to Austria’s Mariazell, Spain’s Santiago de Compostela, the Orthodox Church’s Athos, or the main international shrines to the Virgin Mary (Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje). Around this famous pilgrimage place known from the 15^th century a thematically rich legend circle has developed over the centuries, typical of Hungarian folklore, which abounds in historical and narrative traditions. At the centre of the group of legends stands the statue of the Virgin Mary, of gothic origin, the miraculous reputation of which is complemented by several historical legend themes (foundational traditions, wars, heroes and saints, crime and punish­ment and other legend motifs inspired by the sacred place). I highlight the most important historical perspectives, the chronological characteristics, the geographical distribution and, above all, the typological diversity of these legends. The legend circle of the shrine of Csíksomlyó in Romania is the totality of the related narrative traditions, that is to say, both the hundred-year-old miracle stories found in written form in different historical sources, and the recent folklore texts collected from oral tradi­tion. Although the time and the circumstances of the records differ significantly, the aim of the narration and the topic of the legends are the same. The legends about the shrine – separated into the given thematic groups – are an organic part of the Catalogue of Hungarian Historical Legends.