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• Utilizing ArchivesSpace for Data Archiving: A Case Study of the Digital Archive for Ethnological and Anthropological Resources at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology

  121-138

  Ines Crvenkovska Risteska

  Ljupcho Risteski

  Views:

  15

  The purpose of this paper is to present and promote the positive experiences of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology in utilizing ArchivesSpace – an open-source web-based database management application that facilitates access, description, and ar­rangement of processed materials, including analog, hybrid, and newly created digital content. These materials are effectively represented through a public user interface and can be used across the domains of library, archival, and museum work. By focusing on the implementation and use of ArchivesSpace within the institute, this study underscores its potential as a sustainable solution for heritage institutions that seek to manage, pre­serve, and present their cultural resources in an efficient and accessible manner. The paper highlights the software’s advantages, such as its open-source nature, adaptability, and capacity to handle various forms of materials, emphasizing its contribution to en­hancing the visibility of cultural heritage and improving its accessibility for diverse audiences. Furthermore, this research reflects on the benefits of using ArchivesSpace in contexts that face financial and infrastructural limitations, illustrating how it can empow­er institutions with limited resources to digitize and preserve their collections while en­suring they remain publicly accessible. The paper concludes by encouraging other institu­tions, especially those in countries with emerging digital preservation strategies, to ex­plore the potential of ArchivesSpace to support their archival and cultural heritage manage­ment needs.

• Ancia Zarichanska and Folk Belief in Transcarpathia: A Comparative Perspective

  7-28

  Vasyl Korol

  Oleksandr Kryvonos

  Views:

  26

  This study focuses on the historical figure of Ancia Zarichanska (Anna Poidyn), a spiritual mediator and charismatic healer from the Transcarpathian village of Zarichchia. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork (2018–2019) and qualitative interviews with local informants, the article examines the narrative construction of this woman in collec­tive memory, as well as her magical abilities, ritual practices, and ascetic lifestyle. Her unusual behavior – including voluntary seclusion, visionary experiences, fasting, and selective social interaction - is interpreted as an expression of religious asceticism, deviant piety, and spiritual authority.

  Central elements such as near-death experience, rebirth motifs, and prophetic healing are analyzed in comparison with European folk healers, visionary figures, and shamanic initiation processes. Zarichanska’s case demonstrates how spiritual legitimacy can be es­tablished outside institutional religion. Particular attention is paid to the cultural logic underlying the attribution of mystical authority, the emergence of local rituals such as “Hercna Wednesday,” and the ritual veneration of her grave as a site of popular devo­tion.

  This study contributes to the ethnology of folk belief by showing how collective memory, oral tradition, demonological narratives, and religious-magical practices inter­weave to shape local forms of “folk sainthood.” The figure of Zarichanska is presented as a paradigmatic example of trans-cultural patterns of non-institutional spirituality, which fulfill identity-forming functions, especially in times of social transformation.

• Cultural Heritage or Traces of the War? A Case Study From Oblivion to Memory and ’Heritagisation’

  139-154

  Melinda Marinka

  Views:

  268

  The paper explores the memory of the internment camp in Tiszalök (Upper Tisza region, Hungary) in selected social, historical, and ethnic contexts. After a brief theoretical overview of key concepts such as heritagization, the author highlights some significant facts and events from the history of the camp. This camp was established after the Second World War, and deportees of German origin, who could not go home to their families after returning to Hungary from Russian captivity, were held there. Furthermore, the paper outlines how the history of the camp was first concealed in public, then gradually discovered by scholars and memorialized through commemorative events and a monument which was erected by the local community and former inmates. Subsequently, the author presents the case study of a deceased Hungarian woman who used to work in the camp’s kitchen. Based on several interviews with her relatives and after the careful examination of a wooden box from her estate, the author demonstrates that her family history and the history of the interned members of the German minority are closely intertwined in a way, which had been unknown to her family. Finally, the author argues that similar personal objects may reveal further untold stories and entangled memories from the postwar years.

• The Lazarki Procession in Inyevo, Radoviš: Ritual and Tradition in North Macedonia

  65-90

  Jose Antonio Lorenzo Tamayo

  Meryem Madili

  Views:

  50

  Lazarus Day is an important springtime tradition among Orthodox Christians in the Balkans. In the Republic of North Macedonia, many villages mark the occasion with a ritual conducted by female performers, the lazarki. Traditionally, the lazarki visit each home in the village to bless family members by singing unique songs. This ethnographic work intends to explore and document the tradition in Inyevo, a lowland and upland community in the Municipality of Radovis. Compared to other villages in Macedonia, the lazarki in Inyevo perform two connected rituals conducted eight days before Palm Sunday. On a Saturday, the lazarki perform the willow picking and willow offering in the monasteries, while the traditional home visitations happen on a Sunday. In exploring and documenting the tradition, fieldwork was conducted between 27 and 28 April 2024. The fieldwork included interviews (i.e., with the performers, a local family, people in the village) and observation of the rituals performed by the lazarki. The Lazarki in Inyevo exemplifies a tradition evoking themes on gender, the contemporary role of women in rituals, and as a form of authentic expression of faith.           

• The Diversity of Knowledge Concerning Geographical Areas Based on Surveys Conducted in Institutions of Primary Education in Hungary

  217-251

  Eszter Lupfer-Juhász

  Views:

  186

  My study will discuss the Hungarian public education system, more specifically, the knowledge about and the measurement of the concept of geographical areas as they appear in the subject Hon- és népismeret [approximately: Our Homeland and Its People(s)] in the Hungarian primary education system. The cultural landscape formed by human activity is an important part of Hon- és népismeret education, which also includes knowledge of spatiality, ethnographic geographical areas and maps.

  In my research, I was interested what students taking Hon- és népismeret courses think and know about geographical areas; moreover, if they can use maps and place major Hungarian and ethnographic geographical areas (provinces) on blind maps. In my search, I have conducted a survey among students learning Hon- és népismeret in primary schools in Debrecen with the aim of measuring their knowledge of geographical areas and ethnographic geographical areas, especially related to the use of maps. So, in my study, I present all the tasks of the survey and the students’ answers. Furthermore, I describe the method used during the survey and the data processing.

• Legends of a Transylvanian Shrine to the Virgin Mary

  43-68

  Zoltán Magyar

  Views:

  172

  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.

• The Definition of the Museum at the Intersection of Tradition and the Digital World

  103-120

  István Csont

  Views:

  19

  This study explores the evolving definition and role of museums in the digital age, focusing on the intersection of tradition and technological innovation. It illustrates the challenges of reaching a universally accepted concept by highlighting the historical development of the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM) definitions. The pa­per emphasizes that museums have always played a central role in preserving cultural heritage and facilitating education, but their tasks and methods have changed signifi­cantly over time. The 21^st century has brought new expectations, including digital accessibility, audience engagement, and lifelong learning. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation, prompting museums to expand their online pre­sence and educational offerings. The research discusses how virtual exhibitions, digital databases, and interactive technologies can enhance the relevance and outreach of mu­seums. It also outlines the importance of international and national strategies in sup­porting digitisation efforts and cultural inclusion. Today, museums must adapt to soci­etal needs while maintaining their core functions of preservation, education, and au­thenticity. The paper concludes that redefining museums requires balancing traditional knowledge mediation with modern, interactive approaches. Ultimately, museums are cultural hubs whose sustainability depends on their ability to innovate and connect with diverse audiences.

• Marginalized Texts of a Glorified Genre: The Valorization of the (Folk)tale in Hungary

  23-42

  Judit Gulyás

  Views:

  266

  Attention towards and interest in the genre of the tale began rather belatedly in Hungarian culture. The paper provides a concise overview of the history of assigning value to this narrative genre: how it transformed from a trivial genre of idle amusement of the uneducated people into a precious cultural item that is an essential part of national heritage being safeguarded and studied from a number of perspectives. Parallel with the rise of the genre, a decline of the earliest known tales has taken place due to certain authenticity criteria retrospectively applied by newly formed disciplines as well as the standardization and naturalization of a specific mode of narration.

• The Traditional Way of Thinking of Small Farmer Housewives in Finland

  91-102

  Anssi Halmesvirta

  Views:

  19

  The aim of this article is to throw light on the historical experiences and their memo­ries of a housewife from a small farm in Upper Savo (Yläsavo) in Finland. Its moti­vation emanates from the fact that neither local, commissioned histories nor ethno­graphical studies have touched the orbit of their lives and their traditional, three-dimensional way of thought. The theoretical vantage-point applied here was put for­ward by Paul Ricoeur and further developed by Frank Ankersmit: memories of wit­nesses of historical experiences can tell more intimate and accurate narratives than documentary histories. As evidence, culled from interviews and diverse biographical and autobiographical material, they can complement the work of ethnographers who operate on the same field by recording past as lived life.

• Competing Nationality Politics Targeting German Communities at the Hungarian-Romanian Border Zone after the Great War

  71-86

  Levente Szilágyi

  Views:

  237

  In my study, I focus on the events that took place in the short period after the Great War ended (1918) and before the consolidation of Romanian power in the Hungarian-Romanian Border Commission (1922) from the point of view of the artificially created ethnic category: the Satu Mare Swabians or Sathmar Swabians. The historiography related to the “ethnographic” aspects of these events have appeared multiple times and in several contexts and forms in the years since. However, the question of ethnicity has not arisen in relation to the population of German descent, but rather in relation to the Hungarian-speaking Greek Catholic communities of Romanian and Rusyn/Ruthenian origin who were treated by the Romanian side as Magyarized Romanians. Following this example, the Romanians later began to collect data on the Magyarized Germans, which they then presented to the Border Commission. Germans living in the territory witnessed a strong competition between identity politics and discourse supported by rival Hungarian and Romanian states. One of the key features of this rivalry was the intensive propaganda activity promoted by both the Romanian and the Hungarian authorities to gain territories to the detriment of the other.