Full-text resources of CEJSH and other databases are now available in the new Library of Science.
Visit https://bibliotekanauki.pl

Results found: 3

first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last

Search results

Search:
in the keywords:  SUPERSTITIONS
help Sort By:

help Limit search:
first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last
1

WAR ON SUPERSTITION IN THE MONITOR

100%
Wozniak B.
Studia Historyczne
|
2004
|
vol. 47
|
issue 2(186)
157-168
EN
It was a firm conviction of the Enlightenment publicists that the Polish Commonwealth needed to be liberated from the burden of old-age superstitions and religious fanaticism. Their principal weapon was the Warsaw journal Monitor (1765-1785). Monitor made a regular job of attacking the popular belief in demons, ghosts and witches, and ridiculing both the respect accorded to portents, omens or astrological predictions in the almanacs as well as the odd rituals used to avert bad luck or an impending disaster. In its war on superstition the journal employed a wide range of journalistic forms - from dispassionate, well-argued essays to vitriolic satires. In this respect the Warsaw Monitor sought to follow the example of 18th-century English periodicals with a didactic agenda, especially The Spectator. Monitor's reformist campaign had the support of the leading pens of the Polish Enlightenment, Bishop Ignacy Krasicki, Franciszek Bohomolec, and Aleksander Zorawski. A typical article on the theme of superstition paints form of narrative sketches which highlight the adventures of superstitions country squires and the sad consequences of their irrational belief in the existence of demons, ghosts, witches, bad omens, etc. Some publications - spoof news stories or mock astrological predictions - strike a lighter tone and depend for their effect on irony. Regardless of its tone or form each of those articles carries a severe criticism of Polish religious fanaticism and the Poles' adherence to superstitions, which the Monitor writers see as a disgrace of the Catholic religion and a shameful mental relic in the Age of Reason. The year 1776, when prosecution for witchcraft and the use of torture in judicial proceedings were banned by law, was a watershed in the history of struggle against superstition in Poland. It was a triumph for the Polish intellectual elites and for its vanguard magazine. Now that the main object of Monitor's campaign had been achieved, the theme of superstition all but disappeared from its pages.
2

JEWISH TAVERN AS A 'LOCUS DELICTI', OR, AN ATTEMPT AT SPATIAL SITUATION OF RITUAL MURDER (Karczma Zydowska jako 'locus delicti', czyli próba przestrzennego usytuowania zbrodni rytualnej)

80%
Zyndul J.
Teksty Drugie (Second Texts)
|
2008
|
issue 4(112)
200-214
EN
The imaginary crime of ritual murder is committed in an imaginary place, for imaginary purposes and in an imaginary manner. Each consecutive epoch superimposed on it a network of its own representations of the order of the world and the essence of Jewish menace. The imaginary topographic space of ritual murder projected the social space in which Jews functioned. In 18th century, the threat was referred to Jewish tavern or inn and it was therein that the collective imagination tended to situate the place of crime. In most of the alleged cases of ritual murder in the latter half of 18th and the early 19th century, Jewish innkeepers were accused of crimes having taken place in their inns. Those accusations penetrated into literature as well. It was in an inn that the alleged ritual murder is situated in Feliks Bernatowicz's historical novel 'Nalecz'. This image corresponds very well with the one created by 19th-century Polish literature which emphasised the dark side of inn/tavern operations - as the place where peasants were induced to drink and illegal dealings handled.
3
Content available remote

Rarášok a zmok ako kultúrne reprezentácie alebo Prečo prežitky prežívajú?

51%
Buzekova T.
Národopisná revue (Journal of Ethnology)
|
2009
|
vol. 19
|
issue 4
240-249
EN
The paper focuses on the theoretical perspective of cognitive anthropology applied in study of folklore. The authoress aims to demonstrate that the terms 'folk beliefs' and 'superstitions' used in folkloristics relate to the definition of folklore as a 'survival' peculiar to the earlier anthropological theory of cultural evolution. Cognitive anthropology offers a different approach to study of cultural phenomena. From the cognitive point of view, the so-called superstitions are representations incorporating anti-intuitive concepts. Some of them could have their origin in old pagan beliefs, but this is not the main factor influencing their transmission: the distribution of anti-intuitive concepts is determined by how the human mind works. Narrations containing those concepts are related to a concrete social context and do not necessary refer to the religious feelings or religious faith. On the example of rarasok and zmok - supernatural beings from Slovak folk tales - the autoress demonstrates that the hypothetical religious origin of folklore images does not explain their present 'survival'. Distribution of rarasok and zmok's representations could be explained in terms of Pascal Boyer's theory. Rarasok and zmok appear in tales with interpretation of misfortune in terms of supernatural forces. Long-term reproduction of corresponding narrative schemata could be explained by further cognitive theories dealing with certain aspects of human cognition related to concrete social situations.
first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.