Published: 2011-12-20

Topicality of magic practices on the basis of the ways of preventing children from spell (prepared on the basis of the materials from the Polish Ethno

Agnieszka Pieńczak

Abstract

The article presents the results of the research works of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas, presenting the topicality of magic practices concerning the ways of preventing children from spell. It constitutes an attempt of a cartographic analysis of data collected in the 1970s in 338 research points situated Poland wide. Atlas studies showed that the communities under investigation knew and practised different ways of preventing children from spell. These involve for example practices connected with using of elements in an intensive colour, isolative practices (ban on showing a child to strangers and covering it with cloth), practices concerned with turning the clothes inside out, practices combined with using impurity (spitting), practices connected with using sacred objects and votive gestures. The images on maps point to the relict nature of analysed magic practices on the one hand, and their former popularity in Poland (scattered and edged scope prove it). The maps show that some practices were maintained longer in the eastern and south-eastern Poland than in other areas. The very territory is often defined as the most conservative in terms of the traditional folk culture.

Download files

Citation rules

Pieńczak, A. . (2011). Topicality of magic practices on the basis of the ways of preventing children from spell (prepared on the basis of the materials from the Polish Ethno. Studia Etnologiczne I Antropologiczne, 11, 231–243. Retrieved from https://journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/SEIA/article/view/9039

Vol. 11 (2011)
Published:


ISSN: 1506-5790
eISSN: 2353-9860
Ikona DOI 10.31261/SEIA

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

This website uses cookies for proper operation, in order to use the portal fully you must accept cookies.