VENETS: the Belogradchik journal for local history, cultural heritave and folk studies

146-153

Authors: D. Bozhkova

This is a selection of poems published during the years in the journal “Venets”. The homesickness is their basic clue.

162-170

Authors: V. Borisov

The first (and last) higher school year began in Belogradchik in the autumn of 1995. Two University programs were launched: Management of Culture and Tourism and Management of Health Services. The students were 90 in total. Formally they were students of the Business Academy at Svishtov. The beginning of the higher education in Belogradchik was not successful. Under unfavourable circumstances, described in brief in the present article, the higher education in Belogradchik was ceased.

198-203

Authors: V. Kachev

Here are two new poems, written by Valentin Kachev (born in Belogradchik) who is a member of the Union of the Bulgarian Writers and of the Union of the Russian Writers as well: “And My Sonnet” (2008) and “With the Angel’s Hand” (2010). Several photographs of old private Belogradchik houses serve as a background to this Venets’ poetry page. The first of them is the family house of the writer.

213-255

Authors: E.J. Håland

The article examines emotion and identity in connection with Greek death-cult in an attempt to clarify certain contemporary political phenomena in the Mediterranean and Balkan area. The cult of the dead is a common cultural pattern in the area. Why is this cult so persistent? What is death-cult and how does it manifest itself? The article delves into its lasting importance in the Greek part of the cultural area, where the author has conducted several fieldworks. To illustrate the persistence of this cultural pattern, the characteristic aspects connected with death-cult in Greek tradition are discussed: The comparison is based on festivals, which are dedicated to deceased persons and domestic death-rituals combined with ancient sources. Based on them an analytical survey of the relationship between the death-cult dedicated to deceased mediators in ancient and modern society, as it is manifested through laments, burials and the following memorial rituals is made. The modern domestic rituals people perform for their own dead influence the official ideological rituals, and vice versa, the domestic rituals reflect public performances. A study of modern cult practices reveals many parallels with the official cult of the ancients, and suggests ways in which modern rituals can throw new light upon the ancient rituals and vice versa. The article seeks to demonstrate how new ideologies must adjust to older rituals and beliefs and how public and domestic rituals are connected. The article finally suggests how these similarities might represent a common way of expression within a larger context in which the Mediterranean and Balkan cultural meaning of emotion is central.