Experience of the Reconstructed Tradition in the Carnivarite of the Salentine Greeks “La Morte Te Lu Paolinu”

Abstract

Paolino’s funeral is a ceremony held during the Greek Carnival in Martignano (Apulia region).This is an example of a restored tradition of the ethnolinguistic minorities of Southern Italy, but with the rather archaic and specific features of traditional culture being taken into account. On the one hand, the rite goes back to the tradition of burning or tearing of a Shrovetide effigy, typical of European city carnivals and symbolizing the passing period. On the other hand, depending on new conditions and political nomenclature, the tradition is supplemented with new meanings and newly invented elements. This study attempts to identify the degree of presence of Greek elements in the rite “La Morte te lu Paolinu”, describe the mechanisms that organizers use in the process of reconstructing an older rite, and determine the main functions of this reconstruction.

References

1. Zagryazkina T.Yu. 2020. “Vekhi identichnosti” v mezhkul’turnom i yazykovom aspektah (ot Provansa k Oksitanii) [“Milestones of identity” in the intercultural and language aspects (from Provence to Occitania)]. Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 19. Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, no. 3, pp. 24–38. (In Russ.)

2. Pavlovskaya A.V. 2019. Edinstvo v mnogoobrazii: tipologiya prazdnichnoj i obryadovoj kul’tury narodov mira. Pervobytnye korni [Unity in diversity: typology of national festive and ritual cultures. Prehistoric time]. Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 19. Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, no. 1, pp. 108–127. (In Russ.)

3. Chekha O.V. 2019. Nazvaniya Velikogo posta v grecheskoj narodnoj traditsii [Names of Great Lent in the Greek folk tradition]. In Mir cheloveka v zerkale yazyka. Ocherki po slavyanskomu yazykoznaniyu i ehtnolingvistike [Τhe world of human in the mirror of language. Essays on Slavic Linguistics and Ethnolinguistics.]. Ed. by S.M. Tolstaya. Moscow, pp. 562–564. (In Russ.)

4. Cuisener J. 1995. La tradition populaire [The folk tradition]. Paris. (In French)

5. Hobsbawm E., Ranger Τ. 1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge.

6. Filieri G.V. 2001. Ivo milo to grico [I speak Greek). Ioannina. (In Ital.)

7. Manco F, Romano A., Saracino C. 2002. Un giorno a Martano: riflessioni sulla situazione linguistica della Grecìa Salentina [A day in Martano: reflections on the linguistic situation of Grecìa Salentina]. In Estratto da Studi Linguistici Salentini [Extract from Salento Linguistic Studies]. Vol. 26. (In Ital.)

8. Μorosi G. 1870. Studi sui dialetti greci della terra d’Otranto [Studies on the Greek dialects of the land of Otranto]. Lecce. (In Ital.)

9. Rohlfs G. 1974. Scavi linguistici nella Magna Grecia [Linguistic excavations in Magna Graecia]. Galatina, Congedo. (In Ital.)

10. Testa А. 2014. Il Carnevale dell’Uomo-Animale. Le dimensioni storiche e socioculturali di una festa appenninca [The Man-Animal Carnival. The historical and socio-cultural dimensions of an Apennine festival]. Napoli. (In Ital.)

11. Varvunis M.G. 2018. Oi eortes tu Paskha stin elliniki ethimotaxia [The holidays of Easter in the Greek folk etiquette]. Komotini. (In Greek).