Ptujsko kurentovanje kao homogeniziranje pokladne kulture
The Kurentovanje of Ptuj as a Way of Homogenizing Carnival Culture

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the carnival practices related to the carnival characters of korants and kurents and to the mythical or fairytale character of Kurent in the 1950s in Slovenia. It analyses the varied use of the term kurentovanje, which derives from the names of all the mentioned characters and which was still a heteronym in the years after the Second World War. As has already been established by Gačnik, up to 1960 kurentovanje could refer to the whole carnival culture of the rural area, but could also be used for various socially preferred urban carnival activities. Since the expressions korant, kurent, Kurent and all the other terms deriving from them were already widely used in diverse meanings at the time, we argue that a time of kurentomania can be seen as a way of nationalizing those carnival characters. After 1960, when the carnival festival of Kurentovanje appeared in Ptuj, the heteronym started to turn into a homonym. By calling the event by using a nationalized expression rather than by referring to local carnival characters, which Kurentovanje tried to revitalize, the carnival culture was appropriated and further homogenized – at least in its name Kurentovanje as a homonym also tried to surpass all other and different practices related to kurents and Kurent.

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