Majka Božja Snježna u pučkoj pobožnosti na području Krivoga Puta
Our Lady of the Snow in Folk Religion in the Region of Krivi Put

Summary/Abstract: In this work is represented the piety shown towards Our Lady of the Snow in the villages and settlements in the Krivi Put region. A church dedicated in honour of Our Lady of the Snow was built in Krivi Put in 1856. The main altar is dedicated to her and her statue is also there. This work was based on data collected during research which was carried out in two parts. In the first part of the research made in May 2004 the devotion to Our Lady of the Snow and celebration on her day (5th August) using half-structured interviews was taken. In the second part of the findings we researched the celebration of Our Lady of the Snow in 2004 whilst participating in the celebration. Two different approaches to the research of the same subject brought some difficulties (it was impossible to compare of all the data) but on the other hand, this allowed us a better insight into the phenomenon and its better understanding.In this work we present the devotion to Our Lady of the Snow separated in small subjects, which were created during the interviews: legends about church buildings, prayers and vows, processions on her holiday and the celebration of the holiday with a special emphasis on the celebration in 2004).Research showed that practical belief in Our Lady of the Snow in Krivi Put is related to the legend about Santa Maggiore in Rome but the locations in local legends are adapted to the Krivi Put region.Prayers which believers dedicate to Our Lady of the Snow, except in one case, are related to solving problems in this life. Most of the time people pray for help in case of illness. There are mostly women making vows to Our Lady of the Snow. The fulfilment of vows happens on her day. A person obliged by vow passes around the altar in the church three times, generally touching the left and right corners of the altar. Some older women make a cross touching the altar. During the third pass some women put their messages and pray to Our Lady of the Snow in a special basket. Sometimes they even place some money. One by one they stop in front of the altar and some of them will kneel. After passing around the altar they go to the statue of Our Lady of the Snow on the left altar. They stay in front of statue and pray, some staying, some kneeling and touching the statue. Donations of money are very often a way of giving gratitude to Our Lady of the Snow for her help.During the procession, mainly old women touch the outside part of the church’s arch. One of the interviewees said that the reason for this is to make the pray dedicated to Holy Mother more powerful, but it could be also a sign of their vow. Aside this, Our Lady of the Snow is important in the creation of the local community’s identity because people from Krivi Put consider her as ‘their saint’ and ‘protector’.

• Details
• Contents