Kod personalny w obrzędzie dorocznym jako tekście kultury
A Personal Code in an Annual Ritual as a Culture Text, as Exemplified by the Feast of Corpus Christi in Spycimierz

Author(s): Katarzyna Smyk
Subject(s): Media studies, Studies of Literature, Communication studies, Theory of Communication, Theory of Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: semiotics; Tartu–Moscow semiotic school; Tolstoj; Propp; morphology of the tale
Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the personal code of the Corpus Christi feast in Spycimierz (Poddębice county, Łódź voivodeship), distinguished by its tradition of a two-metre wide flower carpet created by the parishioners along the entire two-kilometre route of the procession. The author applies an innovative solution by using the findings of V. Propp concerning character functions in a fairy tale to interpret the ritual. The author identifies the following ritual roles: 1) the hero-protagonist (collective: the whole community of the parish, children scattering flower petals; individual: people skilled in creating flower patterns and managing works); 2) the villain (people who hamper flower picking and tourists destroying flower carpets); 3) the donor (institutional: parish priests, the mayor; individual: people giving flowers to parishioners); 4) the helper (families and tourists coming to Spycimierz to arrange flower carpets together with the parishioners); 5) the false hero (people from the parish who take credit for the feast but do not help prepare it). To sum up, the article presents the ritual process of transformation of the parishioners and their guests into ritual characters.

• Details
• Contents