Christmas

Conclusion of Monography Čo je to sviatok v 21. storočí na Slovensku?  [What Is a Holiday in the 21st Century in Slovakia?]  / Katarína Popelková a kolektív. Bratislava : Ústav etnológie SAV, 2014. 320 s. Etnologické štúdie, 21. ISBN 978-80-970975-3-0. 
Conclusion
The aim of the project, the result of which is this monograph, has been to map the range of occasions, today considered holidays in Slovakia, and to gather, by means of ethnographic research, empirical materials about the forms of ritualised behaviour and about the importance of rituals for individuals as members of social groups. This ethnological approach reflects the trend to study holidays in a specific social context, and to document in detail their content and practices related to them. The knowledge about holidays is based on analyses of situations in which people choose ritual or ritualised behaviour, uncommon in everyday life. The study was guided by the effort to understand the motivations for them. The original empirical findings described in the different chapters of this monograph enabled us to present our opinions through the study of specific holidays on their current social functions, and to outline the picture of the Slovak society in the 21st century in the mirror of these holidays. In the chosen scheme of the study of holidays, this picture is formed, in particular, by the political sphere represented by state and church institutions, as well as the economic sphere and the sphere of citizens or the community of Slovak inhabitants. What brings together these three spheres and through what they mutually communicate is, from our point of view, holidays. Within the mapped range or occasions for ritual or ritualised behaviour, we identified overlapping groups of holidays: institutionalised formalised holidays (perceived and designated also as religious and political holidays); holidays of professional and informal groups; holidays forming part of the historic cultural tradition of Slovakia; as well as holidays penetrating from other cultures. The analysis of holidays in the context of the Slovak legislation and policy showed that the need to lay down the symbolic interpretation of certain dates in law – from the position of the state – is on the agenda also in the 21st century. This is proven by the fact that the Slovak Republic interpreted and enacted a group of certain dates right during the first year of its existence. The result of the process of so far adopted amendments to the Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 241/1993 Coll. on Public Holidays, Rest Days and Days of Commemoration is that the Slovak Republic has in its calendar over thirty legislatively sanctioned dates: five public holidays, ten rest days, and eighteen days of commemoration. The state has continuously used the public press agency to spread the interpretations of dates enacted by law and falling in the category of public holidays and days of commemoration, proclaimed as important moments in the history of the Slovak Republic, and has also disseminated them through ritual practice of state representatives at public cele- brations. [...]