Arrabona - Múzeumi közlemények 31-33. (Győr, 1994)

Nagy Ilona: Korcsoport találkozó

Meeting of an age-group Data for a cultural-anthropological analyis The present paper contains data which will be used in a larger article in which the following topics will be examined: a festive meeting organized for the 50 years old people, the observation of the 50th birthday, the objects donated at this occasion, and the social organizing function of this special birthday meeting. The analysis is based on the events of a Hungarian village in Slovakia (its name is in Hungarian Nagyfödémes, in Slovak: Vel'ké Úl'any), and in a Hungarian village Burgenland, Austria (its name is in Hungarian: Alsóőr, in German: Unterwart). The present text gives a description of events happened and an interpretation of the scenario, it is based upon field work conducted in 1987, 1988 and 1989. This habit has got almost the same scenario in both villages: it is a symbolic expression of the expectation of society towards the individual, and of the strengthening of local identity of the individual. The excessive donation of gifts (in Slovakia) is the symbolic expression of a wish for an upward ("bourgeois") mobility. The following topics require a cultural-anthropological approach: the age group, the problem of human aging, the holiday, the festive behavior, the festive consumption (eating and drinking), dancing, singing, donating gifts etc. It is a still ongoing research: in the final report we want to record not only the annual changes of this habit but also the changing of the political regime. Ilona Nagy 394