Szőllősy Csilla - Pokrovenszki Krisztián (szerk.): Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. C. sorozat 44. (Székesfehérvár, 2016)
Tanulmányok/közlemények - Néprajz - Nagy Veronika: Rituális babázás az ősi társadalmakban és a természeti népeknél
Nagy Veronika: Rituális babázás az ősi társadalmakban és a természeti népeknél Veronika Nagy The role of playing with ritual dolls in ancient societies and indigenous communities Dolls, i.e. small models of a human figure, have been present in human history for thousands of years; however, not in all periods and cultures were dolls used only by children - and sometimes they were not used as playthings but had ritual value. In ancient civilisations and indigenous communities the main purpose of dolls was to create harmony between the earthly and the supernatural world. These tiny human figures where needed when man was unable to cope with the challenges he had face in the fight for survival and he had to invoke supernatural forces to achieve his goals. Whether be it fertility spells, ensuring peace of the dead in the afterlife, or influencing an unborn child’s health, dolls, based on an analogy, served to substitute man and thus to maintain or restore harmony between man and his environment. This substitutive role and the underlying belief are the common features of ritual dolls and children’s toys In the civilised world, for a modern doll (i.e. the model of a child or an adult) emanates the same tranquillity and sense of security as a roughly carved ritual fertility doll from Africa, which women believed to help conceive a child. Children burst into tears when their doll is taken from them, because, just like African women, they feel that the force radiating from the doll is supernatural. 320
