A case study of the shaping of premodern Serbian ethnicity through saints, martyrs and heroes of the folk epics: ethno-symbolic approach

Abstract

By applying ethno-symbolist approach in studying premodern ethnic community shaping, this article analyzes the role of the most important saintly, martyr and heroic figures of the Serbian folk epics in development of the Serbian ethnicity up to the nineteenth century. This symbolic content was viewed through the prism of the theoretical concept of ethno-history, i.e. as a part of a complex ethnic narrative which contains different parts of myths and historical memories of members of an ethnie. Special attention was given to explanation of social conditions which were, in historical perspective, defining character of collective memory of premodern Serbs. Findings of the researches showed that epic characters of Prince Lazar, Milos Obilic, and Prince Marko, as well as protagonists of poems about Serbian battles against Ottoman Empire from the beginning of the nineteenth century, originated as a result of different group interests and needs initiated by political, cultural and economic features of the time when the poetry was made. By the same token, historical role of the Serbian church, as well as the influence of centuries of social subordination of the members of Serbian ethnic community during the Ottoman reign. Findings of this analysis leads to a conclusion that building of an ethnical identity, as a rule, is not a linear and spontaneous process, marked with continual accumulation of memories, and its development is defined with the moments of collective forgetting, much needed for the survival of the group.