THE VILLAGE OF DANUBEINAN SLOVAKIA
(Horvatský Grób).
An
Etnographic Monograph,
By
Ant Václavík
(Resumé.)
Although Czechoslovakia is situated in the heart of Europe, we not only meet
with phenomena, which belong to the average civilisation of the world, but also with
some, in which are many survivals from the earliest historical times.
The former are met with in the West, that is the historical lands of Bohemia,
Moravia and Silesia; with the latter we meet in Eastern Czechoslovakia, i e. Slovakia
and Subcarpathian Russia.*) The Slav territories, mentioned in the second place, fell in
999 A. D. under the dominion of the Magyars to a great extent and were only liberated
from their control in the year 1918. The cultural backwardness of the population,
which appears in certain areas of Eastern Czechoslovakia, is easy to explain. The
Magyars were for centuries dependent on Slavonic and German culture, and when
they attempted in the last century to make their culture equal to that of Western
Europe, they found as a consequence of the aristocratic leadership and the resulting so-
cial strife, the broader masses, particularly the non-Magyar, quite unprepared for
cultural development.
Civilisation penetrated most of all, relatively speaking, to the richer plains of the
former Hungarian Czechoslovakia. But there were neither schools, nor churches, nor
any public institutions which could have furthered culture, by new currents and pro-
gress of the times, for the penetration of civilisation was unvoluntary and very slow.
An instance of such a mixture, of the old world and of the new one, is to be found in
the Danubian district of Bratislava (Pressburg).
Here on the deposits of older cultures, we meet, with Slovak, German and the la-
test Magyar culture. The relation between these three ethnological groups, is even
more complicated by Czech influnences and the Croatisation of the 15th and 16th cen-
turies. This region was repeatedly the scene of wars, and, in recent times especially, the
armies of nearly all European powers marched through it, and for a fortnight even the
Turkish army was encamped there. Moreover, one must not forget that the proximity
to Vienna, the center of the Great Monarchy, had possibly an influence, which exten-
ded as far as the region in question. All these circumstances excite the curiosity of the
etnographer, to find out what influences there were, and how far they left their
mark on the general life of the people of this region. This problem is especially con-
nected with the richness, one might even say splendour of the peasant costumes and
also of their material productions of the local folk culture which have developed in a
wonderful manner.
With this purpose in view, the author has attempted to work out in detail, a mo-
nograph on one of the most interesting communities from the ethnographic point of
view, with rich vineyards, with any interesting administration and a many sided rich-
ness in matters ethnographic, so that it is possible to regard it, as one of the living Slo-
vak museums, This community is Horvatský Grób. The autor has contributed this
*) Podkarpatská Rus.
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