FOLKLORE TRADITIONS IN CONTEMPORARY EVERYDAY LIFE: BETWEEN CONTINUITY AND (RE)CONSTRUCTION (BASED ON TWO EXAMPLES FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC)

Nowadays, ethnology can hardly assert that folklore traditions are only a phenomenon that lives independently in villages as a part of the everyday life of the local inhabitants. The role of folklore, even of that documented largely in different collections, has essentially changed alongside the transformation of the society, the rapprochement between village and town ways of life and the beginning expressions of mass culture. Some expressions have remained a continual part of everyday culture as a residue, some have been transmitted into new environments and contexts, some have been reconstructed, and others significantly stylized or deduced. They were and are a source of inspirations and modern expressions that in many respects take over the functions similar to the original ones. How should we understand folklore traditions in the 21st century and analyse them? The study based on field research dealing with two distinctive expressions (the male solo dance “verbuňk” and male folklore choirs in the Slovácko region) tries to answer this question. The contemporary Czech ethnology classifies both expressions as so-called ethno-cultural traditions. The chosen field probes capture the present situation in one of the folkloristically most distinct ethnographic areas in the Czech Republic, documenting the wealth and diversity of the folklore tradition that just pretend to be continual in many cases – at least it looks like this on the surface.