FOUR PATTERNS OF TRANSFORMATION (Chetiri obrastsi na preobrazbenost)

Transformation is a shared ground for humanity, and therefore it establishes itself as a dominant topic for cultural hermeneutics. This essay makes a typology of dominant models of transformation, through the example of cultural and linguistic practices of the Macedonians and other Balkan peoples. There are four distinct patterns in the scheme: 1. the pattern of non-aesthetic transformations, carved in archaic linguistic signs and the rituals of holy sacrifice; 2. the pattern of aesthetic, symbolic transformations (scenic, theatrical, literary, filmic), whose semiotics is closely tied to artistic conventions; 3. the pattern of enigmatic, diabolic and divine transformations of half-gods, gods and the devil; and, 4. the pattern of institutionalized, violent, punishment and educational transformations, executed in the form of familial, collective and state-institutional measures.