Celebration of regional holidays in Carinthia and Slovenia

The political aspect to the celebration of regional holidays in Carinthia has, compared to other provinces, a markedly different character. Above all this is to be seen in the context of the specific history of the province. In particular the "Abwehrkampf" (the struggle of resistance) and the plebiscite of 1918 - 1920 still dominate local history to this day. For a part of the population the events of those years served to form an identity, an identity which is reflected in the annual 10th October celebrations. In recent years, however, the focus has shifted to become a more complex reflection of varying quality. A special status has hereby been accorded the standpoint of the Slovene minority in Carinthia. Along with the 10th October celebrations the Ulrichsberg celebrations have also become a regular, as well as controversial, element of the holiday calendar in Carinthia. The political aspect to the celebration of regional holidays by the Slovenes in the 20th century was shaped by the SHS State, the years of occupation, Socialist Jugoslavia and the Republic of Slovenia. In the SHS State they were primarily political and dynastic commemorations, which on the one hand centred on the unity of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes as a main component of the newly created Kingdom and on the other hand put the Royal Family and the Regent of the time into the limelight. The years of occupation were marked by Italian and German celebrations which served the expression of cultural superiority and the assimilation of the Slovene population. In Socialist Jugoslavia the personality cult around Tito, the partisan celebrations and the fight for the northern border appear most prominently in the calendar of celebrations. The political aspect to regional holidays in Slovenia today is particularly occupied with the themes of coming to terms with the past and independence. The aim of this project is to point out the particular character of the political celebration of regional holidays in Carinthia and Slovenia and to offer possible explanations.

The reason why Slovenia had such a manifold holiday culture in the twentieth century was due to the fact that within few decades she was governed by four different political systems. The task of this research project was to point out the reasons for the breaks and continuities within the culture of commemorating in Slovenia. Two key questions were posed: Was Slovenia able to celebrate her days of commemoration independently or was the Slovene society heteronymous. And how can the new national self-image since 1991 be reconstructed on the basis of political memorials? Short description of the research work An essential characteristic of Slovenias political holiday culture in the 20th century was that the holiday calendar was constantly renewed and/or new holidays were added. On this account one must speak of a heterogeneous holiday culture of Slovenia. Therefore external influences are often made responsible. The very fact points out that the Slovene society has been confronted with four different political systems since 1918 confirms this. Each system emerged its own commemoration rituals, which were not by any means always accepted by the Slovenes. Moreover certain memorial days were celebrated by the Slovenes, however these had to be celebrated and organized within narrow bounds of national interest. As part of the SHS- kingdom, Slovenia primarily tried to maintain her holidays and memorial days whenever possible. From the other Slav peoples, she mainly adopted holidays from the Serbs. During World War II, the occupators introduced their own holiday cultures, which were strange to them and consequently led to conflicts. After upholding a manifold holiday culture during the SHS Kingdom and World War II,Yugoslavia introduced an extremely biased calendar of holidays. During this period only one decreed ideology holiday was established. Except for the dominant political class, there was no place for any other holidays. After the turning point of 1991 memorial- and commemoration holidays changed permanently in Slovenia. In the new democratic system the unlimited assumption of holidays from the communist period seems to be outdated. More and more questions referring to the past were and are presently being posed. A new orientation in reference to the political holiday culture is expected. The process of finding a fundamental ideological orientation is taking place.