Symbolism of plants in Serbian and Romanian intangible cultural heritage

Abstract

The paper brings about the results of a research carried out within the project the Importance of Plants in Roma Culture, which on the one hand was dedicated to collecting of intangible cultural heritage of Roma on names of plants in Romani language and how they are used by Roma people in folk medicine, customs, religious celebrations, and, on the other hand to comparison between symbolic uses of certain plants in Serbian and Roma Culture. The research aim was to collect the names of plants in Roma language and to identify their use in folk medicine, customs, religious celebrations, as well as to compare the symbolism of certain plants in Serbian and Roma culture, i.e. to establish potential similarity of symbolism of plants in certain Roma ritual practice with the symbolism of plants in Serbian traditional culture through comparative analysis. For the purpose of the research, a number of students attending the program of first and second level of studies in Romani language at the Preschool Teacher Training College "Mihailo Palov" in Vrsac, supported by their mentors, according to the method of (semi-structured) interview collected data on names and symbolism of 38 different plants in Roma culture in Zabalj, Pirot, Jazak and Vrsac). Consulting relevant literature, the collected linguistic material was analyzed and classified, to be subsequently supported by theoretical impulses and findings of previous research. The obtained results, even though on the small scale sample, confirmed the assumptions that the symbolism of certain plants in Roma culture is similar of even the same in certain ritual practice as the symbolism of plants in the Serbian culture, as well as that certain names of plants are the same as those in majority of population (Serbs) Roma people live by. The research findings may serve as a starting point for more comprehensive research of the subject, as well as a motivation for further deeper research on intangible cultural heritage of Roma in Serbia. The research itself and the way it was conducted did certainly empowered the students, having provided them with the training on how to conduct a field interview, inspiring them to engage in further activities directed to preservation of Roma culture, as well as nurturing of multicultural dialogue, enriching the teaching material in a number of courses, especially within the program in Romani language.