Myth as a sign of the national (Jozef Gregor Tajovský: Our Jesus)

Abstract

The short story Náš Ježiško (Our Baby Jesus) belongs to the Tajovský´s thematic cycle focused on ethnology and collectihg of folk artefacts. The short story Náš Ježiško (1918) was written by Tajovský as a legionary at the end of WWI . It is a lyrical reminiscence, accompanying us through times and periods, when a narrator as a child experiences amazing impressions from the Christmas Holy Mass, he thinks back on an odour of frankincense, songs of shepherds, joy of all who participate in the birth of Jesus. After many years new ceremonial orders come to the church, people do not understand a (Hungarian) language, even the baby Jesus is different, having boots on. Author connects a magic of folk ceremonies with a Slovak word, which represents semantics of representative sign. Through a myth about nativity of Christ Tajovský illustrates how much destructively Hungarisation damaged our national substance.

Keywords

• ethnology
• folk artefacts
• j. g. tajovský
• hungarisation