The funeral laments (pohrebné plače) of the Slovak community in Serbia

Abstract

This study discusses the funeral laments (pohrebné plače or pohrebné nariekanie in Slovak) of the Slovak ethnic minority in Srem, Vojvodina, Repub­lic of Serbia. Among the Vojvodina Slovaks, funeral laments are gradually becoming extinct, although they could still be heard during the funeral rites of this ethnicity in various localities of Vojvodina in the latter half of the twentieth century. This study summarizes the state of the research on this issue. It focuses on the funeral laments documented by the author during her field research in Stará Pazova/Stara Pazova, Srem, in 2014.

Keywords

• funeral laments
• wailing
• slovak ethnic community in stara pazova
• fieldwork
• documentation