Historical reenactments, identity and leisure

Abstract

This article discusses the heritage re-enactments created, experienced and understood differently (or similarly) in various cultural contexts and by different groups. The text analyses some cases from Hungary and Lithuania and examines questions like the individual and the collective forms of constructing the past, of forming identities and the policy of remembrance and its uses in the leisure time. A. Between the idea of neo-turanism and the nostalgia for the nomad past. 1. Kurultai in in Hungary. The main organizer of the event is the Hungarian-Turán Foundation. A major aspect is its connection to the history of the nation and to the Hungarian national mythology and its commemorative character. Today Kurultai in Hungary is an efficient means for preserving the national memory, mythology and identity. Reminding the pre-European past of the Hungarians is done by several types of activities with informative, cognitive, sports and entertaining character. They are based on archaeological findings, analysis of historical documents and their contemporary interpretations. The organisers express the ideas of the Hungarian nationalism and the ideology of Neo-Turanism and eurasianisation. The visitors and a major part of the participants share the romantic idea of some lost primitiveness of the Nomad past which they look for and find in sports and entertainment activities and events in their leisure time. 2. A meeting of the Cumans in Karcag, Hungary. This event with international participation was held for the first time in 2009 in the town of Karcag and was carried out with the support of the local authorities, local non-governmental organisations and the consulate of Kazakhstan. Main participants in the event are Hungarian archery and equestrian clubs. The increase in the number of the nomad celebrations in Hungary is impressive. But in the context of the non-ending interest toward the Asian roots and “nostalgia” for the Nomad past in the area of Nagykunshág (Great Cumania), a peculiarity is noted due to the “cuman element” of region’s past — during local festivities, the Magyars who arrived there in the IX century, which happens at Kurultai, are not celebrated, but the Cuman ancestors from the XII century. To the local authorities and to the people, living in the area, the nomadic celebrations during the holidays are an important form of representing the region through the Cumanian heritage — its uniqueness and cultural specificity. B. The historical reconstruction — representation and self-knowledge. (From the work of the Military history club of the Lithuanian Tatars in Kaunas). The Military history club of the Lithuanian Tatars in Kaunas is established in 2008. It strengthens its position as a way for studying and visualizing history. The club’s activity is connected with the interest to the past of the Tatars in the region. This stimulus for information is also enriched by the personal sensations and emotional experience of the participants after identifying themselves with long-lived people who took part in historical events, important to the region and to Europe. The Lithuanian Tatars also add self-knowledge to the informative aspect of the reconstruction. Their performance is viewed as a return to their ancestors’ past — real and fictional ancestors and as a way of identifying with them as heroes. The glorious past of the forefathers of the contemporary Tatars is a reason for pride. On the other hand, such visualised contemporary interpretation recreates the Tatars’ contribution to the history of the region and illustrates the Tatars’ tale for the past by expanding “the great national narrative” (after Lyotard). Such prestigious narrative of the heroic past is an effective way for performing in front of an audience and serves as an active tool for ethnic identification and ethnic consolidation. Conclusion: In the postmodern world the historical reconstructions seem to be an effective opportunity for individual and collective experience of the past. By self-identifying with heroes from previous epochs, the participants achieve individual sense and emotional experience of the past. The use of theatre forms (action, costumes, dialogue) creates and distributes popular historical knowledge; thus, science of history is democratized. The problem of authenticity is not a dogma but a criterion for truth and a question of interpretation. The policies of reminding stir the identification with heroes and events of the local, regional, national and ethno-history. The purposes of such reminding are different: cultural, ideological, informative, entertaining linked to popularizing the region for the needs of the tourist industry, etc. The variety of these policies confirms the connection between past and present and supports the idea of commemoration as an actual past. The growing interest toward “live history” shows the cultural changes in the historical consciousness. The period of postmodernism recognizes the need of a new understanding of the historical knowledge, built by multiple self-complementing and sometimes contradicting narratives regarding the past: elite and non-elite ones, academic and popular ones, national and alternative (social, ethnic, feminist, local), etc. Historical reconstructions as a part of the culture of leisure time are one of the possibilities for their public identification.