Roczniki Kulturoznawcze

Encouragement to Macrobius: transmission of philosophical ideas in culture

Małgorzata Kowalewska-Harasymiuk — 2022-09-30

The article presents a philosophical and literary work which, despite its compiler character, played an important role in the history of culture. Thanks to him, important ideas of ancient philosophy were transferred to another era, that is, the Middle Ages. This work is a commentary on the VI book of De re publica by M.T. Cicero of A.T. Macrobius: Commentarii in Ciceronis Somnium Scipionis.

This piece was for a long time the only trace of the mentioned piece by Cicero. It was also one of the main sources by which the ideas of Platonism and Pythagoreism as well as elements of ancient astronomical, musicological and mathematical doctrines reached the Middle Ages. This work was commented on very often by medieval scholars and is present in the minds of many of them. The numerous issues raised by Macrobius met with the interest of authors who know his Commentum. They took up macrobian threads and developed and transformed them according to their own way of thinking. Macrobius’ comment was repeatedly rewritten and commented on in the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the number of preserved manuscripts. In this article, I want to present an initial outline of the theological, anthropological and psychological views mediated by the commentary on the transmission of the Middle Ages.

Assessment of Stress Caused by Traumatic Event in Paramedics and Firefighters: a Contribution to Understanding Work Culture

Małgorzata Tatala — 2022-09-30

The purpose of the present study was to analyze ratings of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in paramedics and firefighters. The participants of the study were 195 men (99 of them were paramedics) who were examined with the Impact Event Scale-Revised (IES–R). The main research questions were: do paramedics, as compared with firefighters, display higher levels of PTSD? In addition, do individuals in middle adulthood compared to those in early adulthood have higher levels of experienced PTSD? The study confirmed that paramedics and those in middle adulthood are characterized by higher levels of the following components of PTSD: intrusion, hyperarousal and avoidance.

On the Debate Between the Paulines and the Rabbis in Late Antiquity Around the Body and Sexuality and Its Significance to the Present Day, Through D. Boyarin’s Postmodern View

Zohar Mihaely — 2022-09-30

The goal of the present paper is to formulate a concise framework for part of Daniel Boyarin’s work which he is most known for, namely his analysis of sexuality in late antiquity Judaism and the critique of contemporary culture he eventually derived from it, above all his objections to the idea of the Jewish nation-state. Within the brief scope here I intend to provide the reader with a simple roadmap for orienting oneself in Boyarin’s relevant literature. Boyarin, a Jewish-American scholar, traces rabbinic, Jewish-Hellenic, and Pauline texts that he believes were part of one arc of Jewish culture in Palestine of late antiquity, and reveals the discourse that was at the center of this one Jewish culture, namely that the famous debate between Judaism and Christianity was essentially over the interpretation of the physical body and sexuality in the Bible, a debate during which critical cultural decisions were made that still have an impact on Western society today in the realms of gender and identity. Through his original “cultural reading” that employs critical current postmodern methods, Boyarin demonstrates that both have complex ethical and political issues, such as rigid hierarchies, colonialism, and racism, but they also have a lot of promise, namely that by examining them side by side, the possibility of finding a more just alternative for our present and future is increased, through mutual correction of each other.

Protection of Roadside Shrines and Crosses in Poland Against The Background of Historical Events and in Light of Established Legal Acts

Małgorzata Żak-Kulesza — 2022-09-30

Roadside crosses and shrines are a characteristic element of the Polish landscape. Small sacred objects are intertwined with history and the cultural context of Polish countryside and cities, arising from the need of faith, and have manifested piety for generations. Many crosses and shrines were erected as mementos of important national events, uprisings, war skirmishes, independence spurts that took place in the 19th and in the first half of the 20th centuries, commemorating national anniversaries, for instance 1918, anniversaries of Christianization of Poland, jubilees of historic events. They were also built upon old mass graves of victims of bygone epidemics. In the context of historic events, objects of small sacral architecture were met with harassment and repressions. Therefore, after regaining independence legal initiatives were undertaken by the state and the Church to save these objects. Unfortunately, not always did this type of object receive sufficient legal protection or proper appraisal. In documents they are present in the background. That is why ethnographic studies are often the only way to save their memory, and preserve the image of old crosses, statues, and shrines.

The Customs of Siberian Koryaks. The Use of Fly Agaric (Amanita Muscaria) in Kamchatka Folk Medicine

Ewa Kulpa — 2022-09-30

This article refers to use of the red fly agarics (Amanita muscaria) by the siberian Koryak people living in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Linguistic and archeological evidence indicates a very early use of toadstools in Siberia. Presence of Amanita muscaria in myths and its direct link to Koryak supreme deity proves that those mushrooms had in the past important function in the local shamanism. Their presence in folk medicine has also been observed today. Despite the still alive beliefs associated with red toadstools, their consumption is nowadays difficult to consider as ritual behavior in the strict sense. It seems that the abandonment of toadstool consumption is one of the signals of a much larger phenomenon, which is the loss of old shamanistic Koryak traditions, beliefs and practices.

Through a possible reconstruction of the former meaning that Amanita muscaria had among Koryaks and by looking at modern opinion on these mushrooms, an attempt was made to capture and compare the past and present role of toadstools in this community. The collected materials suggest that the significance of their use is not as important today as it used to be – however, there are people who still use these mushrooms. The available literature does not allow for a detailed presentation of the contemporary conceptualization of Koryak use of the red fly agarics based on the examination of the specific cases of intoxication. This is an issue that requiers further research and can be explored by collecting interviews and recording changes and constans in the behavior and beliefs of the Siberian people.