The Experience of the Virtual Investigation of the National Culture of the Burgenland Croatian Village of Koljnof (Western Hungary)

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the survey of the Burgenland Croatian village of Koljnof (hung. Kophaza), located in western Hungary, six kilometres south of Sopron. The survey was conducted remotely via Skype and took place in two stages in August and September 2021. A brief outline of the history of the village is given, and the main difficulties arising from conducting a remote survey are described. These include the rapid fatigue of informants, the active role of the "guide" in the process of conducting interviews, and the difficulties with conversations on topics that are related in some way to the organization of space in the village. After that, the phenomena of the traditional spiritual culture of Koljnof collected during the survey from the field of calendar and family rites, as well as folk mythology, are considered. Calendar rites are most fully represented here, with a number of important terms in the field of family rites and several epics in the field of folk mythology being recorded. In general, the remote survey, despite its limitations, is a viable method of preliminary study of the traditional folk spiritual culture of a particular village. The collected data show that the village of Kolnof is part of Northern Burgenland for a number of reasons. In addition, the collected material allows us to verify some fragments of the tradition of the nearby Koljnof Croatian village of Unda resulting from Hungarian influence, including the rounds of boys on St. Lucia’s Day and the rounds of girls on Trinity.