Antemurale Christianitatis hrvatske usmene književnosti: graničarski mentalitet Dalmacije kroz usmenu epsku pjesmu i kulturalno pamćenje o hrvatsko-osmanskim ratovima

The paper presents the motives of cultural memory which were recorded in the oral epic poems and in the tradition in Dalmatia (the Neretva Valley and Boka kotorska). The territory of Dalmatia bordered with the Ottoman Empire at the time of the Croatian-Ottoman wars, thus the oral literature of this area produced oral epic poem as a reflection of forced war and fateful contacts. Living on the frontier of Christianity and Islam has brought up a special frontier mentality which can be traced in modernity, not only through the preservation of the heritage festivities, but also through collective memory which defines the importance of the survival of everything that is geologically and culturally on margin with the threatening “other”.