Darul simbolic. Bisericile-ofrandă ctitorite de comunităţile rurale gorjene în secolul al XIX-lea Symbolic Gifts: Churches Built as Offering by Rural Gorj Communities in the 19th Century Section Anthropology

Abstract

The originality of creation, the capacity of building, and the ability to manage the magic energies by faith and acts (all these aspects being asserted by iconic representations) – here are a few virtues that confer a special kind of perenniality imprinted on the community sacred tally. In the historical context of the XIXth century, the symbolic gift – in present case: the wooden churches and votive pictures – became the centre of relationships which on the horizontal level were relevant for the community and social categories, and on the transcendent dimension aimed at the connection with ancestors and God. By the new status, the founders remained strongly individualized in the collective memory, as well as in the upper register of human models.