Calenderfeasts as instruments of ideology and ideal

Coördinator: drs. Eveline Doelman
Researcher: idem

Short description:

Since the late nineteenth century, and increasingly so in the last decades of the twentieth century, a new annual cycle of festive occasions has evolved: those of special ‘Days’. In claiming a Day on the calendar, various organized groups have sought to promote a particular idea or ideal. Focusing on the examples of Animal Day and Arbor Day, the project will investigate how these days were festively filled in to serve as ideological instruments. Examined will be how these days could obtain and maintain solid places on the calender, next to the ‘traditional’ festive days, and – in the course of the twentieth century – in a context of an increasing number of special days and under the influence of processes of commercializing and medializing. In particular will be looked at processes of appropriation of these days (articulation of identities) among organizing as well as recipient groups, and the expression of that in the public as well as in the private domain.