“I will leave no debt after myself” – bequests of lesser Poland clergymen in wills from the 17th century

Wills belong to the most valuable sources associated with the Old Polish funeral ceremony, from this for making a will all adult inhabitants of the old Republic of Poland were also obliged irrespective of the state, the sex and the function performed in the society (secular or clerical). This document mainly included the regulations concerning the funeral, property records, and also list of the liability and debts of the testator. Moreover in the will we can find piece of information about social relations and the attitude of the deceased to family, relatives, friends, neighbors, servants, or also lieges.

According to the Canon Law clergymen the biggest and also the most valu­able part of personal assets left to their church and the parish which they orde­red. The dying priest also handed the considerable part of belongings over – for one's close family, journeymen and servants. Amongst written objects we can mention – devotional items, furniture, clothes, the underwear, the crockery, everyday articles, the livestock, or also farm tools. Objects mentioned in the will are attesting not only to the affluence of the testator, but also let get to know and understand determinants a daily presence of those people, as well as their emotions and mentality.

“In this House We Are All Dead”. What Pinocchio and Other Children’s Classics (in Italy and Elsewhere) Actually Talk About

In an attempt to find a possible criterion according to which to select the most representative titles and authors in the history of Italian children’s literature, one finds that a very peculiar theme characterises the books that can be considered most remarkable: death. Death, though, in Italian as well as in all the other children’s classics around the world, is not dealt with in a literal way, but in a metaphorical, symbolic, indirect one. Therefore, it is necessary to borrow interpretative approaches from other scientific fields (anthropology and philosophy, for example) in order to understand death’s deepest meaning and to discover that what it stands for, in Italian (and not only Italian) children’s literature, is an “otherness”, a “beyond”, an unknown and non-anthropocentric dimension that children must go through in order to grow up.

The objective of this article is to present the theoretical assumptions and psychometric properties of the Model of Inversed Death Questionnaire. The existential and educational consequences of the new cultural model of death which spreads in modern western civilization justify the need to create the tool to measure the extent to which the model of inversed death is present. Based on studies, involving 341 students from universities in Warsaw, reliability, construct and criterial validity of the tool were tested. It has been shown, that this tool has the correct psychometric properties and can be used in subsequent studies. The multidimensional internal structure of the Model of Inversed Death Questionnaire corresponds to the theoretical model of the studies whereby there is four typical phenomena of the model of inversed death: demetaphysication of death, trivialization of death, taboo of death, separation of death experiences.

W ostatnich latach filmowcy średniego pokolenia chętnie pokazywali przemoc poprzez jej ujęcie gatunkowe: czy to w thrillerach (filmach o seryjnych zabójcach), czy filmach kryminalnych. Najmłodsze pokolenie filmowe - urodzone w latach osiemdziesiątych - spogląda na ten motyw z zupełnie innej perspektywy. Młodzi twórcy unikają konwencji gatunkowych, przełamując - estetycznie i fabularnie - dotychczas dominujący w rodzimej kinematografii obraz przemocy i stawiając przed nim nowe zadania. W artykule przyglądam się sposobom obrazowania śmierci w najmłodszym kinie, z zaznaczeniem filmowych i społecznych kontekstów oraz analizą ich funkcji. Przedstawiam reprezentacje zabijania w ramach trzech strategii: heroicznej atrakcyjności, arthouse’owej dosadności i generacyjnej diagnozy. Heroiczną atrakcyjność opisuję na przykładzie dwóch filmów o powstaniu warszawskim - Miasto 44 (2014, J. Komasa) oraz Baczyński (2013, K. Piwowarski) - w których estetyzowana śmierć zostaje pokazana jako najwyższy model poświęcenia dla ojczyzny, a jednocześnie pełni rolę atrakcji. Na antypodach takiego obrazu figuruje strategia kina artystycznego, w której zabójstwo ukazane jest jako bezsensowny akt przemocy. Analizy tego motywu, estetycznie wzorowanego na konwencjach zachodniego kina arthouse’owego, dokonuję na przykładzie Placu zabaw (2016, B.M. Kowalski) i Hardkor disko (2014, K. Skonieczny). Za pośrednictwem trzeciego sposobu pokazywania zabijania - występującego w: Obietnicy (2014, A. Kazejak), Reakcji łańcuchowej (2017, J. Pączek) i Bejbi Blues (2012, K. Rosłaniec) - twórcy próbują rysować obyczajowy i psychologiczny portret danej generacji. W artykule szczegółowo analizuję powyższe strategie ukazywania śmierci i reprezentacje obrazów przemocy w najnowszej kinematografii, aby ukazać je jako odmienne na tle dotychczasowych tradycji kina polskiego.

A song in honor of San Francisco or a funerary song for Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal? An interpretation of the so called Pipilcuicatl, “The Children’s Song”, registered in the manuscript of Cantares mexicanos

The article presents a critical interpretation of one of the songs collected in the 16th-century manuscript known as Cantares mexicanos. “The Children’s Song”, in Nahuatl Pipilcuicatl, is one of the few pieces of this manuscript provided with clear information on the context of its performance, which apparently should facilitate its correct interpretation. However, as the present analysis shows, the song in question is in fact a result of various reelaborations of the more ancient models. It is an overlap of diff erent semantic levels corresponding to diverse ideologies, objectives, events and socio-politic contexts, such as: the ancient indigenous rituals, funerary celebrations, Medieval and Renaissance Christian popular beliefs and aesthetics, as well as the contemporary Colonial aesthetics of the New Spain. The objective of this article is to indicate the possible meanings that might have been attributed to diff erent elements of this song by the Spaniards and the indigenous participants of the celebration.

Argentinos, bestias, chaqwa y pishtacos. The experience of terror, cruelty and death in the collective consciousness of Andean villagers during the internal conflict in Peru

The problem of internal conflict in Peru is a popular research topic that has been analyzed from various scientific perspectives by both domestic and foreign researchers for almost four decades. In addition to the dominant historical and political approaches (mainly focused on structural features of war and its impact on the current shape of the state and society) as well as the anthropological ones (primarily devoted to socio-cultural sources and following reveals of the problem), a significant place is also occupied by the studies of violence, taken up by various disciplines. Application of this perspective is, however, an exceptionally complex task, since, as in the lens, it concentrates systems of links between phenomena and actors, whose figures cannot be clearly outlined. It is particularly evident in relation to forms, scale and perception of terror in the Andes. The article aims at looking for the answer to the question what was going to be the role of the title “terror, cruelty and death” in the military activities in the Peruvian province and how they ultimately influenced collective consciousness of Andean villagers and their attitudes in conflict. Therefore, the analysis concerns, first of all, forms and goals of violence in the Andes and the ways in which serranos visualized them, and then, reactions of the latter to the war experience of dehumanization, death and destruction.

Colombian narco novel: a Thanatotic narrative

This article comprises an inventory of the motif of death within the narrative syntax of several Colombian narco novels. “Sicaresca” novels by Fernando Vallejo, Jorge Franco and Arturo Alape will be discussed. The construct of the characters, young contract killers, whose violent and premature deaths are seen as their fate, will be shown to display an indisputably “Thanatotic” facet. In the second part of this article, the ritual dimension of death, presented in the novels “Comandante Paraíso” by Gustavo Álvarez Gardeazábal and “Leopardo al sol” by Laura Restrepo, will be analysed. The last part will be dedicated to the iconic and symbolic dimension of Pablo Escobar’s death depicted in “El ruido de las cosas al caer” by Juan Gabriel Vásquez and “Happy birthday, capo” by José Libardo Porras.

Someone Did Not Close the Jar – A Picture of a Pandemic in Modern Russian Literature

Mankind has survived many plagues. Advances in science, including medicine and pharmacy, have resulted in many once deadly diseases elimination. Before this happened, the plagues had decimated the countryside and cities. Even the richest and most influential citizens were unable to protect themselves and their relatives from inevitable death. Lying at the junction of Europe and Asia, Russia also was plagued by epidemics, which found artistic reflection in art and literature. The topic of the pandemic remains relevant. There will probably be many more of its literary versions. The article is only a contribution to deeper literary research and analysis. Each of the mentioned authors paints the portrait of “plague” from a different perspective, which makes the topic more interesting, multifaceted, and also testifies to the wide scale of the phenomenon and its impact on contemporary Russian literature. Over time, the list of appeals will be expanded, but today these seem to be the most representative.

Problems of motherhood and childhood during the war: socio-philosophical analysis

Mother and child are unique structures whose connection is socially and biologically determined, as well as necessary for their full existence. The article considers the peculiarities of the situation of motherhood and childhood during the war, from the point of view of philosophical science, on the example of the war in Ukraine in 2022. An analysis of the literature on the location of the studied objects during the First and Second World Wars. The peculiarities of women’s reproductive health during the war have been studied on the example of historical references from the siege of Leningrad. The peculiarities of the psychological state of children who have experienced war have been identified, and the prospects for the development of such children have been described. Categories of children who received «war trauma» have been developed. The family in wartime is a mirror of the dynamic processes in society. Parental or maternal instinct – is essential in ensuring the viability of children. Mature maternal identity is able to ensure the harmonious existence of two personalities – mother and child. The concept of PTSD is studied. The mechanisms of stress on the human body as a balanced biological system are described. Philosophical approaches to the issue of death and war are studied. Death is considered the most mysterious phenomenon of philosophical thought, which is considered taboo in society. In terms of historical retrospect, the attitude to death is changing, which is a natural result of the development of science. War is seen as a controversial component of society, but with mostly negative consequences in both social and economic aspects. Paying attention to the devastating consequences of any war, both material and psycho-emotional, one can find archaic origins. The fear of war is a reflection of the deep fear of death. Peculiarities of philosophical concepts concerning the phenomenon of care are analyzed. Recommendations for the upbringing of a positive personality of a child during the war are given. Conclusions are drawn about the consequences of each war for any community. War, in a broad sense, is an instantaneous start of dynamic processes in society, which is expressed in all areas of human life. The worst damage to war is to children. From an early age, children can store and interpret memories of past events, and thus become aware of the surrounding reality. The mother is a key resource for the child’s sense of security, as well as a guarantee of its comprehensive and harmonious development, even in times of war.

Symbols of suffering and mourning rituals in contemporary political space

The death of a loved one results in manifestations of suffering, mourning, and finally post-mortem and funeral ceremonies. The departure of people who were key figures and influenced the political space brings with it a whole spectrum of symbols, signs and rituals of mourning in this space. In the history of the Third Polish Republic, Poles experienced a number of sad moments related to the deaths of less and more significant figures in the world of politics. The departure of John Paul II, all those who died in the Smolensk catastrophe, the assassination of President Paweł Adamowicz, the deaths of the founding fathers of the Third Republic: Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Jacek Kuroń, Władysław Bartoszewski, Andrzej Chodubski, who was so close to the University of Gdańsk environment, and many others, are just some of the great world of politics and political science. The symbols of suffering and rituals of mourning that accompanied their farewells were, among other things, an expression of our culture, also political.