DOI: 10.3986/Traditio2022510205 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. TRADITIONES, 51/2, 2022, 91–118 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY MARIJA KLOBČAR The song traditions of the Gail Valley (Gailtal/Ziljska dolina, Carinthia, Austria) are characterized by many Slovenian-German songs, the oldest evidence of bilingualism dating back to the early 19th century. Code-switching also characterized the song “Buǝg nan dajte ‘n dobǝr čas” (God, give us auspicious time), which correlates with the bilingual written entry of the Gail Valley parish fair and the Gail Valley costume in the Inventory of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria. The Gail Valley region and its inhabitants have undergone significant changes in ethnic identification, which raises two questions: first, the role of bilingualism in the historical context, and second, the relevance of songs in revealing this context. Keywords: bilingual songs, the Gail Valley, the Gail Valley parish fair, identifications, nationalization Za pesemsko izročilo Ziljske doline (Koroška, Avstrija) je značilno večje število slovensko-nemških pesmi, najstarejše pričevanje o dvojezičnosti v pesmi pa sega v prvo polovico 19. stoletja. Jezikovna prehajanja so zaznamovala tudi pesem »Buǝg nan dajte 'n dobǝr čas«, kar ima vzporednico v dvojezičnem vpisu ziljskega žegna in ziljske noše v avstrijski register nesnovne dediščine. V okolju, ki je doživelo velike spremembe v etničnih identifikacijah prebivalcev, se ob tem odpira vprašanje različnih vlog dvojezičnosti v historičnem kontekstu in vprašanje relevantnosti pesmi za njegovo razkrivanje. Ključne besede: dvojezične pesmi, Ziljska dolina, ziljski žegen, identifikacije, nacionalizacija LANGUAGE HYBRIDITY IN SONGS IN THE PROCESS OF DISCLOSURE OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS Bilingual songs, or the intertwining of languages in songs, raise specific issues of language hybridity and social context. In songs, code-switching as an alternate use of two or more languages (Grosjean, 1982: 145) can also reveal particular aspects of identification, mul- ticulturalism, and pluriculturalism (Ballinger, 2004; Santi: 2015; Judson, 2016). Spaces of language contacts where historical problems of multinational political structures are expressed bring issues of nationality and nationalism to the fore (Anderson, 1991; Gellner, 2004). In addition to the meanings that the national policy of the former Habsburg mon- archy recognized in emphasizing cultural differences (Judson, 2016), linguistic transitions are also evident. In the Slovenian-Italian border region, singing in the “national” and “non-national” languages expresses the normality of the coexistence of different language groups living in border areas (Pisk, 2018, 2020a). On the other hand, code-switching can be a powerful means of gaining social power (Porter, 2008: 257). This raises the question of whether bilingual songs can always be considered a source of understanding the context or whether 92 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY bilingualism, expressed in songs, can also conceal the relations between two collective identities. This is a fundamental question for our study of the changing historical circum- stances when the relations between the two linguistic communities changed significantly. Early historical records and specific features of traditional culture in the Gail Valley in Carinthia, Austria, provide a unique opportunity to observe such changes. THE GAIL VALLEY AS THE STARTING POINT OF THE RESEARCH OF BILINGUAL SONGS IN THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT The Gail Valley (Ger. Gailtal, Sln. Ziljska dolina) is the westernmost part of Austrian Carinthia and the westernmost region inhabited by the Slovenian population. The Slovenian minority in the Gail Valley is the smallest of the Slovenian minority communities living in three valleys in Austrian Carinthia; besides the Gail Valley, these are the Rosen Valley (Ger. Rosental, Sln. Rož) and Jaun Valley (Ger. Jauntal, Sln. Podjuna). However, the interweaving of Slovenian and German traditions from the Gail Valley within the framework of specific elements of traditional culture, i.e., the Gail Valley parish fair and traditional costume, has received institutional approval. In 2018, this ritual custom and the traditional costume were included in the Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Austria by the Austrian Commission for UNESCO. The entry is bilingual: “Untergailtaler Kirchtagsbräuche und Untergailtaler Tracht / Ziljski žegen in ziljska noša” (The Gail Valley Parish Fair and the Gail Valley Costume).1 Twenty-four boy groups, the so-called konta, had applied to the Austrian UNESCO Commission (Piko-Rustia, 2019: 96). Including these practices in the inventory of intangible cultural heritage is a special recognition for the Slovenian minority in Austrian Carinthia. It conveys that “the Gail Valley is a region with a complex identity that includes political and historical milestones.”2 The interest in Slovenian song traditions from the Gail Valley and the emphasis on the importance of singing the leading song of the parish fair, i.e., the ritual song “Buǝg nan dajte ‘n dobǝr čas” in the Slovenian language, create the appearance of equality between the two language groups in the Gail Valley. An interesting parallel can be drawn between the bilingual record of the Gail Valley parish fair and the traditional costume with this bilingual song. Records of its bilingual version can be found in Göriach/Gorje3 (Gašperšič et al., 2014: 146), in Hohenthurn/Straja vas (ibid.: 164); in the version from Feistriz and der Gail/Bistrica na Zilji the German language appears in two stanzas: 1 https://www.unesco.at/kultur/immaterielles-kulturerbe/oesterreichisches-verzeichnis/detail/article/ untergailtaler-kirchtagsbraeuche-und-untergailtaler-tracht-ziljski-zegen-in-ziljska-nosa. 2 Peter Wiesflecker, To je del ziljske identitete (intervju). Nedelja, 14. 12. 2018. https://www.kath- kirche-kaernten.at/dioezese/detail/C2646/to-je-del-ziljske-identitete (February 5, 2021). 3 Place names in the bilingual area are written in German and Slovenian. 93 MARIJA KLOBČAR “Buǝg nan dajte ‘n dobǝr čas” 1. Buǝg nan dajte ‘n dobǝr čas, ||: tǝ prvǝ rej začeli smo. :|| 2. Segn uns Gott den Lindentanz, ||:und gib uns alln die rechte Freid. :|| 3. Tuǝr je z Buǝgǝn, Buǝg je ž njim, ||:san Ježǝš je Marijǝn sin. :|| 4. Hintern Haus im Gartale, ||:då wårtet mi mei Schatzale. :|| 5. Ste kej vidlǝ jazbeca ||:na uoni strani grabǝnča. :|| 6. Grǝ 'n dov pa Bistrcǝ, ||:dakliǝr je kaša v piskrčǝ. :|| 7. Niǝs mǝ dava pušlča nǝč, ||:pa niǝsǝn te pielu v prvǝ rej. :|| (Gašperšič et al., 2014: 152–153)4 Bilingual songs are relatively common in the Gail Valley. There are records of songs known in other parts of Slovenia, such as “Was werma den heit trinken, o jagrč ti moj” (Gašperšič et al., 2014: 453; cf. Klobčar, 2020) and the love song “Preljuba mojega srca” (Kumer, 1986: 223), also known as “Im Garten Blühn drei Rosen” (Gašperšič et al., 2014: 191–193; Pöllitsch, 2020: 86). In the Gail Valley, the latter is known in several versions, some also with a humorous insert (Mauer-Lausegger, 2002: 116–119). Other love songs that have also been transcribed are “Dečva je v rutaču triǝbǝva” (Gašperšič et al., 2014: 164), “Dečva je zavberna” (ibid.: 476), and “Mei Diandle ‘s fria aufgståndn,” also known as “Oh, du Diandle fria aufgståndn” (ibid.: 281–282). There are also drinking songs (ibid.: 336–337, 412–413), carols (ibid.: 257), humorous songs expressing courtship (Pöllitsch, 2020: 85, 86, 90–91), and other humorous bilingual songs, including songs determined by specific events from the Austro-Hungarian period (cf. Maurer-Lausegger, 2022: 114–119). The humorous aspect observed in the bilingual songs in the Gail Valley is expressed and contributed by bilingualism. The joking tone also informs the oldest bilingual love song recorded in the Gail Valley, “Das Dienal is aufštånden,” known as “The Found Ring.” It was transcribed in the mid-19th century (NUK, Ms 481, VO XV, 44). The humor expressed in these songs raises questions about relations between Slovenian and German communi- ties and the role of bilingualism in the area, which points to the need for a historical study of these relations in the Gail Valley. A specific aspect of this investigation is found in the symbolically most important ritual, the parish fair. 4 The published transcriptions by Lajko Milisavljevič include key signatures in addition to the music and lyrics (Gašperšič et al., 2014: 152–153). See the translation on pp. 97–98 and 112. 94 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY FORMATION OF THE IDENTITY SYMBOLS OF THE GAIL VALLEY SLOVENIANS UP TO THE MID-19TH CENTURY AND THE ISSUE OF MOCKERY The coexistence of Slovenian and German language communities, typical for Austrian Carinthia, is somehow specific in the Gail Valley. This is due to the two communities’ different cultural traditions and economic backgrounds. Slovenians lived from trade, while Germans lived from agriculture (Makarovič, 1991: 21). Two churches on Dobrač/Dobratsch mountain, both from the 17th century, physically reflect the differentiation between the two communities. Dobratsch has played a significant role in the region’s history: According to chroniclers, an earthquake in 1348 triggered a landslide from the mountain, creating a dam across the Gailitz River/Ziljica. A temporary lake was formed, destroying several vil- lages. The acidic soil forced the inhabitants – probably newcomers (Klobčar, 2022a) – to look for other ways to make a living. The written records that emerged in the late 18th century allow a closer look at the relations between the Slovenian and German collective identities. The accounts from this period also show how far the Slovenian community had spread in the Gail Valley: in 1791, Slovenians still lived at the spring of the Drau/Drava River (Linhart, 1791: 198). At the same time, records from this period show considerable opposition to the Slovenians. For example, in the same year that Anton Tomaž Linhart published his historical work Versuch einer Geschichte von Krain und der übrigen südlichen Slaven Oesterreichs (1788–1791), the Lutheran pastor Philipp Ludwig Hermann Röder from Württenberg presented the Slovenians from Carinthia as people “with the most disgusting language, because they speak Slovenian” (Röder, 1791: 37). These highly negative feelings towards the Slovenians resurfaced at the beginning of the 19th century (Sartori, 1811: 129– 405); however, they did not go unnoticed and received an argumentative response (Studen, 2009). Descriptions written in the Enlightenment by German travel writers reveal a particular interest in the Slovenians from the Gail Valley, as their specific dress and the celebration of their typical festival, the parish fair, attracted particular attention. Julius Heinrich Gottlieb Schlegel, a German Protestant physician who traveled through Carinthia in 1795, put the illustration of the parish fair on the front cover of his work Reise durch einige Theile vom mittäglichen Deutschland und dem Venetianischen (A Journey through some Parts of Southern Germany and Veneto). The costume of the Slovenian men living along the Gail River/ Zilja, as depicted on the cover, included a pointed hat, a large, pleated collar, suspenders, a short jacket, wide, short trousers and shoes with straps (Schlegel, 1798: 74–75). Schlegel’s explanation clearly expresses what he thought of this clothing: He was confident that the Harlequin appearance was modeled on the costume of the men from the Gail Valley (Schlegel, 1798: 2). The identification of the dress appearance of the Slovenians, the bearers of this dress tradition, as the source for the Italian commedia dell’arte characters is a clear illustration 95 MARIJA KLOBČAR of how the Slovenians from the Gail Valley were perceived, despite Schlegel’s openness as demonstrated by his criticism of Röders’s views (Schlegel, 1798: X). In keeping with the practice of his time, Schlegel called the Slovenians Wenden, stating that “they call them- selves Slovenci and also Selanci, but never Winden or Wenden,” saying that the German population uses the latter. He also sheds light on the relationship between the Slovenians and the Germans from a historical point of view: “The older Germans also called their hunting dogs Winden. Perhaps this name has its roots in the hostile attitude that existed between the two nations” (ibid.: 74). Schlegel thus presented the German attitude toward the Slovenians as a long tradition of antagonism. His focus, however, was on the ritual practice of the Gail Valley Slovenians, i.e., the parish fair. He highlighted the importance and the specifics of the Gail Valley dance under the linden tree, called visoki rej (Eng. high dance) (Schlegel, 1798: 73–80). The illustration on the cover of his book shows that the German-speaking locals also attended the parish fair. So there were contacts between the two linguistic communities, even if this did not attract special attention then. What did attract attention, however, were the peculiarities of the traditional costumes of the Ziljani,5 the Gail Valley Slovenians; they were described in other written records either in the statistical-geographical ones (Mayer, 1796) or more scientific and ethnologically oriented descriptions such as the one of the Breton doctor Balthasar Hacquet, known for his ethnological descriptions of the Slovenians (Hacquet, 1801). Song traditions, which were already attracting attention as determinants of national identity, did not appear in his description. The association of the Gail Valley traditional costume with the image of the Harlequin was humiliating for the Slovenians. Therefore, the young Carinthian priest, ethnographer, dialectologist, historian, writer, and poet Urban Jarnik set out to refute these views. In early 1813, he published an extensive two-part article on the Gail Valley parish fair in the Carinthia newspaper (Jarnik, 1813a, 1813b), later published in the Vaterländische Blätter in Vienna (Jarnik, 1813c). The articles not only introduced readers to these unique rituals of the Slovenian people living in the Gail Valley and the essential elements of their customs but also tried to explain their origins. When the creation of written records and the publication of folk songs began to play a role in determining national identity, the parish fair emerged as the distinguishing fea- ture of national identification in the Gail Valley. Urban Jarnik also described the fair in its historical context, highlighting the pre-Christian elements of the festival and the role of singing, music, and dancing. The parish fair celebrations could refer either to a patron saint’s feast or to an anniversary of the consecration of a church. The main venue of the parish fair was under a linden tree, which, along with some aspects of the songs, empha- sized pre-Christian thought: The ritual role of the linden tree was expressed in the songs 5 In older records the word Ziljani, i.e. the people of the Gail Valley, is used without an adjective and refers to the Slovenians. In fact, the rural inhabitants of the Lower Gail Valley were Slovenian. 96 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY the young men sang around noon and in the dance under the linden tree, called visoki rej (meaning high dance), which involved certain rituals and special rules. The dance, which alternated instrumental music and singing, was announced with the song “Bog nam daj en dober čas” (God, give us auspicious time) (Jarnik, 2013a). Jarnik saw the elements of the parish fair, such as the beating of the barrel hoops that preceded the dance, rej, and the social rules that included duels to resolve conflicts, as remnants of the social power that Slovenians held in the past and that was expressed in the aristocratic features of the ritual (Jarnik, 1813b). Jarnik’s goal in presenting the Gail Valley parish fair was clearly to defend Slovenian national identity (Klobčar 2022b). He invoked Herder in describing singing to the linden tree and emphasized that the parish fair allowed Slovenians to preserve some traces of their ancient customs despite centuries of pressure from the west and north, rejection, and virtually uninterrupted foreign rule (Jarnik, 1813a). In discussing the songs, Jarnik pointed out several distinct pre-Christian features (Jarnik, 1813c: 266); however, he refrained from transcriptions because the interpretation of the dress appearance of the Gail Valley Slovenians was considered critical to the recog- nition of their national identity. Neither the Slovenians as bearers of the tradition nor the observers who wrote about them recognized the semantic context of the traditional dressing appearance. The old festive costume of the Gail Valley Slovenians, which was made fun of at the time, contained important elements of their past prestigious status. The most striking element was a large, ruffled collar, the so-called kreželj, a recognizable garment of “haute couture” associated with the aristocracy in 16th-century Europe. The large, pleated collar thus represented social status, indicating the social position of Slovenians in the Gail Valley at the time when such collars were popular. The later associations with the image of the Harlequin had a clear economic background (Klobčar, 2022b: 522–534, 548). Despite the vast horizons that the trade between the Gulf of Venice and the area between Tyrol, Bohemia, and Hungary entailed, the Slovenians from the Gail Valley retained in their festive dress the specifics from the time they engaged in packhorse transport. Therefore, the reasons for preserving these traditions are not in the lack of knowledge or broadmindedness: their costume was a symbolic identification used to express their past stature. The retention of aristocratic elements in the traditional dress and some ritual pecu- liarities was puzzling since the Slovenians from the Gail Valley gradually lost their role as carters from the 18th century. The fact that these elements were expressions of past prestige or symbolic preservation of past status is evident in the fact that this clothing practice was gradually abandoned. The kreželj and the entire male festive costume were eventually used only for the most representative rituals, such as the parish fair with visoki rej and weddings. 97 MARIJA KLOBČAR RECORDING THE GAIL VALLEY SONG TRADITIONS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF NATIONAL IDENTITY PROCESSES One of the essential elements of the Slovenian parish fair in the Gail Valley was the special dance visoki rej. It was inseparably connected with the song “Bog nam daj en dober čas.” Records from the 19th century show that the name visoki rej, i.e., the high dance, rather than the dancing style, expresses its social role: visoki rej was defined as Ehrentanz, i.e., the dance of honor. Izmail Ivanovich Sreznevsky, a Russian linguist, historian, and folklorist, pointed out the duality of the dance: The dancers first walked around the linden tree and then sang (Ramovš, 1988: 191–193, 207). Sreznevsky’s interest in the culture of the Gail Valley was inspired by one of the first collectors of Slovenian folk songs, Stanko Vraz, who was also one of the first to draw up a plan for collecting. Vraz visited Carinthia in 1837 and 1841 (Scheinigg, 1889: IV). The specifics of the symbolic representations from the Gail Valley became increasingly important as the national identification process gained momentum, which prompted the collection of songs. Vraz’s collecting activities impressed Matija Majar, whose records of the “visoči rej” rounded out the picture of the Gail Valley parish fair (Štrekelj, 1904–1907: 225–226). The transcript of the song sung at the beginning of visoki rej indicates the social importance of singing and dancing at the celebration. The beginning of the song also indicates sublimity: Visoči rej 1. Bog daj nè dober čes Te pervi rej začeti: Tekaj da sme začeli Še nah ga nebme meli. 2. Tur je z Bugan, Bug je ž njin, San Ježuš je Marijin sin. 3. Per Zili ruže rastajo po zime no po lete: Ture hoče tergat je nej gre k Zili ponje. 4. Rajej, rajej černi kus, kak bon rajou ki sen bus: starej babi črevle dau bon pa dreve per njej spau. The High Dance God, give us auspicious time To start the first dance: Let’s start right away, Or we won't have the chance. Whoever is with God, God is with him, Little Jesus is Mary's son. By the Zilja River flowers grow: In summer and in winter: Whoever wants to pick them, Let them go thither. Dance, black bird, dance! How can I dance when no shoes have I: I gave them to an old woman, And tonight will sleep by her side. 98 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY 5. Čeri moj dečuo vozi mojo serce v pesti nosi: le sučči jo, le vozi jo jes bon pa per njej ležou. 6. Lepa je Plesička ves, k je pubčov notre glih zan ples. (NUK, Ms 481, VO XIII, 22–23) Whoever takes my girl to dance, Holds my heart in his hand: Turn her, turn her all you like, But I will lie in her bed tonight. The Plesiška Village is beautiful, Just enough boys to spin the girls around. Since visoki rej was part of a purely Slovenian ritual, there are no traces of the German language in it. However, during his stay in the Gail Valley in 1841, Stanko Vraz, possibly at the suggestion of Majar (Fikfak, 2011: 30), recorded a bilingual song “Das Dienal is aufštånden” in his notes. Vraz wrote down two versions; one in which he stuck pretty closely to the dialect and called it “Na pol nemška pesem” (The half-German song) (NUK, Ms 481 VO XII, 49), while the version closer to standard Slovenian was called “Najdeni prstan” (The found ring) (NUK, Ms 481, VO XV, 44). Na pol nemška pesem. /Iz zilske doline./ Das Dienal is aufštånden, Je zgoda v cerkov šua, Håt schön Ringel gfunden Na zelěnan travniče. Wen die Lait di weren frågen: Čej si dečua bua? Must nur ali so sågen: Sen rôžce tergaua. Wen die Lait di weren frågen: Kaj boš rôžce nucaua? Murst nur ali so sågen: Bôn pušelč vezaua. Wen die Lait di weren frågen: Koj boš pušelč nucaua? Must nur ali so sågen: Bôn půbči daua ga. The Half-German Song (from the Gail Valley) The maiden has risen, Went early to church, She soon found a ring On a green meadow. When people ask: Where were you, young girl? You must only say: I went to pick flowers. When people ask: What are the flowers for? You must only say: I’ ll make a bouquet. When people ask: What is the bouquet for? You must only say: I’ ll give it to a boy. 99 MARIJA KLOBČAR Wen die Lait di weren frågen: Čej pa dečua půbča maš? Must nur ali so sågen: V spodnjih Štajrah je doma. When people ask: Where do you have your boy? You must only say: His home is in Lower Styria. (NUK, Ms 481, VO XIII, 49; cf. Kumer, 1986: 223) Vraz had no self-imposed restrictions when he collected bilingual songs, possibly because he was a passionate advocate of the Illyrian movement and the establishment of a singular Illyrian language. However, his interest in Slovenian traditions must have angered the powers that be: When he collected songs in Carinthia in 1841, he had problems with the gendarmerie (Fikfak, 1999: 22). The monitoring of the recording of Slovenian folk songs in the Gail Valley by the gendarmerie raises the question of the apparent linguistic equality implied by the German- Slovenian love song about the found ring: This love song’s structure suggests that the two languages’ even alternation implies linguistic equality. Although the song does not indicate the subordination or contempt of the Slovenian language, the balance of the two languages does not reflect social relations in people’s daily lives. The two bilingual transcripts of the song “Das Dienal is aufštånden” contain no information about the origin of the song or its popularity. The origins of the song have not been preserved in the folk tradition. Therefore, we can explain the song’s origin only from its context. The song may have originated as an expression of socialization between Slovenians and Germans. From Schlegel’s illustration, we know that the two communities came together during the celebrations of the parish fair. The verses in German and Slovenian inscribed on the bench around the linden tree in Sankt Stefan an der Gail/Šefan na Zilji (Waizer, 1894: 58–62) suggest the same. However, there is another explanation for the song’s origin and persistence: For the Slovenians, knowledge of the German language was crucial to trade and transport goods. As Jarnik wrote, the Gail Valley Slovenians made sure that their children spoke German from an early age. In the early 19th century, boys as young as eight or nine were sent to the Drau Valley for this purpose, and some parents made this possible for their daughters as well. Trade required Slovenians to learn Italian, and some even knew Friulian; concurrently, they “jealously guarded their language, customs, and habits.” Nevertheless, they remained faithful to their valley and did not seek work in the country’s towns (Jarnik, 1813c: 273). Speaking fluent German was a skill that enabled them to do good business, of which they were very proud. With a bilingual song they could express their fluency, which was a source of self-confidence, and it also explains the possible origin of the bilingual song among the Slovenians. Just as the traditional costume of the Gail Valley Slovenians expressed their former social position, which had its roots in haulage, the bilingual song about the found ring also 100 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY points to the sovereignty of the Slovenian language and culture. The social standing and power of the Slovenians in the Gail Valley were such that their language and culture could compete with the role of the dominant German community. At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, this power decreased considerably and the most recogniz- able feature of the tradition, namely the male costume, was no longer used. The Slovenians from the Gail Valley did not want to identify with it, as it was the source of ridicule. Even Emperor Franz I laughed about it during his visit to Bad Bleiberg/Plajberk pri Beljaku in 1807 (Kidrič, 1934, quoted in Simetinger, 2015: 9).6 By the time the Emperor visited Bad Bleiburg, the traditional dress had already entered folklore (Simetinger, 2015: 9), while songs became increasingly important for national identification. In addition to Majar’s collection of song traditions, Vraz’s work also belongs to this framework. After the March Revolution in the Austrian lands, Matija Majar, then a cathedral chaplain in Klagenfurt/Celovec, focused his collecting activities on the unification of the Slovenians, their language, and other rights (Čurkina, 2011: 12–14). His efforts for political equality led to his transfer from Klagenfurt to the mountainous Monte Santo di Lussari (Sln. Svete Višarje) and later to German parishes or even further away. In the mid-19th century, the Gail Valley costume had an identification function, while the men’s costume was already adapted to modern taste. However, the same could not be said for songs and dance in Carinthia since neither had access to the social spaces of the contemporary intelligentsia. Majar recognized this and decided to organize visoki rej performances in Slovenian čitalnice, i.e., reading societies. Interestingly, the reading society in Klagenfurt did not organize a presentation of the high dance, unlike the one in Ljubljana. Moreover, Majar was told that many of those invited to te Klagenfurt reading society did not understand Slovenian and were not interested in experiencing Slovenian traditions.7 To preserve the Slovenian language and traditions from Germanization, Majar sought the support of Pan-Slavism; despite problems with the authorities, he was able to present Slovenian costumes from the Gail Valley at the first ethnographic exhibition in Moscow in 1867 (Fikfak, 2011: 30, 38–41). However, even with his connections to the Pan-Slavic movement, he could not change the balance of power in Carinthia. Carinthian folk culture, however, was highly regarded by the Slovenians in Carniola. In 1875, from June 29 to July 4, Lj. Dragotinin (pseudonym) in five articles in the newspaper Slovenski narod described the special rituals from the Lower Gail Valley from the viewpoint of the Carniolan spectator.8 His account of the parish fair in Feistriz an der Gail/Bistrica na Zilji exposed the costume, rituals, social norms, and the ancient 6 Many thanks to Martina Piko-Rustia who helped me to complete the quoted information. 7 Majar, Matija. 1865. Narodne stvari. Kmetijske in rokodelske novice 23 (17), 26. 4.: 135–136. 8 Lj. Dragotinin. 1875. Zilska dolina. Slovenski narod, June 29.: 1–2; July 1.: 1–3; July 2.: 1–3; July 3.: 1–3; July 4.: 1–2. 101 MARIJA KLOBČAR character of singing, music, and dance at the occasion of prvi rej (the first dance). He highlighted the traditional elements of the instrumental group, such as the inclusion of the bagpipe in the music bands of the second half of the 18th century, the “ancient songs” played by the band on the way to church, the powerful cry of the young men under the linden tree after the church bells rang at noon, the music of the band,9 the beating of the barrel, and the role of the master of ceremony and the “queen.” He found the play unique, as it was not known to any other nation, and emphasized its importance for the Slovenians in the Gail Valley: Despite the numerous storms of the past centuries and numerous governing systems, despite the inauspicious position on the Italian border and surrounded by German compatriots on the west and north, we can still see well-preserved customs of the Slovenians in the Gail Valley, who cherish them just as a miser cherishes his diamonds and pearls.10 Writing about visoki rej, Dragotinin included the beginning of the song “Bog nam dej en dober čas,” pointing out that this was a “special old song” that was sung “more in a choral style” and that both the young and the old were able to “recite and sing it.” He also pointed out the peculiarities of the singing: “The majority of the young men sang in unison, and a smaller group sang the accompaniment. But I did not hear the so-called ‘singing over’ as I have heard it in Rosen Valley and Jaun Valley”.11 Nevertheless, the parish fair went well and without problems, which he attributed to the sanctity of the place under the linden tree and the role of the master of ceremony who led the dance. The next day the event continued with the dance of the spouses and the “dance of the dwarfs,” i.e., the children, who danced visoki rej to the music of an old musician “quite nicely and neatly”.12 Dragotinin also emphasized his fascination with the two “folk customs,” which he called, by the terminology of his time, “‘sod biti’ in ‘visoki raj’” (the beating of the barrel and the high dance). He requested the Slovenians from the Gail Valley: “My dear Gail Valley Slovenians, preserve your beautiful and especially meaningful customs for yourselves and your descendants,” for they are “a precious memory of the past and a golden hope for the future”.13 9 Lj. Dragotinin. 1875. Zilska dolina. Slovenski narod, July 2.: 1–3. 10 Lj. Dragotinin. 1875. Zilska dolina. Slovenski narod, July 3.: 1–3. 11 Ibid. 12 Lj. Dragotinin. 1875. Zilska dolina. Slovenski narod, July 4.: 1–2. 13 Ibid. 102 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY BILINGUALISM AS AN EXPRESSION OF CHANGES IN SOCIAL POWER IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SLOVENIANS AND THE GERMANS At the end of the 19th century, Slovenian traditions in the Lower Gail Valley, especially the parish fair, still attracted the attention of the German-speaking population. The parish fair was presented because there was a need for representative ethnographic representations of the region or the entire monarchy, which would meet the goals of the ruling elite. In the monumental work Die Österreichisch-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild (The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in Words and Pictures), Rudolf Weizer and Franz Franzisci, the dean in Grafendorf/Knežja vas, introduced the Slovenians from the Gail Valley in the book on Carniola and Carinthia. The traditional culture of the Gail Valley and the contemporary image of their festive dress were presented from the perspective of the German-speaking observer. They perceived the Slovenians as tolerant and solidary and described the relations between them and the Germans as good (Waizer, Franzisci, 1891: 97–131). This presentation clearly shows that at the end of the 19th century the parish fair of the Slovenians from the Lower Gail Valley still differed from German celebrations and the Slovenian dress appearance, including the men’s silk pointed cap and the women’s short skirt, expressed their belonging to the Slovenian identity. Another distinguishing feature was how the fair was celebrated: while the Germans celebrated in inns after Vespers, the Slovenians celebrated during the day and outdoors under a linden tree. Descriptions of the Slovenian parish fair still emphasized singing under the linden tree; however, there were changes in the dance descriptions. The dance was referred to as pervo, indicating the change of name from visoki rej (the high dance) to prvi rej (the first dance), which also means that the awareness of its noble meaning had been more or less lost. The authors also described some peculiarities of štehvanje (the quintain), which they associated with Slovenian fighting games (Waizer, Franzisci, 1891: 98–116). An even more detailed description of the Gail Valley parish fair can be found in Das Gailthal mit dem Gitsch- und Lessachthale in Kärtnen (Staunig, 1894), a booklet published in 1894 on the occasion of the opening of the railroad through the Gail Valley. The eth- nographic and folkloristic parts were presented by different authors whose different views about the Slovenians in Carinthia and their traditions point to the change of these views at the end of the 19th century. The first and, at the same time, the most detailed descrip- tion presented the Slovenians mainly from the point of view of their contribution to the country’s prosperity. The author perceived them as industrious, obliging, and contented but willing to work for a lower wage. He considered the traditional festive costume the most recognizable Slovenian feature, while he mentioned only one Slovenian custom: the beating of the barrel. When he wrote about singing, he mentioned polyphony (Staunig, 1894: 46–50), which shows a remarkable change in the way of singing compared to the two 103 MARIJA KLOBČAR The booklet published on the occasion of the opening of the new Gail Valley railroad describes the parish fair and the traditional costume as Slovenian traditions. However, the published mocking bilingual song indicated that the Slovenian language was considered inferior (front cover of the booklet Das Gailthal mit dem Gitsch- und Lessachthale in Kärnten, 1894; National and University Library, Ljubljana). 104 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY decades older records.14 Staunig mentioned changes in the language, which were reflected in lexis and syntax. He noticed the influence of German on the Slovenian language also in folk songs: He saw it as an alternation between the two languages. The song he chose as an example also served as proof that the Slovenians were socially and professionally inferior. The featured song allegedly referred to a Slovenian girl saying goodbye to her cattle, which she must leave because she is getting married. The four-line song contains text in Slovenian, the content of which is incomprehensible: Seheritta, scheretta chervin taku! wer wet (wird) di melchen wonn i heiraten thu. (Staunig, 1894: 47) The changed and inconsistently written part in the Slovenian language may sound like this: “Žerite, žrebeta, skrbi me taku,”15 “Eat away, horses, I am worried so,” It makes sense in the context of the following two lines: “wer wet (wird) di melchen wonn i heiraten thu.” “Who will milk you When I get married.” Although Staunig did not directly mention the hostility between the Slovenian and the German-speaking populations of the Lower Gail Valley, it was noticeable not only in the linguistic changes among the Slovenian-speaking population but also in the experienced ridicule expressed in the bilingual song. Bilingualism in the song is the most explicit expres- sion of the true relations between the Slovenian and German populations in the Gail Valley and of the attitude of the German-speaking researchers towards the Slovenians in the area. In the same booklet, Rudolf Waizer, writer, publicist, and author of travel guides, presented the Slovenians from the Gail Valley from an ethnographic point of view. He emphasized the characteristics of their traditional dress culture, while defining the beating of the barrel or štehvanje as a “remnant of past military preparations of the old Wends.” He also presented some elements of the fair in Sankt Stefan im Gailtal/Štefan na Zilji, includ- ing the dishes typical of the fair and the polygonal wooden bench with carved German and Slovenian verses (Waizer, 1894: 58–62). 14 Lj. Dragotinin. 1875. Zilska dolina. Slovenski narod, July 3.: 1–3. 15 The correction is taken from the note in the booklet kept in the National and University Library in Ljubljana. 105 MARIJA KLOBČAR Unlike some other writers, Waizer pointed to a tradition of communication between the Slovenian and German communities in the Lower Gail Valley. Even if the writers did not always agree in their attitude towards the Slovenians, the railroad opening in 1894 presented the Gail Valley parish fair, including the beating of the barrel and the Gail Valley costume, as Slovenian traditions. It drew attention to the transformation of customs: Visoki rej as a dance did not preserve the same role in all villages. Moreover, the German renaming of the dance, “Tanz unter der Linde” (dance under a linden tree), indicates that the German-speaking population no longer regarded the place under the tree as sacred but merely as a venue. At the end of the 19th century, the demarcation between two collective identities, Slovenian and German, was still preserved at the level of the most important ritual practice, the parish fair, and at the level of the traditional dress appearance. On the other hand, the bilingual mocking song refers to the consequences of the changes between the two identities: The social power that was oriented to the language policy of the ruling elite was reflected in linguistic assimilation; what it represented was mocked in the bilingual song. DIRECTING NATIONAL BELONGING AND SONG EXPRESSION OF THE CHANGES IN COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES Including a bilingual song mocking the Slovenian-speaking population of the Gail Valley in a representative booklet indicates changes in language practices and the attitude of the German-speaking intellectuals and/or collectors of traditions toward the Slovenian language. The changes were part of the land policy that influenced the national identi- fication of Slovenians and the recording of that affiliation. The results of the censuses in the area northeast of Villach/Beljak reflect this influence, as they recorded no Slovenians living there in 1883, while the register published in Vienna in 1910 shows the presence of Slovenians (Jannach, 2021: 53–54). The land politics also affected the possibilities of research on Slovenian traditions: After Scheinigg published his collection of Carinthian folk songs (Scheinigg, 1889) in Ljubljana, it became very difficult to collect and record Slovenian traditions in Carinthia. 1905 was the beginning of a great state collection campaign, which took place in all Austrian hereditary lands. But, unfortunately, the Slovenians in Carinthia did not get their committee. The protest against this decision was a symptom of the long-standing discord which, according to the Slovenian population, hindered the recording of their traditions: What will happen to us Carinthians, to our Carinthian national properties? The government promised separate national committees for each land to collect folk songs. [...] We have been overlooked again: a committee for Carinthia has 106 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY already been appointed. And this committee is German, for the whole land! – A blatant injustice. 16 Opposition to the Slovenians meant that teachers in Carinthia did not dare to write down Slovenian songs. Therefore, the Slovenian committee in Ljubljana sent its representa- tives to Carinthia. They were Oskar Dev, a composer and lawyer, then a judge in Kranj, and the composer Zdravko Švikaršič, then a teacher from Jezersko (Tominšek, 1937: 315). Dev introduced the song “Bog vam dej en dober čes” under the title “Visoki rej pod lipo” (The high dance under the linden tree) to all the Slovenians in his harmonization (Dev, 1912: 5). Politically charged public events expressed national conflicts arising from political and social relations more explicitly than attitudes toward song traditions. For example, at the beginning of World War I, the newspaper Štajerc published a sharp and disparaging criticism of the Slovenian clergy meeting in Sankt Jakob im Rosenthal/Šentjakob v Rožu. The meeting was described as “comical,” endangering “the soul of the honest Carinthian folk” since it was supported by “Carniolan provocateurs [...] who came to Carinthia to fill their pockets.”17 Another report on the workers’ meeting in Fürnitz/Brnca in the Lower Gail Valley emphasized the unity of the land based on German affiliation. Workers against the Carniolan provocateurs. The German Workers’ Party held a very well-attended meeting in Oberrain near Fürnitz, at which the following resolution was unanimously adopted […]: “Today, the workers and farmers of the Slovenian tribe assembled here to protest against the efforts of the Carniolans in the land of foreign agitators to turn us, the Carinthians who are thoroughly friendly to the Germans, against Carinthian unity and the German population. We request the German official and school language and declare that we are against the efforts of the government to force upon us, the Slovenian people of Carinthia, the incomprehensible Carniolan (new Slovenian) language. […] The Slav population in Carinthia, the majority of which is friendly to the Germans, demands that the German parties resolutely protect the German character of Carinthia, which we desire.”18 In the same decade, the Gail Valley became part of Austrian Carinthia; it was separated from the rest of the Slovenian territory, which was united within the borders of the Yugoslav state. In the first decade after the plebiscite (1920), the national affiliation changed, reflected in people’s daily lives and celebrations. For example, in Vorderberg/Blače, where the Slovenian- speaking population had not changed between 1880 and 1910, 99.8% of the inhabitants 16 Mir 24 (37), 14. 9. 1905: 219–220. 17 Štajerc 15 (24), 26. 7. 1914: 4. 18 Štajerc 15 (24), 26. 7. 1914: 4. 107 MARIJA KLOBČAR After World War I, the celebration of the Gail Valley parish fair became more prominent regionally. The postcard picture of štehvanje from Draschitz/Drašče from 1931 (GNI ZRC SAZU Archive, Ljubljana). The Carinthian Day in Ljubljana emphasized the importance of the Gail Valley ritual for the Slovenians and the related identification changes. Štehvovci and girls during štehvanje in Ljubljana in 1935 (Photo Šmuc; GNI ZRC SAZU Archive, Ljubljana). 108 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY spoke Slovenian in 1910 (Grafenauer Bratož, 2011: 105). In 1923, three years after the plebiscite, 24% of the inhabitants of Vorderberg/Blače declared themselves as Slovenian speakers, and by 1934 only 5.5% did so (Grafenauer Bratož, 2011: 103). The decline in numbers was due to fear of public affiliation with Slovenian identity (Pöllitsch, 2020: 4). First and foremost, the traditional culture of the Gail Valley, especially the parish fair, increasingly embodied the “collective self” (cf. Macdonald, 2013, 238; quoted in Pisk, 2020b: 25) of the two ethnic groups in Carinthia, the Slovenian and the German. In 1934, a very influential work on folk culture in Carinthia was published by Georg Graber, which included his interpretation of the parish fair. He portrayed the Germans as the original bearers of the beating of the barrel, i.e., štehvanje (Graber, 1934: 252–253), and, according to his interpretation, visoki or prvi rej became the “linden dance” (ibid.: 273–274). In addition, the women’s costume, which distinguished Slovenian women from German women since the skirt of the costume was shorter, was presented as the Gail Valley costume (ibid.). After decades of representations of this tradition, which was still defined as Slovenian by German writers at the end of the 19th century, a part of the tradition, namely štehvanje, was attributed a German origin. The changed name of the dance, “the linden tree dance,” effectively hid the outstanding character of the dance. Thus, interpretations of tradition became an efficient but outwardly less visible form of assimilation. The reaction to Graber’s definition was a book Tri obredja iz Zilje (Three Rituals from the Gail Valley), published by France Marolt under the auspices of the newly established Folklore Institute in Ljubljana a year after Graber’s work. Marolt, then the only employee of the Institute, undertook the research of folk song traditions in Carinthia as his first work for the Institute. Based on his field research, his work decisively contradicted Graber’s explanation of the Gail Valley parish fair (Marolt, 1935: 18). Simultaneously, he noted changes in singing practices that indicated significant differences in rituals to conform to church rules. He also referred to the visoki rej as rej pod lipo (the dance under the linden tree) (ibid.: 9–18). In 1935, Marolt organized a presentation of the Gail Valley ritual in Ljubljana (Kuret, 1963: 146), as he wanted to present its original form. However, Marolt’s rejection of Graber’s views did not stop the changes in the Gail Valley parish fair. Because “the First Austrian Republic did not adequately implement the provisions for the protection of minorities adopted at the end of World War I” (Stergar, 1976: 147), the years following the 1920 plebiscite saw a decline in the number of people in Slovenian communities and a deterioration in attitudes toward the symbolic identifica- tions of Slovenians. A highly noticeable sign of the change was the use of the Slovenian costume from the Gail Valley or its identification elements among the German-speaking population of the Gail Valley. In the 1930s, Andreas Fischer, a teacher and school princi- pal from Nötsch/Čajna, translated the Slovenian ritual song “Bueh nam dej tə dobər čes” into dialectally colored German. The German version was accepted only in a few areas (Pöllitsch, 2020: 300). 109 MARIJA KLOBČAR Fischer’s translation brought some new accents: The song does not express archaic ritual prominence. Instead, it begins as a benediction for the dance at the parish fair, visoki rej, for the fields and the meadows. It presents the parish fair as a day of happiness and celebration punctuated with dancing. The song ends with a thought of the beauty of the Gail Valley, its hills, and its girls. The rise of Nazism, the deportation of Slovenian families from the valley, and the fear of persecution and stigmatization further eroded the preservation of the Slovenian language (Piko-Rustia, 2019: 97); this process continued after World War II. In the 1960s, Niko Kuret, in his study of štehvanje from the Gail Valley, pointed out that “some local organizations and individuals [...] are increasingly brazen in their approach to the old, authentic Slovenian parish fair and are trying to deprive it of the Slovenian mien, which is eroding it from within” (Kuret, 1963: 129–130). He placed this attempt within the framework of a comprehensive process and emphasized the role of a song: The ‘peaceful’ and violent denationalization in Carinthia has been taking place for over a century […] In the period between the two world wars, however, the aggressive German element attacked the rituals of the parish fairs, which continues with even greater force after World War II. It systematically and intentionally inserts German songs among the old Slovenian songs in prvi rej. The main cul- prits for this are a part of German teachers and German choirs led by teachers. (Kuret, 1963: 130) THE SHIFT IN THE GAIL VALLEY SLOVENIAN TRADITIONS TO REGIONAL TRADITIONS AND THE ROLE OF BILINGUAL SONGS The changes in singing practices that Niko Kuret noticed were not only due to changes in individual national affiliations but had a political background related to attitudes toward minorities. Minority policy was regulated by the Austrian State Treaty (Staatsvertrag betreffend die Wiederherstellung eines unabhängigen und demokratischen Österreich) of 15 May 1955 (Stergar, 1976: 148). Article 7 (5) of the State Treaty states that activities of organizations hostile to minorities must be prohibited (ibid.: 149). Unfortunately, the treaty’s signing led to the hasty establishment of anti-minority societies and the revival of “old organizations with old programs” (ibid.: 153). The proponents of these views “demanded a further reduction of the role of the Slovenian language in schools […], exclusion of the Slovenian language and the minority from all other areas of public life […], especially from cultural events sponsored by the state, which presented the spiritual image of the country” (ibid.: 155). One of the advocates of these views was also the headmaster of the main school in Nötsch/Čajna in the Gail Valley, Andreas Fischer, author of the German version of the song accompanying visoki rej. He was known among the Slovenians as the one who “forbade 110 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY the pupils of the main school in Čajna to speak Slovenian even when they were not in school” (Stergar, 1976: 160). Families who did not replace the Slovenian language with German “found themselves somewhere at the bottom of the social ladder in the eyes of ‘the Germans’” (Jannach, 2021: 56). Thus, at that time, German and German-Slovenian songs were sung at the parish fair in addition to Slovenian songs, while the song “Bueh nam dej tə dobər čes” “seemed organically part of the ritual even for the Germanized locals” and so it remained Slovenian (Kuret, 1963: 130–131). Due to the accelerated assimilation processes, the Gail Valley parish fair lost traces of the Slovenian custom and gained a broader regional character. New versions of the German song became more frequent on the occasion of prvi rej, which is reflected at the beginning of the song “Segn uns Gott den Lindentanz” (God, bless this linden tree dance), which erased the memory of visoki rej.19 Compared to the linguistic archaisms in some of the Slovenian versions (Piko-Rustia, 2019: 97), the translation is in a modern language, and the attitude towards its ritual character is more in line with the changed way of life. Moreover, the translation does not contain hidden meanings, which in the original form 19 Alles über das Kufenstechen. In Brauchtum von A – Z verständlich erklärt. http://www.brauchtumsseiten. de/a-z/k/kufenstechen/home.html (September 25, 2020). Slovenian songs sung at the parish fair decades after World War II have preserved the old ceremonial roles and expressed revolt against assimilation. Boys singing under the linden tree at the parish fair in Achomitz/Zahomec, August 1, 1951 (photo by Jernej Šušteršič; Slovene Ethnographic Museum Documentation, Ljubljana). 111 MARIJA KLOBČAR Today, the Gail Valley parish fair denotes the multi-layered identity of the Gail Valley Slovenians, which political and historical milestones have marked. Procession from the church during the parish fair in Vorderberg/Blače, July 3, 2022 (photo by Iztok Vrečko; GNI ZRC SAZU Archive, Ljubljana). of the song preserved the pre-Christian elements, i.e., euphemisms: Motifs such as the badger and the burrow were replaced by humorous elements that had no ritual background. However, some Slovenian songs sung at the fair were also humorous; among them was the bilingual “Oh, du Diandle fria aufgståndn” (Gašperšič et al., 2014: 281–282), noted down in the 19th century. After World War II, there was another shift in the songs, marking the transfer of the custom to the German environment. Franz Fischer, the principal teacher in Nötsch/Čajna, and Fredi Wiegele took the melody of the Slovenian wedding song “Poslušaj, poštena nevesta” (Hear, honest bride) and wrote the lyrics of a new song with the title “Heit bin i a Gailtaler Reiter” (Today I am a rider from the Gail Valley). Because of the well-known melody, the song quickly became popular and an essential part of štehvanje.20 Only in places where the Slovenian character of the custom is preserved is not included in the ceremony. It expresses a new, regional meaning of the Gail Valley parish fair, which also affected the traditional costume worn for the parish fair; the Gail Valley costume lost its ethnic or national character and was recognized as a regional specific. 20 See: Untergailtaler Kirchtagsbräuche und Untergailtaler Tracht. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=RCwTRr0kqTA. I would like to thank Martina Piko-Rustia for kindly providing the information. 112 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY With the independence of Slovenia in 1991, the attitude towards the Slovenian language and culture changed in many places in Carinthia. Especially songs played an essential role in these processes. The search for recognizability also affected the parish fair, especially with the song “Buǝg nan dajte’n dobǝr čas,” and the status of the Slovenian version has improved; however, not in the environments that are entirely German. In recent decades, code-switching has also been reflected in the song “Buǝg nan dajte ‘n dobǝr čas.” In some places, German stanzas have been inserted into the Slovenian ver- sion of the song. The version presented in the introduction of this article was recorded by ethnomusicologist Lajko Milisavljevič in 1993 in Feistriz an der Gail/ Bistrica na Zilji as sung by singers from Upper and Lower Bistrica. Its Slovenian beginning expresses a com- mitment to Christianity and a ritual petition for the blessing that protects the dancers from the devil’s power. In contrast, the German counterpart of the first stanza emphasizes pleasure, suggesting a contextual shift from the noble meaning of prvi rej. Moreover, the second German stanza, which appears within the Slovenian text, departs even further from it, creating an atmosphere of joyful togetherness typical of love songs. Hintern Haus im Gartale, ||:då wårtet mi mei Schatzale. :|| (Gašperšič et al., 2014, 152–153)21 Behind the house in the garden / there my beloved is waiting for me. The new circumstances that led to the revival of the Slovenian songs were also connected with the parish fair. In 1996, Lajko Milisavljevič, who had collected over 500 Slovenian folk songs in the Gail Valley since 1969, together with the choir from Rosen Valley, organ- ized a concert entitled Oj tan stoji na lipa – Ziljski žegen, štehvanje in prvi rej (Oh, There Grows a Linden Tree – the Gail Valley Parish Fair, Štehvanje and the First Dance) in St. Jakob/Šentjakob. An accompanying booklet was also published for the occasion (Kriegl, Ramovš, Druml, 1996; Piko-Rustia, 2019: 97). Slovenian song traditions are also presented at other levels – from Oisternigg, a singing group that has organized concerts and symposia dedicated to autochthonous Slovenian songs since the 1990s (Piko-Rustia, 2019: 97), to projects such as ProjEGGt – sing ma unsre ålten Lieda, whose goal is to preserve “old songs,” i.e., “Germanized and/or forgotten Slovenian songs from the Gail Valley” (Piko-Rustia, 2019: 97) with concerts, audio documentation, and publications, and also the activities of various singing groups. The revival and promotion of Slovenian songs show how important it is to preserve the Slovenian language and the Gail Valley dialect in the living speech. Martin Domenig- Čertov, the chairman and co-founder of the Tri rožice na Zilji society, commented: 21 The transcript of the text and melody by Milisavljevič was published with the key signatures (Gašperšič et al., 2014: 152–153). 113 MARIJA KLOBČAR Even today, we often find ourselves in an absurd situation – most of our culture and traditions are Slovenian, but we no longer understand the language. So when we sing songs, we often do not know what we are singing about.22 Besides the activities of this society and the work of individuals or groups, the recent publications of Slovenian song traditions from the Gail Valley play an essential role. They serve to revive and preserve tradition (Gašperšič et al., 2014) and to present song practices from a particular environment (Pöllitsch, 2020). However, the revived interest in tradi- tions based on song preservation does not provide information about past code-switching, which remains hidden. CONCLUSION: THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL CONTEXT IN UNDERSTANDING BILINGUALISM IN SONGS Bilingualism does not merely reflect the equality of two language groups or the predomi- nance of one. A particular song from the same setting can be an expression of either equal- ity or a subordinate relationship and all sorts of relationships in between. Thus, the songs themselves do not allow the reconstruction of the context; it should be discerned with the analysis of political and social circumstances and their mutual relations and the findings of historical research that reveal changes in identification processes. Within the framework of these findings, textual analysis can have a solid illustrative significance. In the Gail Valley, such insights into context are provided in the bilingual song about the found ring recorded by Stanko Vraz in the mid-19th century, the context of the bilingual mocking song published in a German presentation at the end of the 19th century, and in the song sung on the occasion of visoki rej. In the mid-19th century, the song “Das Dienal is aufstånden” proved that the Gailtal Slovenians could speak German. Today, together with other bilingual songs known elsewhere in Carinthia, it testifies to an understanding of the Slovenian language or an awareness of the role of Slovenian. The balanced dialog of the two languages, harking back to the past and indicated by the form of the song, does not express the balanced rights of the two language groups; it is a relic of past creativity that, together with other bilingual or even Slovenian songs, preserves the traces of Slovenian identity. Among the singers, the bearers of this tradition are primarily people who do not speak Slovenian. Bilingual songs among them facilitate contact with the Slovenian language. 22 Ana Grilc, Pr Zile ruažce rastaja … Pogovor. November 27, 2021. https://www.novice.at/intervju/ pr-zileruazce-rastaja/ (November 3, 2022). 114 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY Part of the process that is not visible from the preserved bilingual song is the shift of the Gail Valley parish fair and the Gail Valley costume from a Slovenian to a regional tradition. However, historical research reveals that the intervention of the authority representatives was crucial in shifting the visoki rej song into the German language environment because the ritual protected Slovenian tradition. At the beginning of the 19th century, the bilingualism of Slovenians from the Gail Valley could still express their linguistic and cultural emancipation. However, the switch of their ritual song to the German language, which took place a century later, represented the loss of their power. Thus, in times of struggle for emancipation or the dominance of one language over another, bilingual songs in an ethnically mixed environment can signal growth or loss of social power. Even the balanced alternation of stanzas is not necessarily evidence of the equality of languages. Therefore, bilingual songs can be one of many sources on which research on relations between linguistic communities is based. The revival of song traditions itself can also cloud the view of the relationship between two collective identities and their transfor- mations: The renewed enthusiasm for old songs, including Slovenian ones, can obscure the memory of a time when the silencing of Slovenian songs accelerated the assimilation of the Slovenian-speaking population. 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Hugo Moro, 58–68. Hermagor: Comité der Gailthalbahn. 117 MARIJA KLOBČAR MEDJEZIKOVNA PESEMSKA PREPLETANJA IN SPREMINJANJE IDENTIFIKACIJ V ZILJSKI DOLINI Ob dvojezičnih pesmih, dokumentiranih v prostorih jezikovnega stikanja, se pojavlja vprašanje, ali – in kako – odsevajo družbene odnose v določeni skupnosti. Zaradi zgodnjih zapisov in nekaterih posebnih potez tradicionalne kulture posebno možnost za to opazovanje nudi kultura Ziljske doline na Avstrijskem Koroškem. V najzgodnejšem obdobju zapisovanja pesemskega izročila sta imela na Zilji narodnoidentitetno vlogo najpomembnejša ritualna praksa tega okolja, žegen, povezan z visokim rejem in pesmijo »Buǝg nan dajte 'n dobǝr čas«, in tradicionalna obleka Ziljanov. Zanimanju za to izročilo so sledili pesemski zapisi, v okviru katerih je bila še v prvi polovici 19. stoletja zapisana slovensko- nemška pesem »Das Dienal is aufštånden«. Ta dvojezična pesem je tedaj izražala družbeno moč Ziljanov – tovornikov in trgovcev, saj je postavljanje z nemščino označevalo njihovo jezikovno in kulturno emancipacijo. Ekonomske in politične spremembe so v nadaljnjih desetletjih Slovence v tem okolju postavljale v vse slabši položaj. Njihova družbena podrejenost je bila ob koncu 19. stoletja razvidna tudi iz posmehljive dvojezične pesmi, objavljene v nemški reprezentativni zbirki o Ziljski dolini. Spremembe, nakazane s to pesmijo, so po razpadu Avstro-Ogrske odsevale v spreminjanju ritualnih praks dotlej povsem slovenskega praznovanja žegna. Na podlagi političnih spodbud je kmalu tudi slovenska obredna pesem »Buǝg nan dajte 'n dobǝr čas« dobila nemško ustreznico, sčasoma pa še dvojezično varianto. Ziljski žegen in ziljska noša sta tako prešla iz slovenskega v ziljsko regionalno izročilo. K temu prenosu je pripomogla tudi pesem »Heit bin i a Gailtaler Reiter« (Danes sem ziljski štehvovec), po 2. svetovni vojni sestavljena na melodijo ziljske svatbene pesmi »Poslušaj, poštena nevesta«. Dvojezični vpis ziljskega žegna in ziljske noše v seznam nesnovne kulturne dediščine avstrijske komisije za UNESCO je tako nasledek dveh procesov. Po eni strani ga opredeljuje stoletje trajajoče prehajanje ritualnih praks in oblačilne dediščine iz slovenskega v nemško jezikovno okolje, po drugi strani pa je v želji, da bi izročilo zaščitili pred nadaljnjimi spremembami, nastal kot preseganje razlik med obema kolektivnima identitetama. Dvojezični vpis je hkrati posledica spremenjenega odnosa do slovenskega izročila na Koroškem, ki izhaja tudi iz zanimanja za staro izročilo. V tem okviru je veliko zanimanje tudi za dvojezične pesmi; te namreč ljudem, ki ne znajo več slovensko, olajšujejo stik s slovenskim jezikom ali pa kažejo na zavedanje vloge slovenskega jezika. Med njimi je dvojezična pesem, poznana iz Vrazovega zapisa v prvi polovici 19. stoletja: pesem je relikt nekdanje ustvarjalnosti, ki danes – hkrati z drugimi dvojezičnimi in celo slovenskimi pesmimi – ohranja sledi slovenstva. Med vlogo te pesmi v času med prvim zapisom in današnjimi pevskimi praksami je torej vidna velika razlika, ki kaže na občutljivost obravnave dvojezičnih pesemskih praks. Medtem ko ta pesem z enakomernim izmenjavanjem nemških in slovenskih verzov na videz izraža uravnoteženost in dialog, pa kaže osvetlitev zgodovinskega konteksta, ki je razmerja med obema kolektivnima identitetama močno spremenil, nasprotno podobo. Tako kot enakovredno 118 THE INTERTWINING OF LANGUAGES IN SONGS AND CHANGES OF IDENTIFICATIONS IN THE GAIL VALLEY izmenjavanje verzov ne pomeni enakovrednosti dveh jezikov, torej tudi same dvojezične pesmi brez upoštevanja konteksta ne morejo biti vir za razkrivanje razmerij med jezikovnimi skupnostmi. V tem okviru pa ima besedilna analiza dvojezičnih pesmi lahko močan ilustrativni pomen, posebej v zabavljicah. Zameglitev pogleda na razmerja dveh kolektivnih identitet in njihovo spreminjanje pa lahko prinese tudi samo oživljanje pesemskega izročila. Navdušenje nad starimi pesmimi, med katere na Koroškem sodijo slovenske, namreč lahko briše spomin na obdobja utišanja slovenskih pesmi in sledi ozadij dialoškega procesa, ki je temu nasprotoval. V tem pogledu lahko tudi dvojezične pesmi brez družbenega konteksta idealizirajo predstavo o preteklem dialogu med pripadniki dveh narodov. Assist. Prof. Dr. Marija Klobčar, ZRC SAZU Institute of Ethnomusicology, Ljubljana, Slovenia, marija.klobcar@zrc-sazu.si The author acknowledges the financial support of the Slovenian Research Agency (research project Song Reflections of Intercultural Coexistence, No. J6-9369, and research core funding Research on Slovenian Folk Culture in Folklore Studies and Ethnology, No. P6-0111).