Datum zveřejnění:

21.7.2015

Abstrakt:

The article focuses on roadside memorials (RSMs) created for the victims of traffi c accidents in the Czech Republic. It provides the results of longitudinal fi eld research conducted in central and northern Bohemia in the periods 2005–2008 (fi rst research wave) and 2011–2014 (second research wave). Attention is devoted particularly to the temporality of such memorials. The research, consisting of the study of a sample of 69 roadside memorials, was repeated after a period of around seven years and the data from both waves subsequently compared; the fi nal sample consisted of 89 memorials. Based on the research results, it can be confi rmed that the construction, tending and visiting of roadside memorials has become a popular rite of Czech mourning culture and that the phenomenon is fl ourishing. Most memorials remain in place for at least seven years and usually longer. Memorials which ommemorate a fatality from ten to fi fteen years previously are very common. Since new memorials continue to be constructed it follows that an increasing number of RSMs can be seen throughout the Czech Republic. Around three-quarters of memorials in the sample feature a cross which, in most cases, symbolises death rather than a belief in Christianity. In conclusion, therefore, the maintaining and visiting of roadside memorials makes up a culturally acceptable element of the mourning process.

Klíčová slova

roadside memorials; mourning; death; remembrance

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