The specific feature of the tramping is the fact that, in špite of its 80-year-tradition and a reál mass character, it has always verged on becoming illegal. This is a consequence of the very substance of the activity - a free camping outdoors, outside the parcels or objects sanctioned for this purpose by competent statě authorities or private owners. The intensity of the restrictive measures of the administrativě machinery towards tramping is unsteady - sometimes the activity has been tolerated, sometimes sujfered in silence, but also occasionally or systematically persecuted. This occurred during all regimes - at the times of the first Czechoslovak Republic, during Nazi occupation, during the „ building of the socialism “ times, but also nowadays. The motives that drove the oppression of the tramp movement for part of the statě organs of course differed considerably. Between the wars the tramp movement has been restricted by the police, who applied especially the so called „ Kubát ’s law forbidding the camping and outdoor activities of the single youths of the opposite sex. During the occupation times the tramps háve been persecuted by the security organs of the protectorate police and by the German Gestapo, who suspected them of being involved in the resistance movement and helping the partyzans. In the socialist era the tramps had to liide from the foresters, police forces and their wardens stationed in the villages, who resented the existence of the relatively informal tramp movement outside the oficial structures, their free movement over the country as well as their traditional sympathies toward the heroes of the American West, showed by their clothing and other atributes. In the last tenyears, the tramps are being accused of breaking the nátuře protection laws and they are persecuted especially by the representatives of the State conservation department.
The article aims to introduce and explore the concept of „transculturation". Unlike the affiliated concept of „acculturation", capitalized widely in anthropology, sociology and other branches of social Sciences, the concept of transculturation had until recently commanded little attention outside the limited area of Latin American studies. The concept, originally formulated in the 1940s by Cuban sociologist Fernando Ortiz, accentuates the mutual character of cultural interaction, the active participation of „subordinate" groups in the process, as well as the unique character of the resulting cultural formation. That is,
the processes of enforced cultural exchange (for example, through colonial expansion) are preceived as not only destructive, but also Creative. While the concept of transculturation had commonly been applied within the frame of American or African history and anthropology, the present article proposes the advantages and possibilities of its use in the study of (Central) European millieu - be it in the study of German-Jewish-Czech interaction in the nineteenth century, or in the study of Protestant-Catholic cultural exchange after the year 1620.
The contemporary ethnic movement of the Seri has been little pronounced up to now. It is evident that in the community Punta Chueca a fundamental cultural change is taking place. Even though it is a long-term process, only in the 1970's the community had opened up to the surrounding world, in the first place because of the building of better infrastrueture between Punta Chueca and the Mexican village Bahia de Kino. The no madic culture radically changed because of the settled life-style and many aspects of the culture lost its function in the present world. For preservation of the cultural identity it is necessary to substitute such aspects with new ones, or to accentuate the existing aspects. The substitution and advocacy of certain cultural aspects is connected with different reflection of the state of things by different generations. The young are more inclined to accept the new life forms and the future of the ethnic group they see in its drawing nearer to the surrounding Mexican society. They don't want to stay isolated any more and to resign on the possibilities of the modern world. Within this group there are some individuals who feel that for maintaining the peculiarity of the Seri culture it is necessary to turn back to the culture of the forefathers and to develop it. However, in their interpretation these aspects acquire other functional value, because the smooth continuity to the life of the forefathers is missing. The making of new functional forms is apparent also in other areas of life of the Seri youth, in their endeavour to use traditional dress and decoration, their return to the declaration of sacred places etc. In their behavior the young Seri have been influenced by their knowledge of the image of the „traditional Indian“ of Mexicans or turists and they try to fulfill this perception. So, many aspects serve to the young generation to create an all-compassing cathegory of an „Indian without a deep concern for the peculiarities of their own culture. The older generation, on the other hand, tends to preserve the isolated State of the ethnic group and to keep and fortify the ,,traditional" life of the forefathers. Thanks to their dominance of the key offices in the Elder Council because of the age hierarchy the older persons can with more ease make decisions on the cultural life of the community. The future life of the community depends mainly on the attitudes of its pr esent-day young people. and They are at the down of crucial changes and its up to them if they allow the assimilation of their community in the process of its coming closer to the Mexican society, or if they will be able to find such social model that would preserve visible, characteristie cultural aspects. But its also up to the slowly dying-out older generation to know and to have strength to pass the experiences and knowledge to the coming generations.
In the present day, people increasingly talk about the afforestation of cities and towns as a means of improving the environment. The problem of the gradual incorporation of verdure to the settlement and of its role in the past is being analysed in the present article on the example of the changes in time of the verdure in the areas used jointly by the inhabitants of the village of Podhradie. In the named locality these were, namely, areas that were often reserved and enclosed, with a particular land-scaping arrangement (school garden and cemetery) and, on the other hand, the public space (including the so called „dance circle“ i.e. the public area used for dance festivals etc.). The composition of the botanical species differed in the particular cases, because of its use (for example in the school garden that serves for practical education dominate the fruit trees and vegetables), economic causes (while designing the public park it was possible to utilize the advantageous offer from the local services) or the time horizont of the planting (for example, the older part of the wood species on the „dance circle“ is composed of plum trees, the newer part mainly of lindens, poplars and birches). The last example demonstrates the changes in the structure of verdure in concordance with shiftings in perceiving its function. While until about the eighteenth century the economic reasons stood behind the planting of primarily the utility trees, since then it has been increasingly regarded also to the aesthetic point of view. The regular bus line that since 1950 has connected Podhradie to the regional centre Martin where many of the local inhabitants found work enabled the spreading of the urban style ofarranging the environment and also thepossibility to buy new types of plants. Decorative wood species were implemented in the composition of the local verdure and influenced the appearance of the village.
From the 1870s on, the objective of the feminist movement had became the foundation of school that would allow the professional education of girls. In this endeavor played an important role the Female Manufacturing Czech Society (Ženský výrobní spolek český, hereafter ŽVSČ). This society was founded in the year 1871 and at its birth stood for example Karolina Světlá, Sofie Podlipská, Věnceslava Lužická-Srbová and the husband and wife Náprstek. The structure of the society and the school for girls founded by it were probably inspired by similar institutions already existing abroad (in London and Vienna). The school of ŽVSČ, called business-industrial school, was supposed to pursue the so called industrial education. This educational style served for the preparation of the girls far family life, but also far independent life, and journalists of the time assessed it in principle affirmatively, because it in no way violated the traditional image of the role of women in society. The school was divided to five different branches, of which the most popular was the language cour se and the business cour se. At all 293 pupils enrolled in the first year and in the next years their number rose steadily, so that in the year 1874 there were already 505 girls attending the school. The leaders of the society also accentuated the idea of social solidarity and so every year they for gave the tuition to girls from poor families and the school fees were relatively low in comparison with other schools (1-3 guldens monthly). A great interest was aroused by the short-term nuring cour ses whose graduates acquired nursing diplomas. An extraordinary exploit represented the establishment of the so called „request chamber“ that helped women to look for work. In the 1880s thepersonalities at the head of the society had changed, but its activities remained unchanged. After the withdrawal of Karolina Světlá the main authority became Eliška Krásnohorská who was at the same time the editor of the journal „Woman Paper“ (Ženské listy), the school had been directed by Johanna Kuffnerová since 1885. The members of the society aimed towards the preservation of its good reputation and the justification of the existence of the school; in this respect a major role was played by Eliška Krásnohorská and her publication activities. An occasion for the presentation in public became the 25th anniversary of ŽVSČ when new school building was inaugurated. The society came to an end only in 1957, but already since the beginnig of the twentieth centuty its influence decreased and in the last years of its existence it limited itself only to the preservation of the memory of Eliška Krásnohorská.
Cultural historian and ethnographer Čeněk Zíbrt, scientist, university professor and editor of popular periodicals, entered the awareness of his contemporaries as a prominent, erudite specialist. As such he had been accepted not only in Bohemia, but also in Moravia. To his fame contributed also his role of an editor of the ethnographic journal „Český lid“ [Czech Folk], published since the year 1892. Precisely for the Moravian ethnographes the contacts with this journal and with Zíbrt himself were of multilateral importance. They were sending him their publications, books and various treatises to be reviewed or propagated in Český lid. Themselves they also contributed to the journal with their articles, texts of varied quality and different genres, extensive studies, shorter articles and various bagatelles. An important contribution represented also the illustrations, sent from Moravia by artistically competent ethnographers and photographers. Český lid, on the other hand, offered a welcome source of income to many authors. However, Zíbrt selected carefully from the contributions sent by the ethnographers, so many of them waited long for the publication of their article. Many of the contributors asked their texts and illustrations to be returned to them, sometimes not successfully. Such inauspicious experiences with publicating in Český lid resulted in limitation of contacts of some ethnographers with Zíbrt. In špite of this, the majority of them appreciated the periodical very much. This fact was documented also by their not pretended joy from the renewal of Český lid in the 1920 ’s. Zíbrt, editor of the renewed journal, was contacted by new or renewed contributors.