Identity and commemoration

Presently, the real explosion of interest in the concept of identity is observed. The problem of identity became aggravated when society had left behind the domination of nature and tradition and thus had faced a task to make its own decision. How is the collective identity formed? What is the role of commemoration strategies in that process? What does the experience of medieval memoria tell us? These are the key ideas of the present study. We found out that choice of relationship and identity was determined in the medieval period not by means of consanguinity (blood relationship) but by means of collective commemorative activities. The dead in a society were present not only in the past but also in the present. Memoria as a collective phenomenon, a collective memory served as a way to identify community.