The lecture “Religious continuities on the territory of Macedonia – from the Neolithic age to the 21st century” by professor Nikos Chausidis, organized by the Centre for Scientific Research and Promotion of Culture “Haemus” – Skopje was held in the City Hall Center on February 20, 7.00 pm.
The lecture was organized by the UNESCO Club HAEMUS under the UNESCO’ “Open Educational Resources” motto (OER), and the event was supported by the OER Alliance.
Topic: “Religious continuities on the territory of Macedonia – from the Neolithic age to the 21st century”
Reason: In the past few years, there have been many discussions about the identity of the contemporary Macedonian nation, especially about the question whether from a historical aspect, it begins in the Middle Ages with the immigration of the Slavs in the Balkans or it may or should be tied to the older ancient Balkan populations. Moreover, the arguments of these dilemmas are seeked in several areas i.e. levels: genetics, language, political history, etc. This lecture is not focused on the argumentation of none of these concepts, but tends to show the influence of the religions in the millennial constitution of the individual and collective identity of the residents of Macedonia. The author will try to demonstrate through several most illustrative examples that some mythical – religious structures can be monitored on this territory constantly, from ancient history to present day, sometimes lasting for 7000 years. These are archetypal phenomena that are not only trans-temporal, trans-cultural and trans-national, but trans-religious as well. They freely move from one culture to another, from one religion to another, changing only their formal features, and their substantial and lasting symbolical and semiotic strands can be traced from century to century and from millennium to millennium.
Info about the lecturer: Nikos Chausidis is an archaeologist, professor at the Institute of Art History and Archaeology at the Faculty of Philosophy (“Ss . Cyril and Methodius” University, Skopje). His scientific interest is focused on the semiotic study of the visual and material manifestations of the myth and religion in the ancient and archaic cultures in general, and especially in the Balkans. He is the author of several monographs and more than one hundred scientific papers in the fields of archeology, ethnology, anthropology and semiotics.
More information about the author: https://ukim.academia.edu/NikosChausidis
