Secularism in Slovenia: An Anthropological Perspective

Abstract

Current analyses focusing on the relations between the government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovenian Catholic Church cannot fully account for Slovenian citizens’ reporting of secular tendencies in social surveys. I supplement state-centric analyses with an anthropological examination of name-day celebrations (“gód,” “godovanje”) by analyzing motivation behind and the presence/absence of religious symbols in these celebrations. We observe a change in focus between socialization and religious motivation, a shift in power between name and individual, and an increase in secular names among Slovenian newborns overtime. We find that name-days are considered a rural practice, and that adults, rather than children, are more often observed to be participating in religious practices associated with name-day celebrations. Secularisms observed in small-scale, private, religious customs are likely to point towards private ontological beliefs, and by extension, the prevalence of secularism among Slovenian citizens.