The Family Chronicle of Ján Jablonický and His Representation of Everyday Life in Western Slovakia during the 19th and 20th Centuries

In the final years of his life Ján Jablonický wrote his memoirs which can serve as a chronicle of the life at the end of the 19th and almost complete 20th century. From his subjective point of view he records not only the events around his hometown – Jaslovské Bohunice, but also in much larger region and in the world. He describes his childhood and the everyday life in a village, different manual labors, habits and traditions and even his school attendance. The article describes lot of already forgotten but ethnologically interesting traditions connected to various holidays (mostly marriages) which are no longer carried out. Special attention is paid to religious life in which Jablonický was involved particularly thanks to his role as a sexton. The life in the village was marked by the two world wars. In his chronicle, Jablonický describes looting of the Jewish property, new administrative divisions after the war, collectivization and the difficulties it brought. He also describes introduction of new machines and gadgets and even new agricultural crops and the reaction of population to those changes. Large portion of the article describes family relationships and individual family members, their activities, destinies and participation in the social life of the village. The article offers a fascinating example of "oral history" and the survey of a family life which is also an interesting testimony about this time period.