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Copyright of Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography of the Serbian Academy of Sciences & Arts / Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU is the property of Institute of Ethnography, SASA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we present the results of preliminary research into children’s birthday celebrations in public green spaces in Belgrade during the second decade of the 21st century. This period is characterized by the widespread practice of celebrating children’s birthdays in commercial children’s playrooms. Birthday celebrations “in nature” were very rare in comparison. Thus we decided to focus on birthday celebrations held in public green spaces. This social practice is analyzed in the context of utilizing urban public space, public greens for organizing private events with the intent to consider the reasons for its appearance at a time when children’s birthdays were becoming part of the processes of the institutionalization and commercialization of childhood. The analysis is based on empirical material gathered through informal conversations with parents who organized birthday parties “in the open”, “in nature”. Children’s birthday parties we attended were organized at the Sava quay, in Košutnjak and at Ada Ciganlija. The fieldwork was conducted periodically from 2014 to 2018, and entailed the application of classical fieldwork methods in ethnology and anthropology (participant observation and interviews with the participants of the events).

The paper presents the results of our research on the social and cultural practices of celebrating children’s birthdays in Belgrade, the capital of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Children’s birthday parties are examined as a social construct with functions which are developed and modified according to their social and cultural significance. The research on this cultural and social phenomenon is based on the analysis and interpretation of the narratives (empirical material) of our interlocutors. The chronological frame extends from 1945 until 1991, i.e. over the period of the socialist social system. Since the majority of our interlocutors spoke about the way birthday parties were celebrated in the 70s and the 80s, i.e. at the time of their childhood, the research is focused on that period of time. In Yugoslav and Serbian socialist society this was a social and cultural practice with multiple functions: it served as a substitute for the religious customs related to childbirth and the baptizing of children; it homogenized the family and kinship structure; it was a channel for exteriorizing parental affection towards the children; side by side with the transformation into the consumerist society it became the instrument for creating and consolidating the complex net of social relationships which informed the broader social environment about the level of financial and social power of the organizers.

Copyright of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology is the property of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)