Rocznice narodowe jako medium pamięci kulturowej [National anniversaries as a medium of cultural memory]

The article aims to answer several questions: can Polish national anniversaries (from the 19th Century to 1914) be treated as a medium of cultural memory? To what extent can the concept of cultural memory be a useful tool for analysing anniversaries? Do societies remember the national anniversaries, and how do they remember them? The starting point are the concepts of the cultural memory studies researchers. The discussion refers to the ideas on, inter alia, the ways in which cultural memory operates (including the concepts of Aleida Assman and Astrid Erll, as well as the analyses by Paul Connerton). Utilising these studies has enabled an illustration of the issues related directly to the conventions and indicators of anniversaries (here, especially: collective memory, cultural memory and canon, media of collective memory, myth and ritual, ceremonies of remembrance, cultural performances, popular literature / culture and the memory of cultures). Theoretical discussions have been based on examples from the second half of 19th Century and early 20th Century (the press, anniversary pamphlets, anniversary handbooks, printed annotations for transparencies, and finally series of slides). The proposed chronological framework has allowed a depiction of the constancy of commemorative rituals and an examination of specific displays of anniversary celebrations (for example, the cult of heroes of the sword – text dated 19th Century to early 20th Century; among others, Sobieski, Kościuszko, Mickiewicz, Słowacki).