SECULAR AND SACRED: CROATIAN AMERICAN FOLKLIFE TRADITIONS IN STEELTON, PENNSYLVANIA
Open Access
- Author:
- Ham, Lesley
- Graduate Program:
- American Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 27, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Anthony Buccitelli, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Simon Bronner, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Sara Imanpour, Outside Unit & Field Member
John Haddad, Major Field Member
Anthony Buccitelli, Major Field Member - Keywords:
- Croatian American
Steelton PA
folklore
tradition
folk dance
tamburitza
kolo
ethnicity
immigrants
folk music
South Slavic
ritual year - Abstract:
- The mill town of Steelton, Pennsylvania, is home to many of the descendants of Southern European Slavic immigrants who emigrated in the late nineteenth century in search of work in the steel mills, including Croatians, Serbians, and Slovenians, who continue to maintain their folk traditions. The small borough of about six thousand residents is home to multiple Croatian and Serbian kolo dance ensembles and tamburitza musical groups. In particular, Croatian Americans maintain a vibrant kolo dance and tamburitza orchestra culture, centered around two pillars of society, the church and the lodge. Since its founding in 1895, St. Lawrence Lodge No. 13 of the Croatian Fraternal Union (CFU) has served as a focal point for the Croatian American community, providing sick and death benefits as well as organizing social dance and musical events for the community. Prince of Peace Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1898 as Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and colloquially referred to as St. Mary’s, hosts the Kolo Club Marian dance ensemble, formed by former priest Father William Primorac in 1954. Children and youth from kindergarten through college age continue to rehearse and perform traditional folk dances with Kolo Club Marian at Prince of Peace Church. Both children and adults learn to play tamburitza, a lute-like strummed instrument, with the St. Lawrence Junior and Adult Tamburitza orchestras (“Tammies”) which rehearse at the lodge. Frequent social dance parties and summer church picnics feature local and visiting tamburitza orchestras and opportunities for all to join in kolo circle dances. In addition to ethnic musical and dance traditions, Croatian Americans in Steelton preserve Slavic foodways and Old World European Catholic rituals. Sacred and secular social activities form a ritual year, revolving from Mardi Gras, Easter, and the annual Kolo Club Marian May concert in the spring, to church picnics, CFU Junior Tamburitza Festival and St. Lawrence Feast Day festivities in the summer, to CFU Adult TamFEST in the fall, and Christmas celebrations at Prince of Peace Church and St. Lawrence Lodge in the winter.