Celebrations of Communist Power. The 23rd of August – National Holiday and Controlled Leisure Time in Oral History Reports

The study reveals the preservation in the Romanian collective memory of communist festive culture elements based on 40 interviews concerning communist celebrations of the 23rd of August from Moldova, Muntenia, Oltenia  and  Transylvania taken in 2012 and 2018. The repetitive scenario of the event had determined clichés and stereotypes, without stimulating striking  national  feelings. We point out that people remember, reimagine and reinvent the same event of the Ceaușist era in three manners: subconsciously nostalgic,  in  an Orwellian  way  and the comparative approach (in terms of communist social certainty and post- communist uncertainty).

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