Prazni\u10dno leto Slovencev in dileme sodobnega raziskovanja

The Festive Year of the Slovenians is the title of a major 627-page work by Niko Kuret. At the same time, it represents a topic with which many researchers are also very involved today, especially regarding rituals and masquerades. This paper synthetically presents the author's work, primarily his fieldwork, addressing Slovenian, Friulian, and Croatian cultural interaction. It represents a continuation of Kuret's work in the same area. Several of the author's interests align with Kuret's research areas. These especially include the rituals of the yearly cycle involving groups of young people, as well as masquerades, rituals connected with fire, and other less-studied traditions directly connected with religious festivals. Most frequently observed are rituals in which groups of young people act out the role of begging or offering presents while visiting village houses. Despite the expected changes, the tradition of the festive year in this cultural area is relatively well preserved, and in some places it has even been revitalized. In fact, new forms of festivals are also arising in traditionally more conservative areas. This means that research on this kind of tradition offers both new and more traditional elements for contemporary observation and analysis. Methodological approaches that include greater connections between disciplines, monitoring the phenomenon across the entire Slovenian cultural space, and more intensive comparison with neighbouring cultural spaces are essential in further phases of research. Kuret presented his own findings in a very clear and systematic way, creating a basis for further studies in this area. In addition, this prominent ethnologist also illustrated several ways of carrying out contemporary research. In order to increase the value of this work, which has produced a wealth of collected material - enriching the many researchers and institutions that deal with this area - we should identify and develop new syntheses (e.g., studies, catalogues, atlases, or other instruments) to achieve our goals at an international level in a manner similar to Kuret's own successful efforts