What is Slavic?

[Hrvoje]

Can it represent meta-ethnicity?
Is it cultural, racial ,linguistic ... or all mentioned?

What constitutes a Slav?

Share and discuss.

[Zrinski]

It's simple...Slavic is meta-linguistic term.

[M.R.]

Slavs are only a linguistical group. Nothing cultural or racial.

I, for one, don't give a damn about being "Slav".

[svin]

I, for one, don't give a damn about being "Slav".

Why? That's true, unlike Germanics, Slavic people have less unity in all mentioned aspects and I don't have any problem with that, but I'm Slavic and there is no reason to deny it.

[M.R.]

Originally Posted by svin

Why?

Well, I was explaining this to Mynydd already yesterday, anyway I'll write this down here too.

The term "Slav" is an academic construct.

The problem with term Slav is that is very simmilar to the term "Sloven" (Slav = Slovan, so basically only one letter is different), which refers to Slovenians, Slovaks, Czechs and Sorbs, (Western Slavic) nations with very simmilar (Venetic) origin and who were part of King Samo's tribal union back in 6th century - Slovensko kraljestvo.

In 19th century the (artificial) term Slav replaced term "Sloven". Rather than a mistake, it was deliberate move by pan-Slavists and it later caused south Slavic expansion, thus it was anti-Slovenian. Southern Slavs never were nor do they have any historical ties with Sloveni, Slovieni, Slovinci, Slovenci or Sloveneti.

If you ever come to Slovenia, you will notice great differences between my country and yours.

The point is that due to pan-Slavism, Slavs are viewed as some kind of ethnicity, race or cultural unit, which is far from reality.

[svin]

If you ever come to Slovenia, you will notice great differences between my country and yours.

There are great differencies between Austria and Faroe Islands, but still, they are Germanics.

Anyway, as I've said I don't deny that the differencies between Slavic nations are great.

The point is that due to pan-Slavism, Slavs are viewed as some kind of ethnicity, race or cultural unit, which is far from reality.

This point of view is wrong, of course. I understad why many Slavic (ok?) nations don't like it, because they were forced into different unities contrary to their own will. That's also the case with Belarusians, which are viewed by many Russian nationalists as just "lithuanized Russians".

My point is simple. If language of a nation is Slavic, then this nation is Slavic.

[Marulus]

"Slavs" are only those who speak Slavic languages, nothing else.

[Ricardo Reis]

Slav speakers are "Slavic", nothing more or less.

The same goes for the rest of European meta-ethnicities imo.

[Zbruch]

Hey, stop posting that shits. Slavic is a RACE!!! Yes, diffrent race. Just like german,celtic,nordic and so on. Slavs share same blood,history,language,traditions,folklore and so on. Remember that!

[svin]

Zbruch, there is no Slavic, Germanic or Celtic race. There are Nordid Slavs, there are Mediterranean (Dinarid, Baltid, etc, etc) Slavs, same goes for Germanics, Celts and others.

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by Zbruch

Hey, stop posting that shits. Slavic is a RACE!!! Yes, diffrent race. Just like german,celtic,nordic and so on. Slavs share same blood,history,language,traditions,folklore and so on. Remember that!

What is your definition of a race ?

[Exeter]

One Slovenian guy used to claim Slovenians and Austrians are anthropologically close. Would you agree?

Originally Posted by Panonski

If you ever come to Slovenia, you will notice great differences between my country and yours.

[Laocoon]

Originally Posted by Zbruch

Hey, stop posting that shits. Slavic is a RACE!!! Yes, diffrent race. Just like german,celtic,nordic and so on. Slavs share same blood,history,language,traditions,folklore and so on. Remember that!

Erh anyone with a minimum of objectivity would notice that Slavs are quite dissimilar looking. You have a romantic vision of things, reality tells a whole different story however.

[svin]

One Slovenian guy used to claim Slovenians and Austrians are anthropologically close. Would you agree?

Well, as far as I remember he posted materials about pigmentation of Austrians and Slovenians (hair colour and eyes), and the percentage of light hair and eyes among Slovenians and Austrians was similiar.

[Zbruch]

Originally Posted by Carnyx

Erh anyone with a minimum of objectivity would notice that Slavs are quite dissimilar looking. You have a romantic vision of things, reality tells a whole different story however.

I ve said race because the slavs are a huge(the biggest european ethno-cultural) group of peoples. Since the slavs were divided to East,West and South slavs many years ago we start to set wide apart. In fact almost all of the slavic tribes got mixed with local and other populations in their area so thats why we are so diffrent from each other. But on the other hand we have very much in common.Slavs were numerous peoples long ago so our blood is still preserved from the centuries.Also we share almost the same language,culture,traditions,folklore and so on...We must be proud of our great slavic stock because 'Slav' means glory/slava.
Greetings(pozdravi) to my slavic brothers!

[Exeter]

I agree Slavs have mixed with different peoples depending on the region.

I'm curious to know what cultural elements Slavs share. Could you please describe some of the traditions Slavs share. Could we speak of a Slavic mentality and world view?

Originally Posted by Zbruch

In fact almost all of the slavic tribes got mixed with local and other populations in their area so thats why we are so diffrent from each other. But on the other hand we have very much in common.Slavs were numerous peoples long ago so our blood is still preserved from the centuries.Also we share almost the same language,culture,traditions,folklore and so on...We must be proud of our great slavic stock because 'Slav' means glory/slava.
Greetings(pozdravi) to my slavic brothers!

[Monolith]

Originally Posted by Exeter

I'm curious to know what cultural elements Slavs share. Could you please describe some of the traditions Slavs share.

For example, every Slav nation has its traditional costumes, music instruments, folk dances(such as "Kolo"), songs, legends, etc.

Could we speak of a Slavic mentality and world view?

No. My opinion is that every Slavic nation has its own mentality and world view.

[Kan Yuvigi Asparukh]

We have always been taught at school that Slavic is more racial than lingual category. "The Bulgarian nation is formed by mixture of Slavs and Bulgarians. Slavs were tall, blond and blue eyed. Bulgarians were shorter, black haired, and darker." I'm an ordinary man in Bulgaria, but if I go to Poland I wouldn't be so usual there. If we consider Slavic only as a lingual category so Bulgaria is Slavic without a doubt.