(In)authenticity of beliefs and practices in the material on the “Old Faith Believers of Posočje”, comparisons and different worlds

[In)authenticity of beliefs and practices in the material on the “Old Faith Believers of Posočje”,
as well as comparability and different views of the world] The first part of the article is a response
to the criticism that Medvešek‘s writings on the Old Faith of the Posočje (the Soča region) are not
authentic, since the ethnological profession is completely divided on this issue, and focuses mainly
on beliefs and practices. In the following, the author shows that it is precisely this division, whereby
the profession does not offer the general public an acceptable explanation of how to take Medvešek‘s
material on the Old Faith people, that has led to lay research and thus also to a side-track. In the last
part of the article, the author compares and thus situates the beliefs and practices of the Old Faith
people in a broader geographical and social context, dwelling in particular on the question of the
clash of different conceptual systems.
Keywords: Old Faith material, criticism, authenticity, beliefs