Contemporary Godparenthood in Central and Eastern Europe: Introduction

This introduction to the collection opens up the conversation between historians and anthropologists about the practical significance and social meaning of spiritual kinship. By discussing the key findings of five anthropological studies—in Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova—we point to resemblances and differences. We examine common structural elements of the spiritual kinship system and the religious and material meanings involved. We find differing symbolic logics as well as different intensities of godparental practices, which can be described as a geographical, east-west gradient. Speaking broadly, the more to the east a place is, the more thriving the practice. In explaining the variation, ethnographic insights suggest that long-term differentiating trends are important, and also contemporary historical factors—substantial economic and political changes since the mid-twentieth century