Children’s Birthday Celebrations in Public Green Spaces in Belgrade – an Example of Projecting Cultural Content onto Physical Space

Abstract

In this paper we present the results of preliminary research into children’s birthday celebrations in public green spaces in Belgrade during the second decade of the 21st century. This period is characterized by the widespread practice of celebrating children’s birthdays in commercial children’s playrooms. Birthday celebrations “in nature” were very rare in comparison. Thus we decided to focus on birthday celebrations held in public green spaces. This social practice is analyzed in the context of utilizing urban public space, public greens for organizing private events with the intent to consider the reasons for its appearance at a time when children’s birthdays were becoming part of the processes of the institutionalization and commercialization of childhood. The analysis is based on empirical material gathered through informal conversations with parents who organized birthday parties “in the open”, “in nature”. Children’s birthday parties we attended were organized at the Sava quay, in Košutnjak and at Ada Ciganlija. The fieldwork was conducted periodically from 2014 to 2018, and entailed the application of classical fieldwork methods in ethnology and anthropology (participant observation and interviews with the participants of the events).