Ernesto de Martino: The End of the World a Parallel Between Italian and Romanian Folklore

Within his own cultural era, Ernesto de Martino stands out as an illustrious ethnologist, by virtue of his capacity to emphasize and express inherent qualities possessed. As a history researcher regarding humankind's fathom origins from the farthest lands, de Martino was also an interpreter of the contemporary society, portrayed by suffering. The laborious commitment Ernesto De Martino shows throughout his literary activity during the '50s has an extremely vital role in anthropology and ethnology, not just due to the historic, background of his work, but above all, it exhibits his originality in the approach towards complex topics, flourished within the analysis of the philosophic mould and directed towards the socio-cultural reality of poorly developed areas in the post-World War II Italy. The basis of the Demartinian research broadens the approaches of the Italian folklore and the cultural phenomena − the mourning rituals in Lucania, the choral dancing therapy of tarantism in Puglia − and, moreover, it develops an interest towards Romanian folklore, represented by its mourning and funeral ceremonies.