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...However, in economically backward areas, old customs are still observed, and there are many cases where systems remain, such as handicrafts connected to the daily life of villagers, waterwheel caretakers, shepherds, village announcers, and neighborhood duties for weddings, funerals, etc. In particular, in rural areas with strong Germanic elements, mutual aid groups called "neighborhood associations (Nachbarschaft, Rotte, Viertel)" are still widespread, completely unrelated to kinship ties, and play an immeasurable role in daily life, which is also a vestige of the life of ordinary people from the Middle Ages. As subjects of folklore research, these systems would be recognized as similar phenomena in all villages on earth, but in Western European villages, their distinctive features should be found in the strong sense of community among the peasants, which was based on the legal principle of self-governance that had been built up from the bottom up, and on the historical achievement of the members jointly managing farmland and common land, and which served as the basis for unity against unilateral control from above.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Nachbarschaft" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…しかし，それにもかかわらず経済的に後進的な諸地域の〈むら〉には，いまでも古いしきたりが守られ，村びとの日常生活と結びついた手工業をはじめ，水車の管理人，牧童，村決めの触れ役，冠婚葬祭に際しての隣保的な諸役等々の制度が残っている事例が多い。とくにゲルマン的要素の強い諸地域の農村では，今もなお〈隣組(Nachbarschaft,Rotte,Viertel)〉と呼ばれる相互扶助の組仲間が，親戚関係とはまったく無関係な形で広範囲に普及し，日常生活に計り知れぬ役割を演じているが，これも中世以来の庶民生活のなごりである。こうした諸制度は，民俗学的な研究対象としては，地球上のすべての〈むら〉で，類似現象として認められるところであろうが，西ヨーロッパの〈むら〉にあっては，その根底にいわば下から積み上げた自治の法理と，構成員による農地や入会地の共同運営という歴史的な実績を踏まえ，それを上からの一方的な支配に抗する団結のよりどころとしたという，農民の団体意識の強さに，その特色を求めるべきであろう。…

※「Nachbarschaft」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報