Regional Features of Using Time Zones in the Multicultural Environment of Transcarpathia

Author

Fedinec, Csilla

Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Minority Studies of the Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence (Budapest). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9156-9002

Csernicskó, István

DSc., Professor of the Department of Philology of Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian Collage of Higher Education (Berehove) and University of Pannonia (Veszprém). ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4512-988X

Regional Features of Using Time Zones in the Multicultural Environment of Transcarpathia

Abstract

In 1884, at the International Meridian Conference, held in Washington D.C., a resolution was adopted on the implementation of time zones, i.e., parts of the globe’s surface, each of which has one standard time. Time zones are now counted from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference point for which is the prime meridian (longitude 0 °) passing through Greenwich, near London. A local time does not always coincide with the time set within the time zone relative to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and trimmed by state borders. Due to the fact that state and administrative borders do not coincide with time zones drawn on a geographical basis, there may be greater or lesser offsets between the centrally determined official time and a local time, which is (better) harmonized with the movement of the Sun. Most of Ukraine’s territory, over 90 %, belongs to the Eastern European Time Zone (EET), which has a +2 hours divergence with the world time (UTC). Ukraine’s border areas to the east and west extend beyond the EET, but in practice these areas live at the same time as the EET (UTC + 2). However, on the western border, namely in Transcarpathia, the natural sense of time (biological time) and the habit of the past have formed an alternative use of time.

The aim of the work is to reveal in what way people use official time and informal local time in everyday life, in particular in public places and spaces. The scientific novelty lies in revealing the question of whether this cultural phenomenon, which is not found anywhere else in Europe, has an ethnic origin or is a regional phenomenon. The methodological basis is the principles of historicism, the method of observation, and a questionnaire. The conclusions emphasize that the alternative form of time use, which is more or less resorted to by representatives of all ethnic groups living in the region, is the established historical and cultural heritage, a bright element of ethnic tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Keywords

Transcarpathia, ethnic groups, standard time, informal local time, cultural heritage, tolerant attitude.

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