Showing posts with label Serbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Serbia. Show all posts

November 8 – Mitrovdan in Serbia

Posted on November 8, 2019

There are people in the world who don't pay much heed to "four seasons," since they live in places where the sun is pretty much overhead all year long, day and night is always roughly equal, and the weather is never all that cold.

Of course, these people live in the tropics.







There are people who consider the year to be divided into fewer than or more than four seasons. Old-time Serbians counted two seasons: summer and winter. Summer began on the Feast of Saint George, May 6, and winter began on the Feast of Saint Demetrios, November 8. The latter date is called Mitrovdan.

 

For Serbians who lived in the country, rather than in cities, especially before the 20th Century, wintertime was hard. It was so-so-so important to keep one's livestock alive, but with cold weather, snowstorms, and hungry wolves prowling the long nights, it wasn't so very easy to do that. 

Mitrovdan was therefore not a celebration, but rather a time of observing taboos and rituals in order to (hopefully!) increase the chance of one's family and one's livestock surviving another harsh winter. It was also a time to look for omens - would the winter be full of snow? Or mild?

Heavy snow, above.
A much lighter blanket of snow, below.



Serbians watched their sheep, not just to keep them safe from wolves, but also to see which way they were facing, their body positions as they lay down, and whether a white sheep or a black sheep (or any sheep!) lay down on the axe. 

All these superstitions and weather predictions grew out of desperate need to understand and maybe even control life, the universe, and everything, coupled with a big-time lack of knowledge about that stuff. Rather than laugh at "silly superstitions," we can respect the story-making ability of humans, we can keep alive traditions that we want to continue - while shrugging off the inaccurate motivations for those traditions - and we can be thankful that we who are alive today are very, very lucky - we understand and even control far more about life, the universe, and everything now than when the Mitrovdan traditions were first appearing.

Even a really cooooooold winter can be
beautiful! Above and below, scenes from Serbia.



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June 28 - Vidovdan in Serbia

Posted on June 28, 2019

This religious holiday is also a national holiday. According to the Serbian Orthodox Church, June 28 is the feast day of St. Vitus (on the Gregorian calendar, that is), but Vitus was from Sicily (in Italy) and doesn't seem to have much connection with Serbia. But on this date in 1389 (actually, June 15 on the Julian calendar), there was a huge Battle of Kosovo between Serbians led by Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and an invading army representing the Ottoman Empire.


Apparently both armies managed to wipe out most of the other. It was a terrible lose-lose situation. But the Serbs lost out much more, because they didn't have loads more people to defend them against the Ottoman. The huge loss of life managed to slow down the invasion - but it didn't stop it.

Prince Lazar and the others who died that day are considered martyrs and heroes. 

Because of the importance of this date, Vidovdan was chosen as the day to declare war against the Ottoman Empire in 1876 - after centuries of Ottoman rule!

Coincidentally, the Austro-Hungarian crown prince happened to be visiting Sarajevo, a city in the same region as Serbia, when he was assassinated on Vidovdan of 1914. That assassination led to World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria worked together against everyone else. 


The Treaty of Versailles was also signed on this date - ending World War I.

With all of that important history, of course Vidovdan was selected as the date for important speeches and proclamations since WWI!

Here are some interesting things to see in Serbia (all of them having to do with rivers!):

Golubac Fortress has 10 different towers protecting three compounds; the thick stone walls have withstood many wars and attacks. But in 1964, a dam was constructed that caused flooding along the Danube River - and that submerged some of the outer walls of the fortress!



Speaking of rivers and "submerged," here's a building that HASN'T been submerged, as unlikely as it seems:


Apparently this little cabin (which is private property) was actually built by the owner and his friends on a rock in the middle of the Drina River. They rowed all the building materials out to the rock by boat, and of course one has to take a boat (or dare to swim in the swift currents) to get there.

Even though the level of the river goes up and down over the course of the year, and despite rainstorms and wind, the cabin has stayed on its unlikely perch for more than 40 years!





And one more river sight:

The Meanders are tight twisting turns made by the Uvac River as it cut its way through a limestone bed. The canyon walls are up to 328 feet (100 meters) high above the water - so you cannot really check out the twisty path except from the air.



By the way, the previously endangered griffon vulture is now thriving in the Uvac River Valley, because conservation groups have set up large "outdoor restaurants" for the vultures there. 

What does a restaurant for vultures serve? The waste from slaughterhouses! Yick!







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April 9 - Constitution Day in Kosovo

Posted on April 9, 2019

Did you know that the Republic of Kosovo has a constitution?

Some people would say that "the Republic of Kosovo" does NOT actually have a constitution, because there is no such thing as "the Republic of Kosovo."

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, but Serbia didn't go along with the declaration. Since then, many nations have recognized Kosovo as an independent nation - so far, more than 100 nations (including the U.S.) have formally and explicitly recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state - but some have not. So, rather than being called a nation, it is called a "partially recognized nation" and a "disputed territory."

Kosovo and Serbia were once part of Yugoslavia, and violence and warfare have broken out several times during the 1980s and 1990s. When Yugoslavia was broken up into Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Montenegro, Kosovo made a strong case for its right, also, to be a separate nation. Despite all the violence of the past, I am hopeful that this will be sorted without any further wars. I'm happy to state that Serbia seems to have accepted Kosovo's elected government and is starting to normalize relations with that government, - even though it still maintains that Kosovo is an "autonomous province" of Serbia.



Here are some super gorgeous bits of Kosovo to enjoy today:

Above, Kosovo in spring.
In the next few photos, notice that
Kosovo is beautiful in the summer,
autumn, and winter as well!








For more on Kosovo, check out this earlier post.


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