GORANI PEOPLE CELEBRATE ST GEORGE’S DAY
May 06, 2021
Despite the ongoing situation with the pandemic and official ban imposed by the local authorities in Kosovo’s Gora region, Gorani people managed to mark Saint George’s Day, their most important annual celebration which is commonly known as “Djurdjevdan”. The central location for celebration of Djurdjevdan is Vlaska clearing near Vraniste village each year on 6 May. Usually, this place is crowded with thousands of people spending the day in nature and having picnics, while the central part is reserved for drum players and women dancing the traditional circular dance known as “kolo” as many others stand looking on. This year, the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) imposed strict control and even fined some people that came to Vlaska in order to mark their biggest annual celebration. Despite this, people gathered in the surrounding fields, while a day before this major event a gathering resembling normal celebration of Saint George’s Day took place in Brod, the furthermost village in Gora region.
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WHITE FAIRY IN VELIKA HOCA
April 04, 2021
Each year on the third day of Easter, a complex customary ritual known as “White fairy“ takes place in Velika Hoca, an isolated Serbian enclave in Southwestern Kosovo. Due to its importance for preserving national culture and bringing the community together it is inscribed on the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Serbia. White fairy consists of several elements, among which the main ones are the dance of peacock and peahen, hunt of wild horses, and building the town. Before the ceremony starts, locals gathered in the center of the village arrive in front of the Monastery of St. John in the procession led by the local Orthodox priest. This customary ritual is of great importance for the remaining Serbs living in Velika Hoca in terms of self-identification and their need to express ethnic and religious identity in the hostile environment entirely inhabited by an Albanian majority. This year, several hundred people attended White fairy which was organized in the same way as previous years, despite the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic in Kosovo.
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ROMANI FEAST AUNTIE BIBI
April 02, 2021
First time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the feast dedicated to Auntie Bibi was celebrated among the Belgrade Roma population. Auntie Bibi or Bibijako Djive is one of the most important feasts celebrated by Eastern Orthodox Christian Roma. Bibi is celebrated as a healer and protector of the family, and above all as a protector of children’s health. The presence of a priest is obligatory, although Auntie Bibi is a non-canonized saint. The event was organized within the premises used by local Roma organisations since the early 20th century, located in Belgrade’s Voždovac municipality.
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SULTANI NEVRUZ CELEBRATED IN PRIZREN
March 22, 2021
Sultani Nevruz, a religious ceremony has been traditionally observed each year in the days around the spring equinox in numerous tekkes in Kosovo. This year, due to the current situation with the pandemic most of the tekkes in Kosovo stayed closed. Among rare places where the ceremony took place is a tekke of Rufai and Saadi orders in Prizren’s Terzi Mahala neighborhood whose devotees are coming from the local Roma population and other ethnic minorities.
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WHITE SHROVE IN SHAR MOUNTAINS
March 14, 2021
Procka or Prince Marko’s Wedding is part of collective custom rituals performed during the celebration of White Shrove in Strpce, a major town of Sirinicka Zupa region in Shar Mountains, Kosovo. It includes a procession of masked participants that symbolically presents the wedding of Prince Marko, a famous epic character in Serbian tradition. It symbolises the transition from winter to spring season through the play of wedding roles, aiming to affect the fertility of crops, cattle, and local population. On the same day after the sunset, the ritual of Burning the Shrovetide known as mavanje kumbara is performed in multiple locations around the settlement. This practice, which represents driving out of the evil forces is a phenomenon practiced only among the local Serb population in Kosovo.
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