MACEDONIA

Evening Star, Issue 23834, 14 March 1941, Page 8

MACEDONIA

CLASSIC LAND OF WARS OLD RELIGIOUS RITES The ancient land of Macedonia lies now across three countries—Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Greece—and each claims it as its own (says a writer in the ‘ Christian Science Monitor ’). But neither by speech nor race can any claim be maintained, for the Macedonians of to-day are composed in the main of an old Slav mixture with some Albanians, Greeks, and others. To enter into the ancient history of this land is to start upon the impossible within the scope of a newspaper column, and since the Middle Ages its story has been linked with that of the conquering ■ Turks and the valiant Serbs, descendants of those Slavs who migrated southward thirteen hundred years ago. By the beginning of tho fourteenth century these Serbs had risen to importance in the Balkans; when the Turks started on their Westward march across Europe. Under the impact of the Moslem conquerors the State collapsed. To this day many Serbs of the Macedonian regions wear a little round cap with a scarlet top and a blade border in mourning for the defeat at tho battle of Kosovopolzi in 1389, which brought their ancestors under Turkish rule. For five hundred years Macedonia. with most other parts of Balkan lands, was enslaved and struggled almost impotently against proselytising. In time many went over to Islam. With tho Treaty of Berlin at the cud of the Rnsso-Turkish war, Serbia regained her independence, and in 1882 proclaimed herself a kingdom. YUGOSLAVIA. After the Great War, the peace of 1918 brought the fulfilment, of the dreams of a united Southern Slav land, including a large part of Macedonia, which became known as Yugoslavia. Now again with Italian aggression and Bulgarian intransigence Macedonia threatens to bo once more thrown into confusion and battle as so often before in the history of the Balkans. During the past score years the Yugoslav Government has introduced many reforms. establishing model farms, vineyards, and fisheries, with the aid of modern scientific methods, for the benefit of the peasantry. The silk industry has been revived, too. It had practically died out during the period of Turkish domination; and the peasant industries, which are many and beautiful, have been fostered by the, endowment of schools and workshops. Side by side with these improvements, education has been advanced, and an effort made to eradicate the widespread illiteracy of the people in outlying districts. The summer sun burns deep over the plains and hills of Macedonia. And in the Bazaar at Uskub, the central city, the rays at noon strike almost perpendicularly into the narrow alleys—which, however, are at this time of the day empty. It is the same in all Macedonian towns. The closing of a shop door breaks the heat-laden silence with a disturbing clang. The shop-owner locks the door carefully and sticks the foot-long key beside, his knife into the broad red waistband which he wears. Then he mouches off to the nearest kafaua —the well-known Oriental coffee house where the Moslem spends his time drinking mocha, smoking, or dozing. THE MIDDAY SERVICE. From the old Turkish clock tower 12 strikes. In a moment on the many minarets tho muezzins appear. In monotone they praise Allah and his prophet Mohammed, and call listeners to prayer. Tho Moslem elements in the kafanas and the Gostionas, or inns, make their way to the moskues, before which they perforin their ritual clean-up, washing at the fountain, bands and arms, feet, face, and the whole head. They then sit on the cool stones waiting until the Hodcha, or priest, appears, and the service begins. On entering inside the holy house shoes are put off and placed beside the door, the oldest ragged opanks of the poorest workers side by side with tho silk and bead embroidered slippers of the rich tradesmen. After an entrance prayer accompanied by bows and kneeling in the direction of Mecca, the Mnssulmen squat in colourful rows looking towards Mecca. From two opposite pulpits the Hodcha and the Muezzin commence monotonous responses. The end of the service comes with a general prayer. In small groups, and gossiping over the day’s events, the believers wend their way homewards. The house doors clatter behind them one by one, and the bazaar sleeps on until the cool of the evening, when the people come again into the streets and the lively traffic of the bazaar reawakens. FIGHT FOR BREAD. Out in the fields the peasant, Muslim or Christian, wages a hard fight for bread. Here in our own land the battle is not so serious, Nature and tho soil relent with us. But in other lands, Macedonia, for example, the peasant fights stone and Nature as a part of his daily life, in order to have a loaf of bread for the winter months. The soil in the Balkans is a great problem, especially in the mountains. Seed the peasant has, but he must calculate carefully where he will sow it. Around him and about are rock, mountain, and more rock. In a hollow between the rocks a corner protected from the wind has filled up with soil. There are further pockets of soil hero and there. For weeks and months the peasants collect the soil in baskets and sacks and bring it to a favoured spot, hero to make a small field whore the grains make strike and mature. These pocket fields in the Macedonian hill lands look like small oases in an unending desert of stones, and until the cornstalks have attained a certain

height the field must be watered every day or the whole sowing would be dried out in the glowing heat, Tho women carry barrels of water on their backs for miles—precious water I Day and night one or other member of the family watches in the field and hunts off the feathered robbers. Sometimes the stalks are so short and so sparse that it doesn’t pay to cut. In such cases the peasants seize the corn in small bunches and pull it out by the roots. The smaller members of the family follow the “ reaper ” and carefully glean every fallen haulm. NO MODERN MACHINES. Threshing machines are unknown to tho mountain folk. In front of a farmhouse a piece of land is stamped down firmly—at better class farms this is laid with flat stones. Here the corn is spread and the .ears trodden out by the horses. After the halm is removed with wooden forks the peasant waits for a strong wind. Sometimes the corn will lie days or weeks until the wind —the only known medium—conies to winnow it. As soon as it begins to blow every peasant drops his work be may be doing and hastens to the winnowing place. With wooden shovels the chaff and corn is thrown, into the air. The wind carries the dust and chaff away and the heavier corn falls back to the ground. It is a long job. Afterwards the corn is put through three differentsized sieves. An ancient watermill grinds tho meal out of which the Alacodonian bread is baked. The autumn storms and the heavy winter rains wash all the earth away from the rocks, and with the spring the peasant family must begin all over again to collect tho soil for the next sowing. PETROVDAN CELEBRATION. The little townships cannot support the malo workers, who go out into the world to earn money. Once a year almost all of them return to their native village, even if they have sojourned thousands of miles away; they return for “ Petrovdan,” which means “ The Day of Petrov.’’ For Petrovdan is wedding day in Galicnik. Some might intend to marry themselves, some want to attend the wedding of a good friend or relative, and some return just for the reason of being home again. About a week before Petrovdan the village is very animated. All streets are crowded, and in the chanas (inns) there is scarcely enough room for the great number of customers. Preparations are made everywhere; washing and slaughtering, the bakers prepare an especially large stock of bread, and every day donkey caravans arrive with ajl the stuff that has to be supplied from outside the village. Then on Petrovdan Eve, as night falls, the wedding ceremonies begin. Fires are lit in front of the couples’ houses, gipsies with bagpipes, shawm, and drum play to a dance. Boys and girls gather round the fire and dance the “ Icolo,” which is performed throughout the Balkan Peninsula with little variation. After a while torches are distributed, lit at the fire, and then a procession, accompanied by the gipsy band, marches through the village, passing three wells. From each of these wells the bride has to draw some water, with which she washes all over before going to sleep. Aftev the (procession there is a reception for the wedding guests in the bride’s house. THE PROCESSION. In the noon hours of Petrov Day, the whole village resounds to the hoofbeats of hurrying horses. Again and again smaller and larger groups of horsemen chase at full gallop through the streets. They gather for the mounted procession, which starts at the top of the mountain near the church. The procession is headed by the standard-bearer with the bridegroom’s standard. Then follows the bridegroom, and in a long column his relatives and friends and the wedding guests. They approach tho festively-adorned house of the bride, who, in the company of her parents, awaits the bridegroom. Girls in the most beautiful costumes welcome the procession with singing. The bridegroom’s standard is fixed to the house, and after having been welcomed by the bride, the bridegroom offers wine to his father-in-law and to his male relatives, and kisses their ‘hands respectfully. Then the father-in-law ties a towel round the bridegroom’s shoulder and leads his, horse to the border of his property, and tho bridegroom, with three of his friends, rides home at full gallop. THE BRIDE’S WELCOME. Heavily veiled, the bride steps out of the house. She sobs piteously and breaks down again and again; and every time,', her father comforts her with encouraging words. Even when mounted on horseback this happens. For a last time she embraces her parents, sisters, and brothers and friends, and the procession moves off with music. Before the bride’s horse goes the horse laden with the trousseau. The animal is weighed down under the load of two big coloured chests, on which a huge bundle of cushions and blankets is fastened. Tho reception of the bride in front of the bridegroom’s house is likewise solemn. After her arrival before the door the bride tries to cast off veil and bridal wreath. She is prevented from doing so, and is flogged with a bridle. As a symbol that she is now under her husband’s power one tries to put a man’s cap on her head. She resists vigorously, until a chain composed of coins is placed round her neck. The bride is now lifted off her horse and has to step into the house across a carpet which has been spread at her arrival. Then the carpet is immediately removed. After the welcome tho bride enters a room with two old women, who guard her until next day, when the actual marriage ceremony takes place. FESTIVAL OP SVETI NAUM. Lake Ochrid, in Southern Serbia, and at the foot of the Black Mountains, has an almost international role, since it serves to divide many different peoples —Albanians, Serbians, Macedonians, and Montenegrins. At the southern end of the lake stands the Abbey of Sveti Naum, where at the annual festival, 10,000 and more pilgrims assemble, bringing offerings to holy Naum. . . Not only the orthodox Christians, but also the Moslems honour this festival, and amongst the pilgrims are veiled women, and also many Moslem gipsies who bring live sacrifices, while the women dance in honour of the saints. So, a mingling of the very old with the modern ideals fostered by a progressive Government, the life of Macedonia goes on for the most part, for there is little industry _ apart from tobacco growing, and even in these more up-to-date circles the older order plajs a not insignificant nart.