Gorani (ethnic group)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gorani | |||||||||
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64,000 |
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| Našinski / Serbian, minor Albanian | |||||||||
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| Sunni Islam | |||||||||
| Related ethnic groups | |||||||||
| Torbesh, Pomaks, Torlaks of Serbian, Macedonian and Bulgarian ethnicity |
The Gorani (Goranci, Cyrillic: Горанци), when translated Mountain People or Mountain Dwellers , are a small South Slavic ethnic group of Muslim background who inhabit the mountainous Balkan cross-border region of Gora-Dragaš.
Their region is situated just south of Prizren in Kosovo, in the north-western Republic of Macedonia (the Šar Planina region near Tetovo), and in north-eastern Albania (most notably in Shishtavec (Local Slavic: Шиштејец, Šištejec) in Kukës County).
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[edit] Etymology
The Gora region is covered with rough terrain, whose name translates simply as 'mountain' in Slavic, and the name of its people thus Mountain People/Mountain Dwellers'.. Gorani (Goranci, Cyrillic: Горанци) are a minority South Slavic ethnic group, living in the mountainous Gora-Dragaš region, just south of Prizren in Serbia, north-western Republic of Macedonia in the Šar Planina region near Tetovo, as well as in north-eastern Albania (most notably in Shishtavec (Local Slavic: Шиштејец, Šištejec) in Kukës County).
[edit] History
The Gora, which gave the name to its native people, was a medieval Serbian realm's župa. It is actually first mentioned in 1348 at the edict of Serbian Emperor Stefan Dušan, with seven Goran villages that were gifted to the Monastery of Saint Archangel at Prizren. It was populated by Slavs during the migrations since the early 7th century, or more specific, the Serbs. The Gorans were especially honored are versatile cattle-herders in the Medieval Serbian realm and were as the most faithful subjects of the Nemanyidens, rewarded by not being taxed.
In 1455, Gora was conquered from the Serbian Despotate by the Ottoman Turks and became a part of the Beylerbeyluk of Rumelia, or specifically, the Sanjak of Prizren. According to the Turkish defter conducted immediately upon conquest, most of the names of the registered persons were Serbs, with a minority of others. The process of natural assimilation into Ottoman society henceforth began, mostly at the end of the 16th century. However, the process of conversion from Serbian Orthodoxy (islamization) was the longest in these areas, and lasted all the way until the second half of the 19th century. The last Christian Gorani, a woman by the name of Božana, was buried in 1856 is the village of Brod. The specific isolation of the Gorani's closed system of life has allowed them to develop their own distinct culture and society, eventually forming up a new mini-nation in the world, with a very strong patriotic sense for the tiny land they inhabit.
Because of Gora's highly isolated location between the Šar and Koritnik mountainous regions, there were no greater flights after the Ottoman invasion. Migrations however did occur, with process of Islamization, among those who resisted, in two waves: a current towards Prizren and Sirinić and the other towards Tetovo. The latter populated the Macedonian settlements of Dolno, Palčište and Tearce. Their descendants still populate that part of the Republic of Macedonia. Gorani colonists have migrated and populated on the eastern side of the Shar mountain the colonies of Urvič and Jelovjane.
In the 1880s the Russian consul in Prizren made an analysis of the local population, and Gora's among others. Of its 5,448 people, 4,791 or 87.97% were Serbs and 657 or 12.03% were Albanians. Of the Serbs, 3,517 were Muslims and 1,274 Eastern Orthodox Christians.
In the First Balkan War in 1912 the Serbian Army seized Gora. A minor part of the Gorani population migrated to the Ottoman Empire as a result. In the 1916-1918 First World War the Gora was conquered by the Central Powers and assigned to a Greater Bulgaria. After 1918 they were integrated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The troubles under Bulgarian occupation, as well as the hard 1919 and 1920 years which were characterized by drought, causing famine and further poverty for the Gorans, have incited migrations to major Yugoslavian cities like Prizren and Tetovo. Disease and hunger have caused a general downfall of the Gorani population.
By the decision of the League of Nations however, in 1925, the final border towards Albania was established. In it, over 15,000 Gorans remained in Albania's borders in their 9 villages: Borje, Zapod, Košarište, Novo Selo, Orgosta, Orešek, Pakiša, Crneljevo and Šištevac on demand of Fascist Italy, despite the local Gorani community's desire to remain together undivided. In Albania the Gorans were subdued to a process of harsh assimilation, which especially procured during the Axis puppet state of Greater Albania in 1941–44 when they were oppressed and forced to move out.
After WWII, in Communist Yugoslavia, because of complete degradation of the Gora and collectivization of private property, the Gorans massively go to urganization and move to cities, including Prizren, Priština, Tetovo, Skopje and Belgrade, while some even go on holy travels to the Republic of Turkey. According to the censuses from 1948 to 1961, the population of the Gorani villages rapidly dropped. It has come so that by the 1991 census, which registered 28,717 Gorans in SFRY, almost half of the Gorans lived outside of Gora, mostly in Belgrade, which became their largest individual settlement.
The rise of Albanian nationalism has had a negative effect on Gorani–Albanian relations.[1] The 1980s saw the advent of a Gorani national revival, they officially broke away from the name of Muslims by nationality (as dictated by the Yugoslav government to describe primarily the Slavic Muslims in Bosnia). Some began Slavicizing their surnames (i.e. Ahmeti became Ahmetović).
In 1999 after the NATO bombing campaign on FRY, the UNMIK took over international administration of the Serbian province of Kosovo. Their own municipality was redrawn and Dragaš established, in which now Albanians are in majority. The Gora has received migrations of Albanians from Albania, and reports of killings and mistreatment of the Gorani by Albanian paramilitaries were subsequently recorded. In 2007 the Kosovar provisional institutions opened a school in Gora that teaches Bosnian language, an act which sparked a lot of anger amongst the Gorani population, added by the fact that the Principle declares as an Albanian. Many Gorans refuse to send their children to school for threats of assimilation and self-initially founded home schools for their young. In 1999 and over the years altogether, over 6,500 Gorans have fled to Serbia proper along with many Serb and Romany refugees.
[edit] Language
The Gorani speak "Ours" (Нашински), a form of Torlak, a dialect of Serbian and Bulgarian. Many also speak Albanian. According to the last, 1991 Yugoslav census, 54.8% of the inhabitants of the Gora municipality said that they spoke the Gorani language, while little less than half the inhabitants of Gora declared that their native tongue is Serbian[2]. Some Goranian intellectuals and researchers define their language as Bulgarian, similar to the Bulgarian dialects spoken in Northwest Macedonia.[3]
[edit] Population
The Gorani population numbered some 16,000, in the Gora administrative division, according to the 1991 census. Gorani leaders today estimate that fewer than 10,000 are left in Gora. Most Goranis state that the unstable situation and the economic issue drives them to leave Kosovo. There is also some mention of threats and discrimination.[4] The UN administration in Kosovo, UNMIK, has redrawn internal boundaries in the province in such a way that a Gorani-majority municipality no longer exists. The Gora was combined with the neighbouring Albanian-populated region of Opolje (some 20,000 people) into a new subdivision named Dragaš, which now has an Albanian majority.
The Gorani have a strong national patriotic feeling for themselves, but are today roughly divided on the part that formally considers themselves Serbs, and the other that promotes a distinct ethnic identity. The recent post-1999 events have greatly brought the Gorani and Serbians together.
In Albania, the Gorani live in 11 villages centered around Shishtavec in the Kukës region.
[edit] Gorani diaspora
The Gora is an underdeveloped region and for almost two centuries, its male inhabitants would go off to more distant regions in order to find work. Due to this, a true Gorani diaspora has come to life with many living in parts of Central Serbia (particularly Belgrade: 3,340), Vojvodina (606), Republic of Macedonia (particularly the Western parts), Italy and Turkey.
[edit] Culture & Religion
Originally Eastern Orthodox Christians, the Gorans converted to Islam under the Ottoman Empire and today are exclusively followers of that faith. However the Gorans have kept to this day from the Serbian Orthodox tradition the slava, in specific Saint George's Day (Djurdjevdan).
Traditional Gorani folk music includes a two-beat dance called "kolo", which is a circle dance focused on the foot movements: it always starts on the right foot and moves in an anti-clockwise direction. Kolo is usually accompanied by instrumental music made often with a Zurle or Kaval and Tapan or Davul, kolo's are less frequently accompanied by singing as they are in neighboring ethnic groups such as the Albanians and Serbians.
Gorani are also traditionally known as good confectioners.
[edit] Notable Gorani
- Fahrudin Jusufi, football player
- Miralem Sulejmani, football player
- Harun Hasani, academician
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Ethnic groups in Kosovo, The Economist, November 2, 2006
- ^ (Serbian) Горански ГоворPDF, Dr Padivoje Mladenović
- ^ Dokle, Nazif. Reçnik Goransko (Nashinski) - Albanski, Sofia 2007, Peçatnica Naukini akademiji "Prof. Marin Drinov", s. 5, 11, 19 (Nazif Dokle. Goranian-Albanian Dictionary, Sofia 2007, Published by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, p. 5, 11, 19)
- ^ Update on the Kosovo Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptian, Serb, Bosniak, Gorani and Albanian communities in a minority situationPDF, UNHCR Kosovo, June 2004
[edit] External links
- Project Rastko - Gora, E-library of culture and tradition of Gora and Gorani people
- Gorani (Nasencite) (Bulgarian)
- A Travel among Goranis (Bosnian)
- Gorani Fear Losing Identity, Adrian Kelmendi, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 21 February 2001
- The minorities within the minority, The Economist, 2 November 2006
[edit] Video clips
- Clip of the Gorani film Ofčarče
- Photo presentation with traditional Gorani music
- Another photo presentation of Gorani villages with traditional music PART I
- PART II "Setnja kroz goranske sela"
- Naša Gora — A beautiful photo presentation
- "Snimak iz Brodska Svadba 2007. Ekiba Onlinebrod prestava sa svoje snimci" — A Gorani wedding in Brod
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