THISDAYonline

...Down Memory Lane
Serbs belong to the South slavonic group of Indo-European peoples. As their tradition, culture, language, beliefs, and customs show, the ethnogenesis of Serbs goes far back into the past. Serbian ancestors, Protoslavs and Old Serbs, were described in the 5th century BC by Herodotus, under the names of Neuri and Budini, living north of the Danube in the region between Dniepar and north-eastern Carpathian Mountains.

They are located in the central and western part of the Balkan Peninsula (South- East Europe) Population, 10.2 million (1.8 million Serbs live outside their ethnic location) Language: Serbian Religion: Eastern Orthodox Christians

The first mention of the name "Serbs" appears in the 1st century BC (69- 75), in the Historia naturalis by Plinius Caecilius Secundus, who states that Serbs (Serbi) live on the coast of the Black Sea. In the 2nd century, Claudius Ptolomaius writes in his Geographica that Serbs (Serboi, Sirboi - Serboi, Sirboi) live behind the Caucasus, near the hinterland of the Black Sea. The first mention of the Serbian name on their present ethnical location appears in 822, in the work of Frank chronicler Einhardt (Annales regni Francorum).

During the great migrations in Europe (5th to 6th century), Serbian ancestors arrive to the Balkan Peninsula from several directions and settle in the wide area between four seas (Black, Adriatic, Aegean, and Ionian). It is on this location that the eldest Serbian feudal states Raska (later Serbia) and Duklja (later Zeta or Montenegro) were formed. From the second half of the 12th century Raska expanded by taking over the Byzantine territory. The medieval Serbian state reached the height of power under the rule of Nemanjic dynasty (1166-1371). From 1217 Serbia was a kingdom, and from 1346 an empire. The Serbian Orthodox Church acquired independence in 1219, thanks to its first Archbishop St. Sava Nemanjic (1175-1235), a man of wide education, who inspired the revival of Serbian literature, education, law and medicine. The medieval Serbian state was most powerful during the reign of Emperor Dusan Nemanjic, who consolidated the legal system of the empire by his Law issued in 1349 (with additions of 1354). An invasion by the Turks at the end of the 14th century cut short the development of Serbian countries, and they fell under Turkish occupation after the battles of Marica (1371) and Kosovo (1389). The occupation was completed by the end of the 15th century and it lasted for several centuries. The Turkish occupation was one of the most tragic periods in the Serbian history. Serbian population was heavily taxed (harach) to support the Turkish imperial machinery. But even more tragic was the blood tax (danak u krvi) when pre teenage boys were separated by force from their parents to be raised as Turkish soldiers (janicari), and pretty young Serbian girls were taken to harems.

Rebellions were harshly punished - men were buried alive or impaled on posts.

The Turkish occupation forced many migrations of the Serbs to the west (up the White Craina in Slovenia) and the north (up to Budapest). The greatest of the migrations happened in 1690, when Serbs, led by Patriarch Carnojevic escaped to Pannonia (Austrian Empire). The revival of the Serbian state started with the First Serbian Rebellion against the Turks (1804-1813), led by Karadjordje Petrovic. From 1815, Serbia was a principality, and from 1882 a kingdom ruled by the Obrenovic dynasty. During the Karadjordjevic dynasty (1903-1945), Serbia liberated the territories of Old Serbia, Kosovo, and South Serbia from the Turks (in 1912). After the assassination of the Arch-Duke Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, the Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia.

The London Declaration of the Allies of 1915 recognized that the traditional Serbian lands of Vojvodina, Lika, Dalmatia, Slavonija, Baranja, Bosnia and Herzegovina, occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, join the Kingdom of Serbia. In 1918, the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro, with the territories of Slovenia and Croatia, formed a new state - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which in 1929 was renamed The Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This multiethnic, multireligious state was headed by King Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, the Liberator.

From 1941 to 1945, a systematic persecution and genocide was committed against the Serbian people in both Serbia proper, Croatia and Bosnia. About 1,000.000 Serbs perished. The most brutal were Croatian Fascists, Ustashi. In the concentration camp of Jasenovac, the most heinous crimes recorded in history were committed on more than 700,000 men women and children. ( When in 1984 the Serbian Patriarch German consecrated the memorial church in Jasenovac, he said "Forgive we must, forget we cannot.")It was customary for Ustashi to torture Serbian people, tie them in bundles and throw into pits. In Vojvodina, Hungarian Fascists killed by drowning in ice covered rivers of the Danube and Tisa thousands of Serbian men, women and children. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was abolished by the Communist Decree in 1945. Yugoslavia was one of the founders of the United Nations.

The parliamentary life in Serbia has a very long tradition. In the Nemanjic times, in medieval Serbia, there were Councils of Lords. One characteristic of Serbian social system is a developed local government - local councils and country meetings were instances where all decisions were made during several centuries. Serbs retained this kind of local administration even under the Turkish occupation. In the newly established Serbian state (from 1804) national conventions were held regularly, and the first, very democratic Constitution was introduced in 1835. At the beginning of the 20th century (1903-1915) Serbia had a highly developed parliamentary system, according to European standards.

From 1945 Serbia was under the communist one-party rule. The parliamentary system with several political parties (Socialist Party of Serbia, Democratic Party, Serbian Revival Movement, Serbian Radical Party, etc.) In 1991/92 the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a multiethnic, multireligious and multicultural state ceased to exist after the unilateral, unconstitutional secessions of the Republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia.

...Our Alphabets
Serbs speak Serbian language. Old Slavs had a special kind of literacy, but when they reached the Balkan Peninsula, they developed (under the influence of Christianity and the Greek alphabet) a particular Slavonic literacy (from 863) with a special alphabet (glagoljica). From the 10th century it was perfected and became known as Cirilica (cyrillic alphabet). First documents written in Old Slavonic date from the 9th and 10th centuries, and those in Serbian language from the 11th century (Temniski zbornik - The Book of Temni}). Following the linguistic and spelling reforms by Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic (1787 - 1864), based on the rule "write as you speak", and "one sound one letter", the folk language became Serbian literary language, with phonetic orthography. Thus, Serbs have the simplest orthography and the most perfect alphabet in the world. Serbian language is a very developed language (more than 800,000 words) with rich and detailed grammar (nine kinds of words, seven cases, three genders of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and precise expressions for active and passive states or the times of action). Depending on the pronunciation of the Old Slavonic sound "yat" Serbian language has three dialects: ekavski (child = dete), ijekavski (child = dijete), and ikavski (child = dite).

...Tales and Beliefs
Serbian folk believed that the Balkans were inhabited by different half- gods or demons: dragons, fairies, vampires, witches. The greatest heroes of the Serbian folk tradition were born out of the union of dragons with mortal women, or fairies with mortal men. The dragons protect people, defend the faith, care about fertility, and keep off demons that carry on disease. Their offspring begotten with mortals are branded with a special "dragon sign" and are exceptionally brave and capable. Many heroes of the epic oral poetry belong to this sort of people - Milos Obilic, Banovic Strahinja, Kraljevic Marko. There are also water dragons, carriers of negative influences. Fairies of Serbian beliefs remind us of Greek nymphs. They live near running waters - springs, rivers, and when angry they stop their flow. They also live in the clouds and they can give exceptional strength to warriors whom they had fed with their milk. There are three main myths in the Serbian folk and popular tradition. The most important among them is the Kosovo legend, which grew around the terrible defeat suffered by the Serbian army, annihilated by Turks at the battle of Kosovo in 1389. Events connected with that historical tragedy acquired mythical proportions in the folk tradition and folk poetry, and took on many details and meanings derived from the Christian tradition.

...Hi! There
Serbs are open, direct, and warmhearted people, cautious and reserved to strangers at first, but very friendly, curious and helpful, once they get to know them. Salutations are obligatory at encounter, as a sign of good will, honest intentions, and good manners. They can be verbal, hand shakes, cheek kissing. In old times the formula for salutation was "God helps (Pomaze Bog), answered by "God help you" (Bog Ti pomogao), a blessing. Today the usual formula of greeting is "Good day" (Dobar dan), "Good morning" (Dobro jutro), "Good evening" (Dobro vece). At parting one says "See you" (Dovidjenja), "Good night" (Laku noc). Travelers are seen off with words "Lucky journey" (Srecan put). Handshakes are used, with appropriate greetings, between acquaintances, friends, and equals, and kisses are exchanged between close relatives, godfathers (kumovi), and blood brothers. When coming to a family gathering, slava, or some other feast, guests exchange kisses with host and hostess, kissing their cheeks three times.

Stiff bearing indicates haughtiness and putting one's chest forward challenge.

...These Days

They live in the republics of Serbia and Montenegro, in the Serbian Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until the exodus of August 1995, they also lived in the Republic of Serbian Craina in Croatia.