Gorani people

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This article is about Goran, an ethnic group in the Balkans. For other uses, see Gorani.
Goran
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Albanian, Našinski, Serbian[1]
Religion
Muslim
Related ethnic groups
Albanian, Torbesh, Pomaks, Torlaks of Macedonian and Bulgarian ethnicity

Gorani (also Горанци/Goranci) are a minority South Slavic ethnic group, living in the mountainous Gora-Dragaš region, just south of Prizren in the UN-administered Kosovo 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).

The origination of the Goran is disupted. Some Gorani scholars believe the Goran are a pre-Slavic Balkan people who nevertheless mingled with the Slavic tribes who migrated to the Balkan peninsula in the 6th and 7th centuries.[citation needed] The Slavs seem to have gradually assimilated with the various autochthonous tribes generically referred to as (Illyrians) which inhabited the western Balkans. Some historians theorize that mountainous regions, such as Gora and Dragas, were often preferentially settled by these original Balkan inhabitants as they fought or fled (or as with the Goran, remained) from the various 'barbarian raids' during late classical and early medieval times. The assimilation with the Slavs produced a symbiosis of cultural traits that is thus not surprisingly demonstrated by Goran today.

During the Ottoman occupation of Europe from the 15th century, some communities accepted Islam. This was especially so in Albania and parts of Bosnia - regions where neither Orthodoxy nor Catholicism were soundly cemented. Kosovo and the Gorani area were initially frontier regions where European resistance met the Turkish invasiding forces, partucluarly via the sustained efforts of both Slavic and Albanian peoples (often with with little foreign assistance). With the numerous battles, much of the Slavic Orthodox population either emigrated north or were killed by Turkish reprisals. In their place, large numbers of Albanians - most of which had converted to Islam- migrated to inhabit the area. Reductive assessments hold that many accepted Islam in order to avoid the jizya, or poll tax (a modern comparison is the average sales tax paid on goods in most western countries) to suffer less discrimiation, and to enjoy the benefits of being part of the ruling Millet. An often neglected point is that some Goran, like many Bosnians and Albanians, accepted the Islamic faith also out of spiritual considerations. After the defeat of the Turkish empire in WWI, many Gorani continued to be Islamic. Many put religion at the forefront of their awareness, tending to marry and interact with Muslims of other ethnic backgrounds (eg Turks, Arabs and Albanians) rather than Christian Slavs. The high density of Albanians in the area has led to an element of Albanization of the Gorani.

The Gorani homeland comprises the following countries and districts:

Serbia: southern Kosovo, just south of Prizren.

Republic of Macedonia: north-western Macedonia, especially the Šar Planina region near Tetovo.

Albania: north-eastern Albania, most notably in Shishtavec (or:Local Slavic: Шиштејец, Šištejec) in Kukës County.

Etymology

The word Gora, the name of the region in the south-west Balkans, means simply: 'the Mountains' or 'the Highlands', and so the word the Gorantsi (Goranci, Cyrillic: Горанци) - more usually rendered as the Gorani in English, or sometimes as the Gorans - for the name of its people: 'Mountain People' or 'Highlanders.'

History

The Gora is the region inhabited by the Goran, and also the name used to identify the inhabitants of this region. The region is first mentioned in 1348 in the edict of Serbian Emperor Stefan Dušan, along with seven other Goran-populated villages that were subsumed by the Monastery of Saint Archangel at Prizren at that time.

During the 6th and 7th century, Slavic tribes moved into the Balkans, including the Gora region. The region fell under rule of the Bulgarian Empireies from the 800s AD, then later part of the Serbian Kingdom. Mountainous regions, such as Gora, seemed to have served as refuges for the pre-Slavic peoples. Adopting life of transhumance, many historians beleive that such peoples took to the mountains as opposed to the lowland valleys preferred by the agriculturalist Slavs. Albanian scholars explain the Gorani's Slavic language as a result of hundred's of years of rule by Slavic powers. Slavic scholars instead argue that Gorani are in fact Slavic peoples that actively assimilated any original inhabitants which might have been present.

In 1455, Gora was conquered by the Ottoman Turks as it defeated the disjointed coalitian of Christian pwers (Byzantine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary). Gora became a part of the Beylerbeyluk of Rumelia, or specifically, the Sanjak of Prizren. From the end of the 16th century, a process of assimilation into Ottoman society henceforth began, mostly by way of conversion to Islam. Being a remote, isolated area Serbian Orthodoxy was not as inghrained into the population as in other regions. Thus the process of Islamization was rapid as many Gorani converted to escape the discriminatory taxes against non-Muslims and to enjoy the benefits of being part of the ruling Millet. Ddozens of mosques sprung up across the Gora region (many have had to be rebuilt, due to the Serb invasions of the late 19th century, which destroyed many of the area's mosques, and also the oppressive conditions of Albania during Hoxha's regime). The Goran continue to maintain a religious hybridity of sorts - while steadfast Muslims, they continue to maintain and observe a number of Christian traditions and holidays, blended in a manner quite common in Albanian culture (see Rose Wilder Lane, Edith Durham, and Miranda Vickers), with observance of certain Saint's days and their acknowledging of the Bogomil.

Because of Gora's highly isolated location in and around Albania's mountainous northern region, the difficult terrain aided the Goran in resisting first the Slavic and later the Ottoman invasions. Migrations to escape the Ottoman invasion did occur, as they did in Albania in the 14th century, when many Albanians fled to Italy, Egypt, Syria and the Ukraine. These migrations were repeated several centuries thenceforth when many Goran, hemmed in by both Yugoslav and Albanian authoritarian regimes, fled the region. Many surfaced in America, where a significant diaspora has emerged (primarily in California). Migrations from Gora during the Ottoman era resulted in two significant waves: the first 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 First Balkan War in 1912 the Serbian Army captured 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. After 1918 they were integrated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The troubles in the time of WWI, as well as the difficult period between 1919-20 were characterized by drought, causing famine and much poverty for the Gorans. This paradigm also incited migrations to Kosovo's larger city, Prizren and Tetovo in Macedonia. Disease and hunger in the post-communist era in Albania have caused a general downfall of the Gorani population, mostly due to migration out of villages for urban centers like Shkodra and Tirana.

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 1941-1944 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. [2]. 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 Kosovo provisional institutions opened a school in Gora to teach the Bosnian language; many Gorani refused 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 Romani refugees.

Language

A geographical distribution of the Torlak dialect in former Yugoslavia, with marked Gora area

The Gorani spoken dialect is called "Nasinske", which means "Ours" (Нашински). It is a Torlak dialect with some influences from Turkish, Arabic and Albanian. Nazif Docle, who published the first Gorani-Albanian dictionary, defines the language as "a Bulgarian dialect, similar to the Bulgarian dialects spoken in Northwest Macedonia".[3]

Most Goran in the region of Gora now speak Albanian as their mother tongue.[citation needed], though statistics on exactly how many is still unknown. 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.

Population

Former Gora municipality in Kosovo, marked in blue

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, where large in-migrations to Albania's capital, Tirana, have occurred. Most Goran 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 again 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, Gorani live in eleven villages centered around Shishtavec in the Kukës region.

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, and following escape from communist Albania and socialist Yugoslavia in the late-1940s, America (particularly New York and Los Angeles).

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 Goran folk music includes a two-beat dance called "kolo" ('circle'), 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, kolos 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.

Notable Gorani

See also

References

  1. ^ Goran speech by dr. Radivoje Mladenovic Template:Sr icon
  2. ^ http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8116643
  3. ^ 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)
  4. ^ Template:PDFlink, UNHCR Kosovo, June 2004

External links

Video clips

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