Sworn virgin

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Young sworn virgin from Selca, Albania , in the company of men of the Kelmendi tribe (documented by Edith Durham , 1908)

As a sworn virgin (often sworn Virgin , vow virginity or Albanian Man Woman ; Albanian  burrnesha or virgjinesha ; English sworn virgin ) is on the Balkans called a woman who assumes the role of a man in her family and in society and are completely on sexual relations , Marriage and children renounced. The woman swears an oath before the elders of the church or the tribe and is treated as a man from then on. She wears men's clothes and weapons and can take on the position of head of the family. The main causes of this behavior are avoidance of unwanted marriage or the lack of a male head of the family.

At the present time there are still a few dozen sworn virgins living in Albania , all of them from the traditionalist north of the country. In recent years, their particular way of life has come into the focus of scientific research and the media.

distribution

A 47 year old sworn virgin in Rapsha in the Hoti area, Albania (documented by Edith Durham , 1908)

Western European travelers and researchers first reported on the existence of sworn virgins at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. This way of life occurred with Albanians , Southern Slavs and Roma and rarely also with Aromanians and Greeks and was not tied to a particular denomination. It was limited to remote rural areas where people lived in archaic tribal and family structures. While this behavior was still widespread among these peoples into the 20th century, social modernization in the last few decades has resulted in an extensive extinction of the way of life. Only in Albania still live around 40 sworn virgins.

A similar role of gender swap can be found in Afghanistan with the Batscha Poschi ("those who are dressed like boys"): daughters who have to replace a missing husband and breadwinner in the household and who can also go to work in male guise, something for women is undesirable.

causes

Only by symbolically converting to the male sex could a woman avoid an arranged marriage in the tribal societies of Southeast Europe. By living as a man from then on, she spared herself and her family the dishonor that would otherwise inevitably have resulted from breaking a vows. The second important reason for living as a sworn virgin was the lack of a male head of the family, leaving the women in the family defenseless and the family in question not having a seat on the council of the ward or the tribe. If no son could succeed, an unmarried daughter stepped in, lived as a man and was head of the family. With a sworn virgin at the head of the family, the problem could be resolved for at least a generation. The continued existence of the family was only guaranteed if there were underage boys still alive who could later take the place of their aunt.

Legal basis

«Kanuni i Malevet të Shypnís shliron e perjashton:“ VIII. Virginat (fêmnat, qi veshen si burrë): S 'veçohen prej grásh tjera, posë qi jânë të lira me nðêjë nðer burra, porsè pá tager zânit e kuvenðit. »

"The law of the Albanian mountains exempts and exempts:" 8. the virgins (so-called virgjinat , these are girls who wear men's clothes). They are not treated separately from the other women, only they are free to be among the men, but without a vote (even if a seat) in the council. "

- Kanun : Book 12: Liberation and Exceptions, Chapter 1: Participants in Exceptions

The woman appeared before a committee made up of the twelve most important men in the village and vowed sexual abstinence . After that, she was able to carry arms and take over the running of the family. In this role she was recognized and respected as a full member in the male-dominated society. Although the assumption of the male role was formally voluntary, the pressure from the clan members often played a decisive role. For northern Albania the rights of sworn virgins are regulated in common law, the Kanun . They are allowed to be among men and have a seat on the council (but without voting rights). They were also entitled to inheritance. The assumption of male rights and duties also meant that the sworn virgins had to continue their relatives' blood feuds.

behavior

The sworn virgins largely adopt male behavior: they dress like men, carry weapons, go hunting and are allowed to use privileges reserved for various men, such as tobacco and alcohol consumption . The question “A je burrnesh?” (Albanian for “Are you as strong as a man?”) Was a common greeting in northern Albania in the 1990s.

See also

literature

  • Robert Elsie : Sworn Virgin. In: Historical dictionary of Albania (= European historical dictionaries. Volume 42). Lanham 2004, ISBN 0-8108-4872-4 , pp. 405-406 (English).
  • Pepa Hristova (photos), Sophia Greiff, Danail Yannick (text): Sworn Virgins / Pepa Hristova . Ed .: FC Gundlach . Kehrer, Heidelberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86828-347-1 (English, illustrated book portrait and landscape photography; reading sample ).
  • René Grémaux: Woman Becomes Man in the Balkans. In: Gilbert Herdt (Ed.): Third Sex Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History. Zone Books, New York 1996, ISBN 0-942299-82-5 (English).
  • Alice Munro: The Albanian Virgin . In: Open Secrets. 1994, ISBN 0-679-43575-1 (fiction; German: Open Secrets. ISBN 3-608-93371-9 ).
  • Susan E. Pritchett Post: The Myth of the Burrnesh. Center for South East European Studies, London 1999 (English).
  • Susanne Schröter : FeMale: About the boundaries between the sexes . Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt 2002, ISBN 3-596-15716-1 .
  • Antonia Young: Women Who Become Men: Albanian Sworn Virgins. Berg, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-85973-335-2 (English).

Movies

  • 2006: Elvira Dones : Sworn Virgins (English), feature film.
  • 2016: Fathia Bazi: Wild Flower (Albanian with English subtitles), documentary, Bluetone Stories.
  • 2019: Filmkantine: Free at any price. Albania's sworn virgins , documentary commissioned by ZDF.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dan Bilefsky: Virgins who became men In: Welt am Sonntag. June 29, 2008, accessed October 12, 2019.
  2. ↑ Dan Bilefsky: Albanian Custom Fades: Woman as Family Man. In: The New York Times . June 25, 2008 (English), accessed October 12, 2019.
  3. ↑ Forever Male (about the photo series "Sworn Virgins" by photographer Pepa Hristova). In: L-Mag January / February 2019, pp. 41–45 ( PDF, 11.1MB ).
  4. ↑ Anna Fischhaber: "bacha posh" in Afghanistan: A fake son is better than none. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . March 12, 2015, accessed on March 15, 2020.
    Video from faz : “Batscha Poschi” in Afghanistan: When daughters have to become sons on YouTube, April 23, 2018, accessed on March 15, 2020 (1:14 minutes).
  5. ↑ Original after Shtjefën Gjeçov: Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit - The Code of Lekë Dukagjini . Ed .: Leonard Fox. Gjonlekaj Publishing Company, New York 1989, ISBN 0-9622141-0-8 , pp. 215 . ; Translation after Robert Elsie (ed.): The Kanun . Dukagjini Publishing House, Peja 2001, p. 261/262 .
  6. ↑ Program text : The Kanun is alive. In: oe1.orf.at. April 8, 2017, accessed October 12, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Robert Elsie (ed.): The Kanun des Lekë Dukagjini . Dukagjini Publishing House, Peja 2001, “12. Book, Chapter 1, Paragraph 8: Girls who wear men's clothes ”, p. 206 .
  8. ^ Susan E. Pritchett Post: Women in Modern Albania: Firsthand Accounts of Culture and Conditions from Over 200 Interviews. McFarland, Jefferson NC 1998, ISBN 0-7864-0468-X , p. 57.
  9. ^ Rahne Alexander: Albania - Film on Historical Custom of Sworn Virgin Oath for Male Rights - Kanun Patriarchal Code. In: Womans UN Report Network (WUNRN). December 25, 2007, accessed October 12, 2019.
  10. ↑ Free at any price. Albania's sworn virgins , accompanying text on the ARTE website, Internet Archive, October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2019.