Did You Know What Others Have to Say about Us?
The Vlasi in Macedonian [FYROM], tribal shepherds almost up to the present, have always made special kinds of thick covers, characterised by their colours. Jewelry has a particular place in the Macedonian folk arts as an integral part of the national costumes together with embroidery, representing its most decorative features… Macedonian jewelry can be found ...
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On the Standardization of the Aromanian System of Writing
The Bituli-Macedonia Symposium of August 1997 by Tiberius Cunia INTRODUCTION The Aromanians started writing in their language in a more systematic way, a little over 100 years ago, and the first writings were associated with the national movement that contributed to the opening of Romanian schools in Macedonia. Because of the belief, at that time, ...
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Community News
New Members The Society warmly welcomes the following new members: George I. Topala Munster, IN Peter S. Zegras Southport, CT Tami Topalu Richmond, VA Marius Vertan Schaumburg, IL Lara Lazar Easton, CT Peter Profesta Brooklyn, NY Alexander Profesta Brooklyn, NY We are omitting other community news in this issue in order to feature ...
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The Spark and the New Leaf: The Aromanians of Macedonia
Introduction: Researching the Aromanians of Macedonia My sabbatical research on the Aromanians of Macedonia (former Yugoslavia) began in late March 1999, and I left Macedonia on January 23, 2000. My husband Phillip Guddemi, a cultural anthropologist, was with me to assist with the research. Our arrival corresponded with the beginnings of the Kosovo war, which ...
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Vlachs on the Web
· Check out Spyros Mentis’s excellent Homepage for KEFALOVRISO, a Vlach village in the district of Pogonisi, Greece, near the Albanian border. There are village photos, articles from the local newspaper (in Greek) and audio samples of the haunting clarino music the region, as well as a live recording of a Vlach wedding in 1989. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/1473/smentis/ · The CLOISTER OF THE ...
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Community News
New Members · The Society warmly welcomes the following new members: Dumitru Suti Bridgeport, CT Elizabeth Lupu Mondschein Lake Havasu City, AZ Nicholas Mitrokostas So. Yarmouth, MA Florica Franga Bronx, NY Mihai Caragiu Pullman, WA News from Albania · ELBASAN – a small Vlach association has recently been organized to represent Elbasan’s vanishing Aromanian remnant. · ERSEKE – Care International has ...
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Nomad of the Balkans
Part I: 1998 I visited the Balkans four times in 1998. Retirement has brought many advantages. Threatened with a party to celebrate my sixtieth birthday I flew out to Albania on April 1st and spent a solitary birthday in the Hotel Dajti, Tirana. My main purpose was to find out whether Albania was safe. I ...
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Did You Know What Others Have to Say about Us?
In the early decades of the nineteenth century Greece, Serbia, and Romania emerged as independent states as a result of national revolts against Ottoman rule. These newly formed states then continued the process of nation building by cultivating a shared national identity with all the means at their disposal—the military, the civil service, and the ...
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Vlach Map of Albania
The map “Most important settlements of the Aromanians in Albania” has been graciously provided by Dr. Thede Kahl (Institut für Geographie, Universität Münster) and is based on the author’s original fieldwork in Albania 1995-6 and the following sources: Burileanu, Constantin N.: De la Românii din Albania (About the Romanians of Albania; Romanian). Bucureşti 1906. Capidan, Theodor: Românii din Albania (The Romanians of ...
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The Albanian Aromanians´Awakening: Identity Politics and Conflicts in Post-Communist Albania
Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from a paper published in March 1999 by the European Centre for Minority Issues as ECMI Working Paper # 3, and is reprinted with the kind permission of the author. All copyrights remain with the author. Over a decade ago Ernest Gellner claimed that [T]here is a very large ...
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Welshman and Vlach? The Forgotten Story of Dafydd Ellis
Dafydd Ellis On the 15th of June 1918, a young Welsh soldier poet vanished from a British Forces camp a few miles north of Salonica. This was not the usual case of a soldier reported missing following a military encounter. On the contrary, he disappeared from the relatively tranquil surroundings of a field hospital far ...
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Community News
New Members The Society warmly welcomes the following new supporter: Horea Hristu………………. Bridgeport, CT Deaths The Society mourns the passing of several pillars of our community and extends its deepest sympathies to their families: —Modi Bici of Fairfield, Conn., a longtime member of the Society Farsarotul; —Aspasia Stambelu of New York, NY, another anchor of our community; ...
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Vanishing Languages
When the last speakers go, they take with them their history and culture Editor’s Note: The following text originally appeared in the Feb/March 1997 issue of Civilization, the magazine of the Library of Congress, & is reprinted with the kind permission of the author. There’s a Welsh proverb I’ve known for as long as I can remember: “Cenedl ...
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Did You Know What Others Have to Say about Us?
The road to Voskopojë climbs through sparse groves of cedar, deforested by timber smugglers after the fall of the regime. The half-muffled Mercedes labors upward, swerving around the largest rocks in the roadway, pitching and yawing like an overloaded barge in the ruts. Then as we top a rise, a green valley bisected by a ...
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The Vlachs of Greece
In writing about the small but interesting groups of Vlachs or Aromanians1 in Greece it is almost impossible to avoid discussing similar communities in other parts of the Balkans. Their past history is almost identical, their present situation very different. Under the Byzantine and Ottoman empires there were obviously large numbers of Vlachs living in what ...
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The Unwritten Places
Editor’s note: We are delighted to offer these excerpts from Tim Salmon’s extraordinary new book, The Unwritten Places, a sensitive account of his travels with Greek and Vlach shepherds. We thank Tim Salmon and his publisher John Chapple for their kind permission to reprint these sections. The book is now available through the Society’s bookstore; see ...
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In the Realm of the Last Golden Fleece
A Review THE UNWRITTEN PLACES by Tim Salmon, Lycabettus Press, Athens (1995) Put aside for the moment Odysseus’ arduous journey, involving battles with the vengeful Neptune and optically challenged Cyclops; and ignore Jason and the Argonauts’ harrowing voyage in search of the Golden Fleece. Instead, devour immediately this wonderful book, which deserves a place of ...
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Community News
New Members The Society warmly welcomes the following new members: Patricia J. Appuzo Fairfield, CT Richard Bicki Providence, RI Arthur Gravanis Southport, CT Elissa Mondschein Oakland, CA Deaths The Society mourns the passing of two pillars of our community and extends its deepest sympathies to their families: John A. BABU, 88, born in Deshnitsa, Albania. ...
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The Case of the Vlachs: Should a Small, Minority Ethnic Group in the Balkans Keep a Low Profile?
Authors’ Note: The following text is modified from a paper delivered on April 13, 1996, at the Eastern Bloc Scholars Conference, University of California at Davis. It does not reflect any changes in the situation in the Balkans since that time. The characterization of political forces and positions reflects our best analysis of that time; these ...
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Did You Know What Others Have to Say about Us?
Though they think nothing of roughing it themselves, they are appalled at the idea of somebody else doing so, especially an educated person from the city. AWe are hardened to it–sklira-goyiméni, they say. It is part of a shepherd’s life, but the idea of choosing hardship, and even more the idea that enduring hardship could ...
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