Community News
We welcome with great pleasure new member Terry A. Terezi of Florida, whose parents hailed from the once famous town of Voskopolje. As announced by President Robert Nicola at the 90th Anniversary Dinner Dance, the Society wishes to express its deepest appreciation to Ms. Margaret Caciavely for her generous donation in memory of her late ...
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The Tamposi Brothers, Pioneers in American Civil Aviation
Nick, Jim and Sam. With such familiar American names they could be three brothers in any Yankee family. But their common names mislead us, for they belong to three very uncommon men. They are the stalwart sons of George and Aspasia Tamposi, who immigrated here from the mountain hamlet of Avdhella, Greece, at the start ...
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A Report on the Aromani in Romania
AUTHOR’S PREFACE This study was conducted over 18 months ago and the following report submitted to the Society Farsarotul General Assembly in November 1992. Very little has changed for the Aromani in Romania since that time. Romania is in economic and political turmoil with tremendous inflation, unemployment and a self-promoting leadership. The Romanians and Aromani continue their struggle to ...
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From the Editor
After a spurt of activity during the 1980s, the Vlach cultural revival has stalled. The reasons are not hard to find. Greek nationalism was brought to a fever pitch by the breakup of Yugoslavia and attempted creation of a republic named Macedonia, and now over the question of “Northern Epirus” (southern Albania, long claimed by ...
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An Interview with Dr. Hristo N. Colakovski
CORRESPONDENT’S PREFACE: This piece developed in the first three months of 1993. Because of mutual busy schedules, I incorporated Hristo’s written responses to my initial questionnaire with an 11 March 93 interview. Since I also drew upon discussions held with Dr. Colakovski since he first arrived in the United States four years ago, I asked ...
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Community News
We welcome with great pleasure our newest member, Mr. Ovidiu Ocrain of Fairfield, CT. The number of new members increased markedly when the Newsletter first began publication, but it has since slowed down. If you like our publication but are not a member, we encourage you to join the Society Farsarotul; if you are already ...
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Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I would like to thank Helen Winnifrith for sharing her extraordinary and eye opening visit to Albania in the last Newsletter. I respected her candor, compassion and humor — who could forget that chicken in Voskopojë — and was deeply moved by her various encounters with our community there. Robert N. Talabac Astoria, ...
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Some Extraordinary Vlachs
In the past few months, I have been thinking of some of our people who have done extraordinary things and have distinguished themselves in a wide range of undertakings. Let me share some portraits of these people with you. Dermatology and Miniature Cameras I will begin with the late Dr. Haralambie Cicma, a dermatologist. As a ...
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The Vlachs in Albania A Travel Memoir and Oral History
My father left Albania in 1916, but even fifty years later he enjoyed telling me how difficult his journey to the United States had been. By this he meant not the seaward leg of the voyage, as other immigrants might, but the route on land. “Balkan” is Turkish for mountain, and it is notoriously difficult ...
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A Biography of Nicholas A. Sholler, MD
The Society Farsarotul presented its 1992 Distinguished Service Award to one of our most beloved leaders, Nicholas A. Sholler, MD, at our 89th Anniversary Celebration, held on June 13th, 1992 at the Fairfield University Oak Room. The son of Andrea and Vasila Vanghele Shola, Nicholas A. Sholler was born in Korce, Albania. Variants of his family name ...
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News about Albania
We received this notice in slightly imperfect English from the Cultural Association “Aremenli din Albania”: R E S O L U T I O N The first Conference of the Association “Aromanians of Albania,” which gathered today on April 5, 1992, finished its proceedings successfully. It was an important event for the Aromanian population and ...
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From the Editor
The Balkans are exploding again and although our people are not yet caught up in it, there is a strong possibility that they soon will be. As long as the fighting is contained in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia, most Aromanians will not be directly affected by it. But there are two flashpoints, Kosovo and ...
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Vlach Mythology
Those raised in our cultural tradition know that the Vlachs have plenty of myths. Some of the most popular are about the origin of various tribes, villages, mountains, and monuments. Because our culture is primarily oral and not literary, and the vast majority of our people have traditionally been shy about identifying themselves as Vlachs, ...
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Community News
We welcome with great pleasure the following new members: Virginia Gingras Lincoln, RI Lucas M. Fatsy Fairfield, CT Derek C. Fatsy Fairfield, CT Society Farsarotul member Albert R. Booky, whose father was James Toli Bousbooki from the village of Avdhella in Greece, has recently published a paperback novel that touches upon aspects of Balkan history. Remember ...
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Vignettes of Greece and America
My Grandfather’s Hand-forged Shears These hand-forged shears were made by my grandfather some 150 years ago, making them the oldest Vlach artifact we have in our home here in Providence, Rhode Island. These shears, an icon, and a few Turkish gold coins were the only things we brought with us when we came to the ...
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Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Reading George Moran’s article in the February 1992 Newsletter, “Touring the Vlach Villages of Greece,” brought me back to my family’s 1984 visit to some of the villages mentioned in the article, namely Florina, Volos, and Almyros. We also visited Katerini, Salonica, and Vatohori (formerly Breznitsa), which was the village of my grandfather, ...
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What’s in a Name?
The early membership records of the Society Farsarotul provide us with a great deal of information, including place of birth, parents’ names, and year of membership. I have combed through these early records at length; for me, one of the most interesting things about them is also one of the most obvious: the given names ...
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Community News
We welcome with great pleasure the following new members: Spiro Macris of Wilmington, North Carolina, and Ian Price of Los Angeles, California. We are very pleased to announce the awarding of the first Society Farsarotul Grant of $1,000. to Dr. Spiro Shituni, Chairman of the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of Tirana. Dr. Shituni ...
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From the Editor
Among our community’s several blessings is George Moran, who — aside from being one of the nicest persons I know — is arguably the most knowledgeable person in the world on the subject of the Vlach villages of Greece. For years, I have been trying to persuade George to sit down and share some of ...
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Letter from the President
Dear Members and Friends of the Society Farsarotul: I wanted to take this opportunity to announce to one and all an exciting new initiative we are undertaking here at the Society Farsarotul: our Overseas Task Force. Immigrant communities such as ours are most alive when they maintain contact with their homelands — in our case, ...
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