No more songs and dances for St. George's Day

Instead of song and dance, roaring, roasting lamb, bathing at dawn for St. George's Day - yesterday at Vreli Ribničke, there was silence at the site of the former barracks, where buildings for Roma and Egyptians have now been built.

Now, as they explained to "Vijesta", they are celebrating Bajram, because they realized that "it is their glory, but they admit that, when there were barracks, everyone celebrated St. George's Day".

"Now is the time. We are all celebrating Eid," he says Tatam Sends, who has been in Montenegro for ten years, and came from Kosovo.

One of the younger residents commented that "Durđevdan was celebrated by their elders, who were servants".

"It is Serbian glory, what does Đurđevdan have to do with us. We have two holidays - Kurban and the Ramadan Bajram," he said.

Šalja states that a few years ago he went swimming in Cijevna, that they knew how to go by van, that everyone was looking forward to St. George's Day.

His neighbor states that until last year he celebrated St. George's Day, and now Bajram.

"I didn't know, now I know it's our Eid. Earlier, we Roma celebrated every holiday, even St. George's Day," he says.

Nejad Balja, who came to visit his in-laws, and who lived for years in the old camp at Vreli, also points out that Eid is now being celebrated.

"I lived here from 1997 to 2013, I remember the old camp, I grew up there. We all celebrated St. George's Day, it used to be song and dance, now everyone celebrates Bajram. We used to go to the Dajbabe monastery," says Balja, who states that he is Egyptian.

He says that in 2013 he returned to Kosovo, that is, to Peć, to his estate.

"I have five sons, grandchildren. I worked here in Montenegro with good people. With uncle Milo Đukanović, Maksimović, who was a very good man, I went to Nikšić to work for him", says Šalja.

One of the older residents, who said he was celebrating St. George's Day, did not want to talk about it. He excused himself to his neighbor that he didn't want to be filmed, so the video was "published all over the Internet".

"Vijesti" made reports from Konik in earlier years, and at that time all Roma claimed that they traditionally go swimming in Cijevna before dawn.

"The night before St. George's Day, no one sleeps, so that the year does not pass in our sleep. With the first rays of the morning, we all go swimming together in Cijevna. On the eve of St. George's Day, we pick St. George's Day flowers to decorate our homes, but our children also bathe in water with flowers and egg yolks, and this has been part of the Roma tradition for centuries. On the third day of St. George's Day, we all go to the Dajbabe monastery, for the betterment of the family", they said earlier.

St. George's Day was celebrated regardless of religious affiliation, and on that day all Roma want to look as festive as possible and for their table to be as sumptuous and rich as possible.

"Erdelezi (Georges Day) is a three-day holiday, where the first day is the most solemn day when a lamb is sacrificed to the God of Spring, and it is mandatory for every family to do so. It coincides in date with the Orthodox holiday of St. George, and it has nothing to do with that holiday. However, there are many who confuse these two holidays", he states in the author's text in the publication of the Civic Alliance. Elvis Berisha, executive director of the Roma youth organization "Walk with us - Phiren amenca" and director of the first Roma portal RomaNet.

Erdelezi, he stated, is the beginning of summer for Roma and after that holiday they leave their winter residences and go to the so-called "pečalba" during the whole summer, returning in November. In the same text, which was published last year, Beriša cites the results of the research conducted by the NGO "Koračajte sa nama - Phiren Amenca" among high school students from all nine high schools in Podgorica.

According to the results, 955, i.e. 74 percent of respondents, did not know what the holidays are in Roma culture and tradition. Those who answered that question (23 percent) said that St. George's Day is a Roma holiday, while a small percentage of them mentioned Bajram and Vasilica as Roma holidays.

"Only one high school student knew that Roma celebrate Vasilica, and almost none of the others had any knowledge of what Roma holidays are. This information is alarming for Montenegro, a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country," said Beriša at the time.

Vasilica is a celebration that begins on January 14, depending on where the Roma live, and lasts up to three days, while in some places it even lasts until the end of January.

"At that time, feathered animals are offered as sacrifices, mostly in odd numbers, and the number depends on the wealth and number of family members," Beriša wrote.

He mentioned Bibi (Aunt) as the second, which is celebrated for at least two days. The first day is dedicated to the dead, and on that day, says Beriša, there is no celebration.

"They visit graves and bring food to their dead. On the second day, they look for the biggest and thickest tree at the end of the town or village, where they bring gifts to their aunts and leave them there. On that day, a host is determined who must organize it all and the host of that evening, where all the Roma of that place must come," writes Beriša.

How Haiderlez was welcomed in Titograd

In the author's text "Meeting Haiderlez" Ajdin Rakić writes about the meaning of that holiday among various peoples and states that in Podgorica there was an awareness of Haiderlez as the beginning of summer. He quotes the professor Ali Nametka, who, while staying in Podgorica in the period 1933-1935, recorded, among other things, a short legend about Đurđevo:

"The day before St. George's Day (according to the old calendar), which Muslims in Titograd call Hajdarelez (from Hidr and Ilijas, the good spirits of land and sea, who meet on that day), buy dried figs, garlic and young cheese. Everything alive rises before dawn. Barren women bathe under the mill spout (gutter). The houses are decorated with greenery and all kinds of flowers. In the morning, a silver coin is thrown into the water tub (when there was no plumbing and when water was kept in tubs). Flowers and all kinds of greenery are thrown into that tub. All that is taken out again in the evening. Whoever keeps sheep slaughters a lamb for lunch early in the morning. The sheep are taken out onto the ice, given salt and several bullets are fired from a revolver over them. Garlic, young cheese and dried figs are eaten early. For lunch, we make skrobnica (a pie made from crustaceans, butter, cheese and various types of greens)".

The garment further states that the morning begins with the awakening of the household, that the housewife gets up first and wakes up the rest of the household by spraying water.

"If there were betrothed in the time of Hajdarelez, the girls would be sent for a lamb from the bachelor's side. When congratulating Hajdarelez, it is enough to say 'May you be happy Hajdarelez' to get the answer 'Hello,'" Rakić quotes professor Alija.

"It's nice that Professor Nametak recorded this custom, but it's sad that the custom has almost been forgotten. Customs are disappearing just like the spirit of the old town", writes Rakić.