The Role of St. Vitus' Day in Modern Serbian







 







 



Kosovo 



by William Dorich 








 



 



 



 





 





 



 













Dimitrije Djordjevic



The Role of St. Vitus' Dayin Modern Serbian











Niti cemo se pokoriti, niti ukloniti!?

(We shall neither submit, nor yield!)





In 1887, on
the occasion of the celebration of Vidovdan (Saint Vitus' Day) in the
Serbian Monastery of Ravanica, Nikanor, the bishop of Pakrac, addressed
his flock with these words: "I shall not make a long sermon. It is
enough to tell you: Brethren, today is Vidovdan!"
For Serbs, scattered over the central, northern, and western
Balkans, living in 2 independent Serbian states born through
revolutions and wars during the 19th century, as well as subjected to
the Ottoman and Habsburg rule, Vidovdan embodied their "historical
memory." It became synonymous for the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, which took
place on that day, and which determined the Serbian people's collective
and individual destiny. Vidovdan was imbedded in the Serbian ethnic and
national self-awareness. It became the incentive for survival, the
inspiration in the struggle for personal and national liberation. The
myth and legend of Kosovo and Vidovdan were transmitted to posterity by
the popular epic poetry, by the Serbian Orthodox Church, by
intellectuals and historians, as well as by national and political
leaders in modern times. Generations of Serbs and historians divided
the national past into 2 periods: before and after the Kosovo Battle.
Later, following the birth and ascendancy of the modern Serbian state
in the 19th and 20th centuries, 3 kinds of traditions emerged: the old
cult of the Kosovo Battle, the reverence for the 1804-1815 uprisings,
and the commemoration of the 1912-1918 wars. The first marked the
defeat of the medieval Serbian state, the second announced the
beginning and the third the victory of the reborn state.
Among Serbian national holidays, Vidovdan occupied a place of
particular importance. It symbolized the death and resurrection, the
despair and hope, and the end of an epoch and the beginning of a new
era. During the Ottoman rule, it offered a fatherland even before it
was organized. It was woven in the texture of modern Serbian
nationalism in recent times. In 1889, in agreement with religious
authorities, the Serbian government confirmed Vidovdan as the day
consecrated to all those who sacrificed their lives for the faith and
the fatherland. Intentionally, or by historical coincidence, on
Vidovdan 1876 the war against the Ottomans was declared, the 1881
Secret Convention with Austria-Hungary was signed, the 1914 Sarajevo
assassination took place, the 1921 Yugoslav Constitution was
proclaimed, and the 1948 Resolution of the Cominform was declared.
Until the end of World War II, Vidovdan marked the end of the school
year when awards were bestowed upon the best students.
Reference to the past characterized the development of modern
nationalism in Europe during the "age of national renaissance" after
1815. In the search for the "national soul" the celebration of the days
of fallen heroes was to confirm the national identity and unity. In the
study of the cult of St. Vitus' Day among the Serbs my esteemed
colleague and old friend, Professor Ekmecic from Sarajevo, compared
this observance with the "Fete de la Federation" inaugurated in 1790 in
France as a token of the "united and indivisible nation," practically
as in the same manner as Bastille Day or the "Totenfest" introduced by
Wilhelm III in Prussia. The celebration of Vidovdan among the Serbs
expressed, in general terms, similar trends of modern nationalism. But,
at the same time, there was 1 difference. Days celebrating fallen
heroes were in Europe decreed from above, by rulers or governments.
Vidovdan truly emerged among the Serbs from the grassroots, from the
illiterate village community. Until officially celebrated, it already
existed in the people's minds, in oral history, refreshed and adapted
in epic ballads as a part of the folk tradition. This tradition was
spread by Serbian migrations over the regions in which they settled
during the Ottoman period. At the beginning, it contributed to the
feelings of ethnic unity of the Serbs and, later, to their affiliation
with their modern nation.
From the day of their conversion to Christianity the South
Slavs celebrated St. Vitus' Day, dedicated to an Italian saint from
Lucania. The conservative peasant community for centuries preserved
customs related to the pagan god Svevid or Vid, the Slavic name for St.
Vitus. According to Milan Milicevic, in the 1880's peasant girls would
soak the herb "vidovica" in water and wash their faces with it.
However, the Battle of Kosovo, which took place on the saint's day,
gave another meaning to it. According to peasants's belief, the rivers
will turn red on Vidovdan, colored by the blood of fallen heroes at
Kosovo. After the battle, Kraljevic Marko fell asleep to wake up on the
day when Kosovo will be avenged. In Montenegro women wore black scarves
around their heads and the men's caps were embroidered with black for
mourning the Vidovdan Kosovo Battle. At the beginning of the 19th
century, the Serbian Church marked Vidovdan with red letters in
religious calendars.
Seeded in the people's mind through being chanted by peasant
bards, whose poems Vuk Karadzic collected, the Vidovdan message was
further modified and adapted to contemporary needs of the modern epoch.
Historians and intellectuals referred to the cult of Vidovdan in
transforming the instinctive popular national feelings into modern,
mass nationalism. Supported by the Church, the leaders of the gradually
developing Serbian statehood in the 19th century offered their support
to the Vidovdan legacy.
Although Karadjordje appeared in the popular mind as the
avenger of Kosovo, the leadership of the 1804 Serbian uprising extolled
the medieval state tradition and the cult of Stefan, the First Crowned
King. It symbolized the ascendancy of statehood, while Kosovo meant its
collapse. The tragic defeat suffered in 1813 invigorated the memory of
the sacrifice of 2 central figures of the Vidovdan myth: the martyrdom
of Prince Lazar and the heroic regicide of Milos Obilic. During the
reign of the Obrenovici (1815-1842), the accent was placed on the 1815
uprising, while the cult of the previous 1804-1813 movement was
deliberately neglected. Along with the further consolidation and
organization of the Serbian state, as well as through the extension of
the Serbian national program, the legacy of Emperor Dusan the Mighty
was brought into focus. Garasanin's Nacertanije, written in 1844,
quoted the crucial effects of the Kosovo Battle, but found the
country's future in the restoration of the pre-Kosovo Serbian state
tradition. Both Serbian dynasties, the Obrenovici and Karadjordjevici,
presented themselves as heirs and successors of medieval rulers. The
later organized political parties, during the last decades of the
century, modified the Vidovdan message according to their ideological
and political polarizations. The conservatives remembered Prince
Lazar's oath on the eve of Vidovdan, which called for unity. Domestic
political dissent caused, according to them, the 1389 defeat. On the
contrary, the liberals referred to the democratic resistance of the
people, to the message of the Mother Jugovic and the servant Goluban,
and the popular struggle for freedom.
Whatever the pragmatic approach to the Kosovo message might be,
Vidovdan continued to be commemorated by the public at large. As a
writer from Vojvodina described its influence, "... the cult of Kosovo
heroes was presented to children at Christmas, at the slava, and was
quoted in proverbs and curses."
The Church took the leading role in organizing Vidovdan
commemorations during the first decades of the century. Ecclesiastical
calendars presented Vidovdan as the "Emperor Lazar's Day," mentioning
St. Vitus only additionally. Vidovdan was dedicated to the day of
"national grievance and repentance." Vidovdan was considered in general
as the day of national mourning. Later on, during the last decades of
the century, the churches were on Vidovdan draped in black, black flags
were put out on houses, national standards were at half-mast, and
invitations for the commemoration were printed with black margins.
The cult of Vidovdan blossomed during the period of romanticism
in the 1850's and 1860's. Formed in 1847, the Society of Serbian Youth
chose Vidovdan for the founding day when "our heroic forefathers
sacrificed themselves for freedom." A founding member made the
inflammatory appeal: "Do we will, can we, do we dare to go to Kosovo!"
Historians of the romanticist school idealized the past. Portraits of
Kosovo warriors were reproduced and displayed in peasant and urban
homes. Vidovdan became the major topic in literature, dramatic arts,
and paintings. Student associations glorified the sacrifice of their
ancestors, which culminated in the national euphoria of the Omladina in
the 1870's.
While the Church, the youth, and the nationalistic public were
commemorating Vidovdan, the state authorities were forced to take a
cautious attitude. Until 1878, Serbia was in a vassal relationship with
the Ottoman Empire. The international status of Serbia was fragile,
which was manifested during the Crimean War, national upheavals during
the 1860's, and the eruption of the Eastern Crisis in 1875. Until 1867,
Turkish nizams were still patrolling the streets of Belgrade, while the
pasha was residing in the city's fortress. Serbian governments were
involved in underground revolutionary activities aiming toward the
liberation and unification of Serbs then under Habsburg and Ottoman
rule. However, to openly and officially organize celebrations and
commemorations of a battle in which the Serbs fought the Turks and 1 of
their knights assassinated the sultan would be an affront to the
Ottoman suzerain. The first public celebration of Vidovdan took place
in the Beograd reading room in 1847. But when in 1851 state officials
participated in the organization of Vidovdan festivities, the Ottomans
protested vehemently and the Serbian government had to fire the
incriminated officials. In 1865, when invited to write the text for the
Serbian national anthem, the poet Jovan Jovanovic-Zmaj from Novi Sad
was explicitly warned from Belgrade not to mention Vidovdan, in regard
to the Turkish reaction. With the consolidation of the Serbian
international position and the 1878 recognized independence, the
situation improved, although the constant threat of Ottoman reactions
was present until the 20th century. In 1882, when Serbia was proclaimed
a kingdom, King Milan was named "The First Crowned King After Kosovo."
In that moment references to the past were mainly used for domestic
political purposes.
During the 19th century, Vidovdan was com-memorated among Serbs
in the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, under the watchful eye of the
respective authorities, sensitive to the outburst of Serbian national
feelings. The Vidovdan cult was the strongest in Vojvodina, due to the
advanced Serbian community and the role which the Church played in it.
Especially after the revolutionary days of 1848, Vidovdan was
remembered at church gatherings, popular fairs, and youth festivals as
a token of national solidarity, pride, and self-confidence. From 1869
the Orthodox calendars in Bosnia dedicated Vidovdan as the day of
"Emperor Lazar, Patriarch Yephremos, and the Martyr Vitus." When the
1875 uprising started in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the call addressed to
peasants to join the movement quoted almost verbatim Prince Lazar's
oath on the eve of Vidovdan 1389.
Vidovdan found its place in the formative stage of the Yugoslav
movement in Croatia. In 1840 the day was celebrated by students of the
Zagreb seminary. Danica Ilirska, the journal of the Illyrian movement,
published Kosovo epic poems. Its leader, Ljudevit Gaj, wrote in 1853 a
series of essays on Vidovdan. On the occasion of the 500th anniversary
of the Kosovo Battle in 1889 a solemn session of the Yugoslav Academy
of Sciences and Arts was held in Zagreb, with speeches by the 2 most
prominent Croatian scholars:Franjo Racki and Toma Maretic. At the
beginning of the 20th century, the world-famous Croatian sculptor Ivan
Mestrovic designed the "Vidovdanski Hram" (St. Vitus Temple). It was
never realized, although the most important figures from the Kosovo
epic were already made in marble in 1908. Mestrovic's artistic vision
was the greatest glorification of Vidovdan ever attempted.
The memory of Vidovdan was kept alive among the Serbs in the
Ottoman Empire. The Orthodox seminary in Prizren, founded in 1871,
became the nursery of the Vidovdan cult. The students association,
"Rastko," named after St. Sava's lay name, commemorated Vidovdan in
order to promote national propaganda, and was exposed to the constant
pressure of the Ottoman-Albanian hostile environment.
The outburst of Serbian national dynamism at the dawn of the
20th century further enlivened the cult of Vidovdan. To "avenge Kosovo"
became the slogan of the day. Among the Serbian and Montenegrin war
aims in the 1912 war, the priority was to reconquer and liberate
Kosovo. As a result, the campaign had the character of a holy war.
After the victory, students and citizens visited the Kosovo
monasteries. Visits were scheduled mainly on Vidovdan to attend the
solemn service in Gracanica. It was there in 1914 that a group of
students from Sarajevo learned the news of the assassination of Franz
Ferdinand. There is no doubt that Gavrilo Princip, planning the
regicide, was greatly influenced by the aura of deity which the Bosnian
nationalistic youth assigned to Milos Obilic, as well as by Vidovdan,
the day when the Austrian crown prince visited the Bosnian capital.
The Vidovdan cult reappeared again during World War I, when the
Serbian army retreated to Kosovo, on its exodus to the Adriatic shores.
In that dramatic moment the flamboyant Vojvoda Misic proposed a
counter-offensive from Kosovo, imbued with the same Vidovdan
alternative to win or to perish.
Vidovdan was celebrated in British schools during the war. The
3rd detachment of volunteers from the United States embroidered on
their flag "Vidovdanski borci iz Amerike," and a group of volunteers on
the Salonika front took the name "Vidovdanski borci."
During the century from 1889 until 1989, celebrations of
centenaries of the Kosovo Battle mirrored the spirit of the people and
the needs of the times in which they lived. In 1889, on the occasion of
the 500th anniversary commemoration, Serbia was facing the crisis
caused by the domestic struggle for constitutionalism and
parliamentarism, the victory of liberalism enacted by the 1888
Constitution, followed by the abdication of King Milan and the
succession to the throne of his minor son, Alexander. The popular and
official celebration of Vidovdan 1889 had, besides the national cause,
the desire to consolidate the shaken dynasty and to strengthen the new
liberal regime. On Vidovdan, June 15th (by the old calendar) a solemn
requiem to the Kosovo warriors was held in Krusevac, the ancient
capital of Prince Lazar, and the foundation of the monument dedicated
to the Kosovo martyrs was laid. In the following days the young King
Alexander was anointed in the Zica Monastery as "the first anointed
Serbian king after Kosovo." The anniversary was celebrated in
Montenegro, Vojvodina, and other parts where Serbs Iived.
In 1939, 50 years later, the 550th anniversary of Vidovdan was
commemorated in the atmosphere of the coming crisis and under the
stormy clouds which announced to Europe the outbreak of World War II.
Requiems of Vidovdan in Gracanica, both Monasteries of Ravanica in
Resava and Srem, as well as the 2 Lazarica Churches in Krusevac and
Dalmatia, were held in the presence of the representatives of the
government and the army, the military, and national societies. They
delivered the message to the expected invader: "Niti cemo se pokoriti,
niti ukloniti!" (We shall neither submit, nor yield!).
The Serbian people, faithful to their historical legacy, paid
dearly for this commitment during the World War II. Under the new
Communist regime imposed after the end of the war, public and official
commemorations of Vidovdan were not allowed, and the Vidovdan memory
was intentionally swept under the carpet. The only organization which
kept it alive for more than 40 years was the Serbian Orthodox Church.
However, the destruction of the historical legacy proved to be an
illusion. The national revival of the Serbs, subjected to an artificial
"national symmetry" in the Yugoslav multinational state, which divided
them and deprived them of authority over their own territory, erupted
like a volcano in recent years. The Vidovdan message became resurrected
as a cornerstone in Serbian history. As happened in centuries past, the
cults of St. Sava and Kosovo became again the cement to unify the
nation in the struggle for national and human rights. On the eve of
Vidovdan 1989 the splendid, new Church of Saint Sava was consecrated in
Belgrade, and the next day over one-and-a-half million Serbs from all
over the country attended the 600 years requiem to the Kosovo martyrs
in Gracanica, as well as the official ceremony in Gazimestan, where the
1389 Battle took place. Popular gatherings in Romanija (Bosnia) and
Knin (Croatia) followed. Scholarly symposia in Belgrade, Sarajevo, and
other places dealt with the historical importance of the 1389 Battle
for the Serbs, Yugoslavs, the Balkans, and Europe.
The historical heritage has a double meaning: that of fiction
and that of reality. It mirrors the past and projects the future. The
Vidovdan message was and is for the Serbs, wherever they live, a token
of their past and present destinies.