Posted on 07/02/2013 2:49:35 PM PDT by Ravnagora
Battle of Kosovo 1389 / Adam Stefanovic, 1870-1871
Niti cemo se pokoriti, niti ukloniti!
(We shall neither submit, nor yield!)
...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." ...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.
(Excerpt) Read more at heroesofserbia.com ...
Ping.
Bump!
The Serbs are a brave, Christian people. There are no seats in their churches—they stand. And there is no heat. And their services last hours. Christ is their Savior.
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