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The Interviews- Page 10
Danu�
Dubovići
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Watch
a Video
excerpt of the interview
"During
the last war, I stayed here, with my wife. The whole Mahala was empty. We
were here- just us and the dogs."
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Kosovo
Polje
DD: My
name is Danu�
Dubovići; I am from Kosovo Polje. We
lived in Bresje*, for 45 years, and then we moved here.
(*
Bresje is a Serb/ Roma enclave one kilometer south of Kosovo Polje.)
My
father�s name was Dilji; He was also from Bresje.
We are Roma Bugurdjije, and we are blacksmiths.
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Did
you attend school?
DD:
In the past, we would finish only four or five years of primary school. My
grandchildren attend Albanian schools. Before, we led difficult lives.
Tell
us about your wedding. Did you know your wife before the marriage?
DD:
Before (the wedding), we didn�t know each other. My father told me I was
to be married, with some girl, and I had to do that. But now, it�s so
much better, because the boy and girl know each other.
Where
did the Bugurdjije originate?
DD:
We are simply blacksmiths. I am Muslim.
How
many children do you have?
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DD: I
have seven children.
During
the last war, I stayed here, with my wife. The whole Mahala was empty. We were
here; just us and the dogs.
mp3
We
celebrate Djurdjevdan. But to be honest, I don�t celebrate it anymore. If my
children would like to celebrate Vasilica, that would be nice.
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Kadi�e
Curkoli
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Watch
a Video
excerpt of the interview.
"Let
me tell you about myself. I got married, and I had no idea who my husband
was. We had never met one another. His family came to my home, to ask for
my hand."
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Kosovo
Polje
Where
are you from?
KC: I
was born in Pristina, and I lived there with my family for a long time. My
family comes from there.
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How
old are you?
KC:
I�m 74 years old. I have nine children: six daughters and three sons.
Let
me tell you about myself. I got married, and I had no idea who my husband
was. We had never met one another. His family came to my home, to ask for
my hand. My father said to me:
�Come
out to meet some Roma from the village. They�ve asked about you, for
their son.�
He
said that because we were from the city. They were from Slovinje* Village.
(*
Slovinje lies 20 kilometers south of Pristina, in Lipljan/ Lipjan
municipality.) |
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Soon
another family came to ask about me, for their son. I didn�t know anything
about them. My father told them to return soon, and they would make arrangements
for the marriage.
When
I heard everything, I began to cry; I was too young to be married.
mp3
How
old were you when you were married?
KC: I
was 14 years old. I had six brothers; my mother died during the Second World
War. But I�ll tell you about that later.
After
the family came to ask my father for me, my cousin came to my home, and my
father told him about the decision he made. My cousin said that he would find a
good place to hold the wedding.
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Two
weeks later, my husband�s family officially asked for my hand. I was engaged
for two years, and one day my husband�s family came to pick me up. They paid
my dowry with Albanian money.*
(*
Kosovo was under Italian military control during the Second World War; the
borders the Italians set corresponded with the Albanian idea of a �Greater
Albania-� the equivalent of the Greek �Megali Idea.� The Italian fascists
encouraged Albanian nationalism as a counterbalance to the Slavs and Greeks;
they allowed the Albanians their own currency.)
My
wedding happened during the Second World War, and we encountered many problems
on the roads, but we always solved those problems.
I have
been married now for sixty years, and I�ve never had any big problems with my
husband.
A bride
must cry. The next day- a Friday- at
midnight
, she will color her hair with
henna, and on Sunday the bride�s parents-in-law will give her new clothes, and
gold jewelry.
We
didn�t wear a white dress, like today; we wore dimije*.
When the bride first approaches her new home, her new mother-in-law will hold
for her a pot full of sugared water. The bride will place her hand in the water,
and then place her hand on the door.
(*Dimije
are traditional baggy trousers for Muslim women. This dress was introduced by
the Ottoman Turks.)
What
does that signify?
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KC: We
believe that, if the bride does this, she will not have any problems with her
new family, and her husband.
On
World War II:
KC: My
father fought in the war- in a place called Lapatica*. He was there for only six
weeks. A bomb fell near him, but he was very lucky; the bomb simply buried
itself in the ground. Two years after the war ended, he died.
(*Donja
Lapatica,
Podujevo
Municipality
)
We were
very frightened (of the Germans). All the children cried. I saw my mother, dead,
on the street. But we didn�t have problems with the Germans for long; my
father was a rich man.
We
stayed in Pristina for the entire war, but we were the only ones there; the
Mahala was empty.
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Djafer
Čuljandji
 |
Watch
a Video
excerpt of the interview.
A
note on Djafer�s surname, Čuljandji: this
word, in Turkish, means of peasant origin, and is a pejorative term, likely
assigned by a Turkish official. Please refer to Orhan Galjus�s
Roma of Kosovo: the Forgotten Victims. Published in the
Patrin
Web Journal.
"All
I remember is that we didn�t have any bread to eat. As you see, we have this
war now, but we also have food to eat and clothes to wear. Before, we had
nothing."
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Prizren
"Roma
celebrate Djurdjevdan, because we have always been very poor. The winters were
hard; it was very cold, and we didn�t have wood to burn, like now. Even those
working as blacksmiths were poor. So Roma celebrated Djurdjevdan because it
meant that the spring was finally here."
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Have
old are you?
DC:
I am 68 years old.
What
was your father�s name?
DC: Salji.
And
your grandfather�s name?
DC: Sadri
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Were
your grandfather and father from Prizren?
DC:
Yes; they came from Prizren.
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Can
you tell us about their lives?
DC:
What can I tell you? They told me many things about their lives. They were
blacksmiths. In this Mahala- Terzi Mahala- we had a lot of blacksmiths.
In
the past, all the people were poor. We had 65 blacksmiths in Terzi. They made
knives, door knockers, door handles and other pieces. The best blacksmiths were
Arlija,* and they made axes. Their work was very professional, and we called
them big blacksmiths. Prizren�s Roma are usually small blacksmiths, because
they make such small things.
mp3
Did
you become a blacksmith?
DC: No.
I worked as a blacksmith under my father, but when my father died I began to
make windows. I was in
Pula
(
Istria
, in
Croatia
). I stayed there for ten
years, and there I finished primary school. I had one older brother, and he told
me I should get married, and I did that. I told my brother: �Okay.�
I was
22 years old when I was married.
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Did
you know your future wife?
DC: I
knew her, but I�d never spoken with her. Our tradition is that the older
people in the family will visit the girl, because they know all the families-
their reputations as well. They ask the question. I sent an older cousin to her
house.
What
was their answer?
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DC:
They agreed with the match, because our family had a good reputation.
What
was the bride-price?
DC: We
still had to pay� and with that money, we could have bought a nice home in
Terzi Mahala.
Tell
us about when you went to pick up your bride.
DC: In
the past, we had a carriage and horses. The carriage was covered. When a man
went to pick up his bride, everyone- uncles and aunts- came with him. When my
family went, we had a limousine.
All the
Roma in Prizren speak Romanes; we also have Ashkalija here, but they are also
Roma. They come from the villages, from Albanian villages, and in those places
they had to speak Albanian. They understand Romanes, but they cannot speak it.
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On
holidays:
DC: We
are Muslims here; we celebrate Bajram and Djurdjevdan.
Roma
celebrate Djurdjevdan, because we have always been very poor. The winters were
hard; it was very cold, and we didn�t have wood to burn, like now. Even those
working as blacksmiths were poor. So Roma celebrated Djurdjevdan because it
meant that the spring was finally here. We sacrifice a lamb; that is our
tradition.
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Do
you collect Kukureg and Dren, like the Roma do in other places?
DC:
Yes, we do that. We have one place (a Turbe) where the women draw water. If a
woman has no children (due to infertility), then she must go there. The other
women will mix the flowers with the water for her. mp3
They would go there at 3 or
4 O�clock
. The Turbe will bring you
good health.
In
Gracanica, some Roma celebrate Vasilica. Do you celebrate
Vasilica here?
DC: We
didn�t celebrate Vasilica before; no one did. But my neighbors began to
celebrate Vasilica, and so I started to celebrate as well. But we don�t have
to.
Do
you know about Roma history?
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DC:
Listen: Roma are from
India
. Everyone in this Mahala
comes from
India
, and from
India
they went to
Turkey
.
Do
you remember the Second World War?
DC: I
cannot remember any bombing, any violence. All I remember is that we didn�t
have any bread to eat. As you see, we have this war now, but we also have food
to eat and clothes to wear. Before, we had nothing.
Did
you have problems with Serbs* before?
DC: No,
we had no problems with the Serbs.
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(* The
Serbian population of Prizren town has almost entirely fled. The Serbian quarter
of the city, immediately south of the
Prizren
Bistrica
River
and overlooking the town from
Shad�rvan, was entirely looted and burned soon after the war ended in June of
1999. German KFOR assisted in a mass evacuation of the town�s remaining Serbs
in July of 1999; the evacuation was led by the Serbian Orthodox Bishop Artemije.
DC:
When Tito was alive, everyone worked. We had many Roma in school.
What
did you think about the last war?
DC: It
was a really bad situation to be in.
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Rexhep
'Redjo' Skenderi
 |
Watch a Video
excerpt of the interview.
"All
the Roma left. In Pristina we had 3,000 Roma, but now, not one family remains."
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Plemetina
Village
Redjo
laid on his son�s couch for the winter, buried in
wool blankets. The past few seasons have passed like this. His breathing is
labored; he says his heart is weak. Redjo�s son, Medo,
cares for him; Medo also cares for several children
in Plemetina. He is their father now.
Some
of the children are orphaned; some have parents who are too poor to feed or
clothe them. In a place where social assistance does not exist, communities care
for their youngest members. This tradition once existed in
America
and
Western
Europe
;
in some pockets of the east, communities continue to fill in the blanks the
state has left. They usually do it better than the government.
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RS:
My father�s name was Demalj.
I
was five years old when he died. I worked as a servant in the homes of Serbs and
Albanians. We had to work; we were poor, and we had to earn money for food. Some
Roma worked as blacksmiths. My mother was 25 years old when my father died.
mp3
Before,
we didn�t now who we would be married to. If you went to ask for a girl�s
hand, you were not allowed to see so much as her little finger. If a boy�s
father and mother liked a girl, then the boy has to like her too.
Have
long have you lived in Plemetina?
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RS: I
was born here.
Where
were you during the NATO campaign?
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RS:
All the Roma left. In Pristina we had 3,000 Roma, but now, not one family
remains. Many have left; some to
Serbia
, and some to
Germany
.
mp3
Can
you tell us about Ashkalija and Egyptians?
RS: We
were all blacksmiths. Egyptians didn�t exist before. As for Ashkalija, they
learned Albanian, and no longer wished to speak Romanes.
How
old are you?
RS: I
am 75 years old.
Do
you remember the Second World War?
RS:
It was different then. For one soldier, the Germans would kill an entire
village. But Roma could go everywhere; now, if we go somewhere, the Albanians
make things difficult for us.
mp3
Tito
gave us all our rights. The right to everything.
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How
old were you when you were married?
RS:
When I was married, I was too young.
mp3
A communist flag, a case of beer and a sacrificial ram: Islam, Yugoslav-style. The Bajram, Plemetina, 1960s.
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