Ethnopsychological Function of Language Matrix in the Latest Records of Oral Folk Literature from Kosovo and Metohija

 This paper discusses the state of Serbian language in the latest records of oral folk literature from Kosovo and Metohija, bearing in mind newly created social and political conditions.

Since the language of oral folk literature is conditioned by a certain formula that plays a role in the actual genre, the topic of this work will be the analysis of the resistance of language material.

In the conditions of the change of Serbian toponyms in Kosovo and Metohija, and the language policy that threatens to endanger the essence of Serbian people, language matrix, hidden in oral folk literature, is the only way to preserve the being of Serbian people.

 

The fact that we entered the third millennium of a new era means that we also entered the third millennium of Christianity, the fundamental basis of our civilization and culture. Large-scale social and historical turbulences in the Balkans left certain consequences in the psychological being of our people. Condensing the history into one point, battle to survive and keep dignity and identity made us deal with the problem of national being. The approach to this problem requires ethnopsychological, sociological, religious, linguistic, ethnological and other researches that would perceive changes of “national spirit” from different aspects.[1]

Since in the consciousness of a nation there is individual and collective unconsciousness as its significant determinant, it is possible to discover specific features by skillful reconstruction of language inheritance contained in oral folk literature. As a collective, archaic inheritance, these forms of consciousness are expressed through symbols i.e. archetypes.[2]

Since ethnopsychological considerations of one nation represent attempts, based on stereotypes, to somewhat conditionally determine its psychology[3], there were different attempts to perceive this problem. Since the changes in the folk being happen depending on the outer and inner factors, there is certain adjustment in relation to the given circumstances. Since long-lasting slavery influences modifying of person’s dignity in certain sense, some characteristics will be formed among the people who were under foreign rule for a longer period of time. That is why (according to Cvijic) so-called populace mentality was formed, which assumed submissiveness, meekness, holding back of authentic emotions.[4]

It is interesting that in the areas in which people were under foreign rule, there was a trend towards the values of patriarchal life. In such atmosphere, cherishing Stoicism and opposing evil, certain archetypal patterns[5] of behavior became dominant, where the primary position belongs to the archetype of a hero and victim. If the essence of “national being” is hidden in its folklore, then it is not unusual that in the times of crisis these forms of creation revive consciousness of an individual and collective.[6]

Following the track of ethnopsychological researches (the attitude of Bojan Jovanovic, according to which the contents of spiritual culture, mythology, religion, religious practice and folklore creation gain in significance during the period of crisis), we shall attempt to correlate traditional inheritance of the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija and newly created situation after the bombing in 1999. The question that is imposed is: in what way did the “national being” from this territory “accept” this newly created situation and in what way does it keep ancestral inheritance.

Since our topic is connected with original creation and language of oral folk literature that is more or less subject to changes, we shall start with the traditional inheritance, i.e. short survey of what was preserved in the records of oral folk literature on this territory. Before we proceed to dominant symbols in the records of oral folk literature from Kosovo and Metohija, which have been insufficiently explored, let us make a short review of the kinds represented on this specific territory.

Due to certain historical conditions, oral folk literature from Kosovo and Metohija acquired certain peculiarities that separate it from oral folk literature from other areas. There are no reliable records before Vuk Karadzic. Only the records that were made over the last hundred years offer more complete insight into oral folk literature of this area, which in time lost many archaic motifs. Conditions for the creation of folk poems existed even before 1389, according to preserved old kinds, before Christianity. The tragedy of Kosovo battle first affected people from Kosovo and Metohija. When Novo Brdo and Prizren fell into Turkish rule, a completely new era began, requiring awakening of new forces, in the being of people themselves, with the aim of preserving identity. Since epical poems were directly connected with historical events, they bore the brunt, whereas lyrical (particularly ritual) poems were preserved almost intact.[7]

In the records of oral folk literature from Kosovo and Metohija we come across the following forms: Lyrical folk poems (ritual, custom, work, religious, love, family), ritual (carols, pre-Christmas, Christmas, wolf hunting, Epiphany, St John’s, before Lent), spring (early risers’, Palm Sunday, St George’s, Easter, St Jeremiah’s, St Mark’s), summer (St Elias’, Pentecost), custom (wedding, toast, lament) work (at picking nettle, weeding wheat, reaping grain, stacking hay, digging, reaping and threshing, shepherds’, summer pasture, spinners’, tailors’, at swarming bees, during different jobs) religious (mythological, Christian) love, family (about relationships within a family, lullabies, at cutting child’s hair, children’s, soldiers’, migrant workers’) epic poems, narrative epic poems, heroic folk epic poems).[8]

Since we dispose of the corpus of these poems, we note certain symbols[9] in them that are dominant in determining the being of Serbian ethnos in these areas. Lyrical folk poems, ritual poems in particular, point to the domination of symbols of agrarian character. Particular domination of plants and herbs indicates deep connection with the nature and the need of establishing the relation with cosmic rhythm. In formulaic language of lyrical folk poems, certain symbols point to their ancient quality, particularly to solar character i.e. domination of light and man’s need for it (the sun ready to set[10]; with white wheat[11]; to take it to the white church;[12] what is that white down there;[13] they ate white round bread;[14] give me a hero made of gold;[15] golden apple[16]).

Language of folk poems from Kosovo and Metohija was created on the basis of the most archaic speech of Serbian language, ekavian sub-dialect of stokavian dialect. It is the language that folk poets found as already finished, completed language system. Folk poet creates a poem with chosen words, using the existing formulas. The language of our folk poems, particularly from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija was not discussed comprehensively.[17] The conclusion of Valtazar Bogisic is interesting: “Very often, the very act or deed is expressed by a verb of greater enthusiasm which is not used frequently in simple everyday speech”.[18] If we agree that the language of oral folk literature is really the language of greater enthusiasm, then naturally the question follows: in what way does this language, as the form of expression of the deepest being of national spirit, influence the creation of the feeling of sublime existence, i.e. man’s primordial need to belong.[19]

In the folk poems from Kosovo and Metohija lexicon is extremely varied and rich, with plenty of archaisms and words borrowed from Turkish. In these poems, you can perceive great expressiveness i.e. emotions, and they are more and more luxuriant moving from north to south. Folk poet from this area treated the folk poem and its language with deep respect – many cultural workers who had a live contact with people from Kosovo wrote about that.[20] Owing to the right choice of words, a folk poet will never leave the listener in confusion. This indicates that he had a clear idea of what he wanted to say. Language matrix in oral folk literature carried the clear message, which had the weight of truthfulness and entered the deepest layers of a man’s psyche. In the language formulaic narration, outstanding harmony of rhythm, melody, and movement were achieved, which significantly influenced establishing of certain harmony and closeness with the surrounding, i.e. with the Universe itself. Coded record of Serbian being remained on this language matrix.

Since Kosovo and Metohija were the battlefield of great conflicts and clashes of civilizations, starting with the Kosovo battle up to this very day, the question is imposed whether, and in what way, oral folk literature, i.e. language of certain genre, had any influence on the national being. Since contemporary ethnopsychology is opened “towards new conceptional approach of national mentality and psychological aspects of traditional culture”[21] that gives us the opportunity, in the context of new events on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, to open the question of the influence of the language of oral folk literature on the preservation of the identity in the context of new events. Since after the bombing of our country the migration process occurred in Kosovo and Metohija, in the general chaos, the question of bare survival was raised. Huge exodus of Kosovo people resulted in the migration of not only Serbian people, but the whole language corpus i.e. dialect, and, alongside with it, a great part of oral folk literature. In these areas, among the people who did not leave their homes, opposite models appeared again: up/down, here/there, good/evil, us/them, tradition/globalization. Being in the middle of Albanians and their attempts to have independent state, and the administration of international forces, Serbian people became afraid and confused. Trying to stay on their land, they feared of the unknown.[22]

As a professor of oral folk literature (in Kosovska Mitrovica and the department in Gracanica) I had the opportunity to be in constant contact with young people, but also with middle-aged and elderly people. I noticed that the common problem of all these people, regardless of their age, was to find Sense in the newly created situation. The tragedy that happened left the deep trace in the “national being”. They were constantly worried about the uncertain tomorrow. Latent sadness that turned into a light form of depression resulted in the constant cry for Sense (“silent cry for sense” by Victor Frankl). The feeling that they were abandoned, ethical norms which collapsed, and which lived in the most original form in the being of people from Kosovo, resulted in the search for support and signposts. On one side, there were foreigners with their material and mental machinery, and the possibility of easily earned money, and on the other side there was severe poverty, which led to complete disorientation of already victimized people. Talking about these problems with the students of literature, I spent one part of the lesson talking about their problems. Never before have I believed in the power of words so much as during the days of a new exodus, particularly on March 17 and 18, when Serbian holy places were on fire once again, and people were killed. The lesson I had with my students in Gracanica on that day was the attempt to find Sense in the complete despair. We needed the link to connect us with the Sense. As many times before, the word helped us. The word, which by the language of a folk poet was woven into formulaic narration. Reading the poems from Vuk’s collection, we bypassed the horrible moment and found the way to “survive”. After the analysis of certain poems and reaching the archetypal layers of human psyche, students could completely identify with ancestral knowledge and awaken the archetype of Survivor. Remembering some of the previous conversations with these young people, inquiring about the content of their lives in the enclaves, I realized that they looked for a strongpoint in what was already confirmed in the tradition of Serbian people. Namely, there was a so-called “stepping out of time” in the form of holidays, mainly patron saint celebration, Easter, Christmas, and St George’s Day. These were the occasions when they felt protected and where they found mental shelter. I could see primordial joy on the faces of these young people when I gave them initial directions for the collecting of oral folk literature, from the places where they could go. For them, meeting the folk poets was pure joy and a kind of discovery.

Being interested in folk customs and way of life they subconsciously revived the suppressed joy, whereas more detailed dealing with meaning and language of oral folk literature inspired them towards the need for survival in impossible conditions. The power of words and the language of national matrix miraculously influenced the discouraged spirit. It was as if they met the ancestral knowledge in the language of oral narration. They were strikingly happy when holidays approached, particularly patron saint celebration and Christmas. In the field, they managed to find mostly lyrical folk poems, oral folk literature and some forms of folk beliefs. [23]

In the preserved forms of oral literature, religious symbols are dominant (symbol of gold: Christmas, Christmas knocks at the door, carrying a pile of gold; May patron saints help the one who proposes me a toast, may his vineyards be laden with grapes; Oh, you Yule log, Yule log/our old relative/you are always welcome/in our house; Saint Peter went to heaven, God have mercy, God have mercy; Sing us a song, oh host/ you have dear guests/they are all beautiful and young/just like flowers in the meadow; May God help you in your home/ May God help you in your home/whose home is this/whose home is this/ home, ever so clean; Roundelay is danced near the monastery/let me go, dear mother, let me go and see).

Regression in the direction of archetypal contents resulted in the establishment of certain harmony in microlife, outside the outer world. Occasional journey to the world of customs is in a way purging i.e. functional visit to ancestral language realized through folk formula. Trite genres (wedding, work, family poems) as well as well-preserved proverbs, give certain language stability of certain concepts that are the axle of spiritual vertical, without which the national being of any people would be threatened. From time to time, the “arrival” of certain forms of formulaic narration is very remedious, particularly in the conditions of physical and mental crowding of people from Kosovo and Metohija.

In given conditions, the language of oral folk literature gained almost healing power because it reminded of the period of heaven, i.e. the road towards finding the archetype of the Savior.[24] The language of oral folk literature preserved on this territory (particularly in wedding and love poems) revives images that we associate with life, dignity, joy, and universal beauty. Their presence within certain customs represents the return to essential life, in the consciousness of Serbian people blurred by the creation of “new world order”. Very often, soldiers who happen to be on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija are surprised and confused by kindness of a Serbian host, particularly if they happen to attend the celebration of patron saint (among Serbian people, guest[25] was equalized with the visit of deity).

From the latest students’ records of oral folk literature from Kosovo and Metohija we shall single out the verses that preserved the original language matrix (St George’s summer arrived/St George’s flowers blossomed/maid Djurdja picked the flowers; shine, oh, moon, until dawn/don’t set, it’s too early; he who gives presents to Lazarkas/may his family be healthy; oh, you girl with rosy cheeks/why are you white and ruddy, why are you slender and tall). These language syntagms refer us to certain resistance of folk being to the attempts of precoding and introducing new matrix that would mean the loss of identity. Hidden healthy core in the folk being resists certain challenges of time, particularly when preservation of customs is in question. What is noted in this area is confusion and disorientation that disappears and turns into its opposite in the contact with ancestral inheritance in the form of preserved forms of oral literature. This is confirmed by sudden radiance (at any age) during the encounter with traditional inheritance in the form of those genres that survived the time and became the way of identifying and recognizing one’s own being.

 

Literature

(1) Vladimir Bovan, Serbian Folk Poems from Kosovo and Metohija, Jedinstvo, Pristina, 1977

 (2) Folk Literature of Kosovo Serbs, edited by Dr Vladimir Bovan, Vladimir Cvetanovic MA, Milenko Jevtovic MA, Jedinstvo, Pristina, 1980

(3) Lyrical and Epical Poems of Kosovo and Metohija, students’ records of Serbian oral folk literature from Kosovo and Metohija, edited by Prof Dr Vladimir Bovan, Institute for Serbian Culture, Pristina, Narodno delo, Belgrade, Dom kulture, Istok, Strucna knjiga, Belgrade, Belgrade 2001

(4) Radmila Pesic, Nada Milosevic Djordjevic, Folk Literature, Trebnik, Belgrade, 1997

(5) Ethnopsychology today, edited by Bojan Jovanovic, Dom kulture Studentski grad, Belgrade, 1991

(6) Serbian Oral Folk Literature from Kosovo from Dena Debeljkovic’s Manuscripts, book one, Academy of Arts and Sciences of Kosovo, Pristina, 1984

(7) S. Kulisic, P. Z. Petrovic, N. Pantelic, Serbian Dictionary of Mythology, Nolit, Belgrade, 1986

(8) Vladeta Jerotic, Faith and Nation, Ars Libri, Publication Fund of Belgrade-Karlovci Archbishopy, Belgrade, 2000

(9) Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, INTRO “Naprijed”, Zagreb, 1979

(10) Petar Dzadzic, Homo Balkanicus, Homo Heroicus II, Prosveta, 1994

(11) Ivo Andric, Signs Along the Road, Collected works, book XIV, Belgrade, 1976

(12) Lj. Jankovic, Kosovo Folk Dances, Journal of Belgrade Museum of Ethnography, book XI, 1936

(13) Stevan Mokranjac, Serbian Folk Songs, Belgrade, 1966

(14) Miodrag Vasiljevic, Yugoslav Music Folklore, II, Belgrade, 1953

 

[1] “Psychological dimension of ethnological studies was announced in works written before the formal constituting of ethnopsychology, but it was only in the new scientific discipline, determined as “psychology of the people” that exploring the “spirit of the people” was more precisely defined. The concept of spirit of the people had a particular status in the romantic idea of the cultural nation, based on its ethnic, language, cultural and historical unity. In such concept of a nation as an organic unit, the spirit of the people is represented as the basis of national unity, freedom and morality. Representing i.e. to reconstructing that spirit assumed proving that a nation is particular, which was reflected in its ethnical, historical, religious, social and cultural contents. Therefore, observed as a property of a member of one ethnic community, natural spirit in the context of later determinations of collective consciousness was somewhat more precisely determined. Understood individualistically, as the sum or common content of individual consciousness, collective consciousness was also determined as different, beyond personal and separate from consciousness of an individual. Ethnopsychology today, edited by Bojan Jovanovic, Dom kulture Studentski grad, Belgrade, 1991, pg. 8.

 

[2] Archetype (Greek). Depending on the method, on the approach to oral literature, it may relate to presentation of the motif, original form of oral creation, type, genre.

From the psychoanalitic standpoint, archetype is a primordial form of the representation of a motif, psychological incentive reflected in the imagination, collective subconsciousness, discovering its presence in symbolic images (Jung). From the standpoint of anthropological school, it is an original story consisting of several motifs, originating from barbarian period. From the psychoanthropological standpoint, archetypes are simple forms of man’s expression, ontological pre-forms of genres. From the standpoint of the comparative method, archetype is basic, most archaic poem or short story, original type from which all other version stemmed – a kind of pre-version. (G Bediet, representatives of Finnish method, school of comparative mythology). In Yugoslav science, depending on the period, most of these standpoints are present. Radmila Pesic, Nada Milosevic Djordjevic, Folk Literature, Trebnik, Belgrade, 1997, pg. 17

[3] Psychology of the people appeared at the end of romanticism, but it did not manage to avoid romantic concepts, so, from time to time, it accepted the process of experiencing people as deity. Particularly when folk and national inheritance was to be confirmed by landmarks of state boundaries that protect from the enemies. Romantic ideas of love of one’s own people find support in mythical layers of consciousness, in the opposite, binary order of values, which characterized the experience of a man and world of an ancient ancestor. Mythical way of thinking was axiologically directed by the sequence of binary oppositions that personified human, earth and cosmic order. Romanticism sharpened sight for opposites such as: own-somebody else’s, our-foreign, close-far, holy-profane, light-darkness, white-black, high-low, keeping the first part of the opposite for us (our people) and the second one for foreign, foreign country (usually impersonated in another nation). Petar Dzadzic, Homo Balkanicus, Homo Heroicus II, Prosveta, 1994, pg. 15

[4] In the parts of our country that were under the Turkish rule, particularly the most backward ones, the traces of slavery are sometimes seen more, sometimes less, and sometimes they all appear together, in full severity. Then we realize that life was preserved, but at the price dearer than life itself, since the power for defense and survival was borrowed from future generations, who were born burdened by debts. In that fight, bare instinct for defending life survived, whereas life itself lost so much that only its name remained. It stands and perseveres, broken or distorted, and what is born and what becomes was poisoned and saddened when conceived. Thoughts and words of these people remain unfinished, because their root was cut. Ivo Andric, Signs Along the Road, Collected works, book XIV, Belgrade, 1976, pg 486

[5] “It should be shown that a series of archetypes make an important constituent part of mythology and how they make it, that they are mutually legitimately connected and that in the sequence of their stages they condition the development of consciousness. In the ontogenetic development, subjective consciousness of an individual, I-consciousness must pass the same archetypal stages that, on the level of mankind, determined the development of consciousness. In his life, an individual must follow the path along which mankind walked before him, and we wish to mark its direction by a series of archetypal images from mythology”. Erich Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness, Prosveta, Belgrade, 1994, pg. 7.

[6] Messages of collective experience appear in the periods of crisis as significant incentives of the integration of individual psyche in the process of its individualization. Therefore, integrational property of collective consciousness whose mutual contents and representations indicate belonging of an individual to certain community is demonstrated on the individual plan. Coherency of traditional spirit, based on the ideas inherent to folk life by consistent observing, make the aspect of tradition culture resistant to changes. Printed in the contents of traditional culture, psychic is realized as a reality of its deeper exploration. From that aspect, particularly significant are the contents of spiritual culture i.e. mythology, religion, ritual practice and folk creative work. Ethnopsychology today, pg. 10.

[7] In such conditions, in the second half of XIX century, folk poem in Kosovo and Metohija performs its function and does not lose a bit of its freshness. National propaganda from Serbia did not incapacitate preservation and cherishing of poetic forms of folk oral literature, but, on the contrary, it supported folk poems and oral tradition. Folk poem in Kosovo and Metohija in the second half of XIX century is refreshed by a number of new contents, either about the newly created situation, or significant events that took place on that territory, or took over certain contents and motifs from a large number of collections of poems and other publications containing folk poetry. Heroic poem was particularly enriched with new contents. New, civil culture slowly penetrated patriarchal Serbian milieu in Kosovo and Metohija, even in the cities. Lyrical folk poem still lived within the framework of old pagan rituals and customs, mainly within happy occasions and celebrations in everyday life: while working, in the family or in the cooperative, among youth. Indeed, new songs from Serbia and other parts were also accepted, even the civil ones, but their influence was limited. Patriarchic Serbian milieu in Kosovo and Metohija was not ready to accept new creations on the account of its folk culture and art. Second half of XIX century and the beginning of XX century represent the time when one could follow the life of Serbian folk poems, both lyrical and epical, and even the life of certain kinds, both lyrical and epical. Vladimir Bovan, Serbian Folk Poems from Kosovo and Metohija, Jedinstvo, Pristina, 1977, pg. 16

 

[8] After the classification of Prof Dr Vladimir Bovan, Ibid, pg 19

[9] Serbian Dictionary of Mythology, S. Kulisic, P. Z. Petrovic, N. Pantelic, Nolit, Belgrade, 1986

[10] Serbian Oral Folk Literature from Kosovo from Dena Debeljkovic’s Manuscripts, book one, Academy of Arts and Sciences of Kosovo, Pristina, 1984, pg 17

[11] Ibid, pg. 21

[12] Ibid, pg. 22

[13] Ibid, pg. 24

[14] Ibid, pg. 32

[15] Исто.

[16] Ibid, pg. 38

[17] Glisa Elezovic, Dictionary of Kosovo-Metohija Dialect, I, II, Belgrade, 1932, 1935; Milivoj Pavlovic, Speech of Sretacka Zupa, Belgrade, 1939; Danilo Barjaktarevic, Speech Zone of Middle Ibar Area, Collection of Faculty of Philosophy, 1934-1965, II, pg. 57-107.

[18] Valtazar Bogisic, Preface to folk poems from old, mostly coastal records, Biograd, 1878, pg 36

[19] “One becomes conscious, first of all, of one’s unconscious need to belong (firstly to one’s mother and father, then to wider family, and then to one’s clan-people), by gradual learning about tradition and religion of one’s people, which in the actual case of Serbian people means systematic learning of Serbian history, and history of Christian Church, and particularly Christian Orthodox Church (called, in more mystical clerical spheres, Orthodox Serbian Church)”. Vladeta Jerotic, Faith and Nation, Ars Libri, Publication Fund of Belgrade-Karlovci Archbishopy, Belgrade, 2000, pg. 21

[20] Lj. Jankovic, Kosovo Folk Dances, Journal of Belgrade Museum of Ethnography, book XI, 1936

Stevan Mokranjac, Serbian Folk Songs, Belgrade, 1966

Miodrag Vasiljevic, Yugoslav Music Folklore, II, Belgrade, 1953

[21] Ethnopsychology Today, pg 15

[22] “What do we see today, on the faces of our fellow townsmen, what do they say to one another in broken whisper, what do they listen to, what happens to them. Don’t we hear that they talk about betrayal, about possible exile, some fear of reprisals, some are depressed, and some frantically celebrate. Partitions, differentiations, and fear of bloodshed are often mentioned, other people’s acts “stink of inhumanity”, some are ready to sacrifice themselves, and some are ready to sacrifice others. Very often the imperative of choice is ether imposed on us by others, or we impose it ourselves. But, isn’t all this already familiar, don’t we live, feel, fear and suffer somebody else’s words, lives, feelings, fears and wounds? How much are these psychical states ours, and how much are they somebody else’s? It seems that this goes both ways. These are our personal problems, but at the same time beyond that, they are collective contents. They represent archetypal contents embodied in our ideas, symptoms, views and feelings. Since both our personal and archetypal contents are in question, we must bring our personalities and our basic structure down to our archetypal bases. Archetypal psychology considers that basic ideas, feelings, and suffering of our soul are impersonated in characters-heroes of Mother, Fairies, Child, Wise man, Traitor, Father, Scapegoat, Puer, and through many other, numerous and particular prototypes who are the protagonists of stories about gods and heroes. These characters are the roots of metaphors; they permeate the patterns and bases of our thoughts, as well as our feelings, ailments, observations and memories”. Velimir Popovic Psiha, Myth and Pathos, Ethnopsychology Today, pg. 58

[23] Seminar papers: Ljubinka Lemajic, Oral folk literature of village Dobrotin,

Radmila Ristic, Oral folk literature of villages Babus and Skulnevo,

Ana Micic, Oral folk literature of village Ravovce,

Mirjana Petkovic, Oral folk literature of Gracanica and surroundings,

Mirjana Stolic, Oral folk literature of Novo Selo

[24] Numerous potentials contained in the Christian message to a man, peoples and the whole world almost two thousand years ago, which represent magnificent challenge to a man, were barely sufficiently understood, and even lesser used for people’s well-being. Two thousand years ago, human history changed its face by powerful movement of the wheel of events. Circular course of history, observed and experienced in pagan-pantheistic philosophy and religion in the pre-Christian world, opens as a linear way from Alpha to Omega, from God, via Christ, to Holy Spirit, since Alpha and Omega are the same, the Holy Trinity. It was not by accident that the two largest migrations in the known history of the world – one at the beginning of middle century and the present one, at the end of new century – took place at the Christian era of the culture of mankind. Vladeta Jerotic, Ethnopsychological aspects of Migrations, Ethnopsychology Today, pg. 127

[25] “As customs of many peoples indicate, some procedures while welcoming guests have a religious meaning, since arrival of a guest was seen as a visit of deity (theophany)” Serbian Dictionary of Mythology, Nolit, Belgrade, 1986, pg. 91.

 

 Valentina Pitulic

Faculty of Philosophy, Kosovska Mitrovica