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Ethnogenesis
In 2nd century A.D. famous Greek scientist Ptolemy in his Geography associates the Serbian name with the Sarmatian tribes of the North Caucasus and Lower Volga, just as his predecessors. In the 4th century, these Sarmatian Serbs (Serboi), clinched by the Huns and Alans, started to move towards Central Europe, where they were found dwelling near the Elbe, in a region designated as White Serbia, in what is now Sachsen (eastern Germany) and western Poland. The Serboi, it is argued, intermarried with the indigenous Slavs of the region, adopted their language, and thus gradually became Slavic- Serbs. Since the white colour was designation for the west, name 'White Serbia' actually could mean 'Western Serbia'. This previously strong Slavic population can still be found among (Serbs) Sorbs of Lusatia (Upper Sorbian (łužicky) serbja, Lower Sorbian (łužisky) serby, Serbian лужички срби, lužički srbi) who have been residing in an eastern German region even today known as Sorbia (though more commonly as Lusatia, Sorbian Łužica, German Lausitz) for the last millenia and a half, whose languages, however, are Western Slavic, while Balkan Serbian is Southern Slavic. Byzantine sources report that part of the Serbs (already a Slavic people by that time) then migrated southward in the late sixth century and eventually overwhelmed the lands that now make up southern Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Dalmatia. In this region, Serbs mixed with other Slavic tribes (which settled there in the sixth century) and with descendants of indigenous peoples of the Balkans- Illyrians, Dacians and Tribals.
PopulationThe majority of Serbs live in Serbia and Montenegro. Large indigenous Serb populations live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they are a constitutive nation, and in Croatia (where they were a constitutive nation before 1990). Much smaller Serb autochthonous minorities also exist in the Republic of Macedonia (Kumanovo, Skopje), Slovenia (Bela Krajina), Romania (Banat), Albania (Skadar) and Hungary (Szentendre, Pécs, Szeged). Many Serbs also live in the diaspora, notably in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Russia, Brazil, Canada, the US and Australia. The largest urban populations of Serbs in the former Yugoslavia are to be found in Belgrade (over 1,500,000), Novi Sad (c. 300,000), Niš (c. 250,000), Banja Luka (in Republika Srpska, Bosnia-Herzegovina) (c. 220,000), Kragujevac (c. 175,000) and East Sarajevo (in Republika Srpska, Bosnia-Herzegovina) (c. 130,000). Abroad, Vienna is said to be home to the largest Serb population followed by Chicago (and its surrounding area) with Toronto and Southern Ontario coming in third. Los Angeles is known to have a sizable Serbian community, but so does Istanbul and Paris. In Europe, 6.5 million Serbs constitute about 66% of the population of Serbia. Another 1,5 million used to live in Bosnia and Herzegovina [3] and 600,000 in Croatia [4] prior to the war, with another 200 thousand in Montenegro following its independence. In the 1991 census Serbs consisted 36% of the overall population of former Yugoslavia; there were around 8.5 million Serbs [5] in the entire country. The number of Serbs in the diaspora is unknown but is estimated to be between 1 and 2 million on one side, and up to 4 million according to Ministry for Diaspora Republic of Serbia. The maximum number of Serbs thus ranges anywhere from around 9.5 to 12 million, depending on the estimation used for the diaspora. Smaller numbers of Serbs live in New Zealand, and Serb(ian) communities in South America (Argentina, Bolivia Braziland Chile) are reported to grow and exist to this day. CultureSerbian culture refers to the culture of Serbia as well as the culture of Serbs in other parts of the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere in the world. The nearby Byzantine Empire had a strong influence in the Middle Ages while the Serbian Orthodox Church has had an enduring influence. However one must note that first Serbian kings were crowned by the Vatican, not Constantinople, and that prior to the Ottoman invasion Serbs have had a strong Catholic element within them, especially in the coastal areas (Montenegro, Croatia). Bokelji are what remains of once strong Catholic population of Serbia (Bar being their Catholic see). Austrians and Hungarians have highly influenced Serbs of Vojvodina, Croatian Serbs and Bosnian Serbs to smaller extent, while Republic of Venice influenced Serbs living on the coast (Bay of Kotor for example). Serbian culture fell into decline during five centuries of rule under the Ottoman Empire. Following autonomy in 1817 and latter formal independence, there was a resurgence of Serbian culture in today's Central Serbia in the nineteenth century. Prior to that Habsburg Vojvodina was the cultural bastion of the Serbian national identity. Socialist Realism was predominant in official art during the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia but recent decades have seen a growing influence from the West as well as traditional culture.
Famous SerbsSerbs have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Prominent individuals include the scientists Nikola Tesla, Mihajlo Pupin, Jovan Cvijić, and Milutin Milanković; the renowned mathematician Mihailo Petrović; the famous composers Stevan Mokranjac and Stevan Hristić; the celebrated authors Borislav Pekić, Ivo Andrić and Miloš Crnjanski; the prolific inventor Ogneslav Kostović Stepanović; the polymath Đura Jakšić; the famous sports stars Vlade Divac, Peđa Stojaković and Nemanja Vidić; actor Karl Malden (Mladen Sekulovich) and the actress Mila Jovović (half Serbian). The Serb ruler during the middle ages (see List of Serbian rulers), Stephen Nemanja, and his son, Saint Sava, founded the monastery of Hilandar for the Serbian Orthodox Church, one of the greatest and oldest Orthodox Christian monuments in the world. The mother of the last (Eastern) Roman Emperor, Constantine XI Paleologos Dragases, was a Serbian princess, Helena Dragash (Jelena Dragaš), and she liked to be known by her Serbian surname of Dragaš. According to the National Enquirer, author Ian Fleming patterned James Bond after Dusko Popov, a real life Serbian double agent nicknamed "Tricycle". Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914, precipitating the crisis between Austo-Hungary and Serbia that led to World War I. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, himself a Russian, composed the Slavonic March (Marche Slave) in 1876, known at first as the “Serbo-Russian March”, based on the Serbian folk melody “Come, my Dearest, why So Sad this Morning?”.
LanguageImage:AlphabetiSerborum 1841.jpg Serbian Cyrillic and Serbian Latin, from Comparative orthography of European languages. Source: Vuk Stefanović Karadžić "Srpske narodne pjesme" (Serbian folk poems), Vienna, 1841 Most Serbs speak the Serbian language, a member of the South Slavic group of languages. While the Serbian identity is to some extent linguistic, apart from the Cyrillic alphabet which they use along with Latin alphabet, the language is very similar to the standard Croatian and Bosnian (see Differences in standard Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian) and some linguists still consider it part of the common Serbo-Croatian language. There are several variants of Serbian language. The older forms of Serbian are Old Serbian and Russo-Serbian, a version of the Church Slavonic language. Some members of the Serbian diaspora do not speak the language (mostly in the US, Canada and UK) but are still considered Serbs by ethnic origin or descent. Non-Serbs who studied the Serbian language include such prominent individuals as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and J. R. R. Tolkien; see list of Serbian language speakers, learners, etc. SurnamesMost Serbian surnames have the surname suffix -ić (IPA: /itj/, Cyrillic: -ић). This is often transcribed as -ic. In history, Serbian names have often been transcribed with a phonetic ending, -ich or -itch. This form is often associated with Serbs from before the early 20th century: hence Milutin Milanković is usually referred to, for historical reasons, as Milutin Milankovitch. The -ić suffix is a Slavic diminutive, originally functioning to create patronymics. Thus the surname Petrić signifies little Petar, as does, for example, a common prefix Mac ("son of") in Scottish and O' in Irish names. It is estimated that some two thirds of all Serbian surnames end in -ić but that some 80% of Serbs carry such a surname with many common names being spread out among tens and even hundreds of non-related extended families. Other common surname suffixes are -ov or -in which is the Slavic possessive case suffix, thus Nikola's son becomes Nikolin, Petar's son Petrov, and Jovan's son Jovanov. Those are more typical for Serbs from Vojvodina. The two suffixes are often combined. The most common surnames are Nikolić, Petrović, and Jovanović. ReligionImage:Djurdjevi stupovi 016.jpg Djurdjevi Stupovi monastery, Raska region, 12th century Orthodox Christianity and the Serbian Orthodox Church have played a significant role in formation of Serbian identity. Conversion of south Slavs from paganism to Christianity took place before the Great Schism, the split between the Byzantine East and the Roman Catholic West. After the Schism, those who lived under the Orthodox sphere of influence became Orthodox and those who lived under the Catholic sphere of influence became Catholic. Later, with the arrival of the Ottoman Empire, many Slavs converted to Islam. Some ethnologists consider that the distinct Serb, Croatian and Bosniak identities are drawn from religion rather than ethnicity. SymbolsImage:Serbian flag.png Serbian flag The Serbian flag is a red-blue-white tricolour. It is often combined with one or both of the other Serb symbols.
Both the eagle and the cross, besides being the basis for various Serbian coats of arms through history, are bases for the symbols of various Serbian organisations, political parties, institutions and companies. Serbian folk attire varies, mostly because of the very diverse geography and climate of the territory inhabited by the Serbs. Some parts of it are, however, common:
'Three fingers' symbol means Holy Trinity. CustomsImage:Serbian bagpiper.jpg Serbian bagpiper in traditional attire wearing opanci and šajkača. The Serbs are a highly family-oriented society. A peek into a Serbian dictionary and the richness of their terminology related to kinship speaks volumes. Of all Slavs and Orthodox Christians, only Serbs have the custom of slava. The custom could also be found among some Russians and Albanians of Serbian origin although it has often been lost in the last century. Slava is celebration of a saint; unlike most customs that are common for the whole people, each family separately celebrates its own saint (of course, there is a lot of overlap) who is considered its protector. A slava is inherited from father to son and each household may only have one celebration which means that the occasion brings all of the family together. Though a lot of old customs are now no longer practised, many of the customs that surround Serbian wedding still are. The traditional Serbian dance is a circle dance called kolo. It is a collective dance, where a group of people (usually several dozen, at the very least three) hold each other by the hands or around the waist dancing, forming a circle (hence the name), semicircle or spiral. The same dance, with the same name, is also traditional among the Croats. Similar circle dances also exist in other cultures of the region. Serbs have their own customs regarding Christmas. The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, so Christmas currently falls on January 7 of the Gregorian calendar. Early in the morning of Christmas Eve, the head of the family would go to a forest in order to cut badnjak, a young oak, the oaktree would then be brought into the church to be blessed by the priest. Then the oaktree would be stripped of its branches with combined with wheat and other grain products would be burned in the fireplace. The burning of the badnjak is a ritual which is most certainly of pagan origin and it is considered a sacrifice to God (or the old pagan gods) so that the coming year may bring plenty of food, happiness, love, luck and riches. Nowadays, with most Serbs living in towns, most simply go to their church service to be given a small parcel of oak, wheat and other branches tied together to be taken home and set afire. The house floor and church is covered with hay, reminding worshippers of the stable in which Jesus was born. Christmas Day itself is celebrated with a feast, necessarily featuring roasted piglet as the main meal. Another Christmas meal is a deliciously sweet cake made of wheat, called koljivo whose consumption is more for ritual than nourishment. One crosses oneself first, then takes a spoonful of the cake and savours it. But the most important Christmas meal is česnica, a special kind of bread. The bread contains a coin; during the lunch, the family breaks up the bread and the one who finds the coin is said to be assured of an especially happy year. Christmas is not associated with presents like in the West, although it is the day of St Nicolas, the protector saint of children, to whom presents are given. However, most Serbian families give presents on New Year's Day. Santa Claus (Deda Mraz (literally meaning grandpa frost)) and the Christmas tree (but rather associated with New Year's Day) are also used in Serbia as result of globalisation. Serbs also celebrate the Orthodox New Year (currently on January 14th of the Gregorian Calendar). Religious Serbs also celebrate other religious holidays and even non-religious people often celebrate Easter (on the Orthodox date). For Serbian meals, see Serbian cuisine. NameThe etymology of the word "Serb" (root: Srb) is not known. Numerous theories exist, but none can be said to be certain or even probable:
However, one thing is certain: the name is very old. It is clearly a self-identification and not a given name as its root cannot be found in western European languages. It is interesting that the etymology of the name of the Croats (root: Hrv) is also unknown. Some suggest that the names actually originate from the same root: indeed, the roots are distinctly similar (Srb/Hrv). However, it is not known whether this is merely coincidental or indicative of a common origin. Regardless of the origin, the age and rarity of the name allows for certain historical conclusions based partly on it (for example, see Gordoservon). History
The tribal designation Serboi first appears in the 1st century in the works of the Tacitus (c. AD 50) and Pliny (AD 69-75), and also in the 2nd century in the Geography of Ptolemy (book 5, 9.21) to designate a tribe dwelling in Sarmatia, probably on the Lower Volga River. The Slavs (including Serbs) came to the Balkans from a broad region in central and eastern Europe, which extended from the rivers Elbe in the west to the Dnieper in the east, and from a point which touched the Carpathian mountains in the south and the river Niemen in the north. Different tribes settled in different parts of the Balkan peninsula, subsequently developing their distinct identities after displacing the Romanized Vlach population which already was in the area. The Balkan Vlachs were descendants of Romanized Thracians and Dacians and over time these Vlachs mixed with Slavic tribes; thus present-day Slavic nations of the Balkans, including Bosnian Serbs, have both Slavic and Vlach ancestors. Image:Serb lands04.png Serb-ruled lands during the 9th century, mostly according to the Serbian interpretation of the De Administrando Imperio The Serb settlement in the Balkans appears to have taken place between 610 and 640. Some of the old Ostrogoths had settled with the Serbs, & decided to join their clans. The first certain data on the state of the Serboi, Serbia, dates to the 9th century. The Serbs were Christianized in several waves between the 7th and 9th century, with the last wave taking place between 867 and 874. During and after that period, Serbs struggled to gain independence from the Byzantine Empire. The first Serb states were Rascia or Raška and Zeta. Their rulers had varying degrees of autonomy, until virtual independence was achieved under Saint Sava, who became the first head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and his brother Stefan Prvovenčani of Serbia, who became the first Serb king. Serbia did not exist as a state of that name, but was rather the region inhabited by the Serbs; its kings and tsars were called the "King of the Serbs" or "Tsar of the Serbs", not "King of Serbia" or "Tsar of Serbia". The medieval Serbian state is nonetheless often (if anachronistically) referred to as "Serbia". Serbia reached its golden age under the House of Nemanjić, with the Serbian state reaching its apogee of power in the reign of Tsar Stefan Uroš Dušan. Serbia's power subsequently dwindled arising from interminable conflict among the nobility, rendering the country unable to resist the steady incursion of the Ottoman Empire into south-eastern Europe. The Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is commonly regarded in Serbian national mythology as the key event in the country's defeat by the Turks, although in fact, Ottoman rule was not fully imposed until some time later. After Serbia fell, Tvrtko Kotromanić, the king of Bosnia used the title "King of Bosnia, the Serbs, the West-ends and the Primorje" from 1389 to 1390. As Christians, the Serbs were regarded as a "protected people" under Ottoman law. Some of them converted to Islam in order to be client or governor in Ottoman Empire. Beginning from period of Mehmed II most of the grand viziers are chosen from Serbs[citation needed]. At the beginning of the 19th century, the First Serbian Uprising succeeded in liberating at least some Serbs for a limited time. The Second Serbian Uprising was much more successful, resulting in Ottoman recognition of Serbia as autonomous principality within the Empire. Serbia acquired international recognition as an independent | |||||||||||||||||
