Virdine / Balkan Sworn Virgins

Terms / termini

virdina
ena-ovjek, ovjek-evojka
cura
ostajnica = djevojka koja ostaje u oevoj kui
Ostajati, ostati = to stay
zavjetovana djevojaka
Zavjet = celibaty
 location
In the past: Kosovo, Crna Gora, Bosna i Hercegovina
(among Serbian population), Srbija (south and west),
Makedonija
Today - Crna Gora and Kosovo(&north Albania)
Durmitor, Crna Gora
North Albania / Sjeverna Albanija
Traditional society in Montenegro /
Tradicionalno drutvo u Crnoj Gori
 Tribal society / Plemensko drutvo
Tribe (pleme) until the mid 19th century tribal
society was the basis of the state.
cattle breeding society (stoarstvo) and
mountainous area

Honour (ast)

Blood feud (krvna osveta) - an oath of revenge -

person (male and rarely female) must take
revenge on the murderer who killed his relative
or one of the murderer's close male relatives.
- Still exists in Montenegro and North Albania.
 Patriarchy of traditional society/ Patrijarhat
tradicionalnog drutva

rule by fathers
a social system in which the male is the
primary authority figure central to family and
social organization
All the economic power is concentrated in
the hands of men
Traditional gender roles / Tradicionalne rodne
uloge

Men: all important economic activities (cattle

breeding)
Women: giving birth and raising children, taking care
of the household
"Their jobs are conceived of as labour, whereas the
women are said to just hang around." (Backer, 2003)

"the structure denies the formal existance of

women, while at the same time group survival
depends upon them. (Denich: 1974)
 I've thought at least 100.000 times how miserable it
is to be born a woman. As a man nobody would have
captured me, I would have been free my whole life.
Sophia in documentary Pashke i Sophia (Karin Michalski, 2003)

*** Bolje biti pijetao jedan dan, nego koko cijeli

ivot. (poslovica)
 virdina
"..gender intermediates
were thus able to
make the best
of both worlds"
(Gremaux, 1994)
 is biologically woman, but socially a man
virdina behaves and dresses up like a man:
short hair, wears weapons, men cap
* does men work, has rights and
responsibilities assigned to men (for ex.
limited inheritance rights, right to represent
family in public, to talk to men, visit taverns,
drink and smoke, and to go to war)

"It concerns crossing gender identites rather than

merely cross-dressing" (Gremaux, 1994)
 origin
family has no male heir (no male children)
1. In order for family property to be preserved,
female child is raised as a male

2. Females who wants to avoid arranged marriage

3. Widows who want to avoid returning to their

fathers house or remarring
Widows usually mingle with females and wear
female clothes, but they are allowed to socialize
with men
 I didnt want to get married and be ruled
over, because I like to be the one making
decisions.
Virdina kurta/kurtan, from North Albania
 Vow of chastity / zavjet djevianstva

Roman vestal virgins

 Taking the vow of celibaty
Breaking of the celibaty mostly results in girl
getting married and starting a family of her
own, although in some cases punishment can
be stoning (Crna Gora)

....these men should be careful not to get

pregnant" (Brenner on sworn virgins)
 Virdina as an institution / Virdina kao
institucija

"the only known institutionalized female-

to-male role and identity transformation in
modern Europe" (Dickemann, 1997)

Virdina is a social customs, not a personal

choice. It exists to preserve the household.

Respected more than men in some cases

Drko Memi, with nephew / Drko Memi s neakom
 Milice/Mika orevi (1865. 1934.)

The most famous Montenegrian virdina

Raised as a boy
Was a soldier
Registered as a male, so
had a right to vote
psuje, pije kafu bez eera
abljak, Crna Gora
Stana Cerovi ( born 1940)
 Stana Cerovi, last living virdina from
Montenegro; raised as a boy since she was
little
 Cowherder = pastir = oban
Spends summers in mountain (near abljak) and
winters in her hometown
Had her first cigarette when she was 5 and is an
excellent shooter
 Misogyny / mizoginija

Durham about Albanian virdina: "She treated

me with the contempt she appeared to think
all petticoats deserved and turned her back
to me.

Stana Cerovi about women: enske se

nadigle da imaju pravo ka ljudi, a kad vide da
je neto teko, odma pitaju e su muki.
(Nikoleti, 2007)
 Read more about it:

http://www.udi.rs/articles/genderPS.pdf

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIIJ990jU
fU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KgS3G9
W-XM (Albania only)