Remembering KOSOVO: Vidovdan

[Tessa]

Tomorrow is officially Vidovdan when we commemorate the Serbian defeat to the Islamic hordes on Kosovo Polje. We had a beatiful parastos commemoration service today and church and a program of Serbian epic poetry.

Here are some links:

http://www.srpska-mreza.com/bookstore/k ... sovo13.htm

http://www.kosovo.com/vidovdan2002.html

but if nothing else please read this:
It is a poem recited with accompaniment from the Gusle, a one stringed Serbian instrument, and it is perhaps one the most touching poems I have ever read:
http://www.rastko.org.yu/kosovo/umetnos ... maiden.htm

In Christ,
Tessa

[_cizinec_]

Thanks for the links, Tessa!

We had our celebrations yesterday as well. It's always nice to see the Serbian immigrants who rarely come to church stay for the entire Divine Liturgy. It seems that every time they come, one or two come more often.

My wife is going to deliver on July 8th (she has to have a c-section for a whole host of reasons even though she doesn't want to). I tried to get the doctor to move the date up a week and a half to today, but he wouldn't do it.

It would have been nice.

[_cizinec_]

I have to add that Vidovdan is experienced very differently by converts. I have noticed that there are two schools - one that sees Vidovdan as something for ethnic Serbs and another that sees it as an event important to the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church and, therefore, of equal importance to all in the church.

While I don't have the emotional connections as an ethnic Serb, I have found the histories and the living experience of the past as very moving and important. It helps us to understand, appreciate, and learn from what sacrifices were made so that we can have the faith we worship at our churches.

[Alyosha]

Here's what a friend of mine sent me today:

There is a newly posted short video clip (clearly marked in english) on the
Serbian Patriarchate website
http://www.spc.org.yu
that you might be interested in. It shows the burning of St. Elijah church
in Podujevo in March of this year.

Today is Vidovdan, the day the Serbian Orthodox Church and its people
remember the sacrifice of Tsar Lazar and his men on June 28, 1389 at Kosovo
Polje. As the video on the website clearly shows, six hundred years later,
the Serbian Church is still under attack by the Muslims. Though upsetting
to watch, it is important for us to be aware of the persecution against the
Orthodox world today.

[Etienne]

Thank you for the links.