Tattooing among Albanians is a long-standing tradition that has been practiced since Illyrian times, kept alive in the mountainous areas of the western Balkans. [2] Traditional tattooing has also been practiced by Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia (Sicanje), and by women of some Vlach communities (in the western Balkans).
Based on the writings of ancient authors such as Herodotus (5th century BC), Cicero and Strabo (1st century BC), whose statements are also confirmed by archaeological findings, ethnographic studies have concluded that the practice of tattooing among the peoples of the Balkan peninsula was known since ancient times. This practice was found among the Illyrian and Thracian tribes, who used tattooing to distinguish tribal origins. [3]
Long bronze needles with wooden handles found in Glasinac and Donja Dolina are considered to have been tools for practicing tattoos. [4] Early figurative representations of this ancient Balkan tradition are found in Apulia, southeast Italy, in the material culture of the Daunians, who were of western Balkan provenance. The custom of tattooing among Daunians can be detected in Daunian stelae and in matt-painted ollae. It can also be conceivably identified on the wall of a late 4th-century tomb chamber from Arpi, in which a painting shows tattoos on the arms of the 'priestess' riding a quadriga. [5] Daunian material culture shows that among them forearms were the most common tattooed parts of the body. [6]
In the Graeco-Roman world tattooing was conceived as a barbaric custom that was used exclusively for punitive or ownership purposes, but the ancient Balkan peoples' perception of tattooing was different, as it was a deep and long-standing cultural embodiment distinguishing them from other cultures. The writings of ancient authors show that in the Balkans tattooing was in the purview of the elites. Iconographic and literary sources reveal in particular that it was especially practiced by the female members of society. [7]
The tattooing practice is most often found in preliterate tribal communities, with women playing the chief role in this custom, both performing the ritual of applying tattoos and wear them. Among other things the tattoos may have been a symbol of sexual maturity, ancestry and tribal affiliations, as well as religious beliefs. [6] In the western Balkans, isolated from outside influences, the practice of tattooing continued until the early 20th century in Albania and Bosnia, regions that in antiquity were part of the area of Illyria. [7]
Albanian traditional tattooing with Sun (Dielli) and Fire (Zjarri) symbols, originally hand-drawn by J. C. Murray-Aynsley [Harriet Georgiana Maria Murray-Ainsley] (1827-1898), were published in 1891 in the journal Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (volume IV), in a study about the swastika. [8]
In the first half of the 20th century, British anthropologist Edith Durham visited northern Albania and other areas of the western Balkans, in particular collecting and studying cultural and folklore material of the Albanian tribal society. [9]
Durham found that in Bosnia tattooing was a practice restricted to the Catholic Slavic population, while the Orthodox Slavic population abhorred this practice, considering it "Latin". On the other hand, Durham found that in northern Albania it was widespread among Albanians regardless of their Catholic or Muslim faith. [10]
Durham reported that girls were tattooed on March 19, which falls in the days of the Albanian spring celebrations. [11]
The most common patterns of Albanian traditional tattoos are suns (also stars), moons (also crescents), and crosses. Many of them also appear on Albanian traditional art (graves, jewellery, embroidery, and house carvings). [13] They represent celestial, light, fire and hearth worship, expressing the favor of the light within the dualistic struggle between light and darkness in Albanian mythology. [13] [14] [8]
Edith Durham, who extensively studied Balkan traditional tattoing with fieldwork research, was able to thoroughly explain the patterns of traditional tattoos only after asking to Albanians of Thethi–Shala for a description of all the little lines (or twigs) that accompanied a semicircle incised on an old gravestone. They answered that those twigs were "the light coming from the Moon, of course". For Albanians, the twigs or little lines were the traditional way to represent light, emanated from the Sun (Dielli) and from the Moon (Hana), which was often represented as a crescent. So, the patterns of Catholic tattoos in Bosnia, which until then were known as "circles, semicircles, and lines or twigs", eventually were clearly explained as compounds of rayed (emanating light) suns, moons, and crosses, from an expression of Nature-worship and hearth-worship. [13] Furthermore, the crosses (including swastikas) have been explained by scholars as symbols of the deified Fire (Zjarri), [15] and in particular of the fire god Enji, [14] who evidently was the most prominent god of the Albanian pantheon in Roman times by interpreting Jupiter, when week-day names were formed in the Albanian language as thursday (e enjte) was dedicated to him. [14]
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Edith Durham provided information about tattooing in northern Albania, but 20th century ethnographic research found that traditional tattooing was widespread throughout Albanian inhabited territories. [16]
A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun or an aspect thereof. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name Sol or by its Greek name Helios. The English word sun derives from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ.
The Kanun is a set of Albanian traditional customary laws, which has directed all the aspects of the Albanian tribal society.
The Illyrians were a group of Indo-European-speaking people who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan populations, along with the Thracians and Greeks.
Prende or Premte is the dawn goddess, goddess of love, beauty, fertility, health and protector of women, in the Albanian pagan mythology. She is also called Afër-dita, an Albanian phrase meaning "near day", "the day is near", or "dawn", in association with the cult of the planet Venus, the morning and evening star. She is referred to as Zoja Prenne or Zoja e Bukuris. Her sacred day is Friday, named in Albanian after her: e premte, premtja. She reflects features belonging to the original Indo-European dawn goddess. A remarkable reflection associated with the Indo-European dawn goddess is the Albanian tradition according to which Prende is the daughter of the sky god – Zojz.
Perëndi is an Albanian noun for God, deity, sky and heaven. It is used capitalized to refer to the Supreme Being, and uncapitalized for "deity", "sky" and "heaven".
The equal-armed cross, also referred to as the square cross, the balanced cross, and the peaceful cross, is a cross, consisting of two intersecting lines, usually perpendicular to each other, with all arms of equal length. The Greek cross is an equal-armed cross with the lines running vertically and horizontally. The saltire is a diagonal equal-armed cross, sometimes with the two intersecting lines that are not perpendicular to each other. Equal-armed crosses are symbols that have been found since ancient times in different cultures and traditions throughout the world.
The Iapygians or Apulians were an Indo-European-speaking people, dwelling in an eponymous region of the southeastern Italian Peninsula named Iapygia between the beginning of the first millennium BC and the first century BC. They were divided into three tribal groups: the Daunians, Peucetians and Messapians. They spoke Messapic, a language of Paleo-Balkan provenance.
Worship or deification of fire, or fire rituals, religious rituals centred on a fire, are known from various religions. Fire has been an important part of human culture since the Lower Paleolithic. Religious or animist notions connected to fire are assumed to reach back to such early prehuman times.
Albanian paganism comprises the pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths and legends of the Albanian people. The elements of Albanian mythology are of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan. Ancient paganism persisted among Albanians, and especially within the inaccessible and deep interior – where Albanian folklore evolved over the centuries in a relatively isolated tribal culture and society – it has continued to persist, or at most it was partially transformed by the Christian, Muslim and Marxist beliefs that were either to be introduced by choice or imposed by force. The Albanian traditional customary law (Kanun) has held a sacred – although secular – longstanding, unwavering and unchallenged authority with a cross-religious effectiveness over the Albanians, which is attributed to an earlier pagan code common to all the Albanian tribes. Indeed, the Kanun contains several customary concepts that clearly have their origins in pagan beliefs, including in particular the ancestor worship, animism and totemism, which have been preserved since pre-Christian times. Albanian traditions have been orally transmitted – through memory systems that have survived intact into modern times – down the generations and are still very much alive in the mountainous regions of Albania, Kosovo and western North Macedonia, as well as among the Arbëreshë in Italy and the Arvanites in Greece, and the Arbanasi in Croatia.
The Ardiaei were an Illyrian people who resided in the territory of present-day Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia between the Adriatic coast on the south, Konjic on the north, along the Neretva river and its right bank on the west, and extending to Lake Shkodra to the southeast. From the 3rd century BC to 168 BC the capital cities of the Ardiaean State were Rhizon and Scodra.
Illyrian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the Illyrian peoples, a group of tribes who spoke the Illyrian languages and inhabited part of the western Balkan Peninsula from at least the 8th century BC until the 7th century AD. The available written sources are very tenuous. They consist largely of personal and place names, and a few glosses from Classical sources.
The Daunians were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited central and southern Apulia respectively. All three tribes spoke the Messapic language, but had developed separate archaeological cultures by the seventh century BC.
Sicanje or bocanje was a widespread custom mostly among Roman Catholic Croat teenage girls and boys of the central regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Dalmatia region of Croatia. The practice, which has been widespread among Albanians and also Vlach women, native populations of the western Balkans, predates the Slavic migration to the Balkans, and consequently Christianity itself, tracing back to Illyrian times, but scholars documented it in the 19th century.
The drangùe is a semi-human winged divine hero in Albanian pagan mythology, associated with weather and storms. He is the archetype of light and good, the complementary and opposing force to kulshedra, the archetype of darkness and evil. Babies destined to become drangue are born with their heads covered in caul and with two or sometimes four wings under their arms. The drangue hold supernatural powers, especially in the wings and arms. A drangùe is made invulnerable by the singular conjunction produced at his birth, and can die only if this conjunction is repeated once again.
Enji is the name of the fire god in the Albanian pagan mythology evidently contained in the week day name that was dedicated to him – e enjte – the Albanian word for Thursday. The Fire – Zjarri – is deified in Albanian tradition, with the power to ward off evil and darkness, give strength to the Sun, sustain the continuity between life and afterlife and between the generations. The divine power of Fire is used for the hearth and the rituals, including calendar fires, sacrificial offerings, divination, purification, and protection from big storms and other potentially harmful events. Fire worship and rituals are associated with the cult of the Sun (Dielli), the cult of the hearth (vatër) and the ancestor, and the cult of fertility in agriculture and animal husbandry. Fire rituals that are commonly found among Indo-European peoples, including the Albanians, have been firstly attested by the Vedas, with hymns dedicated to the fire god Agni. Described in written sources since 1482, the Albanian practices associated with ritual fires have been historically fought by the Christian clergy, without success. The cult of the mystic fire and the fire ritual practices have played a prominent role in the lives of all the Albanian people until the 20th century, and in rural areas they continue to be important for Albanian traditional customs even in the present days.
Zojz is a sky and lightning god in Albanian pagan mythology. Regarded as the chief god and the highest of all gods, traces of his worship survived in northern Albania until the early 20th century, and in some forms still continue today. The old beliefs in the Sky are pagan beliefs preserved by Albanians since ancient times. In classical antiquity Zojz was presumably worshiped by Illyrians as the ancestors of the Albanians. Albanian Zojz is the clear equivalent and cognate of Messapic Zis and Ancient Greek Zeus. The sacred significance of one of the main symbols of the sky cult – the eagle – has been scrupulously preserved by Albanians, who have always considered it their animal totem. An epithet considered to be associated with the sky-god is "father", thought to be contained in the Albanian noun Zot, used to refer to the supreme entity. A remarkable reflection of Proto-Indo-European mythology associated with the dawn goddess *H₂éwsōs is the Albanian tradition according to which the dawn goddess – Prende – is the daughter of the sky god – Zojz.
The vatër is the domestic hearth in Albanian culture. The fire of the domestic hearth holds divine attributes in Albanian beliefs, being considered the sustainer of the continuity between the world of the living and that of the dead, and ensuring the continuity of the tribe from generation to generation. The absence of fire in a house is traditionally considered a great curse. In Albanian folk beliefs the fire hearth is the symbol of fire as the offspring of the Sun (Dielli). In Albanian tradition the fire (zjarri) has been evidently deified as Enji, the god to whom Thursday – e enjte – was dedicated in the Albanian language.
Dielli, the Sun, holds a prominent position in Albanian pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths, and legends. The Sun exercises a great influence on Albanian major traditional festivities and calendar rites, worshiped as the light and weather god, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye. In Albanian tradition the fire – zjarri, evidently also called with the theonym Enji – worship and rituals are particularly related to the cult of the Sun. Ritual calendar fires or bonfires are traditionally kindled before sunrise in order to give strength to the Sun. Many rituals are practiced before and during sunrise, honoring this moment of the day as it is believed to give energy and health to the body.
The muranë is a burial mound of stones traditionally built by Albanians with the function of preserving ancestor's memory and monumentalizing death. In Albanian paganism the muranas are associated with the stone cult, ancestor worship, and hero's cult. They are regulated by the Kanun, the Albanian traditional customary law that has directed all the aspects of the Albanian tribal society.
Hëna, the Moon, holds a prominent position in Albanian pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths, and legends. In Albanian traditions the Moon's cyclical phases have regulated many aspects of life, defining agricultural and livestock activities, various crafts, and human body.
