Besa (Albanian culture)

Last updated
This article is part of a series in
Culture of
Albania
Coat of arms of Albania.svg
History
People
Language
Tradition
Religion and folklore
Art
Cuisine
Festivals
Literature
Media
Sport
Symbols
Flag of Albania.svg  Albania  • Social sciences.svg   Societyportal

Besa (pledge of honor) [1] is an Albanian cultural precept, usually translated as "faith" or "oath", that means "to keep the promise" and "word of honor". [2] The concept is synonymous, and, according to Hofmann, Treimer and Schmidt, etymologically related, to the Classical Latin word fides, which in Late Ancient and Medieval Latin took on the Christian meaning of "faith, (religious) belief" today extant in Romance languages (and then also loaned into Albanian, as feja ), but which originally had an ethical/juridical scope. The Albanian adjective besnik, derived from besa, means "faithful", "trustworthy", i.e. one who keeps his word. Besnik for men and Besa for women continue to be very popular names among Albanians. Besa is of prime importance in the Albanian traditional customary law ( Kanun ) as a cornerstone of personal and social conduct.

Contents

Cultural concept and institution

An Albanian who says besa once cannot in any way break [his] promise and cannot be unfaithful [to it].

—  Mehmed Ferid Pasha, Ottoman-Albanian grand vizier, (1903) [3]

Besa is a word in the Albanian language meaning pledge of honor. [1] The concept is based upon faithfulness toward one's word in the form of loyalty or as an allegiance guarantee. [4] Besa contains mores toward obligations to the family and a friend, the demand to have internal commitment, loyalty and solidarity when conducting oneself with others and secrecy in relation to outsiders. [4] The besa is also the main element within the concept of the ancestor’s will or pledge (amanet) where a demand for faithfulness to a cause is expected in situations that relate to unity, national liberation and independence that transcend a person and generations. [4]

The concept of besa is included in the Kanun, the customary law of the Albanian people. [4] The besa was an important institution within the tribal society of the Albanian Malisors (highlanders). [5] Albanian tribes swore oaths to jointly fight against the government and in this aspect the besa served to uphold tribal autonomy. [5] The besa was used toward regulating tribal affairs between and within the Albanian tribes. [5] The Ottoman government used the besa as a way to co-opt Albanian tribes in supporting state polices or to seal agreements. [5]

During the Ottoman period, the besa would be cited in government reports regarding Albanian unrest, especially in relation to the tribes. [6] The besa formed a central place within Albanian society in relation to generating military and political power. [7] Besas held Albanians together, united them and would wane when the will to enforce them dissipated. [8] In times of revolt against the Ottomans by Albanians, the besa functioned as a link among different groups and tribes. [8]

History

In the Statutes of Scutari, according to Ardian Klosi and Ardian Vehbiu, the verb bessare (trans. to make an oath) is the first documentation of this concept. [9] [10] Afterwards in the missal translated by Gjon Buzuku it is used as per faith (Latin : fides) "o gruo, e madhe äshte besa jote" (Latin : "o mulier, magna est fides tua"; Gospel of Matthew 15:28). [11] In the early 19th century, Markos Botsaris, in his Greek-Albanian dictionary, translated the Albanian "besa" (written "μπέσα") as the Greek "θρησκεία", [12] meaning "religion", or, by extension, "faith". In 1896, the Ottoman government provincial almanac for Kosovo titled Kosova Salnamesi had a two-page entry on besa and compared it to the French concept of parole d'honneur (word of honor). [13]

Late Ottoman period

During the Great Eastern Crisis, Albanians gathered in Prizren, Kosovo (1878) and made a besa to form a political alliance (League of Prizren) aimed at upholding Ottoman territorial integrity to prevent the partition of Albanian lands by neighbouring Balkan countries. [14] In 1881 Albanians swore a besa and rebelled against the Ottoman government. [15] Abdul Hamid II opposed blood feuds of the Albanian tribes and issued (1892–1893) a proclamation to the people of the Ișkodra (Shkodër) area urging them to make a besa and reject the practice, in the hope that the very institution (besa) that upheld the vendetta could be used against it. [16]

In 1907, the empire sent a military inspection commission to Kosovo and one of its fact finding objectives was concerned with the prevention of a "general besa" against the Ottoman government. [17] During the Young Turk Revolution of July 1908, Kosovo Albanians that gathered at Firzovik (Ferizaj) agreed to a besa toward pressuring sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore constitutional government. [18] In November 1908 during the Congress of Manastir on the Albanian alphabet question, delegates selected a committee of 11 that swore a besa promising that nothing would be revealed before a final decision [19] and in keeping with that oath agreed to two alphabets as the step forward. [20] During the Albanian revolt of 1910, Kosovo Albanian chieftains gathered at Firzovik and swore a besa to fight the centralist polices of the Ottoman Young Turk government. [21] In the Albanian revolt of 1912, Albanians pledged a besa against the Young Turk government which they had assisted into gaining power in 1908. [22] Haxhi Zeka, a landowner from Ipek (Pejë) organized a meeting of 450 Kosovo Albanian notables in 1899 and they agreed to form Besa-Besë (League of Peja) to fight the Ottoman government and swore a besa to suspend all blood feuding. [23]

World War II

During World War II under German occupation, Albanians rescued and hid over 2000 Jews from Nazi persecution, motivated in part by the cultural institution of besa that emphasises aiding and protecting people in moments of need. [24] [25] [26]

Modern period

In Montenegro, an event "Beslidhja e Malësisë" (Pledge of the Highlands) took place in Tuzi (28 June 1970) in the presence of Catholic and Muslim clergy. [27] Families and other extended kin in the Malesia region made a besa and agreed to cease blood feuding and accept state judicial outcomes for victims and perpetrators. [27]

Cultural references

Sayings

Besa-related sayings include: [2]

Literature, arts and politics

In 1874 Sami Frashëri wrote a play Besâ yâhut Âhde Vefâ (Pledge of Honor or Loyalty to an Oath) with themes based on an Albanian ethnicity, a bond to an ethnic based territory, ethno-cultural diversity as underlying Ottoman unity, honor, loyalty and self-sacrifice. [28] The play revolved around a betrothed girl kidnapped by a jealous villager that kills her father and whose mother vows revenge co-opting the culprit's father who gives his besa to help not knowing it is his son, later killing him and himself ending with family reconciliation. [29] At the time the play's discussion of besa signified to more astute Ottoman audiences the political implications of the concept and possible subversive connotations in future usage while it assisted Albanians in rallying militarily and politically around a national program. [30] By the early twentieth century, the themes of the play highlighting a besa for self-sacrifice of the homeland carried a subversive message for Albanians to aim at unifying the nation and defend the homeland, something Ottoman authorities viewed as fostering nationalist sentiments. [31]

Frashëri wrote a political treatise Albania: What she has been, What she is, What she shall be (1899) on the Albanian question and proposed that Albanians make a besa to demand the empire and Europe recognize Albanian national rights, especially by applying pressure upon the Ottomans to achieve those aims. [32] [33]

Besa is a key theme in the novel Kush e solli Doruntinën (usually abbreviated in English to "Doruntine") (1980), by Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare. [34]

In the 1980s until 1994, a bimonthly newspaper named Besa was published by the Arvanite community of Greece. [35]

In the 2010s, the cultural institution of besa featured in an international exhibition named Besa: A Code of Honor by photographer Norman H. Gershman and in an award-winning documentary film Besa: The Promise on the survival of Jews in Albania during the Holocaust. [36] [24] [25]

In 2015, an Albanian political party named Lëvizja Besa (Besa Movement) with an anti-establishment and anti-corruption platform was founded in the Republic of Macedonia. [37]

Usage in Greek

In Greek, the word has been adopted as "μπέσα", and is used as a more informal synonym for trustworthiness or "philotimo".

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albanians</span> Ethnic group native to Southern Europe

The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia as well as in Croatia, Greece, Italy and Turkey. They also constitute a large diaspora with several communities established across Europe, the Americas and Oceania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isa Boletini</span> Albanian revolutionary commander (1864–1916)

Isa Boletini was an Albanian revolutionary commander and politician and rilindas from Kosovo.

The Kanun is a set of Albanian traditional customary laws, which has directed all the aspects of the Albanian tribal society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bajram Curri</span> Hero of Albania

Bajram Curri was an Albanian chieftain, politician and activist who struggled for the independence of Albania, later struggling for Kosovo's incorporation into it following the 1913 Treaty of London. He was posthumously given the title Hero of Albania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosovo vilayet</span> Administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire from 1877 to 1913

The Vilayet of Kosovo was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula which included the current territory of Kosovo and the north-western part of the Republic of North Macedonia. The areas today comprising Sandžak (Raška) region of Serbia and Montenegro, although de jure under Ottoman control, were in fact under Austro-Hungarian occupation from 1878 until 1909, as provided under Article 25 of the Treaty of Berlin. Üsküb (Skopje) functioned as the capital of the province and the midway point between Istanbul and its European provinces. Üsküb's population of 32,000 made it the largest city in the province, followed by Prizren, also numbering at 30,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scutari vilayet</span> Division of the Ottoman Empire located in Montenegro and Albania

The Vilayet of Scutari, Shkodër or Shkodra was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire that existed from 1867 to 1913, located in parts of what today is Montenegro and Albania. In the late 19th century it reportedly had an area of 13,800 square kilometres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albanian blood feud</span> Practice in traditional Albanian culture

In traditional Albanian culture, Gjakmarrja or hakmarrja ("revenge") is the social obligation to kill an offender or a member of their family in order to salvage one's honor. This practice is generally seen as in line with the social code known as the Canon of Lekë Dukagjini or simply the Kanun. The code was originally a "a non-religious code that was used by Muslims and Christians alike."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hasan Prishtina</span> Ottoman-Albanian politician

Hasan bey Prishtina,, was an Ottoman, later Albanian politician, who served as the 8th prime minister of Albania in December 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sami Frashëri</span> Albanian writer, philosopher, playwright and activist (1850–1904)

Sami bey Frashëri or Şemseddin Sâmi was an Ottoman Albanian writer, philosopher, playwright and a prominent figure of the Rilindja Kombëtare, the National Renaissance movement of Albania, together with his two brothers Abdyl and Naim. He also supported Turkish nationalism against its Ottoman counterpart, along with secularism against theocracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shkreli (tribe)</span> Region in northern Albania; historic Albanian tribe

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Code of Lekë Dukagjini</span> Albanian customary law

The Code of Lekë Dukagjini (Albanian: Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit, or also known as the Code of the Mountains is one of the variants of the Albanian customary law transmitted orally. Believed to be much older, it was initially codified by 15th century Albanian prince Lekë Dukagjini, but was only written down and published in Turkish by the Ottoman administration in the first half of the 19th century in an attempt to stop the blood feuds, then was compiled by the Catholic clergy at the turn of the 20th century. The collections of the clergy were published in the Albanian language in the periodical magazines as "Albania" and "Hylli i Dritës". The first complete codification of the usual subject saw its first publication in 1933 in Shkodër, a posthumous work of Shtjefën Gjeçovi who collected it mainly in the villages of Mirdita and its surroundings.

The Ghegs are one of two major dialectal subgroups of Albanians They are also differentiated by minor cultural, dialectal, social and religious characteristics. The Ghegs live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. The Ghegs speak Gheg Albanian, one of the two main dialects of Albanian language. The social organization of the Ghegs was traditionally tribal, with several distinct tribal groups of Ghegs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanjak of Dibra</span> Administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire from 1395 to 1913 in present-day Albania & North Macedonia

The Sanjak of Dibra, Debar, or Dibër was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire. Its capital was Debar, Macedonia. Today, the western part of its territory belongs to Albania and the eastern part to North Macedonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehmed Ferid Pasha</span> Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1903 to 1908

Mehmed Ferid Pasha was an Ottoman statesman. He served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 15 January 1903 until 22 July 1908, at the time when the Sultan restored the 1876 Constitution following the Young Turk Revolution. Other than Ottoman Turkish he spoke the Albanian, Arabic, French, Italian, and Greek languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statutes of Scutari</span>

The Statutes of Scutari were the highest form of expression of the self-government of Scutari (Shkodër) during Venetian rule. There were other cities in Albania which had statutes but only those of Scutari are preserved in their fullest form. They are composed of 279 chapters written in the Venetian language of the 15th century. They were held in two copies, one in the treasury office of the city and the other on the city court office. Although similar to other Italian and Dalmatian city statutes, they have incorporated many Albanian traditional elements and institutions, such as Besa and Gjakmarrja, developing their own legal traditions through a codification of local customary laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albanian tribes</span> Historical Albanian social structure

The Albanian tribes form a historical mode of social organization (farefisní) in Albania and the southwestern Balkans characterized by a common culture, often common patrilineal kinship ties tracing back to one progenitor and shared social ties. The fis stands at the center of Albanian organization based on kinship relations, a concept that can be found among southern Albanians also with the term farë.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mësonjëtorja</span> School in Albania

Mësonjëtorja or The Albanian School was the first secular school in the Albanian language within Ottoman Albania. It was opened in Korçë during the late Ottoman period. The school building serves as a museum and is located on the north side of Bulevardi Shën Gjergji.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoshi (tribe)</span> Region in northern Albania; historic Albanian tribe

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shemsi Pasha (general)</span>

Shemsi Pasha (1846-1908) was an Ottoman-Albanian general.

The Taksim meeting alternatively known as the Taksim Plot and less commonly as the Taksim Assembly was a secret meeting held in January 1912 by Albanian nationalist deputies of the Ottoman parliament and other prominent Albanian political figures. The event gets its name from Taksim Square because of the location of the house where it was held. The meeting was organized on the initiative of Hasan Prishtina and Ismail Qemali, Albanian politicians, who invited most of the MPs of Albanian origin and aimed at launching an armed general uprising in Albanian territories against the central government headed by the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). The meeting followed two other Albanian uprisings of 1910 in the Vilayet of Kosovo and 1911 in the mountains of upper Shkodra. The Taksim meeting resulted in an uprising the same year, with armed uprisings in Shkodër, Lezhë, Mirditë, Krujë and other Albanian provinces, which exceeded the organizers' expectations. The biggest uprising was in Kosovo, where the rebels were more organized and managed to take over important cities like Prizren, Peja, Gjakova, Mitrovica and others.

References

  1. 1 2 Gawrych 2006 , pp. 1, 9.
  2. 1 2 Kushova, Alma (July 21, 2004). "Besa". Open Democracy. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  3. ↑ Gawrych 2006, p. 132.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Di Lellio, Anna; Schwanders-Sievers, Stephanie (2006). "The Legendary Commander: The construction of an Albanian master‐narrative in post‐war Kosovo" (PDF). Nations and Nationalism. 12 (3): 519–520. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8129.2006.00252.x.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Gawrych 2006 , p. 36.
  6. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , p. 119.
  7. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 119–120.
  8. 1 2 Gawrych 2006 , p. 120.
  9. ↑ Klosi, Ardian (30 October 2002). "Statutet e Shkodrës - kujtesa historike e rigjetur". Shekulli (in Albanian). 297: 1, 17.
  10. ↑ Vehbiu, Ardian (27 September 2009). "Etiketat shtegtare". peizazhe.com (in Albanian).
  11. ↑ Joachim, Matzinger (2005). "Albanisch bese "Ehrenwort usw." - Ein soziales und sprachliches Balkankonzept". Albanologische und balkanologische Studien: Festschrift für Wilfried Fiedler (in German). Harrassowitz. p. 115. ISBN   9783830015901.
  12. ↑ Yochalas, Titos (1980). Το Ελληνο-Αλβανικόν Λεξικόν του Μάρκου Μπότσαρη [The Greek-Albanian Dictionary of Markos Botsaris]. Academy of Greece. p. 213.
  13. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , p. 115.
  14. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 1, 46–48, 210.
  15. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 67, 210.
  16. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , p. 118.
  17. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 95–96, 120.
  18. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 152, 177, 210.
  19. ↑ Skendi, Stavro (1967). The Albanian national awakening. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 371. ISBN   9781400847761.
  20. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , p. 166.
  21. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , p. 177.
  22. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , p. 210.
  23. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 125–126.
  24. 1 2 Barberá, Marcel Gascón (25 January 2019). "Exhibition Tells How Jews Found Refuge in WWII Albania". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  25. 1 2 Lipshiz, Cnaan (19 January 2019). "What made Muslim Albanians risk their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust?". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  26. ↑ Axelrod, Jim (8 November 2009). "The Righteous". CBS News Sunday Morning . Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  27. 1 2 Kajosevic, Samir (29 June 2020). "Montenegro Albanians Take Pride in Abandoning Ancient Blood Feuds". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  28. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 1–2, 8, 36–37.
  29. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 9–11.
  30. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , p. 88.
  31. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 148–149.
  32. ↑ Skendi 1967 , p. 168.
  33. ↑ Gawrych, George (2006). The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874–1913. London: IB Tauris. p. 128. ISBN   9781845112875.
  34. ↑ Elsie, Robert (2005). Albanian literature: A short history. London: I.B. Tauris. pp. 173–174. ISBN   9781845110314.
  35. ↑ Sintès, Pierre (2010). "Construction des discours d'appartenance en migration: l'exemple des Albanais en Grèce". Anatoli. 1. para. 20.
  36. ↑ Tabachnick, Toby. "Besa Albanian Muslims took vow to save Jews, photographer says". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  37. ↑ Lansford, Tom (2019). Political Handbook of the World 2018-2019. CQ Press. p. 1126. ISBN   9781544327112.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.