O moj Shqypni

Last updated
Vaso Pasha PashkoVasa.jpg
Vaso Pasha

O Moj Shqypni (English: "Oh Albania, poor Albania") is a poem written by Vaso Pasha, a political figure, poet, novelist, and patriot known for his role during the Rilindja. It was written between 1878, an important year for the League of Prizren and 1880. [1] The poet, a critique of religious and political factionalism as a barrier to national unity of Albanians called for them overcoming religious divisions through a united Albanianism. [2] In 1910, the music director of the orchestra of Vlorë melodized the poem. [3]

Contents

Poem

Written in Vaso's native dialect of Shkodër, the poem is one of the few works written by him in Albanian. Others were penned in Italian or French. It has 72 verses. Vasa, a Catholic himself [4] [5] describes Albania, a nation whose people were divided between different religions and its fate. Vasa used the last line of poem Feja e shqyptarit asht shqyptarija (The faith of the Albanian is Albanianism) to remind his people that the identity of Albanians was not a product of religion as in the case of other peoples in the Balkans. He describes the nation as a mother and a grand lady that has been raped and defiled by foreigners. By using this feminine image of Albania and by appealing to the manly virtues of Albanians, Vasa in poetic verse demands from them to act against this dishonour. [6] [4] [7]

O moj Shqypni (Oh Albania)
"Albanians, you are killing kinfolk,
You're split in a hundred factions,
Some believe in God or Allah,
Say "I'm Turk," or "I am Latin,"
Say "I'm Greek," or "I am Slavic,"
But you're brothers, hapless people!
You have been duped by priests and hodjas
To divide you, keep you wretched....
Who has the heart to let her perish,
Once a heroine, now so weakened!
Well-loved mother, dare we leave her
To fall under foreign boot heels ?...
Wake, Albanian, from your slumber,
Let us, brothers, swear in common
And not look to church or mosque,
The Albanian's faith is Albanianism [to be Albanian]!

Excerpt from O moj Shqypni by Pashko Vasa, 1878. [8]

Versions

The poem was first published by the Czech linguist Jan Urban Jarník  [ cs ] in his work Zur Albanesische Sprachenkunde published in 1881. Throughout the Ottoman Empire, it was disseminated in the form of brochures and flyers. Two other versions have been found in Thimi Mitko's archives in Alexandria and those of Jeronim de Rada in Cosenza. Found in 1975, the latter version, unlike the other two, has a different first verse, which is Mori Shqypni instead of Moj Shqypni. It was originally considered to have been transcribed by Vasa, but eventually it was proven that it's a transcription of Sami Frashëri, another important Albanian writer of the era. [9]

Importance and legacy

Frustrated by Albanian societal divisions, the poem was a stirring appeal by Vasa for an national awakening and unity transcending religious and other identities among Albanians. [10] [11] O Moj Shqypni is considered to be one of the most influential works of 19th-century Albanian literature and has been described as one of the most influential and most important poems written in Albanian. [12] The last stanza Feja e shqyptarit asht shqyptarija (The faith of the Albanian is Albanianism) was a motto of the League of Prizren and became during the Rilindja and thereafter a catchword for Albanian nationalists. [13] [7]

The communist leader of Albania Enver Hoxha, who used nationalism as a tool during his struggle to break Albania out of the Soviet bloc [14] exploited the stanza and implemented it literally as state policy. [15] [16] [17] The communist regime proclaimed that the only religion of the Albanians was Albanianism. [14] In 1967 the communist regime declared Albania the only atheist and non-religious country in the world and banned all forms of religious practice in public. [18] [14] [19]

Related Research Articles

Lekë Dukagjini

Lekë III Dukagjini (1410–1481), mostly known as Lekë Dukagjini, was a mysterious member of the Dukagjini family about whom little is known and who is thought to have been a 15th-century Albanian nobleman. A contemporary of Skanderbeg, Dukagjini is known for the Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit, a code of law instituted among the tribes of northern Albania.

Naim Frashëri Albanian poet and writer

Naim Bey Frashëri, more commonly Naim Frashëri, was an Albanian patriot, historian, journalist, poet, rilindas and translator who was proclaimed national poet of Albania. He is regarded as the pioneer of modern Albanian literature and one of the most influential Albanian cultural icons of the 19th century.

Malësia

Malësia e Madhe, known simply as Malësia or Malsia, is a historical and ethnographic region in northern Albania and eastern central Montenegro corresponding to the highlands of the geographical subdivision of the Malësi e Madhe District in Albania and Tuzi Municipality in Montenegro. The largest settlement in the area is the town of Tuzi.

Orthodox Church of Albania Eastern Orthodox jurisdiction in Albania

The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, also known as the Orthodox Church of Albania or the Albanian Orthodox Church, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It declared its autocephaly in 1922 through its Congress of 1922, and gained recognition from the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1937.

Sami Frashëri

Sami bey Frashëri was an 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 as well as laicism against theocracy.

Vaso Pasha

Vaso Pasha, also known as Pashko Vasa or Wassa Pasha, was an Ottoman Albanian writer, poet and publicist of the Albanian National Awakening, and mutasarrif of Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate from 1882 until his death.

Albanian nationalism is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts generated by ethnic Albanians that were first formed in the 19th century during the Albanian National Awakening. Albanian nationalism is also associated with similar concepts, such as Albanianism and Pan-Albanianism, (Panshqiptarizmi) that includes ideas on the creation of a geographically expanded Albanian state or a Greater Albania encompassing adjacent Balkan lands with substantial Albanian populations.

Besa is an Albanian cultural precept, usually translated as "faith" or "oath", that means "to keep the promise" and "word of honor". 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, 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.

Çerçiz Topulli

Çerçiz Topulli was an Albanian revolutionary and guerrilla fighter involved in the national movement operating in the mountainous areas of southern Albania. He was the younger brother of Bajo Topulli. He was known for fighting the Ottomans in 1907 and 1908 and then after they left, the Greeks in 1913 and 1914 during the Balkan Wars.

Iljaz Bej Mirahori Albanian Janissary

Imrahor Ilyas Bey was an Ottoman military commander and governor of Albanian origin, who served sultan Bayezid II. He married the daughter of sultan Mehmet II and founded the town of Korçë in the 15th century.

Hasan Tahsini

Hoxhë Hasan Tahsini or simply Hoxha Tahsin was an Albanian alim, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. He was the first rector of Istanbul University and one of the founders of the Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights. Tahsini is regarded as one of the most prominent scholars of the Ottoman Empire of the 19th century.

Congress of Dibra

The Congress of Dibra was a congress held by members of Albanian committee in Debar from July 23 to July 29, 1909. The congress was chaired by Vehbi Dibra, Grand Mufti of the Sanjak of Dibra and was sponsored by the government of the Young Turks. It was held on the first anniversary of the Young Turk Revolution and was a countermeasure on the Latin script based Albanian alphabet which came out of the Congress of Manastir.

Albanian tribes 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 which can be found among southern Albanians also with the term farë.

The Historiography of Albania or Albanian historiography refers to the studies, sources, critical methods and interpretations used by scholars to study the history of Albania and Albanians.

Laramans

The term Laraman in Albanian refers to crypto-Christians who adhered to Islam officially but continued to practice Christianity within the household during the Ottoman era. It was derived from the Albanian adjective i larmë, meaning "variegated, motley, two-faced", a metaphor of "two-faithed" (l'arë), a reference to the Laramans following both Christianity and Islam (nominally).

Shoshi (tribe) Region in northern Albania; historic Albanian tribe

Shoshi is a historical Albanian tribe (fis) and region of northern Albania in the lower Shala valley. Shoshi is first recorded as a small settlement in 1485. The fis itself traces its origin to the brothers Gjol and Pep Suma. The community of their descendants gradually grew to control part of the Dukagjin highlands. In the 19th century Shoshi also became a bajrak.

Albanian nationalism in North Macedonia came about during the Albanian nationalist movement which emerged as a response to the Eastern Crisis (1878) and proposed partitioning of Ottoman Albanian inhabited lands in the Balkans among neighbouring countries. During the remainder of the late Ottoman period various disagreements culminated between Albanian nationalists and the Ottoman Empire over socio-cultural rights. The Balkan Wars (1912–13) ending with Ottoman defeat, Serbian and later Yugoslav sovereignty over the area generated an Albanian nationalism that has become distinct to North Macedonia stressing Albanian language, culture and identity within the context of state and sociopolitical rights. Pan-Albanian sentiments are also present and historically have been achieved only once when western Macedonia was united by Italian Axis forces to their protectorate of Albania during the Second World War.

Albanian nationalism emerged in Albania during the 19th century. By the late Ottoman period Albanians were mainly Muslims with close ties to the Ottoman Empire. The lack of previous Albanian statehood to draw upon resulted in Albanian nationalism developing later unlike neighbouring nationalisms of the Serbs and Greeks. The onset of the Eastern crisis (1870s) that threatened partition of Balkan Albanian inhabited lands by neighbouring Orthodox Christian states stimulated the emergence of the Albanian national awakening (Rilindja) and nationalist movement. During the 19th century, some Western scholarly influences, Albanian diasporas such as the Arbereshë and Albanian National Awakening figures contributed greatly to spreading influences and ideas among Balkan Albanians within the context of Albanian self-determination. Among those were ideas of an Illyrian contribution to Albanian ethnogenesis which still dominate Albanian nationalism in contemporary times and other ancient peoples claimed as ancestors of the Albanians, in particular the Pelasgians of which have been claimed again in recent times.

Congress of Elbasan

The Congress of Elbasan, also known between Albanians as the Congress of the Albanian schools, was held from 2 to 8 September 1909 in Elbasan, today's Albania, back then part of the Vilayet of Monastir of the Ottoman Empire. The congress, sponsored by the local Bashkimi literary club, was attended by 35 delegates from central and southern Albania.

Albania has been a secular state since its founding in 1912, despite various changes in political systems. During the 20th century after Independence (1912) the democratic, monarchic and later the totalitarian communist regimes followed a systematic secularisation of the nation and the national culture. The Albanian understanding of secularism has strong influences from the French "Laïcité".

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Robert Elsie (2013). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. p. 461. ISBN   9781780764313.
  2. ↑ Tea Sindbaek; Maximilian Hartmuth (2011). Images of Imperial Legacy: Modern Discourses on the Social and Cultural Impact of Ottoman and Habsburg Rule in Southeast Europe. p. 39. ISBN   9783643108500.
  3. ↑ Instituti i Historisë 1969 , p. 76.
  4. 1 2 Tim Judah (23 October 2008). Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know. p. 9. ISBN   9780195373455.
  5. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , p. 44.
  6. ↑ Ger Duijzings. p. 160.Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. 1 2 Robert Elsie (29 July 2005). Albanian Literature: A Short History. p. 88. ISBN   9781845110314.
  8. ↑ Endresen 2011, p. 39.
  9. ↑ Elsie 2005 , pp. 83–84.
  10. ↑ Skendi 1967 , pp. 169-170.
  11. ↑ Gawrych 2006 , pp. 69-70.
  12. ↑ Ammon, Dittmar & Mattheier 2006 , p. 1875; Duijzings 2000 , p. 160.
  13. ↑ Balázs Trencsényi; Michal Kope[Ux010d]ek (15 June 2006). Late Enlightenment: Emergence of modern national ides. p. 349. ISBN   9789637326523.
  14. 1 2 3 Reynolds 2001 , p. 233. "Henceforth, Hoxha announced, the only religion would be "Albanianism." Hoxha was using nationalism as a weapon in his struggle to break out of the Soviet bloc."
  15. ↑ Trix 1994 , p. 536.
  16. ↑ Nitsiakos 2010 , pp. 160, 206.
  17. ↑ Crawshaw 2006 , p. 63.
  18. ↑ Duijzings 2000 , p. 164.
  19. ↑ Petrovich 2000 , p. 1371.

Sources

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.