Apart from the immigrant community that makes up the vast majority of Serbs in Slovenia, there are a few villages in the southern region of White Carniola inhabited by descendants of Serbs (Uskoks) that fled from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. The community have been almost completely assimilated to their Slovene-speaking environment.
With the Ottoman conquest of Serbian territories, groups of Serbs fled to the north or west; of the western migrational groups, some settled in White Carniola and Žumberak.[1] In September 1597, with the fall of Slatina, some 1,700 Uskoks with their wives and children settled in Carniola, bringing some 4,000 sheep with them.[2] The following year, with the conquest of Cernik, some 500 Uskoks families settled in Carniola.[2] At the end of the 17th century, with the stagnation of Ottoman power due to European pressure during internal crisis, and Austrian advance far into Macedonia, Serbs armed themselves and joined the fight against the Ottomans; the Austrian retreat prompted another massive exodus of Serbs from the Ottoman territories in ca. 1690 (see Great Serb Migrations).[3] In the area of White Carniola are mentioned Vlachs from Marindol in 1668. "die Walachen zu Marienthall beclagen sich" [4]
White Carniola, being the southernmost region of Slovenia, by the Kupa river, was also the northwesternmost Serbian linguistical island.[5] Nowadays, the Serbian language is rarely heard in the last four villages in which descendants of Serb uskoks live: Bojanci, Marindol, Miliči and Paunoviči. In the other historical European–Ottoman frontier villages in the region, there are today Uniate (Eastern Catholic) and Catholicisated descendants of Serbs who only speak the Slovenian language.[5]
The community had traditionally taken wives from other Serb communities, such as in nearby Gorski kotar (in Croatia). The first mixed marriage was recorded in Bojanci and White Carniola in 1947, and since then, Bojanci Serbs "seek wives in the Slovenian milieu".[6] Before World War II, the gravestones were written in Serbian Cyrillic, while today, they are written in Serbian Latin.[5] The assimilation of the White Carniolan Serbs continued, with a Serbian primary school being closed in 1992.[7] In 1967, there was an estimated 500–600 Serbs in White Carniola.[5] The number of Serb households shrunk with 300% during the 1980s, with a total number of 121 households in 1991.[7]
Today, fewer than 200 individuals in White Carniola carry Serb ancestry, but they self-identify as Slovene. Gravestones now use Latin script (not Cyrillic), and villages like Miliči host mixed cultural festivals emphasizing regional Belokranjska identity over Serb roots.
Language
Serbian is "passively known" at best, heard in rare phrases like folk songs, but daily life is entirely Slovene.[8]
Religion
Bojanci, Marindol, Miliči, and Paunoviči use to be predominately Eastern Orthodox villages.[5] The Serbian Orthodox Church gradually ceased to play any significant role in the area; Orthodox churches exist in Bojanci and Miliči, while the parish of Miliči include Marindol and Paunoviči. The churches have been without priests for a long time: Miliči had their priest until 1950, while nowadays the priest comes only for the biggest religious holidays from Moravice and Gomirje Monastery, both in neighboring Croatia.[9] Serbian Orthodox churches in the area are:
↑ Etnografski institut (Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti) (1960). Posebna izdanja. Vol.10–14. Naučno delo. p.16.
↑ Pifoći o pokušaju oslobođenja Like iz koje Vlasi čine nasilja i zločine po sredifojoj Hrvatskoj, provaljujući i u dubinu Kranjske, lvić sugerira svome čitatelju kako je amtrijski_ nadvojvoda naredio »proterivanje Srba iz Like«. U originalnom dokumentu stoji»[ .. . ] Abtreibung der neu angesessnem Walachen in der Likha [ ... ]«.24 Isti postupak primijenio je s gornirskim Vlasima, koje A. lvić foa kao »Gomirski Srbi«, iako u arhivskom spisu stoji »Wallachen zu Goymerie«.25 Jednako postupa i s poznatim vlaškim selima Dubrave i Ponikve u okolici Ogulina. lvić piše: »srpska mesta Dubrave i Ponikve, gde su Srbi živeli«. U originalnom dokumentu stoji•[ ... ] die in dem Dorff Dubraua und Ponique wohnende Wallachen [ ... ]«.26 'Tužbu žumberačkih Vlaha iz Marindola 1668. prikazuje I vić kao tužbu »Srba iz Marindola«, iako u originalnom spisu stoji: •[ ... ] die Walachen zu Marienthall beclagen sich [ ... ]«.27 Falsifikatima takve vrste vrvi svaka stranica Ivićeve knjige. Ovdje su gotovo nasumce izabrani samo neki primjeri. https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=307683#page=18
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