Dragana Radisavljevic-Ciparizovic

Mixed Pilgrimage in Serbia: the Case of Two Sanctuaries (Dunis and Tekije)

Dragana Radisavljevic-Ciparizovic - Research Fellow at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, dcipariz@yahoo.com

This paper first defines the term folk religion. Mixed pilgrimage is theoretically viewed through theprism of earlier research. Then thepaper presents case studies of two Christian shrines, one Orthodox and one Roman Catholic, in Serbia, which were traditional targets of pilgrimage by Roma Muslims in large numbers. This research tested the theoretical paradigm of communitas and the concept of "antagonistic tolerance". The results ofthefieldwork show that the motives of pilgrims are similar and universal. While Roma Muslims and Christian pilgrims do not come up with a communitas, they do not get into conflict either. In the meanwhile, at the sanctuary the relationship between Christian clergy and the Muslims represents an example of "antagonistic tolerance".

Keywords: mixed pilgrimage, folk religiosity, church religiosity, Serbia.

Preliminary information: Church and folk religion and religiosity

CHURCH and folk religion and religiosity are terms that are constantly intertwined when studying the phenomenon of pilgrimage, which some scholars refer to as folk religiosity. Although in this article we will focus on Christian shrines, we should not forget that, for example, the Muslim Hajj is completely institutionalized, and there is no folk improvisation and variations in it. Thus, it is necessary to define and distinguish these terms in advance.

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Popular religiosity can be considered as the religiosity of the laity, which exists in spite of the religiosity monopolized by the official church, clergy, and religious organizations. The most typical and widespread form of popular religiosity, apart from religious holidays, is, of course, pilgrimage. Although the concept of folk religion is generally accepted, many consider it insufficiently precise and suggest concepts such as lower-class religion, popular religion, traditional religion, or local religion. The term operationally always refers to the study of what people really believe and how they manifest their faith - as opposed to the beliefs and rituals of the official church. Most Serbian anthropologists1 speak of a combination of folk and Christian religion, equating folk religion with paganism. Dusan Bandic was the first to consider folk religion and Folk Orthodoxy from the point of view of dynamics, that is, as a category that changes depending on the historical and socio-cultural context. This ethnologist 2 wrote about popular Orthodoxy, which is different from the one preached by the Orthodox Church. We proceed from his concept of" folk religion "and" folk Orthodoxy " among the Serbs as phenomena that are in a complex communicative process of reception and interpretation of Orthodoxy by the general population. Bandic sees church teaching as an unchanging category, and its acceptance as a belief conditioned by social and cultural factors, often associated with an ideology other than Christian. He criticizes the one-sided approach to popular Orthodoxy, as a result of which it is reduced to the opposition of Christian and pagan components.3 Orthodoxy from century to century, from generation to generation, was updated in the popular consciousness, but at the same time it was reborn into something new, bearing the stamp of its time. Bandich started

1. Borhevih T. Our narodni zhivot I. Београд: Просвета, 1984; Чајкановиh В. Студије из српске религије и фолклора (1925 - 1942). Београд: Српска кœижевна задруга, 1994; Петровиh С. Систем српске митологије, 1. Ниш: Просвета, 2000.

2. Bandi H. D. О народном православšу данас - истраживаœа у ваšевском и крушевачком крају // Етноантрополошки проблеми. 1992. N 9. С. 63 - 69; Бандиh Д. Верски идентитет савремених Срба // Традиционално и савремено у култури Срба / Edited by D. Radojichih. Beograd: Etnografsky institut SANU, 2003, n. 40, pp. 13-23.

3. Bandi H. D. About havolu u narodnom pravoslavichu // Рад музеја Војводине. 1998. N. 40 P. 149.

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a study of popular religiosity in Serbia during the revival of Orthodoxy at the beginning of the last decade of the XX century. It was a time of crisis, war and transit, when Serbia began to desecularize and the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church changed.4 Studying how people perceive the teaching of the Church and what place it occupies in their lives, Bandich touches on various aspects of popular Orthodoxy: religious, ethical, political, national. In the simplified version of Church Orthodoxy, church teaching does not play a big role. It is not only about the impoverishment of religious teaching, but also about its transformation, its acquisition of new content. Profanization and nationalization are clearly visible in the images of rural saints, and faith is only partially based on the authority of the Holy Scriptures and the church. 5 Based on Bandich's work, ethnologist Lidia B. Radulovich identifies three ways to decode Orthodox teaching: through the dominant ecclesiastical reading, which is most preferred by the church; through a mixed reading; and through an oppositional reading, which is absolutely at odds with the ecclesiastical interpretation.6
We agree with the historian Radmila Radic, who believes that popular beliefs should not be considered as a different or opposite religion to Christianity, but rather as a haphazard set of different religious phenomena, some of which people believe completely, and others take what suits them at the moment. Traditional beliefs and Christianity function in parallel in practice, and those who practice them do not have any sense of contradiction.7 Some old forms of folk religion are prohibited, some are tolerated, and some are encouraged, Miroslav Timotievich emphasizes. For example, sorcery is forbidden, but beliefs that contain old beliefs are tolerated.

4. Радисавšевиh-Hипаризовиh Д. Религиозност и традиција: везаност за религију и цркву у Србији на раскршhу миленијума. Београд: Институт за социолошка истраживаœа Филозофског факултета у Београду, 2006. C. 34 - 42.

5. Bandich D. Srpski seoski Bog / / Etnoantropoloshki problemy. 1995. N 10. P. 12.

6. Радуловиh Л. Концепти Душана Бандиhа: народна религија и народно православšе у контексту истраживаœа религије у домаhој етнологији XX века //Антропологија савремености: зборник радова / Edited by S. Nedeyankovichh. Београд: Српски генеаолошки центар, Одеšеœе за етнологију и антропологију Филозофског факултета, 2007. C. 121.

7. Радиh Р. Народна вероваœа, религија и спиритизам у српском друштву 19. и у првој половини 20. века. Београд: Институт за новију историју Србије, 2009. C. 38.

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pagan forms are to some extent Christianized. The belief in miracles and miraculous springs was popular, and the church tried to channel it. In particular, there was widespread belief in the miraculous healing of the sick and the healing power of relics, in miraculous icons and prayers, 8 which is the link that connects popular and ecclesiastical religiosity with the motives of making a pilgrimage to holy places, which are guided by modern pilgrims.

Taking into account that Tekija is a Roman Catholic shrine, let's quote Jakob Jukic's view on folk religion and religiosity. Croatian sociologist of religion Zeljko Mardesic (pseudonym Jakob Jukic) wrote that folk religion is the surviving remnants of an archaic, pagan, pre-Christian understanding of the sacred, which today intertwine and form a kind of unity of pagan and Christian, atheistic and religious, sacred and secular. He believes that a scientific, systematic approach to the study of both ancient and modern phenomena of folk religiosity almost cannot avoid typical methodological limitations, one-sidedness and reductionism, while none of the theoretical approaches considers folk religion in its own immanent religious perspective.9
The concept of popular piety is only a small part of the broader concept of popular religion. Proponents of separating these two concepts do not want to identify the popular with the traditional or dependent from a political point of view, but offer a more open and flexible approach to folk religion, which would pay more attention to the typological realities of specific manifestations of piety.10 Ritualism is an important characteristic of folk piety and folk religion. Where it does not exist, we find a broader and more generalized form of folk religion. Folk piety as a whole is characterized by a variety and multiplicity of types of expression: folk festivals, festive processions, pilgrimages, and the veneration of the rosary.

8. Тимотијевиh М. Раhаœе модерне приватности: приватни живот код Срба у Хабзбуршкој монархији од краја 17. до почетка 19. века. Beograd: Clio, 2006.

9. Jukic, J. (1988) Povratak svetoga: rasprava о puckoj religiji. Split: CUS.

10. Mardesic, Z. (2007) Rascjep and svetome, s. 745. Zagreb: Krscanska Sadasnjost.

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Mixed pilgrimages

In search of the sacred, adherents of different faiths (in our case, Christians and Muslims), regardless of their ethnic origin, religious or confessional affiliation, visit the same holy places. This article is based on the research of G. Duizings11, a Dutch anthropologist who in 1999 studied ethnically and religiously "mixed" pilgrimages to Kosovo (the Orthodox Serbian monasteries of Gracanica and Zociste and the Roman Catholic holy site in Letnica). This author considered pilgrimage as a laboratory of identity and came to the conclusion that religion and ritual, on the one hand, help to form an image of a community that transcends ethno-national borders, and on the other hand, contribute to the differentiation of ethnic identities.12
Crossing ethno-religious borders in the Balkans was already a widespread phenomenon, 13 and Muslims and Christians belonging to different ethnic groups visited holy sites of other faiths, ignoring the obvious theological objections of the Orthodox religion. Official boundaries are generally not respected in the sphere of popular religion, which is least regulated by religious authorities. 14 While ethno-religious differences should not be an obstacle to achieving a certain degree of unity or, to use Turner's term, "communitas,"15 peace and tolerance do not always prevail in the holy places visited by pilgrims. In contrast to Turner's view that pilgrimage is primarily characterized by mutual consent, M. Salnow 16

11. References are given in the translated edition: Duijzings, G. (2005) Religija i identitet na Kosovu. Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek.

12. Ibid.

13. Hasluck, F. W (1929) Christianity and Islam under Sultans. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

14. Badone, E. (ed.) (1990) Religious Orthodoxy and Popular Faith in European Society. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

15. Turner, V. (1974) Dramas, Fields and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

16. Sallnow, M. J. (1981) "Communitas Reconsidered: The Sociology of an Andean Pilgimage", Man (N.S.) 16: 163 - 182; Sallnow, M.J. (1987) Pilgrims of the Andes: Regional Cults in Cusco. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.

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He believes that holy places are a platform for competition and conflict between and within local communities. The deterioration of ethno-religious relations certainly affects the" ecumenically " mixed nature of pilgrimage, and holy sites become a hotbed of ethno-political mobilization and competition. The example of Letnica, the former ecumenical Church of the Virgin Mary in Kosovo, is particularly important for us, because it turned out that the Roma who once made pilgrimages to Letnica moved to Junis.

We agree with the researcher's statement that for many centuries the Balkans were the border between East and West. Initially, they divided the Western Roman Empire and Byzantium (395), and later this division was reinforced by the schism between Orthodoxy and Catholicism (1054) - The situation of religious rivalry became even more acute after the arrival of the third great religion - Islam. Islamization has particularly affected the border areas between the zones of influence of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. The transition from one religion to another was very common, as was the reverse transition, especially in areas where the church structure was poorly developed.

The flow of people to Gracanica Monastery shows, despite some friction, a relative harmony between different groups of pilgrims. Another example is Zociste, near Orahovec, where, due to growing tensions between Albanians and Serbs, not only the "mixed" pilgrimage was destroyed, but the monastery itself was demolished. The third example is the Ostrog monastery in Montenegro, where there were problems in relations between Muslim pilgrims, in particular dervishes and sheikhs, and the Orthodox monks of this famous monastery. In order to understand the source of conflict and the reasons for agreement, Mr. Duizings compares these three places, and his conclusions are sometimes very similar to those that we came to as a result of our research.

We will refer to some of his observations, which completely coincide with ours. During a visit to Gracanica for the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, he found that most of the Muslim Gypsies had arrived the day before and were camping in the courtyard, as they had done in both Junis and Tekieh. Among the Romani pilgrims were sick, infertile or pregnant women, who usually come accompanied by their families. They count,

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that a night spent in a monastery will speed up their recovery, help them get pregnant or give birth easily. Most pilgrims, according to the researcher, are attracted primarily by the opportunity to have a good time. A small field outside the monastery walls turns into a fair where merchants sell trinkets 17. As far as Duizings was able to understand while taking part in the event, Romani Muslims do not participate in church rituals before the holiday or on the day of the holiday. Nevertheless, they enter the church to kiss icons, light candles, and leave small offerings of money or possessions. This is how it happens in Junis and Tequia. It is interesting, Duizings notes, that the Roma perform their rituals individually or in a narrow circle of close relatives and friends, while the performance of rituals by Serbs is more of a collective nature. In 1991, Romani pilgrims were expelled from the courtyard, forbidden to set up camp there and sacrifice animals... Most of Duisings ' notes seem to calculate the state of affairs in both Junis and Tequia.

Here are some of his conclusions that we could subscribe to. "Ordinary believers-both Christians and Muslims-did not care whether these saints were Muslim or Christian; these saints simply had a reputation for performing miracles, healing the sick or fulfilling other requests." 18 Their motivations were the same and probably universal: the health, happiness, and well-being of their families and themselves.

But while holy sites can help bridge ethnic and religious differences and create, to a certain extent, a shared identity, they can also easily become a platform for competition and conflict between and within local communities. General political circumstances and their changes are of great importance: they are the background for these conflicts and determine their final outcome. Let's take the example of a church near Sutomore, where there was both an Orthodox and a Catholic altar, but the latter was destroyed and removed from the church in 1996. In the same way, although somewhat more restrained, it happened during the reconstruction of the Tequia church (1976), when the side altars were removed, which were supposed, at least symbolically, to be Orthodox and Protestant.

17. Ibid., p. 98.

18. Ibid., p. 112.

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Analyzing the concrete examples of Junis and Tekie, we draw on the concepts of "competitive sharing "and" antagonistic tolerance " by Robert Hayden 19. We are talking about tolerance in a minimalist sense-as a simple acceptance of the presence of Another in their "traditional territory". The term is used by anthropologists in the context of South Asia and India, and is increasingly being applied to the Balkans. Ethnic and religious communities in the Balkans have dominated in different historical periods, with some being the majority and others the minority. This type of tolerance implies that the majority religious community allows another religious community to build one temple in the very center of the city during its period of domination, but no more. For example, during the period of the Ottoman Empire in Belgrade there was only one functioning church - the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, the current Cathedral Church, built in 1837-1845 on the territory of the Belgrade Metropolitan Area; then, during the period of Orthodoxy and the expulsion of the Turks from Belgrade, only the Bayrakli mosque remained active 20.

Case studies of two shrines in Serbia: Junis and Tekie

Our Lady of Junis

Junis is located in central Serbia, in the Rasin district, 210 km from Belgrade, 14 km from Krusevec and 8 km from the E-75 motorway on the main railway line connecting Belgrade, Nis, Skopje and Thessaloniki (it has its own passenger and freight stations). The village is located in the South Morava Valley, and the Rybarska River flows through it. "It is named after the Church of St. Dionysius, which was built earlier than the XII century. Its ruins are located today in a rural cemetery, and people call it the Holy Virgin, or Saint Nikola, or Junicia. " 21
19. Hayden, R. М. (2002) "Antagonistic Tolerance: Competitive Sharing of Religious Sites in South Asia and the Balkans", Current Anthropology 43 (2): 205 - 231.

20. Vukomanovich M. Homo viator: religija i novo doba. Београд: Чигоја штампа, 2008. C. 176.

21. Pejovih K. Nunis / / Enciklopedija pravoslavsha, 2 / Ed. by D. Kalezih. Beograd: Савремена администрација, 2002. С. 623 - 624.

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This small village boasts two active monasteries - St. Roman 22 and the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, which was the focus of our research. This monastery is located in a very beautiful location, surrounded by vineyards, and is a mixture of prototypical and ecographicart. Tens of thousands of people, now mostly from Serbia and Republika Srpska, come to this monastery as pilgrims on the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos (13_14 October).

The center of the pilgrimage is the Virgin Spring, the water in which is considered curative. The spring itself is located next to the old church, and in addition, there is a newly built temple nearby. Pilgrims kiss the stone on which, as they believe, the Most Holy Theotokos stood. An all-night vigil is also held here, which pilgrims consider the most important action; an akathist is read at the spring at midnight; then the morning liturgy follows at the place that the Most Holy Mother of God herself pointed out to the girl Miloika in 1898 (this is why Junis is also called "little Serbian Lourdes").

The holy site was opened miraculously in 1898. A village girl, Miloika Jocic from Junis, began to draw water from the spring and met the Virgin, who commanded her to build a church dedicated to the Intercession on this site

22. The monastery of St. Romanos was mentioned as early as 1020 in the charter of the Byzantine Tsar Basil II. Here is the grave of the Russian nobleman and volunteer Nikolai Nikolaevich Rayevsky, who is represented in the image of Vronsky in Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina". Rayevsky was originally buried on the monastery grounds, and then his ashes were moved to a family tomb in Russia, but his heart still rests in the monastery.

23.A pilgrimage center can belong to one of at least three types: prototypical, syncretic (Turner), and ecographic.

(1) A prototypical center reflects a particular historical or mythological layer of a tradition; it may be a place where the founder or someone else is believed to have accomplished something significant (for example, Jerusalem, Mecca); it may be a cult center of a particular religious tradition.

(2) A syncretic center, on the contrary, is one in which traditions are intertwined, that is, it goes beyond the scope of one religion, (h) an ecographic center is one whose meaning is related to its geographical location, and not to theological or mythological interpretation (although myths may well be developed in the course of its use, describing the exploits of the saints in this place). Clothey, F. W (199°) "Hodocasce", in Enciklopedija zivih religija, s.254. Beograd: Nolit.

24. Republika Srpska The Republic of Srpska is a State entity on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina that emerged as a result of the Dayton Agreement of 1995.

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The Most Holy Theotokos. This incident was recorded by Miloika's brother Dragutin-Dragee Jocic and first published in 1936. To date, many editions of the book "The Wonderful Story" have been published, which all pilgrims and visitors to this holy place must buy.

Let's highlight some reproducible motifs described in this book:

- The Mother of God appears to the girl and speaks to her, giving her a certain covenant, as in all places of the appearance of the Mother of God (in Lourdes, Fatima, Mezhdugorye);

- people believe and start visiting this place (people from the people - lay people create a holy place where miracles and healings occur);

- the clergy (ecclesiastical hierarchy) initially opposes the practices committed-up to open conflicts (Mezhdugorye was not recognized by the Vatican);

- the punishment or warning comes to those who directly desecrate the shrine; this is usually told orally, and sometimes, as in this case, written speech is passed down "from generation to generation".

Worship Center: Spring and stone

The two largest shrines in the monastery are a source of healing water and a stone on which, according to legend, the Virgin stepped. Countless miraculous healings have taken place at the miracle-working spring at the Monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos in Junis: many paralyzed people got out of wheelchairs, deaf-mute children began to speak, and countless infertile people gave birth to children after visiting this place. There is also a stone, to which all believers are applied and next to which they pray.

Hierarchical structure of the shrine: a conversation with the Abbess

Junis Monastery belongs to the Diocese of Nis. At the time of our study (2007), this ecclesiastical diocese centered in Nis was one of the largest and included 12 deaneries with 179 parishes and 167 priests. The bishop at that time was Irinej (Gavrilovic), the current Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The diocese has 16 monasteries (St. Roman's).,

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Junis, Lipovac, Divlani, Aidanovac, Naupara, Poganovo, Sukovo, Sichevo, Mateevac, Temska, etc.) - Meanwhile, the Diocese of Krushev headed by Bishop David (Perovich) and the Diocese of Nis headed by Bishop Iovan (Purich) were founded. remained in the Diocese of Nis 25.

In addition to the main holiday, I was in Junis on June 2-3, 2007, the day of the memory of St. Emperor Constantine and his mother Elena.

When I asked what the working day at the monastery looked like, I got an answer that indicates a busy schedule. The day begins at 3 o'clock in the morning; cell rule until 4 o'clock; from 04.00 to 06.30 - in the church; from 07.00 to 08.00-rest; from 8 o'clock in the morning, obediences (kitchen, refectory, etc.) begin; from 08.30-breakfast; then obediences until 26.00 and at 16.30-lunch; from 18.00 until 19.30-vespers; then either obediences, or free time; at 22.00-23.00-going to bed.

The source is the heart of the monastery, notes Abbess Maria; next to it is a Small Church ("the Most Holy Theotokos blessed it"), and due to the large influx of people, a large church was built. Many pilgrims come to the Transfiguration, the Annunciation, the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple and at the last week of Great Lent. The monastery complex has "old and new dormitories" that are in need of renovation, as well as the monastery cemetery. While there was no paved road to the monastery, pilgrims, many of whom came by train, often stopped for the night in the monastery. We talked to the oldest nun of the monastery, Mother Eugenia. She transferred to the Monastery of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on August 29, 1955, from the Gomionice Monastery in Maniacz. This strong and talkative nun is a living witness to some of the miracles that have taken place in the monastery.

They bring in children who can't hear or talk, and then they heal. I remember it was in 1982, when I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears a child who spoke here. His grandmother brought him here to pray over him. Their faith was strong...

25. Information about both dioceses can be found on their websites: www.eparhijaniska.rs and eparhijakrusevacka.com.

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Mother Eugene remembers that one of the nuns, Mother Angelina, visited the monastery to seek help first. And when she received healing from God, she decided to stay in this holy place forever. "And many infertile women come here for holy water, and after that they become mothers," said Mother Eugene.

Rituals performed during the main festival

The following church services are held in Junis on October 13-14. October 13-All-night vigil with akathist at midnight; October 14-Unction and Liturgy at about 4 am and Liturgy at 9 am.

The sacred and the profane

In a pilgrimage situation, the intertwining of the sacred and the profane is inevitable. In Junis, the church rituals and fairground atmosphere are, at least now, physically separated, as a fence has been erected around the monastery. Outside the monastery gates, the fair begins on 26. Places of pilgrimage always have a lot of souvenirs and crafts of religious themes, food stalls, kiosks where you can buy a variety of items-from hats and folk costumes to ordinary clothes for children and adults, toys, various small things, rosaries, honey and wine... According to Abraham Mola27, religious art constantly teeters on the edge of kitsch, and often crosses it.

Gypsies on a pilgrimage to Junis

Romani Muslims visit Christian pilgrimage sites in Serbia en masse on major holidays. Most often, these are places dedicated to the Virgin, St. Paraskeva, St. Anthony, or places "glorified" by a miraculous icon, statue,or spring.

26. The religious component of gatherings and fairs is important, as they were held near monasteries and churches on the days of the patronal feast, lasted for two or three days, and were accompanied by church rites. Среhковиh С. Вашари у Србији. Beograd: Демократска странка; Истраживачко-издавачки центар, 2007. C. 4 - 5.

27. Mol A. Kich: umetnost ' cpehe. Nis: Gradina Publ., 1973-

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It is well known that Romani people, whether they are religious or Christian, do not pay much attention to doctrines and rules and focus more on the ritual component, on direct relations with the sacred 28. Most Romani people, while maintaining their old beliefs, accept the religion of the environment in which they live, and therefore, among the Gypsies we meet with both Christian and Islamic, as well as pagan customs and ideas.29 The beliefs of the Roma define the Roma identity, and the local religion and, as a rule, the religion of the majority determines their local, regional identity. The thesis that the Roma use religion as a bridge to overcome social isolation, accepting the religion of the majority for integration into a particular community, seems quite convincing.

Dragan Todorovich in his work "A Gypsy place of Worship: A Roman Catholic Church in a Niche" (description of an example of the third variety based on the first typology of Gypsy places of worship - a sacred temple as a religious meeting place for Gypsies)30 actually wrote about a place of mixed pilgrimage, although he did not explicitly indicate this. So, Romani Muslims visit the Catholic Church in Nis on the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. On the occasion of the same holiday and also on August 14-15, they make a mass pilgrimage to the Orthodox monastery in Junis. This mismatch of dates has caused some misunderstandings between the sisters of the monastery and the Romani pilgrims: due to the well-known difference of two weeks between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar (used by the Serbian Orthodox Church), on this day, the Orthodox people begin the Dormition Fast, and the sisters of the monastery plunge into deep prayer.

This holy site has only recently been visited by Romani people; earlier on this day, they went to Letnica in Kosovo, a famous Catholic pilgrimage site dedicated to the Virgin.

28. Bogomilova, N. (2003) "God of the Social Outcast: the Religion of the Romas in Bulgaria", in D. B. Bordevic (ed.) Roma Religious Culture, pp. 41 - 46. Nis: YSSSR.

29. Cvitkovic, I. (2003) "Notes on Romans' Religious Beliefs", in D. B. Bordevic (ed.) Roma Religious Culture, pp. 27 - 30. Nis: YSSSR.

30. Todorovic, B. (2005) "Cult Places The Roman Catholic Church in Nis", in В. В. Bordevic (ed.) Romani Cult Places of Death, pp. 297 - 308. Nis: JUNIR; Sven.

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This is what G. Duizings and Tatomir Vukanovich wrote about earlier [31], pointing out the Gypsy Ijaramanstvo - double faith [32]. In the following, we present our notes from the field research diary:

August 14, 2007, a beautiful sunny day. We go to the monastery to film 33 gypsies with their families who arrived the day before to spend the night in the holy place. Loud music, noisy children's games, roasting pleskavitsa 34, there are also lambs. Apart from us and those who are located outside the monastery gates, there are almost no other visitors to the monastery. Gypsy kids run around at the gate, run into the church. Not far from the monastery, we approach a large gypsy family and start a conversation. Dejan and Bojan, twin brothers, come here every year for this holiday from Nish. They spend the night here, saying that this is their custom, their tradition from their ancestors. They are Muslims, but they make donations, make vows, give thanks, and pray for health and happiness. They say that this is the most important thing, but they also have more specific requests. They said that they used to go to Letnica, and when they worked in Germany, they also went to church there for this holiday.

"We come every year with our family. We honor this day. Everything we prayed for, She did." What exactly? "In everything that was asked, She helped, there was a case in court, it was well resolved, and She helped in this, I promised to donate a gold chain. We make donations. We are grateful for what to say here. We used to go there (pointing to the monastery gate), there was a crowd of people, but now they don't allow it, I don't understand why. This day is her day, I don't understand why they (the sisters of the monastery) don't honor it."

In addition to prayer and devouring, the practice of taking vows is widespread, as can be seen from the story of one child. "We come here to pray. We enter the church. When we have small coins, we put them on the icons. What we promise, we fulfill." It is important for Gypsies to spend the night near the holy place.

31. Вукановиh Т. Роми (Цигани) у Југославији. Враœе: Нова Југославија, 1982.

32. Duijzings, G. (2005) Religija i identitet na Kosovu, pp. 62 - 65.

33. Interviews and observations during the rites were recorded using video recordings.

34. Pleskavitsa - a common dish of Balkan cuisine, which is a flat meat cutlet fried on an open fire.

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They bring a lamb and believe that around two o'clock at midnight the Virgin appears in the monastery forest. They state that earlier there were much more pilgrims, which coincides with the words of Abbess Maria, according to which in the first year of her life about five thousand Gypsies came to the monastery, and last year, according to her estimate, there were about one hundred and fifty. From a conversation with Mother Eugenia, we learned about an incident that occurred several years ago and caused the sisters of the monastery to distrust the Gypsies even more. According to the nuns ' recollections, one of the Gypsy pilgrims accidentally or intentionally desecrated the spring. After that, the construction of a fence around the monastery was accelerated, and Gypsies are now allowed on the territory and in the church only during the day. Due to this ban, the situation was much more tense that evening, because the monastery gates were guarded by the police. Mother Mary, the abbess of the monastery, did not allow performing the ritual of cutting the hooves of lambs at midnight and the ritual walk around the temple. In connection with the beginning of the Dormition Fast according to the Orthodox calendar, the sisters usually go into deep prayer and limit communication with pilgrims and with everyone who visits the monastery.

Matushka Maria notes that many people spend the night in the monastery hostel for superstitious reasons. "As much grace as there is abuse." She tells how a young gypsy woman asked her for a red thread so that she could gird herself with it and get pregnant. Complains about how much they find after the holiday near the spring, which is the heart of the monastery. Later we learned that some of the Gypsies from Junis had moved to the monastery, also dedicated to the Virgin Mary and located near Krushevec, in Mrzenica.

Our Lady of Thecia

Tekieh means "place of rest" in Arabic, because high-ranking Turks came here to rest. The main holiday here is August 5, the day of Our Lady of Snow. On this day in 1716, a battle took place between Christians and Turks, the victory in which is attributed to the intercession of the Mother of God of Teki, since Christians were numerically many times inferior to the enemy.This sanctuary is also a mixture of ecographic and prototypical. Tekie is located near Petrovaradin, formerly located in the southern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, which was conquered by the Ottomans in 1526.

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The old Roman Catholic Cistercian church was demolished and a mosque was erected in its place. After the Great Turkish War of 1699 (peace was concluded in Sremski Karlovci), the Turks left the northern part of Srem. The mosque in Tequia was emptied and passed into the hands of the Jesuits, who turned it into the chapel of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Unfortunately, the war resumed in 1715 when the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Damad Ali Pasha, marched on Austria with a huge army. The Austrian voivode Eugene of Savoy won a battle with him on August 5, 1716 in the hills near Petrovaradin. The losses on the part of the Ottoman army were huge (more than 25 thousand dead). Since the battle took place on the day of Our Lady of Snow, Eugene of Savoy donated to Petrovaradin a beautiful copy of the icon of Our Lady of Snow from the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. This image is located in the monastery of St. John the Baptist. Yuri in Petrovaradin.

After the Battle of Petrovaradin, the chapel in Tekieh became a great shrine. Just like today, pilgrims of all faiths came here with various requests and prayers. The chapel, a former Turkish mosque, has been rebuilt and restored several times over the centuries.

At the end of the 19th century, Ilia Uglich Sremac, rector of St. George's Church in Petrovaradin and a famous poet, restored the chapel. Construction began in 1881 with the help of the Bishop of Djakovo, designed by architect Herman Bolich, and ended in 1885, when new bells were raised on the bell tower. The church was originally intended for worship also by Orthodox and Protestants, for whom separate altars were arranged, but today only Catholics serve here.35
The church has a unique appearance. On the side of the front facade, two belfries in the Neo-Gothic style with a height of 27.6 meters were erected. At the back of the church is a Byzantine-style dome, reminiscent of the old mosque and the victory over the Turks in 1716. Under the cross on the dome is a crescent moon as a symbol of the victory of Christianity over Islam. In Kalvaria, for centuries, there was a Way of the Cross, which went from the Church of St. John the Baptist. Roca to Calvaria. During the 1990s, due to the rapid growth of

35. Дудварски В. Црква Госпе Снијежне на Текијама и текијска битка // Петроварадин: јуче, данас, сутра / Edited by Z. Vukovih, I. Novakovih. Нови Сад: Савез студената ниверзитета: Оглед, 2005. С. 268.

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The urbanisation of this part of Petrovaradin has launched an initiative to build a new Way of the Cross in the Tekie region.

Hierarchical structure of the Holy Site: interviews with priests in Tequia

During our field research (2007), Monsignor Marin Shvrakich was Bishop of the Diocese of Djakovo, and Monsignor Djuro Gasparovic was Vicar of Srem. Already in 2008, the Diocese of Sremsk was created with the Cathedral of St. Demetrius in Sremsk Mitrovica 36. The only reaction to these major changes was in the book "Jurisdictions of the Catholic Church in Sirmium" by historians George Bubal, Radmila Radic and Katarina Mitrovic (2010). In the preface, these authors talk about their main goal-to prove the unjustifiability of the affiliation of the Sremsk Bishopric to the Djakovo-Osijek Metropolitanate (perhaps in order to justify its inclusion in the Belgrade Archdiocese). The main reason for such changes is the need for all Catholics within the borders of Serbia to be under the authority of the Archbishop of Belgrade as the highest Catholic hierarch in the country. We cannot go into the details of these "ecclesiastical-political" decisions here, but only note that even Zemun, Novy Belgrade, and Surčin do not belong to the Archdiocese of Belgrade, much less the Diocese of Sremsk, which also belongs to the newly created Diocese of Djakovo-Osijek as its own metropolis.

Father Marko Losh, who was rector of Tekeja in 2007, referred me to Fr. Mark Kljajic, a priest in Surčin, advising me of his book. We had previously phoned this priest, who was once the rector of the St. Peter's Church in Petrovaradin. Roka and sv. St. George, and rector of the Sremsk sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Teck. He was somewhat suspicious and arrogant when talking to us. A sudden twist was caused by my unintentional remark that in addition to Catholics, many Romani Muslims and Orthodox Christians come to the shrine in Tequia (with a reminder of the three altars that once existed, of which two side altars were intended for Orthodox and Protestants). Fr Mark's reaction was sharp and nervous: "about

36. См.: http://www.srijembiskupija.rs.

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this is all not accurate"; this is the" seizure "of the shrine;" it's a pity that the Gypsies are not evangelized." If we connect these affective statements of Fr. Mark with official decisions of the Vatican, which are never made spontaneously, but only after much reflection, then in the case of Teke, we can see elements of a hidden conflict, indicated by the words about the fear of "seizing" the shrine, which indicates a struggle for territory and is quite consistent with the concept of "competitive sharing"and" antagonistic tolerance" by R. Hayden. On August 4, we spent the day recording conversations with Gypsies, and on August 5, we went to Tekie with a group of Catholic pilgrims from Belgrade, led by Fr. Ivan Tsindoriy, a Jesuit from the parish of St. Peter. With this group, we walked the Way of the Cross and took part in the solemn episcopal Mass (locally referred to as "Pontifical Mass") at 7 a.m.

Gypsies on a pilgrimage to Tekie

Traditionally, Muslim gypsies make mass pilgrimages to Tekieh, performing their rituals there. They stop in the immediate vicinity of the holy site, and it is very important for them to spend the night before the holiday and the holiday itself near the shrine. Gypsies come as whole families-for health, happiness, success, as well as to express gratitude. All of them position themselves as Muslims and express deep reverence for the Mother of God, in this case Our Lady of Tekke. Those who can afford it financially bring a live lamb. When they enter the church, they pray, approach the altar on which the statue of Our Lady is erected, walk around the altar, and when they leave the church, they back away so as not to turn their backs on the statue. Towels are often thrown over the statue of Our Lady and money is donated to it, and children crawl under the altar three times to ensure good health, according to beliefs. Pilgrims go for water to the spring located next to the shrine, light candles, but do not attend the numerous masses that are celebrated in Hungarian, Slovak and Croatian. We talked to several Gypsies and gypsies who had come for a pilgrimage to this holy place. Some of them are local, like Jevria and her family. They come from Zrenyanin and live in Novy Sad, Veliky Rit. Others come from Podujev, Prishtina, Kumanov,

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immigrants and refugees. They say that they sold everything in their homeland and now live in Serbia, in the region of Vojvodina.

We, the refugees, look forward to this holiday every year, we used to come to Letnitsa, and now here, and there she (the Mother of God) was amazing, and here she is the same. We bring the lamb, it helped us.

Instead of concluding

On the example of individual holy sites, we have seen that today, as in the past, there is a mixed pilgrimage. The motivation to visit holy places is universal, and the search for holiness is inextricably intertwined with the mundane (fair, trade). The most general results of the study showed that the motives of Romani pilgrims do not differ from those of other pilgrims. These include: health, happiness, well-being in the family, requests, vows, and gratitude to the Mother of God. Gypsies have their own rituals, traditions and customs, and they do not participate in church rituals. They express their gratitude to the Mother of God in their own way (walking backwards out of the church, offering gifts, sacrificing animals). Although they do not form "communitas", i.e. temporary alliances with other pilgrims, they do not have any conflict with Christian pilgrims. If we talk about their relations with the church servants, then the latter show antagonism and lack of tolerance towards the Roma. In the case of Junis, the difference in the calendar is also added to this, because the Gypsies come to the Orthodox monastery to celebrate the Dormition according to the Gregorian calendar, that is, during the Orthodox fast. In the case of Tekeye, the Gypsies are "elegantly" pushed into the field where the fair is organized, while the former abbot declares: "It's bad that they haven't been evangelized yet." Mixed pilgrimages in Serbia, as well as in the Balkans in general, remain relevant not only because of their tradition, but also because they are supported by the faith of pilgrims, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation, in God, the holy wonderworkers and places of healing.

Translated from Serbian by Alina Murenkova-Kostrichenko

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