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]
Poem
editWritten 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
editThe poem was first published by the Czech linguist Jan Urban Jarník 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
editFrustrated 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]
References
editCitations
edit- ^ Robert Elsie (2013). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. p. 461. ISBN 9781780764313.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Instituti i Historisë 1969, p. 76.
- ^ a b Tim Judah (23 October 2008). Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know. p. 9. ISBN 9780195373455.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 44.
- ^ Ger Duijzings. p. 160.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b Robert Elsie (29 July 2005). Albanian Literature: A Short History. p. 88. ISBN 9781845110314.
- ^ Endresen 2011, p. 39.
- ^ Elsie 2005, pp. 83–84.
- ^ Skendi 1967, pp. 169-170.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 69-70.
- ^ Ammon, Dittmar & Mattheier 2006, p. 1875; Duijzings 2000, p. 160.
- ^ Balázs Trencsényi; Michal Kope[Ux010d]ek (15 June 2006). Late Enlightenment: Emergence of modern national ides. p. 349. ISBN 9789637326523.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c 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."
- ^ Trix 1994, p. 536.
- ^ Nitsiakos 2010, pp. 160, 206.
- ^ Crawshaw 2006, p. 63.
- ^ Duijzings 2000, p. 164.
- ^ Petrovich 2000, p. 1371.
Sources
edit- Ammon, Ulrich; Dittmar, Norbert; Mattheier, Klaus J. (2006). Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-018418-1.
- Clark, Howard (2000). Civil Resistance in Kosovo. London, United Kingdom and Sterling, Virginia: Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-1569-0.
- Duijzings, Gerlachlus (2000). Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo. New York, New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12099-0.
- Elsie, Robert (2005). Albanian Literature: A Short History. London, United Kingdom and New York, New York: I.B. Tauris & Company Limited. ISBN 978-1-84511-031-4.
- Instituti i Historisë (1969). Studime Historike. Tiranë, Albania: Academy of Sciences of Albania.
- Endresen, Cecilie (2011). "Diverging images of the Ottoman legacy in Albania". In Hartmuth, Maximilian (ed.). Images of imperial legacy: Modern discourses on the social and cultural impact of Ottoman and Habsburg rule in Southeast Europe. Berlin: Lit Verlag. pp. 37–52. ISBN 9783643108500.
- Gawrych, George (2006). The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874–1913. London: IB Tauris. ISBN 9781845112875.
- Michelson, Paul E.; Treptow, Kurt W. (2002). National Development in Romania and Southeastern Europe: Papers in Honor of Cornelia Bodea. Iași, Romania: Center for Romanian Studies. ISBN 978-973-9432-37-5.
- Sindbaek, Tea; Hartmuth, Maximilian (2011). Images of Imperial Legacy: Modern Discourses on the Social and Cultural Impact of Ottoman and Habsburg. Berlin, Germany: LIT Verlag. ISBN 978-3-643-10850-0.
- Skendi, Stavro (1967). The Albanian national awakening. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400847761.