Na Gosti in Lazani

Macedonians have rediscovered, post Communism the many holidays associated with saints’ days. In addition to his or her birthday, each person celebrates “imenden”, the saint’s day from whom their name has been derived. Yesterday and today were Spasov den (day) and Sveti Nikola den respectively. Three-year-old Nikola had his imenden slava (celebration) today in the nearby village of Lazani, in the municipality of Dolneni. The gathering was for his immediate family and my colleague (his father’s sister) and her family. It was privilege to be included.

Though Lazani is about the size of my community, it is more of a village than a city without paved streets or sidewalks and a buried sewage system. There was no evidence of a modernized ‘plostad’ or town center, and I was disappointed that my tour was cut short by a lighting storm that drove us indoors. We had just barely finished a tour of their farm at that time. They grow corn, wheat and tobacco as cash crops and more than enough vegetables for consumption at home and for the green markets found in most Macedonian cities. It is a modest living. Tobacco sells typically for 3.5 euros a kilo, far less than the 5 euros the Bulgarian and Greek farmers get. No wonder that last fall the tobacco farmers protested, when the price had fallen to 1 euro a kilo! Of the two plum trees laden with fruit, one produced sweet fruit and other sour fruit. The plums will be ready at the end of June early July when the family starts making plum liquor or “rakia” the traditional alcoholic drink of Macedonia. It is often said that rakia will cure every ailment!

The one story farmhouse had a small porch with a washstand and wooden railing built like a fence giving it the appearance of a small room - similar to an attached gazebo. We sat there chatting with an elderly neighbor who claimed he consumes 80 kilos of tobacco every two years and rolls his own cigarettes. It was hard to believe he started smoking when he was 4 years old and at 74 didn't suffer from a smokers lung! Anyway, the adjacent primary school has two shifts for the classes and as the second shift ended, I was startled to see young children run into their yard and grab a bike each to go home. It says a lot for this family who takes care of their bikes during the school day. It was also quite a sight to see the roosters and hens followed by their brood running helter-skelter, like the children, to find shelter from the rain.

 

The village is predominantly Muslim with little opportunity for a young Christian farmer to meet young Christian women in the village. So a marriage broker arranged this marriage between an Albanian Christian from a small village near Skoder, Albania and this Macedonian family.  She quickly learned Macedonian upon her arrival 7 years ago and now brings dual language skills to her two children.  She is lively conversationalist and we found common ground to talk about children with a mixture of Albanian, Macedonian and English! We were so engaged in conversation that the husband had to remind us to leave the learning for a while, as it was time to serve the food. This is the kind of woman I have been eager to meet and befriend – so engaged in life beyond the mundane tasks! Her husband too was knowledgeable about the world beyond farming and we were able to communicate on a number of issues.

Fridays is a day when no meat or dairy products are eaten and the meals are “poct”. Hrana literally means a meal or food. The meal was thus considered “poct hrana”. Just before we started, my host glady went to the fields in the rain to cut some fresh spring onions to supplement our dinner of a ‘tavche gravche’ and ‘fried fish’. Tavche gravche is the traditional Macedonian bean dish. The afternoon went by too quickly and I have promised to return for the next celebration on August 2 to their home.