But still, they enjoyed the holiday. “At least we have each other,” said one of the three old women sitting on a blanket in the field, referring to her friends. They claimed that they had been selling curabies with little mirrors attached to them for generations, only for Saint George’s Day.

Sometimes, the problem with repeating a rite for a long time is that the practitioners begin to do so mechanically, often forgetting its meaning.

“Why do the curabies have a mirror?” I asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” one of them replied. “The old women must have known something. Evil eye, for sure.”

It seems that the mirror is a kind of amulet, or “mësysh” as it is called in some regions of Kosovo and protects you from the “evil eye.”

Not far from Prizren, in Dejnë in Rahovec, Saint George is celebrated similarly. Men and women visit the tomb of Dervish Brahimi in the field where the celebration is held. They kiss the entrance of the tomb when entering and leaving. Dervish Brahimi is known throughout generations as a prominent religious figure.

Women, especially, leave the tomb with tears in their eyes. “I came here to pray for a way to be opened for my son, because right now he is in a difficult situation,” said one of them, after kissing the doors of the tomb.

The residents of Rahovec seemed to be celebrating Saint George together with the dead. They had laid their blankets right next to the cemetery.

I don’t think that their relatives were buried in the cemeteries, or that all the cemeteries belonged to saints. The atmosphere in the field felt heavy. It was something of a trade-off between life and death. It seemed as if the living and the dead were celebrating the revival of nature together. The air was filled with prayers addressed to the underworld, the holy dead and family members, to whom gifts were sent: shirts, towels, socks. The gifts do not have great material value, but are a symbolic way of recognizing and honoring holy persons and will hopefully fulfill the visitors’ wishes.

I too took part in the ritual. I moved three times around the tomb of Dervish Ibrahimi in Dejnë, but now I was more aware of what I was doing. One of the women, who guarded the tomb inside and waited for visitors, wrapped a piece of yarn around my hand, as the ritual requires, and wished me luck and health.

While I was waiting to return to Prishtina, some residents of Rahovec, who realized that I was taking notes, seemed to ask for my assurance to freely celebrate Saint George’s Day. “It has nothing to do with any religion, does it? That’s how we are! We have always celebrated nature, the arrival of summer!”

But, this does not mean that we actively protect nature. Even on Saint George’s Day, where the revival of nature is celebrated, the celebration was filled with garbage and plastic. Toys, or better said, plastic weapons, were being sold. A native of Prizren told me that on this day, these kinds of toys are often bought for children. It was the biggest absurdity, to see four or five year olds with candy in one hand and a plastic gun in the other.

Paradoxically, we celebrate nature and destroy it at the same time.

But perhaps there is a glimmer of hope in raising awareness about our relationship with nature among future generations. Permaculture, as an approach that aims to harmonize the relationship between people, nature and the resources derived from it, is taking place more and more in the activities of various organizations, even youth spaces.

Termokiss, a community-run center in Prishtina often organizes gardening activities. These rituals are changing their form.

While in some areas Saint George’s Day was celebrated in the fields, in Prishtina, young people celebrated Saint George through singing.

On May 5, the Discogrupi community organized a party with the theme “Spring Affair ” at the Ramiz Sadiku Canteen, where a crowd of young people gathered to celebrate the arrival of summer to the sound of disco.

Meanwhile, the Erdhlezeti Festival has taken place in Prishtina since 2013 and celebrates the spirit of the arrival of summer and revival of nature.

Bajram Kinolli, widely known as Kafu and one of the creators and organizers of this festival, emphasizes the need to continue cultivating this celebration, as a tool for inter-ethnic tolerance. For him, the festival is a way to “remember the good days of the celebration when all ethnicities lived and celebrated together.”

“In Gjakova it has been celebrated by Albanians, Roma, Turks, Serbs, etc. The feast of Saint George is the unification of ethnic groups,” said Kafu. “Summer, it seems to me, comes similarly for all of us. It doesn’t have a flag, language or faith. For this reason, we have also made a joint call: pleasure has come. Because the delight of summer comes for all of us.”

Saint George was celebrated again this year. I don’t know for how long, or in what ways this celebration will continue to manifest in the future. However, these rapid cultural transformations point to an urgent need to develop an individual and collective consciousness, and look towards preserving our spiritual heritage, in all its forms.

Feature Image: Valmira Rashiti / K2.0.

Flowers, nettles and the Erdhlezeti festival

Celebrating Saint George's Day and the arrival of summer.

Valmira Rashiti

Flowers, nettles and the Erdhlezeti festival

Celebrating Saint George's Day and the arrival of summer.

Valmira Rashiti