Endri
Moderator
Regjistruar: 03/01/2003
Vendbanimi: Today
Mesazhe: 1498
|
Women who became man : Albania sworn virgins
I read a thread here about the equality of Albanian women and during my search online i came across this article.
Lets take a look into this ancient tradition mainly in Northern Albanian regions bordering Kosova and Montenegro. I would like to keep this thread primarily in the English language.
The men of the house
They were born women but chose to be men, guardians of property, wealth and family honour. The price of their power? Celibacy. Antonia Young on the virgins upholding an ancient Albanian tradition
Saturday March 31, 2007
The Guardian
In the rigidly patriarchal society of the remote mountain villages of northern Albania and beyond, they have a unique way of providing a head of the household when there is no male heir, or the men of the family have died in battle. A girl - or her parents - may declare that she has become a "male". From then on, she - now he - will be brought up and dressed as a boy/man, perform male tasks and mix socially as a male with boys. He will become the head of the family, organise the division of labour and wealth, be permitted to carry a weapon and uphold the family honour in blood feuds.
It has always been assumed in this region that every unmarried female is a virgin but, with a change of gender, the "sworn virgin" swears to celibacy for life (traditionally an oath to this effect was taken in front of a dozen village elders - all men, of course). He may never revert to the gender of his birth. In this way, inheritance of the family home and land is assured in a society in which women may not inherit property.
When you meet "sworn virgins", you can see at once how they have taken on masculine ways: body language and mannerisms, smoking, spitting on the ground and even a deeper timbre to their voice. Many, though not all, change their names. The men of the village treat them as they do each other.
The custom derives not from religious beliefs but from traditional law, the Kanun of Lek Dukagjin, which held that, in the villages of "the Accursed Mountains", which run across the northern tip of Albania, western Kosovo and southern Montenegro, women belonged to their fathers until marriage, when they became the property of their husbands. Becoming a "sworn virgin" offers a solution to a girl wishing to escape an unwanted arranged marriage, without dishonouring the family of the man chosen to be her husband. The phenomenon does nothing to undermine the patriarchy, yet it does allow women, otherwise confined to a wholly subordinate role, a way to a freer life.
The system of sworn virgins has endured for at least 200 years. The question is whether sworn virgins will survive the drastic changes of regime in Albania over the past 20 years, since the death of the dictator Enver Hoxha, the fall of communism and the national disaster of the pyramid schemes.
National legislation now formally allows for women to own property. But it will take decades for such legislation to be recognised and enforced, especially in the remoter regions. The photographer Ben Speck heard of two sworn virgins, one in his late 20s, one in his late 30s, both policemen living in the city, but was unable to track them down.
Although the change to the male gender is irreversible, most express no regrets; indeed, it is a matter of pride. There's a spirit, a sense of family honour, that is hard for westerners to comprehend, something alluded to by Kajtaz when he says, "There is no better gift than the respect of one's father." Some must surely become lonely; others have close family - Sokol, for example, heads his nephew's family, and is therefore held in great social respect.
The phenomenon should not be confused with homosexuality, which is, predictably, abhorred in this strictly traditional society. (Male homosexuality was punishable by imprisonment until the law changed in 1995, and there is still considerable harassment of homosexuals; female homosexuality was not acknowledged as even possible.) Nor is the gender change ever assisted by any form of sex-changing surgery. The strength of the cultural need is sufficient force and endorsement.
Now, when it might seem the whole phenomenon is disappearing, new societal demands are replacing older ones and keeping ancient tradition alive. The appalling loss of male lives during the Kosovar war of 1999 forced many women to take on the lead role in families, and more recently a quite different reason to change gender has emerged: as protection against the kidnapping and trafficking of young women.
· Antonia Young is the author of Women Who Become Men: Albanian Sworn Virgins.
Denonco këtë mesazh tek moderatorët | IP: e regjistruar
|
07 Prill 2007 09:52
Forumi Horizont > Tema Shoqërore > Gjuhët e Huaja > Gjuha Angleze > *Interesting articles* > Women who became man : Albania sworn virgins
