Ajvatovica: A Bridge Between Tradition and National and Religious Identity

Abstract

The religious/cultural event Ajvatovica, the most attended Muslim gathering in Europe, provides a vivid example of the “cooperation” that exists between the nation and religion in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Although officially a religious event, it has a special place in the ambiguous nation-building project of BiH, relating specifically to the nation-building process of Bosniaks. In this paper, I will address this religious event in its historical and social context, and point to its significance and symbolism. I will pay particular attention to the attitudes of the socialist authorities towards this event, the motives behind its revival and its context, and the modifications made to it during the 1990s, which were closely related to the social and political changes taking place in BiH.

Keywords:

• Religion
• National Identity
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Ajvatovica
• Gathering
• Islam

Notes

Dejan Dimitrijević puts the reestablishment of Ajvatovica in the context of the SDA's programme to propagate a new identity, to Islamize Bosniaks and to redefine history and culture. According to him, Ajvatovica was an important element in the construction of national identity, invoking the Bogumil's roots (Dimitijević 2002, 9).

Jurjevo is a holiday that honours Saint George (Jurije) and is celebrated on 6 May (26 April for the Orthodox). It is also an important holiday for the Roma people, although it is celebrated in almost all religions through the symbolism of springtime, fertility and nature.

The Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into nine muftiluks as competent authorities of the Community for a particular region. The leader of each muftiluk is a mufti, a head religious official. Muftijstvo in Travnik is in charge of the area of Central Bosnia and organizing the Ajvatovica event and, presently, the leader of this muftiluk is mufti Nusret efendi Abdibegović.

The Proboj well, between Radišić and Vitina near Ljubuški, has a tradition similar to Ajvatovica (see Hadžijahić 1980, 307).

Many du'as sites witnessed the same faith during the Socialist era. Some of them were moved in schedule for Saturday or Sunday and were reinterpreted as a feast—teferiči. After the ban of Ajvatovica, Prusac each year hosted the so-called Race—a feast for the people marked by a horse race without any religious or national symbolism.

For more on the issue of national-building process of the Bosniaks, the development of the national and religious identity after 1945, the process of secularization and the effects of the global revival of religion on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1970s and the 1980s, see the master thesis by Sarač (2010).

It is interesting that the invitation appeared in Preporod before organizational approval was requested.

The guests from Turkey who were introduced as the dervishes from Konya, contributed to the extremely pleasant atmosphere with their prayers and their unique dance. In September 1925, Kemal Ataturk banned the existence and the activity of the dervishes and this ban is still in place. However, the dervishes have a number of followers in modern Turkey and they often perform as a cultural or folklore group. Thus, a number of customs, including the Mesnevi dance “sema”, are accepted today as a form of Turkish national folklore.

Musala is a prayer place under the open sky and for a larger number of believers. In Bosnia, musalas were used for the common rain prayer, for the džuma (“Friday's obligatory prayer for all Muslim men”) prayers, for bidding farewell to pilgrims and so on. The permission to pray at a musala was granted by sejh-ul-islam. The musala in Prusac belongs to musala graveyards with a built mihrab (“a place in a mosque where an imam leads a prayer”) and mimber (“a speaker's place in a mosque”), where the Eid morning prayer is usually held (Bojanić 1990, 39).

Today the national Bosniak men's attire includes a shirt, underwear, “čakšire” (wide trousers), “anterija” (embroidered wide-sleeve shirt), vest, belt, fez, socks and shoes. The red fez by itself often symbolizes Bosniak attire. The contemporary perception of ethnic clothing in Bosnia and Herzegovina is significantly linked to the regulation on garments, colours and types of shoes adopted in 1794. Science represents a wide-spread stance that the national attire is basically distinguished between urban and rural garments. The urban clothing in Bosnia and Herzegovina was very much undifferentiated with very little variations in the urban garments of different ethnic groups. However, there are three types of rural clothing characteristic for specific regional and geographical areas: area of West Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central and East Bosnia and Bosnian Posavina. The details on certain garments such as colours or the manner in which the clothing is worn enable experts to differentiate the rural attire of Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. It is evident that the differences in clothes are mostly the result of the difference in the economic and social status or the age of the person wearing the clothes rather their ethnical belonging. For more on this topic, please check the work by Čulić (1963).