ALBANIA: HOLIDAYS AND CELEBRATIONS

Because of Albania’s history, ethnic and religious backgrounds, their holidays and celebrations reflect this.  There are some holidays that are official holidays deemed by the government, and then there are holidays where you still have to show up for work. Along with national holidays, there are many cultural and arts festivals throughout the year in many cities and towns throughout the country.

New Years Day: January 1-2.  New Years in Albania is usually celebrated by staying up past midnight and like many places, fireworks are involved. It’s usually spent with family and friends and there are usually large feasts, sweets and drinking involved.

Teacher’s Day: March 7.  Not an official holiday, still considered a work day. Prior to 1887, the Catholic Church ran the schools in central and northern Albania, while the Orthodox Church ran the schools in the southern part of the country. The first secular school teaching in the Albanian language was in the southern city of Korçë. 

Mother’s Day: March 8.  It’s generally celebrated in many of the same ways, as it would be around the world. One of the traditions is to give a simple gift of a mimosa sprig. 

Summer Day: Mar. 14.  This is an official and national holiday.  Obviously this is a celebration about summer, even though it seems strange me to me to think of a summer celebration being in March in the northern hemisphere. But apparently, it is more of a celebration for the end of winter.  (Still, whatever happened to spring?) It’s celebrated in various cities with various summer-like activities that include marathons, circuses, and music.

Nevruz Day: March 22.  Also called Nowruz, it’s the Persian New Year; it’s aligned with the spring equinox and has its roots in the Zoroastrian religion. While it’s celebrated in many countries that have a large Muslim population, Nevruz is celebrated for four days in Albania.

April Fool’s Day: April 1. Not an official holiday. Similar to how it’s celebrated elsewhere in the world with practical jokes.

Catholic Easter/Orthodox Easter: varies. Christians in Albania also celebrate Easter by decorating eggs (even though it’s actually a pagan practice pre-dating Christianity) and going to church.

May Day: May 1.  May Day itself is related to Beltane or Walpurgis Night (which may be familiar to you if you’ve read Goethe’s “Faust”).  It falls exactly six months after All Saint’s Day (also known as Samhain). It’s more or less a celebration including bonfires celebrating the start of the planting season, among other traditions that vary upon location.

Children’s Day: June 1. Not an official holiday. While it’s celebrated in many countries, in Albania, parents give presents to kids and take them to parades and celebrations.

Mother Teresa Day: October 19.  This is an official and national holiday. Mother Teresa is probably the one of the most famous Albanians and is remembered for her charity worldwide.

Independence Day: November 28.  Declared in 1912 marking the end of five centuries of Ottoman control.  Flags are raised and many local celebrations take place in many towns and cities. 

Liberation Day: November 29.  Celebrating the liberation from Nazi Germany. It seems to be more like Memorial Day in the US, where there are ceremonies for fallen soldiers, war heroes, and the playing of the national anthem and other patriotic songs.

National Youth Day: December 8.  This is an official and national holiday.

Midwinter, Christmas: December 25.  Christians in Albania celebrate Christmas by many of the same practices celebrated throughout the world. Many people celebrate by a midnight mass on Christmas Eve and/or going to church on Christmas morning. People visit their families and give gifts. Albanians also decorate Christmas trees and have elaborate meals that include baklava.

Keep in mind, that the religious holidays were banned for almost an entire generation, so many of these traditions have just started back up in the past 20 years.

Next up: Music, Arts, and Literature

Resources:

Wikipedia: “Public Holidays in Albania”, “New Years Day”, “Teachers Day”, “Mother’s Day”, “Summer Day”, “Nevruz Day”, “April Fool’s Day”, “May Day”, “Mother Teresa”, “Independence Day”, “Liberation Day”

Summer Day: http://idalbania.blogspot.com/2010/03/dita-e-veres.html

Christmas: http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/worldxmas/albania.htm

Independence Day: http://aglobalworld.com/holidays-around-the-world/albania-independence-day/

Liberation Day: http://aglobalworld.com/holidays-around-the-world/liberation-day-albania/

ALBANIA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

Albania is a land of old and new, ancient ruins and building up from scratch. I have to admit, I didn’t know a lot about Albania. I think I remember it being briefly mentioned when I was reading “Corelli’s Mandolin” by Louis de Bernières (good book, by the way).

Albania’s geography has a lot to do with the people, culture, arts and food. First off, it was situated between two major civilizations of the ancient world: Roman to the west of it and Greek to the south and east of it. The country itself is slightly smaller than the state of Maryland; the capital Tirana being almost in the middle. It’s a coastal country, bordered by both the Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea, just across the sea from Italy. Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Greece border the other sides.

Albania is mountainous, with only about 20% of the land being arable. It is rich with natural resources, but years of communist rule have left the country with little to no money to invest into mining. It’s like the old adage, “You need money to make money.” It’s quite rural, although there are a few larger cities with Tirana being the largest (it has about 421,000 – about the size of Atlanta, Georgia).

Because I’m a linguist, I’m somewhat fascinated with the Albanian language. It’s an Indo-European language, but it sort of stands alone. While it shares certain similarities with other nearby languages, it really is in a group all by itself. It’s practically only spoken in Albania, with the exception of spilling over the borders a little and in countries that are the result of Albanian diaspora. Only about 7.5 million speakers speak Albania; that’s less than the entire population of London, England! 

While it was under communist rule, there was a decree against any kind of religious observance. Every mosque and church closed in 1967 and was not allowed to reopen until 1990.  Because of that, there aren’t really any hard numbers on religion in Albania, but unofficial numbers are that around 70% of Albanians are Muslim, with only 20% Albanian Orthodox and 10% Roman Catholic.

While the majority of Albanians has access to clean water and sanitation and generally have high literacy rates, unemployment remains high, and it is still one of the poorest countries in Europe.  But I’m really thrilled to delve into the culture of Albania. I’ve truly become interested in this little-known country, and I’m really excited to show you the best sides of it.

Next up: Holidays and Celebrations

Resources:

CIA Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/al.html

Albania Tourism: http://www.albaniantourism.com/

Wikipedia articles: “Albania,” “Tirana,” “List of US cities by population,” “World’s largest municipalities by population”