Migration, Ritual and Ethnic Conflict. A Study of Wedding Ceremonies of Albanian Transmigrants from the Republic of Macedonia
Migration, Ritual and Ethnic Conflict. A Study of Wedding Ceremonies of Albanian Transmigrants from the Republic of Macedonia

Summary/Abstract: Unlike many other rural milieus in the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe, Albanian villages in Western Macedonia experienced a boom of lavish wedding ceremonies in the aftermath of socialism. During six weeks in summer, when the bulk of trans-migrants return from Western Europe or the United States to their home villages, costly wedding festivities are held daily in restaurants, which mushroomed in the last 15 years mainly to earn their money from these rituals. On the basis of a case study carried out in one of these villages, this article sheds light on the complex relationship between migration, nationalistic mobilisation, and the importance of rituals for social cohesion. I argue that the increase of lavish ceremonies during times of ethnic conflict can be attributed to the notions of social prestige, reciprocal obligations, and the imagination to maintain a localized (patriarchal) social order which is actually fading away as a consequence of migration.

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