Дијахронијски преглед етнографске грађе лазаричког обреда на територији Косова и Метохије
Diachronic Review of Ethnographic Material Regarding Lazarice Ceremony in the Territory of Kosovo and Metohija

Summary/Abstract: This paper is devoted to the historical review of the performance of Lazarice ceremony in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, which has been recorded in the ethnographic material from the mid–19th century to the present day. Written sources from this period come from the pen of historians, diplomats, ethnographers, ethnologists and anthropologists, literary historians, ethnochoreologists and ethnomusicologists. The material to do with Lazarice was gathered in a number of settlements throughout Gnjilane, Prizren and Podrimlje region, but also in the parishes of Sredska and Sirinić. The available ethnographic material represents a valuable testimony of the local specificities attributed to the conducting of the Lazarice ceremony, which marks the beginning of the economic year in the Serbian national calendar, but also places a value on the participants of these women’s processions, who went around rural households on Saturday of St. Lazarus celebration, in order to ensure the overall fertility and the homes’ prosperity. Diachronic overview points out to the gradual modification and disappearance of this tradition during the 19th and 20th century (depending on the area), which included the changes introduced regarding the age and ethnic groups of the participants, in terms of a shift from older to younger participants, but also the involvement of the Roma people in the presentation of these ceremonies. According to the current knowledge, the ‘live’ performance of the Lazarice ceremony, given by the Serbian population, has been preserved only in a small number of settlements in Sirinić parish and in the area of Podrimlje.

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