Mijaks

Mijaks (Macedonian: Мијаци, romanized: Mijaci) are an ethnographic group of Macedonians who live in the Lower Reka region which is also known as Mijačija (Macedonian: Мијачија), along the Radika river, in western North Macedonia, numbering 30,000–60,000 people. The Mijaks practise predominantly animal husbandry, and are known for their ecclesiastical architecture, woodworking, iconography, and other rich traditions, as well as their characteristic Galičnik dialect of Macedonian. The main settlement of the Mijaks is Galičnik.

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Galičnik Wedding Festival.
Girls in Mijak dress.

Settlements
Mijak architecture.

The Mijaks have traditionally occupied the Mala Reka region along with the Torbeš, Macedonian-speaking Muslims. The area including the Bistra mountain and Radika region has been termed Mijačija (Мијачија). To the east is the ethnographic region of the Brsjaks.

The Mijaks traditionally inhabited the villages of Galičnik, Lazaropole, Tresonče, Selce, Rosoki, Sušica, Gari and Osoj. However, the majority of Mijak villages are uninhabited as most of the inhabitants left during the 20th century. The villages Oreše, Papradište, Gorno Vranovci and Melnica in the Veles region were populated by Mijaci during Ottoman rule in Macedonia.[1] The village of Smilevo, in the Bitola region, is also considered to be a Mijak village, in regards to its architecture and history.[2] The north-western quarter of Kruševo was populated by Mijaks.[3]

History
Historical flag of the Mijaks

Middle Ages–18th century

Their ethnonym is unclear.[4] There is a theory that the Mijaks were the first to permanently settle this area; they found mostly Vlachs, who seem to have not been permanently settled; the Mijaks pushed the Vlachs out of the pasture lands, some of whom they assimilated.[5] According to another theory the Mijaks are the remains of an old Slavic tribe that inhabited the area of the Salonica field and was engaged mostly in the cattle breeding.[6] This theory is also confirmed by the legends for the founding of the one of the most significant Mijak settlements as Galičnik.[7]

The Brsjaks and Mijaks did not live geographically scattered prior to the Ottoman conquest.[8]

A proportion of Mijaks converted to Islam during the 16th and 17th centuries, and they are known by the name Torbeši.[9]

In the 18th century, the Mijaks had an armed conflict with the Islamized population regarding pasture lands.[10]

19th century

The Islamized population of Galicnik was re-Christianized in 1843.[4]

Georgi Pulevski was born in 1817. He published a three-language dictionary promoting the Macedonian language and nation as a separate and different from the neighbors.

In 1822, an unpublished lexicographical work by Panajot Ginovski, "Mijački rečnik po našem govoru", was written, containing 20,000 words.[11]

In the summer of 1875, referendum was held on the church affiliation of the Christians in Debar county (kaza). The majority supported the accession to the Bulgarian Exarchate. Only 2 villages and 20 houses in Debar supported the Patriarchate of Constantinople, perceived by local Bulgarians as Greek church.[12]

This was made after the Principality of Bulgaria received most of the Macedonia region by the Ottoman Empire, and the earlier establishment and expansion of the Bulgarian Exarchate (February 28, 1870; in 1874, Skopje and Ohrid voted in favour of the Exarchate).

20th century

During the Ilinden uprising in Kruševo (August 2–3, 1903), a known Mijak involved was Veljo Pecan.[13] During the guerilla period, the Mijaks were divided into those that identified with Serbia and those that did with Bulgaria; one Serbian vojvoda was Doksim Mihailović from Galičnik, while the Bulgarian vojvods were under Maksim N. Bogoja. Tale Krastev, Ivan Pendarovski, Rade Yankulovski, Kiro Simonovski, Yanaki Tomov,[14] Apostol Frachkovski etc. One of the leaders and founders of IMARO, Damyan Gruev is also a Mijak (from Smilevo).

Culture
Intricate Mijak woodcarving in Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery.

The Mijaks are well known for the extent to which old customs are preserved in their everyday life. The pečalba (seasonal work) was a deeply entrenched tradition of the Mijaks; males in their 20s would often leave the village for months, or even years, at a time, in order to work in more prosperous regions and create wealth for the family — this has contributed to the dispersion of Mijak families, with villages now deserted or sparsely populated.

Mijaks had mastered the craft of woodcarving, and for many years a wood carving school operated in the Mala Reka region. They were responsible for the intricate wood carving which is found inside the Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery, which is considered to be the best in North Macedonia.

The Galičnik Wedding Festival (Галичка свадба) is the name of a traditional wedding and its characteristic ceremony, which is annually held on Petrovden (St. Peter feast day, 12 July), in which a couple is chosen to receive the wedding and be shown on national television. The Teškoto oro (lit. "the hard one"), a shepherd folk dance of the Mijaks, is one of the national dances of North Macedonia.

Some Mijaks believe that Skanderbeg, the Albanian military commander and national hero, hailed from Mijačija.[15]

Architecture

Mijak architecture has become a defining factor in the culture of the Mijaks. The Mijaks were among the most skilled masons[16] and they helped wealthy Aromanians develop Kruševo into a large, prosperous and beautiful city in the 18th century. Apart from some masons from the Kriva Palanka region, they were the most proficient in all Macedonia and the Balkans. The Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery is built in the Mijak style.

Language
Further information: Galičnik dialect and Reka dialect

The Mijaks traditionally speak the Galičnik dialect and Reka dialect. Typical characteristics of the "Mijački govor" (Macedonian: Мијачки говор), Mijak speech, include:

Mijak speech Standard Macedonian English Notes
žamija džamija mosque reduced use of the phenome "dž" to only "ž"
roka raka hand the Big Yus is pronounced as a "o" and not an "a" as in Standard Macedonian
tužda/tuža tugja foreign use of the phenome "ž" or "žd" in place of the standard Macedonian "gj"
trebuvad/trebit treba need use of the suffix "-t" or "-d" for third person singular
stavajed stavaat they place use of the suffix "-ajed" for third person singular
glagolj zbor word from Proto-Slavic *glagoliti ("to speak"); cf. Glagolitic alphabet

Their speech include peculiarities (in relation to standard Macedonian), such as ovde, onde, kode, koga, zašto, dojdi, etc.[17]

Ethnography

Mijaks have been subject to ethnographic studies by Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbian scholars. According to the 2002 census, in the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostuša there were 4,349 Macedonians (50.46%), 2,680 Turks (31,10%), 1,483 Albanians (17.21%), and smaller numbers of Bosniaks (0.36%), Roma (0.12%), Serbs (0.07%) and others (0.68%); In the Municipality of Debar there were a total of 19,542 inhabitants, of which 11,348 Albanians, 3,911 Macedonians, 2,684 Turks, 1,080 Roma, 22 Serbs, 3 Bosniaks, 2 Vlachs and 492 others.[18]

  • In their works from the beginning of the 20th century, Bulgarian ethnographers Vasil Kanchov and Dimitar Michev describe the local Mijak population as Bulgarian.[19][20] The researcher Georgi Traychev from Prilep also describes the Mijaks as part of the Bulgarian people, different from the other, neighboring ethnographic Bulgarian groups as the Brsjaks.[21]

Genetic Studies

Zupan et al. (2020) examined samples from 44 Mijak males from Galičnik. In terms of Y-dna, Mijaks are located under haplogroups R1a-M458 (56.8%) and R1b-U106 (25%). Other haplogroups include G2a-P15 (11.4%) and E-M215 (4.5%). The high percentage of R1a-M458 among Mijaks associates them more closely with west Slavic groups who have a high frequency of R1a-M458, in particular Poles.[22]

Anthropology
Families
  • Kargovci
  • Kauriovci
  • Babalijovci
  • Boškovci
  • Guržovski
  • Gugulevci
  • Gulovci
  • Kuculovci
  • Kutrevci
  • Tortevci
  • Tulevci
  • Kačevci
  • Damkovci,
  • Čalčevci
  • Čaparovci
  • Čudulovci
  • Cergovci
  • Cincarevci
  • Žantevci
  • Pulevci (sing. Pulevski),
  • Ramnina and Stepanci,
  • Popovci
  • Frčkovci
  • Alautovci
  • Kolovci
  • Kostovci
  • Kokosovci
  • Sekovski
  • Trajkovi

Notable people

References
  1. "THE MULTICULTURAL AND ETHNIC CHARACTERISTICS OF FOUR VILLAGES IN THE VELES REGION - REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA, Aneta SVETIEVA". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  2. 100 Years Ilinden Uprising - Smilevo, Monument of Culture Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Brown, Keith (2003). The past in question: modern Macedonia and the uncertainties of nation. Princeton University Press. p. 85. ISBN 0-691-09995-2.
  4. Bernath & Nehring 1988, p. 392.
  5. Georgi Stardelov (1996). Jazicite na počvata na Makedonija: prilozi za istražuvanjeto na istorijata na kulturata na počvata na Makedonija. Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite. ISBN 9789989649202. Како изглсда, у овоме крају Мијаци су први створнлн стална насеља. Затскли су староседеоцс. нарочито Куцовлахе. који изглсда нису имали сталннх нассл.а. Мијаци су староседсоце потиснулн са пашк>ака, а неке привукли к ...
  6. Трайчев, Георги. Книга за мияците (Историко-географски очерк), София, 1941, с. 10. (Traychev, Georgi. Book for the Miyaks (Historical and Geographical Sketch), Sofia, 1941, p. 10.) И така, мияците са малоброен остатък от старо-славяно-българско колено, което населявало Солунско с пастирски поминък, който поминък ги заставил да търсят удобни прибежища и пасбища за многобройните си стада от овце и коне...
  7. Тодоровски, Глигор. Малореканскиот предел. Општествено-економски и просветни прилики во 80-те години на XIX век до крајот на Првата светска војна, Скопје 1970, с. 14. (Todorovski, Gligor. The area of Mala Reka. Socio-economic and educational opportunities from the 1880s to the end of the First World War, Skopje, 1970, p. 14.)
  8. Simpozijum seoski dani Sretena Vukosavljevića. Opštinska zajednica obrazovanja. 1974. p. 35. Сретен Вукосав- л>евић је посветио извесну пажњу старим познатим Брсјацима и Мијацима. Говорећи о њима, он истиче: Брсјаци и Мијаци нису били разбијени пре турског освајања.
  9. Bernath & Nehring 1988, p. 417.
  10. др Слободан Зечевић. Гласник Етнографског музеја у Београду књ. 30: Bulletin du Musée Ethnographique de Belgrade. Etnografski muzej u Beogradu. pp. 23–. GGKEY:U1JY3YFUSNS. У XVIII веку Мијаци су водили борбу са Турцима Помацима због пашњака. Тома Смиљанић је нашао у заоставштини свога оца два „уџета" из XVIII века у којима се помиње борба Мијака и Помака.
  11. "Macedonian review, Vol 1–2", 1971, p. 307
  12. Маркова, Зина. Българската екзархия 1870-1879, София, 1989, стр. 97. (Markova, Zina. The Bulgarian Exarchate 1870-1879, Sofia, Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1989, p. 97.) На 9 май 1875 г. екзарх Антим препраща на братя Робеви в Битоля правителствената заповед до вилаетското началство за провеждане на истилями в деборска епархия. Те се провеждат през летните месеци. Според информацията за техния ход в Дебърската каза само две села и 20 къщи в града са се изказали за гръцката църква. Въз основа на резултатите Дебърската община моли за отстраняването на гръцкия митрополит и за назначаването на екзархийски наместник.
  13. Keith Brown, "The past in question: modern Macedonia and the uncertainties of nation" (2003), p. 82
  14. Николов, Борис Й. Вътрешна македоно-одринска революционна организация . Войводи и ръководители (1893 – 1934). Биографично-библиографски справочник. София, 2001, стр. 86, 126, 168, 151, 196. (Nikolov, Boris Y. Internal Macedonian-Odrin Revolutionary Organization. Vojvods and leaders (1893 - 1934). Biographical-Bibliographic Reference Book. Sofia, 2001, p. 86, 126, 151, 168, 196.)
  15. Петар Поповски (2005). Георгија Кастриот-Искендер: крал на Епир и Македонија и втор Александар Македонски : (660 години од раѓањето). Аз-Буки. ISBN 978-9989-151-28-6.
  16. Brown, Keith (2003). The past in question: modern Macedonia and the uncertainties of nation. Princeton University Press. p. 262. ISBN 0-691-09995-2.
  17. Blaže Ristovski (1978). Dimitrija Čupovski (1878-1940) i Makedonskoto naučno-literaturno drugarstvo vo Petrograd: prilozi kon proučvanjeto na makedonsko-ruskite vrski i razvitokot na makedonskata nacionalna misla. Vol. 1. Kultura. p. 54. Жителите на селото се наречуваат Мијаци. Тие се разликуваат од Брсјаците, Курките, Торбешите, Улу- фите, Полјаните во Македонија. Нивниот јозик е отсебен7 Тие зборуваат вака: овде, онде, коде, кога, зашто, дојди; појди ...
  18. Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in North Macedonia, 2002
  19. Kanchov, Vasil (1900), Македония. Етнография и статистика [Macedonia. Ethnography and statistics] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Българско книжовно дружествово, p. 32
  20. Brancoff, D.M. (1905), La Macedoine et sa Population Chretienne [Macedonia and its Christian population] (in French), Paris: Plon-Nourrit, pp. 118–119, 184–185, ISBN 978-1141777464
  21. Трайчев, Георги. Книга за мияците (Историко-географски очерк), София, 1941, с. 1, 10-11, 93. (Traychev, Georgi. Book for the Miyaks (Historical and Geographical Sketch), Sofia, 1941, p. 1, 10-11, 93.)
  22. Zupan 2020.

Sources
Books
Journal
  • Hoddinott, R. F. (September 1954). "The Tradition of Wood Carving in Macedonia". The Burlington Magazine. 96 (618): 278–283.
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