Vevčani

The famous Vevčani springs are some of the most famous springs to be found in North Macedonia. The springs are located on the eastern slope of the Jablanica mountain range which run through the village of Vevčani at an approximately sea level altitude at over 900 metres. The largest spring is located at the opening of one of the many caves in the region. Below the largest spring are ten minor springs which all converge together. The most famous spring is "Jankov Kamen" which is situated at 1200 metres above sea level. Another spring is "Mala Livada" from which the water has a unique flavour and colour. It is situated at over 1600 metres above sea level. The highest spring is "Golina" situated at over 2000 metres above sea level. The rate of water flow from the springs is estimated to exceed the rate of 1500 litres per second, most notably in Spring.

Within the vicinity of the village of Vevčani there are many glacial lakes. The highest and most prominent glacial lake is "Lokva" which is situated at over 2000 metres above sea level on Mount Jablanica. It is the main provider of water to the "Golina" spring.

In 1945, the village of Vevčani became a part of the newly founded People's Republic of Macedonia. In 1945 the municipality of Vevčani was founded which included the nearby villages of Oktisi and Gorna Belica. This was dissolved in 1952 as Vevčani became a part of the Velešta municipality until 1956. In 1956 it was merged with the Struga Municipality.

The Vevčani Emergency (Macedonian: Вевчански случај, Vevčanski slučaj) was an incident which occurred in the village on 26 May and 7 August 1987. The residents of Vevčani defied the decision of the Yugoslavian government to redirect water from the springs to Struga. They were at odds with the government's attempts to have the inhabitants of Struga using what they saw as their water. Police were assembled twice in the village before the situation was resolved. The residents had sparked calls for democracy and freedom from the Yugoslavia government. A "Republic of Vevčani" had been planned by the residents.

After the fall of Communism, as a bid to attract more tourism to the village, the residents of Vevčani voted to create an independent republic. The "Republic of Vevčani" (Macedonian: Република Вевчани, Republika Vevčani) was soon founded.

As a part of the self-styled "Independent Republic of Vevčani" declared in 2002, the "Vevčani Ličnik" (Macedonian: Вевчански Личник) was created as souvenir currency for the area. The "Ličnici" (plural) come in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000. The author was artist Simun Lesoski.

In 2002, the Vevčani municipality was founded. The reconstituted municipality included only the village of Vevčani.

The process of creating the GA document in Macedonia began in August 2007, with the election of the municipality of Vevčani as one of the three pilot municipalities in Macedonia where the GA will be implemented.

The process of creating the GA of Vevčani is very broad, based on the work of the wide community and involves citizens that participate in the creating of the document and by doing that they influence on the decision-making process in the community.

For the first time in Macedonia, the citizens have the opportunity directly to influence the process of decision making, to create partner relations with the local government and business sector in order to achieve benefits for the community.

Vevčani is home to the Parish of Vevčani which also includes the villages of Oktisi and Gorna Belica. For centuries the village has been a Christian village surrounded by many Muslim villages. The village is home to 19 Churches, Monasteries and Chapels. The central church of the village however is Sveti Nikola which dates back from 1876. A prominent monastery is Sveti Spas which is situated at over 1,300 metres above sea level.

The village has 11 cultural heritage sites (Macedonian: Споменици на културата, Spomenici na kulturata) including:[3]

• House of Duckinoski family
• House of Korunoski family
• House of Kostojčinoski family
• House of Ḱitanoski family
• House of Pešinoski family
• House of Pluškoski family
• House of Kalajdžieski family
• House of Gogoski family
• House of Daskaloski family
• House of Poposki family
• Kostojčinoski fulling mill and gristmill – a cultural heritage site

In a 1509 defter, the village was part of the Ohrid vilayet, and had 208 households.[6] In 1519, the village had 223 households.[6] In 1634, it was registered under the name Vevčano with a total of 134 households.[6] The French ethnographic study of Macedonia conducted in 1878, Ethnography of the vilayets of Adrianople, of Monastir and of Salonica, (French: Ethnographie des Vilayets d'Adrianople, de Monastir et de Salonique), counted the village as having 865 houses and 2430 inhabitants, which at the time were considered Bulgarians. Vasil Kanchov's study of Macedonia in 1900, Macedonia, Ethnography and Statistics, (Bulgarian: Македония. Етнография и статистика, Makedonija. Etnografija i statistika), counted the village as having 2590 Bulgarian inhabitants.[7] A study conducted in 1907 had counted 440 households with 2,347 inhabitants.[8] In 1910, a Serbian commune of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople numbered 17 households which were considered ethnically Serbian in the village.[9] Some Aromanians from the nearby village of Gorna Belica have resettled in Vevčani.[10] The 1994 census counted 2,448 inhabitants as residing in the village.

According to the 2002 Macedonian census, the population of Vevčani was 2,433. In 2002, there were 593 households present in Vevčani. Of the 2,433 inhabitants, 1,229 were Males while 1,204 were females. The ethnic composition was as follows:

• Macedonians – 2,422 (99.55%)
• Serbs – 3 (0.12%)
• Aromanians – 1 (0.04%)
• Others – 7 (0.28%)