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Balkan sworn virgins ( al, burrnesha, label=in
Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
) are women who take a
vow of chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when mak ...
and live as men in patriarchal northern
Albanian society Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
,
Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
and
Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...
. To a lesser extent, the practice exists, or has existed, in other parts of the western Balkans, including
Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
,
Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
(Croatia),
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
and
North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
. In times when women had a prescribed role, burrnesha gave up their sexual, reproductive and social identities to acquire the same freedoms as men. They could dress as men, be head of the household, move freely in social situations, and take work traditionally open only to men.
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
's ''
Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
'' estimated in 2002 that there were fewer than 102 Albanian sworn virgins left. , while there were no exact figures, twelve burrneshat were estimated to remain in Northern Albania and Kosovo.


Terminology

Other terms for a ''sworn virgin'' include, in English, ''Albanian virgin'' or ''avowed virgin''; in
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
: ''Virdžina'', in sq, burrnesha, ''vajzë e betuar'' (most common today, and used in situations in which the parents make the decision when the person is a baby or child), and various words
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
with "
virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
" – ''virgjineshë'', ''virgjereshë'', ''verginesa'', , ''vergjinesha''; in Turkish, ''sadik'', meaning "honest, just", in Serbian, ''ostajnica (she who stays)'', in Bosnian, ''tobelija (bound by a vow)''.


Origins

The tradition of sworn virgins in
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
developed out of the ''Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit'' ( en, The Code of Lekë Dukagjini, or simply the ''Kanun''), a set of codes and laws developed by
Lekë Dukagjini Lekë III Dukagjini (1410–1481), mostly known as Lekë Dukagjini, was a 15th-century member of the Albanian nobility, from the Dukagjini family. A contemporary of Skanderbeg, Dukagjini is known for the ''Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit'', a code of l ...
and used mostly in northern
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
and
Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
from the 15th century until the 20th century. The ''Kanun'' is not a religious document – many groups follow it, including
Albanian Orthodox The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania ( sq, Kisha Ortodokse Autoqefale e Shqipërisë), commonly known as the Albanian Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church of Albania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It declared its autoce ...
,
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
. The ''Kanun'' dictates that families must be patrilineal (meaning wealth is inherited through a family's men) and patrilocal (upon marriage, a woman moves into the household of her husband's family). Women are treated like property of the family. Under the ''Kanun'', women are stripped of many rights. They cannot smoke, wear a watch, or vote in local elections. They cannot buy land, and there are many jobs they are not permitted to hold. There are also establishments that they cannot enter. The practice of sworn virginhood was first reported by missionaries, travelers, geographers and anthropologists, who visited the mountains of northern Albania in the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of them was
Edith Durham Edith Durham, (8 December 1863 – 15 November 1944) was a British artist, anthropologist and writer who is best known for her anthropological accounts of life in Albania in the early 20th century. Her advocacy on behalf of the Albanian cause a ...
, who took the accompanying photograph.


Overview

A person can become a sworn virgin at any age, out of personal desire or to satisfy parents. One becomes a sworn virgin by swearing an irrevocable oath, in front of twelve village or tribal elders, to adopt the role and practice
celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the ...
. After this, sworn virgins live as men and others relate to them as such, usually though not always using masculine pronouns to address them or speak about them to other people. Andreas Hemming, Gentiana Kera, Enriketa Pandelejmoni, ''Albania: Family, Society and Culture in the 20th Century'' (2012, ), page 168: Others relate to them as men, usually using male pronouns both in addressing them and in speaking of them. They may dress in male clothing, use a male name, carry a gun, smoke, drink alcohol, take on male work, act as the head of a household (for example, living with a sister or mother), play music, sing, and sit and talk socially with men. According to
Marina Warner Dame Marina Sarah Warner, (born 9 November 1946) is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publicatio ...
, the sworn virgin's "true sex will never again, on pain of death, be alluded to either in her presence or out of it." Similar practices occurred in some societies of
indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
. Breaking the vow was once punishable by death, but it is doubtful that this punishment is still carried out. Many sworn virgins today still refuse to go back on their oath because their community would reject them for breaking the vows. However, it is sometimes possible to take back the vows if the reasons or motivations or obligations to family which led to taking the vow no longer exist.


Motivations

There are many reasons why someone might take this vow, and observers recorded a variety of motivations. One person spoke of becoming a sworn virgin in order to not be separated from his father, and another in order to live and work with a sister. Some hoped to avoid a specific unwanted marriage, and others hoped to avoid marriage in general; becoming a sworn virgin was also the only way for families who had committed children to an
arranged marriage Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...
to refuse to fulfil it, without dishonouring the groom's family and risking a
blood feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...
. It was the only way a woman could inherit her family's wealth, which was particularly important in a society in which blood feuds ''(
gjakmarrja In the traditional Albanian culture, (English: "blood-taking", i.e. "blood feud") or ("revenge") is the social obligation to kill an offender or a member of their family in order to salvage one's honor. This practice is generally seen as in lin ...
)'' resulted in the deaths of many male Albanians, leaving many families without male heirs. (However,
anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...
Jeffrey Dickemann suggests this motive may be "over-pat", pointing out that a non-child-bearing woman would have no heirs to inherit after her, and also that in some families not one but several daughters became sworn virgins, and in others the later birth of a brother did not end the sworn virgin's masculine role.) Moreover, a child may have been desired to "carry on" an existing feud, according to Marina Warner. The sworn virgin became "a warrior in disguise to defend her family like a man." If a sworn virgin was killed in a blood feud, the death counted as a full life for the purposes of calculating
blood money Blood money may refer to: * Blood money (restitution), money paid to the family of a murder victim Films * Blood Money (1917 film), ''Blood Money'' (1917 film), a film starring Harry Carey * Blood Money (1921 film), ''Blood Money'' (1921 film ...
, rather than the half-life a woman was counted as. It is also likely that many women chose to become sworn virgins simply because it afforded them much more freedom than would otherwise have been available in a patrilineal culture in which women were secluded, sex-segregated, required to be virgins before marriage and faithful afterwards, betrothed as children and married by sale without their consent, continually bearing and raising children, constantly physically labouring, and always required to defer to men, particularly their husbands and fathers, and submit to being beaten. Dickemann suggests mothers may have played an important role in persuading children to become sworn virgins. A widow without sons traditionally had few options in Albania: she could return to her birth family, stay on as a servant in the family of her deceased husband, or remarry. With a son or surrogate son, she could live out her life in the home of her adulthood, in the company of her child. Murray quotes testimony recorded by René Gremaux: "Because if you get married I'll be left alone, but if you stay with me, I'll have a son." On hearing those words Djurdja
he daughter He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
"threw down her embroidery" and became a man.


Prevalence

The practice has died out in Dalmatia and Bosnia, but is still carried out in northern Albania and to a lesser extent in North Macedonia. The
Socialist People's Republic of Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...
did not encourage people to become sworn virgins. Women started gaining legal rights and came closer to having equal social status, especially in the central and southern regions. It is only in the northern region that many families are still traditionally patriarchal. In 2008 there were between forty and several hundred sworn virgins left in Albania, and a few in neighboring countries, most over fifty years old, with an estimated twelve left in 2022. It used to be believed that the sworn virgins had all but died out after 50 years of communism in Albania, but recent research suggests that may not be the case; instead, the increase in feuding following the collapse of the communist regime could encourage a resurgence of the practice. In 2022 the niece of a burrnesha said that "Today we girls don't have to fight to become men. We have to fight for equal rights, but not by becoming men." She herself left the remote settlement where she and her aunt lived for
Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...
, where women "have more advantages and are more emancipated".


In popular culture

*'' Virdžina'' (1991), a Yugoslav drama film based on this old custom, directed by
Srđan Karanović Srđan Karanović ( sr-Cyrl, Срђан Карановић, , born 17 November 1945) is a Serbian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 17 films since 1968. His film ''Miris poljskog cveća'' won the FIPRESCI prize at the 1978 Cannes F ...
. *In "The Albanian Virgin" (1994), a short story by
Alice Munro Alice Ann Munro (; ; born 10 July 1931) is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Munro's work has been described as revolutionizing the architecture of short stories, especially in its tendency to move f ...
first published in ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', a Canadian woman being held hostage by Albanians takes the vow to avoid
forced marriage Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...
. (For information about documented kidnappings, see
Ion Perdicaris Ion Hanford Perdicaris (April 1, 1840 – May 31, 1925) was an author, professor, lawyer, painter, and playwright. He was a humanitarian and human rights activist. He fought for the rights of Moors, Arabs and slaves. He was active in the anti-sl ...
and the
Miss Stone Affair The Miss Stone Affair ( bg, Афера „Мис Стоун“, mk, „Афера Мис Стон“) was the kidnapping of American Protestant missionary Ellen Maria Stone and her pregnant Bulgarian fellow missionary and friend Katerina Cilk ...
.) *Italian director
Laura Bispuri Laura Bispuri (born 20 August 1977) is an Italian director and screenwriter. Biography After graduating in Cinema at the Sapienza University of Rome, Bispuri attended the Fandango Lab Workshop, a school of cinema in Rome. After directing a docum ...
's first feature film, '' Sworn Virgin'' (2015), depicts the life of Hana, played by Italian actress
Alba Rohrwacher Alba Caterina Rohrwacher (, ; born 27 February 1979) is an Italian actress. Early life Alba Rohrwacher was born in Florence, the daughter of a German father and an Italian mother. From the age of 17 to 21 she studied medicine, intending to be a ...
. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Albanian writer
Elvira Dones Elvira Dones (born 1960) is an Albanian novelist, screenwriter, and documentary film producer. Born in the coastal city of Durrës Dones graduated from the State University of Tirana. In 1988 she was employed by Albanian State Television and i ...
. There are centuries-old Albanian communities in Italy. *American writer with no Albanian background Kristopher Dukes's first novel, ''The Sworn Virgin'' (2017), follows an untraditional young woman in the mountains of 1910, as her father is gunned down due to an old
blood feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...
, and she takes the vow to avoid an arranged marriage.


Noted sworn virgins

*
Stana Cerović Stana Cerović (1936–2016) was a Montenegrin sworn virgin in rural Montenegro. He was part of the practice that permitted Albanian and Montenegrin people who were assigned female at birth to take on the gender role of men. By the time of his d ...
* Mikaš Karadžić * Tone Bikaj * Durdjan Ibi Glavola * Stanica-Daga Marinković


See also

*
Samsui women The term Samsui women (, mandarin for 'red headscarf') broadly refers to a group of Chinese female immigrants who came to Malaya and Singapore between the 1920s and 1940s in search of construction and industrial jobs. These women hailed mostly ...
, a similar practice among Chinese diaspora women in Southeast Asia *
Bacha posh Bacha posh ( fa, بچه پوش, literally "dressed up as a boy") is a practice in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan in which some families without sons will pick a daughter to live and behave as a boy. This enables the child to behave more freely: ...
, a similar practice in Afghanistan and Pakistan *
Vestal Virgin In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty ...
*
Honorary male An honorary male or honorary man is a woman who is accorded the status of a man without disrupting the patriarchal status quo. Ancient Egypt Queen Hatshepsut was the first female ruler of ancient Egypt after Sobekneferu to act as a full phara ...


Notes


References

* *


Further reading

*Grémaux, René. "Woman Becomes Man in the Balkans", ''in'' Gilbert Herdt, ed. 1996: ''Third Sex Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History''. * * Munro, Alice (1994), "The Albanian Virgin," a piece of short fiction in the collection ''
Open Secrets ''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short story, short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994 in literature, 1994. It was nominated for the 1994 Governor General's Awards, 1994 Governor General's Award for English Fiction ...
''. *Dukes, Kristopher (2017), "The Sworn Virgin," a historical fiction novel about the tradition. *Young, Antonia (2000).
Women Who Become Men: Albanian Sworn Virgins
'.


External links



by Dan Bilefsky, 2008

by Jill Peters, 2012

by Johan Spanner, ''The New York Times'', 2008
Photographs
by
Pepa Hristova Pepa Hristova (born 25 April 1977) is a Bulgarian photographer, based in Hamburg and Berlin. She has a degree in communication design with a specialization in photography from the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and became a member of the ...
,
German Society for Photography German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
, 2009
BBC radio show on sworn virgins



BBC From Our Own Correspondent 02/09
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albanian Sworn Virgins Albanian culture Cross-dressing Gender in Albania Gender systems Men in Albania Non-sexuality Sexism Sexual abstinence Third gender Women in Albania Women's rights in Europe History of women in Albania History of women in North Macedonia