Grnčari

Grnčari ( mk, Грнчари, sq, Gërçar, tr, Grınçar) is a village in the Resen Municipality of North Macedonia. Located just under from the municipal centre of Resen, the village has 417 residents.

Demographics

The village of Grnčari is inhabited by an Sunni Muslim Albanian speaking majority and Orthodox Macedonian minority. A few Turkish speaking families are also present in Grnčari. Sunni Albanians in Grnčari traditionally highlighted their religious identity over a linguistic one having closer economic and social relations with Turks and Macedonian Muslims in the region and being distant from Orthodox Macedonians. Over time these differences have disappeared through intermarriage, closer communal and cultural relations with Bektashi and other Sunni Prespa Albanian communities in the region.

In statistics gathered by Vasil Kanchov in 1900, the village of Grnčari was inhabited by 165 Bulgarian Christians and 300 Muslim Albanians. In 1905 in statistics gathered by Dimitar Mishev Brancoff, Grnčari was inhabited by 120 Bulgarian Exarchists and 360 Muslim Albanians. After World War Two, some Albanian settlements in Yugoslavia declared themselves as ''Turks'' due to the word being a generic term for Muslims or pressure by Yugoslav authorities to do so.Friedman, Victor (2003).
Language in Macedonia as an identity construction site.
In Joseph, Brian (ed). ''When Languages Collide: Perspectives on Language Conflict, Language Competition, and Language Coexistence]''. Ohio State university press. p. 272. When the 1948 census was conducted, relations between Yugoslavia and Albania were good while those between Yugoslavia and Turkey were not. By 1953, Tito had broken with Stalin and in the wake of that split Yugoslavia had broken with Albania while improving relations with Turkey. The subsequent decades saw both emigration to Turkey (sometimes for economic reasons, but see also Akan 2000, 81—1 19) by those declaring Turkish nationality (sometimes declared on the basis of Muslim religion rather than Turkish mother tongue) as well as rising Albanian nationalism and pressure on Muslims in Kosovo and Western Macedonia to declare Albanian nationality (Tanasković 1992 143—44; Akan 2000, 179—221). The 1981 census was the last uncontested census conducted in former Yugoslavia. In the 2002 census, Albanians form a large ethnic majority in the village.Censuses of population 1948 - 2002

Sports

Local football club KF Lirija Gërçar play in the Macedonian Third League (Southwest Division).

Gallery

File:Grnčari village 1.jpg, Fields of Grnčari, with Lake Prespa and Galičica mountains in the background
File:Grnčari village 45.jpg, Architecture of Grnčari
File:Grnčari 4.JPG, Architecture of Grnčari. This dwelling built by an Albanian from the diaspora was modeled on the Saraj mansion of Niyaz bey in Resen.
File:Викиекспедиција Преспа 392.jpg, View from Grnčari of the road toward Podmočani. On the right side near the big mulberry tree is the house of the Selimi-Banushi family (one of the few traditional houses left in the village)
File:Grnčari village 5.jpg, Local football ground of Grnčari football team
File:Xhamia e Gërçarit 1.jpg, Mosque and Muslim cemetery of Grnčari
File:Teqeja e Baba Saliut, në Gërçar.jpg, Tekke of Sali Baba, Grnčari
File:Викиекспедиција Преспа 391.jpg, Church of St. Athanasius and Orthodox cemetery, Grnčari
File:St. Elijah Monastery (Grnčari) 42.jpg, St. Elijah Monastery, Grnčari (built 18th century)
File:St. Elijah Monastery (Grnčari) 26.jpg, Iconostasis of St. Elijah Monastery, Grnčari
File:St. Elijah Monastery (Grnčari) 15.jpg, Forest of Grnčari on the slopes of the Baba mountain range

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grncari
Villages in Resen Municipality
Albanian communities in North Macedonia