Vinište is a small village in North

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, north of

Montana, Bulgaria Montana ( ) is a town in northwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Montana Province. On the 2021 census, it had a population of 36,455. Names There had been a nearby Thracian settlement, on top of which the Romans set up a ...

.Guide Bulgaria
Accessed Jan 15, 2020 The village is located in the foothills of the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range is located in the eastern part of the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. It then runs f ...

and has a population of 400 people. Near Vinište there is a formation of rocks called ''Kamiko''. The village name reflects the good conditions in the region for cultivating grapes and making wine ( Bulgarian ''vino'', English ''wine'').

History

This region of Bulgaria became part of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

in 26 BC. About AD 150, the Romans built a stronghold in the region called Montana, and the military division that first settled there was recruited in the Swiss Alps. The town was populated by Latin-speaking local tribes who were later called Wallachs by the Slavs. Christianity was introduced in AD 325. Vinište is first mentioned in 15th-century Ottoman tax documents. The village is located on an important road that connects

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

with

Vidin Vidin (, ) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since ...

on the

Danube river The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

and from there to Central Europe. The road was used for carrying the collected taxes and military retreat first by the Romans (from the Balkans to Central Europe), by the Bulgarians and by the Turks (from Central Europe to Constantinople). Roman coins have been found around Vinište and can be seen in the museums in Montana and Sofia.

Traditions

Though Vinište has been Christian since the 9th century, pagan customs were maintained into the 20th century. One such custom is the '' kurban.'' In older days, kurban involved a ritualistic animal sacrifice but in modern times, it is a gathering around a special stone or other symbol. In Vinište, the stone is in the form of a cross, about in height. The inscription on the stone reads, "St. Constantine Year Of Our Lord 1804".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viniste Villages in Montana Province