The Open court . ALBANIANS OF KIRI. A VIRTIN OF THE HOTTI TRIBE terminated by assassination, and no authority has so far succeededin stopping this custom. Child-betrothals are a frequent source of family feuds. Chil-dren are promised in marriage by the parents sometimes while stillin the cradle, and if a girl refuses to fulfil the contract after she isgrown, she cannot withdraw without provoking intense hostilitybetween her whole family and that of the youth to whom she wasbetrothed. This can be satisfied only by the shedding of blood, and ALBANIA. 79 the privilege of punishing her male relati
The Open court . ALBANIANS OF KIRI. A VIRTIN OF THE HOTTI TRIBE terminated by assassination, and no authority has so far succeededin stopping this custom. Child-betrothals are a frequent source of family feuds. Chil-dren are promised in marriage by the parents sometimes while stillin the cradle, and if a girl refuses to fulfil the contract after she isgrown, she cannot withdraw without provoking intense hostilitybetween her whole family and that of the youth to whom she wasbetrothed. This can be satisfied only by the shedding of blood, and ALBANIA. 79 the privilege of punishing her male relatives by assassination isconsidered quite as much a sacred duty as blood revenge. The girl can escape this fate only by the formal declaration thatshe will never marry, and then by a special ceremony she turns akind of worldly nun and is henceforward not considered a womanbut a man. She dresses in mans clothes, takes up arms and nolonger enjoys the womans privilege of having her life spared in. *a-«S A BRIDAL PROCESSIO-\.The cart contains the dowry, and the bride walks at its side. family feuds. Now she may indulge in robbery in which case she iscalled tsupp-dashia, robber-buck. She is called virjin, a word prob-ably derived from thehatinvirgo and may etymologically be the sameas the English virgin. She is regarded by men with respect andawe and receives the title vrend, which is probably a contraction ofthe Latin veneranda. But all respect for her person would cease ifshe were to break her vow and assert her womanhood, and if shebecomes a mother her life is forfeit. 80 THE OPEN COURT. Such customs as this are more powerful than reUgion. All takepart in them, and the ties of blood-brotherhood frequently uniteCatholic or Greek divines with Mohammedans—rarely Catholicswith Greek Christians. A memorable event in the recent history of Albania occurredduring the Greek insurrection against Turkey. At the beginning ofthe war the excitable Albanians sympathized with Greece and sh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
