MACEDONIA - TRADITION AND CONT essays

MACEDONIA - TRADITION AND CONT essays MACEDONIA - TRADITION AND CONTEMPORANEITY Numerous books have been written about Macedonia. Collected together in an imaginary world library, they would occupy a space which would be awe-striking in its vastness and one could easily lose one's way strolling among the shelves, through the dark corridors of this labyrinth. Macedonian history has been interpreted in multitudinous different ways, from different aspects and viewpoints. It has been usurped, falsified, supplemented and altered. Frequently written by others, it has been adjusted to their interests. Mysterious cartographers and geographers have broadened and narrowed its borders, counted and recounted, wiped off and added place-names, measured and remeasured its mountains and rivers... The individuality of Macedonian culture has been disputed, the Macedonia word has been banned, and in the years of silence and oblivion things were given different names, difficult to pronounce and yet more difficult to remember. Statues of kings and gods have been demolished, old temples have been ruined, church walls have been smeared with thick layers of mortar and new saints have been painted on them. Old manuscripts have been burnt, the records and inscriptions on graves have been erased, entire libraries of books written in a language unintelligible to t he conquerors have been destroyed or carried away. In the dizzying depths of this destructive whirl the most significant creative achievements produced during the centuries in these areas have disappeared forever. Nonetheless, despite all attempts, despite the conquests and centuries-long domination, despite the merciless plundering and destruction, divisions and redivisions, migrations and deportations, and naming and renaming on the long path through time, the Macedonian people has preserved its individuality and the individuality of its culture. MILLENNIA UNDER EUROPE'S STARRY SKY Surrounded by high, almost impassable mounta...