A lecture on the topic "Oral Heritage of the Serbs as a guardian of identity" was held in Leposavic

Professor Dr. Valentina Pitulic delivered a lecture tonight on the topic "Oral Heritage of the Serbs as a guardian of identity" in the hall of the Church of St. Basil of Ostrog in Leposavic.

In a broader context, Pitulic covered what the oral heritage of Serbs is and reminded those present of the traditional values.

"The oral heritage of the Serbs is very important for preserving not only the identity but also the continuity of the literary heritage, which involves the preservation of ritual customs of the Serbs, starting from mythological, family, love, religious, epic-lyrical songs, ballads, romances, epic poems, to spoken folk creations in the form of proverbs, riddles, curses and oaths, puzzles, and tongue twisters. This represents a very rich treasury that we can boast of not only within the Balkan-Slavic context but also in the European context", Pitulic said.

She added that the oral heritage of the Serbs was, in a way, the genetic code of intangible cultural heritage.

"Throughout the centuries, it has shown that our people, under very difficult conditions during Ottoman rule, managed to preserve their identity precisely through ritual customs and oral heritage. We live in modern times, a time that, in the context of globalization, somewhat diminishes the specificity of all small nations on the planet. However, our oral heritage has shown that, despite everything, it resists new fashions and changes, where there is a danger of erasing identity. This preservation of ritual customs is, in a way, the last defense in preserving what distinguishes one people from another", Pitulic added.

Speaking about the younger generations of students, she emphasized that she noticed that they, in a way, felt ashamed of their oral cultural heritage and used verses of ten syllables less and less.

"Unfortunately, the new generations belong to a different time, a modern time. I am very sorry, as I notice in my classes, that they somehow avoid the ten-syllable verses; they somehow cannot understand the melody, meter, and rhythm of the ten-syllable verses. It seems to me that they are somewhat ashamed of what is our cultural oral heritage, but it is our task to slowly bring them back to what their ancestors inherited and, in fact, to enter and live in the modern world most beautifully", Pitulic added.

The lecture was organized by the Ecclesiastical Municipality of Leposavic, the Kosovo and Metohija Committee of the Matica Srpska, and the branch of Vuk's Foundation for Kosovo and Metohija.