St. Demetrius Memorial Saturday in South Mitrovica, destroyed tombstones still bear witness to suffering

On the Saturday before St. Demetrius Day (Mitrovdan), at the Orthodox cemetery in South Mitrovica, where Serbs were buried until the end of the war in 1999, and where more than 90 percent of the tombstones were destroyed, desecrated, or damaged, this year’s St. Demetrius Memorial Saturday was again marked with prayers and the lighting of candles for the departed.

From the early morning hours, residents of Mitrovica and the surrounding area arrived at the old city cemetery.

Organized transport was provided for citizens from North Mitrovica, and this year one bus went toward the cemetery in the southern part of the city. Dozens of citizens also came in private vehicles, which, as they said, no longer poses any problem.

Priest Nenad Stojanovic explained that the autumn, St. Demetrius Memorial Saturday is important because it is when believers remember and visit the graves of their ancestors, whose souls, as he said, live in heaven.

“We come to visit our ancestors, our relatives, our parents, and to pray to God for them, to cense their graves, to light candles, to say a prayer, and to remember them. They are living souls who dwell in heaven, and they need our prayers, the candles we light for them. Often, when people don’t visit the cemetery or mention their loved ones for a long time, they dream of them – that’s a sign that we should go, visit their graves, cense, and pray. If we can’t go to the cemetery, we can go to church and mention their names. That is very important because it is something they need, and it is our obligation. So this year, together with our people, we come again to the old cemetery in South Mitrovica to visit our graves and ancestors and pray to God for them,” Stojanovic said.

He added that many tombstones are still destroyed and in poor condition, but that people are organizing on their own to restore the graves of their ancestors, so the situation, in his view, is somewhat better than in previous years.

“That is our great sorrow and grief. It affects us deeply and makes things harder, but many people, with the help of others, have restored their graves and raised new tombstones, so I think the situation is a bit better than before,” the priest said.

Mitrovica resident Slavica Jargic said that the picture of the devastated cemetery has changed little since February because people have begun, on their own initiative, to restore the tombstones of their loved ones, but that not everything that was restored survived until this St. Demetrius Memorial Saturday.

“We paid what was needed and raised the tombstones of our dear ones. It is not so terrible if the tombstone is knocked down, it can be rebuilt, what matters is that the earth and the remains aren’t disturbed. I noticed today that this is new, there used to be posts all around, two are left, the rest destroyed and broken. That makes me very sad. Another tombstone that had been rebuilt was knocked down again. Let them destroy, we will rebuild, and they will answer to God when they face the truth,” Jargic said.

She added that in recent years she visits the cemetery more often because it is now possible to come even when there is no organized transport.

“No one bothers you, you can come whenever you want, but it is sad, there are far fewer people than on Pentecost. This time it’s the same, I don’t know why. Maybe people are afraid... It’s a sad sight, it speaks for itself. Personally, when I come to the cemetery, I feel good, like I’ve fulfilled a duty, but then the whole day, when I come home, I feel bad,” Jargic said.

One of the locals who came to the cemetery on Saturday, Nebojsa Milanovic, said that the situation remains unchanged, even though there have been individual efforts to restore the tombstones.

“The situation is unchanged, that’s just how it is. We, individually, I see that the people of Mitrovica I mostly know are restoring what they can, but sadly, there are fewer and fewer of us. There used to be two or three buses coming; today I don’t know if there’s even one. True, some come by car, but still, that’s how it is. I hope that with God’s help and a bit of peace, we will manage to restore everything and reach the state it once was in, so that the dead may rest in peace,” Milanovic said.

Radmila Jezdimirovic, originally from Mitrovica, came for the memorial from Vrnjacka Banja.

“I come regularly. When I come here, I don’t even know what to say, it is truly sorrowful, heartbreaking, as you can see. I can barely find the tombstone of my father and family, my brothers. It’s really terrible. I hope everything will return to how it once was, so that we can come freely, whenever we can and want to, like when I go to Rudare. I hope it will be like that again – God willing,” Jezdimirovic said.

Milica Kasalovic, who visits the graves of her ancestors with her family, said:

“It seems there are fewer people than in previous years, and I sincerely hope that in the future that will change, that the number of us Serbs here in Kosovo and Metohija will grow, and that every year more of us will come to visit the resting places of our ancestors,” Kasalovic said.