Due to the dug-up roads, a small number of people attended the Memorial Service in villages near Leposavic

The villages of Qirkoviq, Banovice, and Isevo in the municipality of Leposavic, today mark the Great or Winter Memorial Service Day, but a small number of believers visited the graves of their loved ones to light candles because the road to the cemetery has been significantly obstructed.

Since October, when a bulldozer, accompanied by the Kosovo Police, dug up the local road, residents living in Raska have found it challenging to come to these villages. The additional problem is the road, which is in very poor condition, making it difficult to reach the villages.

Therefore, today, only a small number of people had the opportunity to reach the graves and light candles for the deceased.

Zivko Banovic from the village of Qirkoviq laments that it is increasingly difficult to reach the village and adds that people are more frequently buying burial plots in Raska.

"Very few people could come today, it's difficult to approach from any direction... People have left, they live in cities, and it's difficult to reach it by car. It's even harder on foot because the road that was close to us and leads to Raska has been dug up, so instead of a kilometer and a half, we have to detour around 10 kilometers to reach the village, let alone the cemetery," Banovic explains.

He says it's shameful that today there are few people, but he understands.

"Let our dead forgive us for not coming in greater numbers to visit their graves. The cemetery is about 500 years old, and almost no one dares to be buried here anymore because the situation is such that people expect even the tombstones here to be broken. People are being buried in Raska, where anyone can rent a plot, and they're leaving this region," he adds.

He wonders what they can expect then.

"I don't know how it will be. No one cares about the condition of our road or anything else. Only KFOR and the police with their jeeps can come along the river; we can't come by car, not even an ambulance can come... look at the neighboring Banovice. Everyone has already moved away, there's no one coming, not even to the cemetery today," Banovic said.