Family and marital affairs in 19th century Serbia
Zorica, Divac
Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU
54
219
232
http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/Article.aspx?ID=0350-08610654219D
2006-2020/03/06/22:28:55
Ethnology, as a science, continues to dedicate very much attention to the traditional culture of Serbian 19th century villages. In the past, material culture with all of the disappearing, relic artifacts no longer in use was in the focus of the science. A large amount of data was gathered, on the population origins, migrations, beliefs, rituals, social institutions such as cooperative associations and so on. In spite of these data, ethnology today has no detailed knowledge on life of Serbian 19th century villages especially there is a gap in our knowledge on family life in the first half of the 19th century. Family researches, such as ethnologists, sociologists and particularly those that deal with transformations, in their analyses use as a variable the so-called patriarchal-traditional model of the family. The model assumes: extended or cooperative family, stable and directed toward maintaining family ties and property; divorce is rare since the marriage itself is founded on duties toward family group and deference for a husband or father; the family is tied down to its land and family ties with male lineage are encouraged, and so on. In the first half of the 19th century however, Serbia was the battle-field of political turmoil, rebellion fights and huge social changes and general attitude of instability, migrations arguments, Turkish aggression, and frequent governmental changes, which brought about disturbance in patriarchal system, customs and regulations. Archival sources from the period reveal that courts were very busy dealing with cases of family and marital issues. It is evident that the regulations were put forward to enhance family solidity through marriage and family stability. Several available examples show "a dark side" of the Serbian family life of the period; today, it is not possible to establish the degree to which the family transformed itself from a patriarchal to a more liberated one.
Serbia, 19th century, family, archival sources, decrees, laws, marriage
