Interfaith holiday celebrations in Kosova (RFE)

[Ivo Skoric]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
http://www.rferl.org/balkan-report/

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Balkan Report
19 December 2003, Volume 7, Number 41

YOUNG KOSOVA MUSLIMS JOIN IN CHRISTMAS MASS. Dom Nosh Gjolaj, a 
priest
at St. Ndou Roman Catholic Church in the Kosovar capital, Prishtina,
expects overflow crowds this Christmas for the traditional midnight
Mass celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

This may not seem like anything unusual, but what is remarkable is
that about 10,000 members of Father Gjolaj's midnight congregation
will be young Kosovar Albanian Muslims. Thousands more are expected 
at
Catholic churches in other towns and cities across Kosova.

What's more, the custom is welcomed by the Catholic clergy and
generally smiled upon by Muslim religious leaders.

Father Gjolaj says he does not know how or precisely when the custom
of interfaith visitation began in Kosova. He said he would like to 
see
the phenomenon studied by social scientists. "When it started, I 
don't
know, [at least] since I've been here for the past 11 years," he 
said.
"But it is obvious that massive participation began before the 1999
war. I think we're talking about approximately 10,000 people, most of
them standing inside the church's front yard, since there was not
enough place for all of them inside."

More than 90 percent of Kosova's 2 million people are Muslim. Kosova
has been under UN administration since 1999, when a NATO air war 
ended
a Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at Albanians in the
province.

The Kosovar Muslim interest in Christmas signals neither an
abandonment of Islam nor the adoption of Christian belief. Blerta
Krasniqi plans to attend Christmas Mass at Father Gjolaj's church 
this
year. She's a Muslim who lives in Prishtina. "It is a fact that I 
will
participate because I have friends who are Catholics. It doesn't have
to mean that since I'm a Muslim I won't go. I go because of my 
friends
and that's it. Our religion teaches us not to hate other religions,
but we go to celebrate together because Catholics are Albanians just
like us," Gjolaj said.

Albanians in both Kosova and in Albania proper have long expressed
pride in their religious tolerance, a tolerance that survived more
than 50 years of communist rule, when the official religion was
atheism. And that flourishes even now when Islamic terrorism and the
Western war on terrorism have given new currency to fears of a "clash
of civilizations."

In any event, Islam came to the Balkans from the Ottoman Empire and
not the Middle East. Balkan Islam is a relatively flexible, 
borderland
faith, not generally known for dogmatism. Many Muslim Kosovar
Albanians are aware, moreover, that their own ancestors probably were
Roman Catholics before the Turks came to the Balkans.

The president of the Islamic Union in Kosova, Naim Ternava, says he
regards the Christmas custom as benign, an honoring of both faiths by
youthful churchgoers. "Their participation at Catholic churches 
speaks
of tolerance fed by Islam toward other religions. Religiously, we are
allowed to be present inside the churches, not to do Christian
ceremonies, but only to be present, to respect other religions.
Therefore, the participation of Muslims on Christmas Eve gives a
strong message that Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, respect,
and honor towards other religions," Ternava said.

Other signs that ethnic Albanian Muslims are comfortable with the
Catholics in their midst stem from both recent and more ancient
history. Among the two most important historical personalities to
Albanians are the 15th-century national hero Gjergj
Kastrioti-Skenderbeu, a Catholic who first embraced Islam and then
returned to his original faith and fought for liberation from the
Muslim Ottoman Empire, and the Catholic nun Mother Theresa, the
world-famous ethnic Albanian who was beatified at the Vatican earlier
this year.

Kosovar Albanians also remember that it was the United States and 
NATO
-- and not other Muslim states -- who came to their rescue in the 
1999
war over Kosova.

Kosovar President Ibrahim Rugova, who keeps a portrait of Pope John
Paul II on his office wall, has won both Muslim and Catholic support
for a proposal to build a Roman Catholic cathedral in central
Prishtina. At present, most religious buildings there are mosques,
along with some older Serbian Orthodox churches and the abandoned
shell of a Serbian Orthodox cathedral begun during the rule of
Milosevic.

The warmth shown by Muslims toward Roman Catholics is reciprocated. A
young Albanian Catholic spoke to our correspondent in Prishtina: "I 
am
Nyrton Dedaj, a Catholic from Peja. Not only now, but even before the
war, a large number of Muslims took part during the Mass. After the
war, the participation has grown, and this is a very nice custom. We
celebrate together, contributing to each other. After all, we're one
nation. We don't look at our religious differences. We respect them,
be they Catholic or Muslim. It is tolerance."

Father Gjolaj says he thinks Muslims in Kosova began attending
Catholic Christmas as a kind of entertainment, a social happening 
that
grew into a powerful statement of brotherhood and unity. "I think 
that
at some point [ethnic] Albanian youth in Kosova didn't have any kind
of entertainment, and they didn't spend much time together. So 
through
Christmas they got together at the church's front yard. In this way, 
a
custom was achieved. Another element is also important -- the fact
that this nation lives in and is a part of Europe. Even more, it 
shows
that Ilyrians, Albanians, are the seedbed of European culture. This 
is
where European civilization and culture got started," Gjolaj said.

Islamic Union President Ternava concurs: "I wouldn't say that is only
a custom, but then again, it's something that came out of our past,
although not 100 percent. It is also something that came out of our
religious lessons, as well, having in mind that Christian teaching
also proclaims inter-religious tolerance. It depends on church or
mosque leaders -- how much do they respect the principles of the 
Bible
or the Koran?"

Whatever the motive -- entertainment, social custom, or religious
statement -- the interfaith visitation appears to have taken 
tenacious
hold in Kosova. It has grown year by year and shows no sign of
abatement. (Don Hill and Melazim Koci, with contributions by RFE/RL's
Prishtina bureau and Patrick Moore)
Ivo Skoric
1773 Lexington Ave
New York NY 10029
212.369.9197
ivo at balkansnet.org
http://balkansnet.org