Bunjevci

Bunjevci

Regions with significant populations
Serbia: 20,000 (2002 census) Hungary: (unknown)
Languages
Bunjevac language - Ikavian Shtokavian (Note: In 2002 census in Serbia, some of them declared to speak Bunjevac, while others declared to speak Serbian or Croatian) [1]
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic.
Related ethnic groups
other Slavic peoples, especially South Slavs

Bunjevci (Bunjevac, Serbian and Croatian: Bunjevci/Буњевци, singular Bunjevac/Буњевац, pronounced as Bunye'vtzi and Bunye'vatz, also in Hungarian: bunyevácok) are a South Slavic ethnic group originally from the Dinaric Alps region, now mostly living in the Bačka region situated in northern Serbia (Vojvodina province) and southern Hungary (Bács-Kiskun county, particularly in the Baja region). They are Roman Catholic by faith although not all practicing. Ethnically, they register themselves either as a separate Bunjevci ethnic group or as Croats and Yugoslavs, while some also register as Serbs or Magyars.

Etymology

There are several explanations for their name, although none of them is certain.

The most common explanation is that the name comes from the river Buna in central Herzegovina, their supposed original homeland before their migrations. This etymology was first proposed by fr. Marijan Lanosović and supported by Vuk Karadžić, Rudolf Horvat, Ivan Ivanić, Ivan Antonović, Istvan Ivanyi, and Mijo Mandić.

The most credible explanation is based on the common notion of name being given by a population living side by side with them. This would be consistent with the other sub-ethnonyms like Šijaci, Šokci, etc. Another characteristic of such a name is that it was meant as a slur. This etymology was supported by Ivan Kukuljević, fr. Antun Zorica, Đuro Popović, Vaso Glušac, Ivo Milić and Jovan Erdeljanović. In his classical study "On the Origins of Bunjevci" (O poreklu Bunjevaca, Belgrade, 1930), the ethnographer Jovan Erdeljanović proposed that the name was given by the population of Orthodox Serbs who use the verb "bunjati" for speaking indistinguishably (compare with common verb "buncati" with the same meaning). The verb refers not to the population of Bunjevci but to their Catholic priests who served services in Latin unlike the Orthodox priests that used Serbian. It should be noted that the name lost any negative connotation over time, and is no longer used offensively.

Another explanation is that it comes from the word "bunja", a type of a round house. This was proposed by Bogoslav Kosović. However, this type of house is very rare and is not widely known in inland of Dalmatia or Herzegovina; most of the Bunjevci in these regions never lived in these houses.

History

The Bunjevci migrated from their previous location into Bačka in several groups in 1682, 1686, 1687. Bunjevci also live in present-day Lika, western Herzegovina as well as the Dalmatian hinterland (in the region of the mountains of Dinara and Svilaja), but there they do not register as an ethnic group and rather foster a devout sense of Croatdom.

Historic documents refer to Bunjevci with various names, some less accurate than others: Catholic Rascians or Rác Catholics, Dalmatians, Bosnians, Catholic Serbs, Vallachs-Catholics etc. The 19th century brought on a period of nationalism, including Magyarization and the Croatian romantic nationalism. Some Bunjevci developed a Croat national feeling in the 20th century. The Hungarian royal censa also started registering "Croats" rather than regionally named groups. However, Magyarization seems to have more of an effect than Croatization since the census of 1910 recorded many citizens of Hungarian mother tongue in parts of Bačka-Bodrog inhabited by the Bunjevci. It is estimated that a few tens of thousands of Bunjevci were Magyarized. However, Croatdom remained strong among segments of the clergy, notable, the bishop of Subotica Ivan Antunović (1815–1888) supported the notion of calling Bunjevci and Šokci with the name Croats.

1880 saw the founding of the Bunjevačka stranka, an indigenous political party. During this time, opinions varied on whether the Bunjevci should try to assert themselves as a standalone ethnic group, or side with either the Serbs or the Croats. Nationally, the Magyar censa from 1880 onward to 1910 numbered the Bunjevci distinctly. They were referred to as "Catholic Serbs" but the censa nevertheless separated them from the Serbs proper.

In October 1918, Bunjevci held a national convention in Subotica and decided to secede Vojvodina from Hungary and join Serbia. This was confirmed at the Great National Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci and other Slavs in Novi Sad, which proclaimed unification with the Kingdom of Serbia in November of 1918. The subsequent creation of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929) brought most of the Bačka Bunjevci in the same country with the Croats (with some remaining in Hungary).

After 1945, in Communist Yugoslavia the census of 1948 did not officially recognize the Bunjevci, and instead merged their data with the Croats. Nevertheless, the Bunjevac schools in Vojvodina taught the Serbian version of the unified language (rather than the Croatian version). Proponents of a distinct Bunjevac ethnicity regard this as another dark period of encroachment on their identity, while others feel that this naming assimilation did not help in the preservation of their language.

Following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the renewed Bunjevac national movement was officially recognized as a minority group in Serbia in 1990. The community, however, has been divided around the issue of the name: in the 1991 census, in terms of ethnicity, around 21,434 inhabitants of Vojvodina declared themselves Bunjevci whereas some 74,808 declared themselves Croats; in 2002, there were 19,766 Bunjevci and around 56,546 Croats in Vojvodina. Note that not all of the Croats in Vojvodina necessarily have Bunjevac roots. Many Bunjevci also declared themselves as Yugoslavs.

In the Subotica region, there were 17,439 Bunjevci and 16,369 Croats in 1991. The historically Bunjevac village of Donji Tavankut had 989 Bunjevci, 877 Croats, and 600 Yugoslavs, the latter probably being a reaction to national ambiguity and pressures at the time. A 1996 survey by the local government in Subotica found that in the community, there are many people who declare as Croats and consider themselves Bunjevci, but also some people who declare as Bunjevci but consider themselves part of the wider Croatian nation. The same survey found that the delineation between the pro-Croat and pro-Bunjevac positions correlated with the delineation between the people who were more supportive towards the then ruling regime in Serbia that did not favor special rights for national minorities, and conversely those who were against the then government and more interested in minority rights and connections with their second homeland.

Today, both major parts of the community (the pro-independent Bunjevac one and the pro-Croatian one) continue to consider themselves ethnologically as Bunjevci, although each subscribing to its interpretation of the term.

In early 2005, the Bunjevac issue was again popularized when the Vojvodina government decided to allow the official use of "bunjevački language with elements of national culture" in schools in the following school year — the štokavian-ikavian dialect. This was protested by the Croatian Bunjevac community as an attempt of the government to widen the rift between the two Bunjevac communities. They favour integration, regardless of whether some people declared themselves distinct, because minority rights (such as the right to use a minority language) are applied based on the number of members of the minority. Subsequently, it may happen that schools would teach the same dialect but in two separate classes, one named bunjevački jezik, one hrvatski jezik, based solely on the preference of the parents.

Bunjevac villages

The villages in Vojvodina with Bunjevac majority are:

• Ljutovo
• Bikovo
• Gornji Tavankut
• Donji Tavankut
• Đurđin
• Mala Bosna
• Stari Žednik

All villages are located in the Subotica municipality. According to the 2002 census, Bunjevac population in all of these villages was divided about their ethnic identification, since part of the Bunjevac population declared themselves as Bunjevci, and another part as Croats. However, only in the village of Ljutovo, the number of Bunjevci who declared themselves as such is larger than the number of those who declared themselves as Croats.

Culture

Traditionally, Bunjevci are associated with land and farming. Large, usually isolated farms in Northern Bačka are called salaši, and historically most of Bunjevci people are associated with them. Most of their customs celebrate the land, and their most important feasts (other than Christmas and weddings) are:

• Dužijanca — celebration of harvest end, and the most famous festival as well as a tourist attraction. It consists of several events held in Bunjevci-populated places (Bajmok, Tavankut), with the central celebration held in Subotica. Dužijanca includes religious celebrations devoted to harvest, street procession and performing of Bunjevci folklore and music.
• Krsno ime — a celebration of a patron saint of the family. Because this custom is specific to the Serbs, who call it slava, it is assumed that Bunjevci who practice it were once Orthodox Serbs who converted to Catholicism.
• Kraljice — ceremonial processions held on Pentecost.
• Divan — a meeting of young boys and girls for singing and dancing in a place afar from their parents. The custom has been forbidden by church authorities already in mid-19th century.

Bunjevačke novine (Bunjevac newspaper) are the main newspaper in Bunjevac language/dialect, published in Subotica.

Distinguished Bunjevci

Musician Zvonko Bogdan is the best known Bunjevac, and his songs (composed or traditional) have popularized Bunjevac culture and tradition across Serbia and the rest of former Yugoslavia.

Footballer Goran Bunjevčević is possibly the best known Bunjevac internationally, and has represented Serbia and Montenegro. He currently plays for the English Premiership club Tottenham Hotspur.

Other known Bunjevci have included ban Josip Jelačić, Antun Gustav Matoš, Josip Pančić.

External links

• Bunjevci
• Why Bunjevci did not Become a Nation - A Case Study (in PDF)
• Bunjevci Region House in a museum in Bács-Kiskun county
• Dužijanca (in Croatian)
• About the Croatian Bunjevci
• Bunjevci granted status of autochthonous people in Serbia (1996)
• "Miroljub", a Bunjevci society from Sombor, written in the Bunjevac ikavian dialect