Serbian Boys Clothes: Activities


Figure 1.--The children here, probably a school group, are playing a ring game in a park opposite the Serbian Parliament building during 1962. Ring games are popular with children all around the world.

Serbia until after World War II was a largely agricultural country. A large part of the population was the rural peasantry. Peasant boys had little opportunity for education and were heavily involved in agricultural labor. Boys wore a variety of different garments for different activities. This has included play, school, and special occassions such as church. In addition to dressing up to attend church services, boys might also serve as altar boys which required eclesiastical garments. Boys as adults used to dress more formally than is the case today. There have also been sports and youth group uniforms. Sports were very popular with boys. During the Communist years the children had to join the Young Pioneers. Boys involved on the fine arts might also have special outfits. In earlier periods boys had much more limited wardrobes because of income levels. Modern boys do not dress as formlly as was once common, but they tend to have much more elaborate uniforms than was once the case.

Events

There are aamge of events that Serbian children enjoy each year. There are a range of festivals. A Belgrade reader tells us about the Children's Fair held at the Belgrade Trade centre each year since 2001. It is a 3-day fair specially designed for younger children held at the beginning of October. The first day is often attended by school parties while the weekend is attended by family groups. Photographs taken at the Fair show the children enjoying the various events. The children are wearing wearing their weekend clothes. Most are dressed warmly for cool October weather. There are all kinds of yummy treats to enjou as well as fun entertainments.

Fine Arts

Boys involved on the fine arts might also have special outfits, especially for recitals. We see many children involved in learning musical instruments. We do not note any major choirs. Nor does dance seem to be very important. A Serbian reader tells us about a talented artist in his class. "I thought I'd tell you about Milan. He is the son of my Serbian friends. He has a great gift. He is a talented artist. He is a Serbian boy. He enjoys drawing animals and country scenes. For fun he enjoys drawing dragons. The Rowlings books about Harry Potter made him reach for his sketch pad to draw a dragon scene. He dresses in contempory casual clothes. Sweat shirts t-shirts and casual trousers. his footwear are trainers.He does not attend a school that has a specific uniform. Children are expected to attend dressed in suitable clothes for school. He has always had a natural talent but to develop it his mum arranged for him to go to an after school art programme. Here are a few pictures. Two of the boy and his art work. The elephant were sketches he did of the elephant in Belgrade zoo after a visit." We have some information on Serbian art and literture.

Holidays

Serbia has several national holidays that are celebrated each year. The number is smaller than is common in many other countries. There are no celebrations dedicated to individual national leaders. As in most countries, New Years is a holiday. In Serbia Nova Godina is a 2-day holiday (January 1-2). If January 2 is a Sunday than Januaey 3 becomes a holiday (no-work day). Orthodox Christmas or Božić is based on the Old Julian calendar is celebrated after New Years (January 7). Serbian Serbia National Day or Dan državnosti Srbije is the principal nationasl celevration (February 15). It is the anniversary of the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 and the first Serbian Constitution in 1835. Easter celebration because of the importance of the Orthodox Church are very important in Serbia. Orthodox Good Friday or Veliki petak, Orthodox Easter or Vaskrs, and Orthodox Easter Monday or Vaskrsni ponedeljak are all national holidays. The dates vary and are calculated by the Serbian Orthodox Church using Orthodox Computus. They are usually celebrated in April. Another important holiday is May Day / International Workers' Day or Praznik rada (May 1). Serbia as part of Yugoslavia was for nearly half a century a Communist country. This has colored May Day celebrations. Curiously there are no Serbian holidays celebrated during the second half of the year. In addition to these national (bank) holidays, the different religious minorities have their own celebrations. And their are a number of working holidays which are celebrated but people and school chuldren do not get the day off.

Parks

We do not know very much about urban parks in Serbia. There are quite a number in Belgrade and the other cities of all sizes and with a range of facilities. There is a popular park in frontb of the Sebian Parliament in Belgrade, but I don't jnow the name. Another popular Belgrade park is St. Saba Gardens. A reader in Serbia tells us about story tellers who perform in the city parks. They are very popular with the children. Authorities are now quite open to children engaging in a variety of play actuivuties, including biking, rollar bladeing, and even sports. During the Communist era many national parks were opened at senic spots throughout the country. They now cover about 5 percent of the country's area. There are five large national parks: Djerdap, Tara, Kopaonik, Fruška Gora, and Šara National Park. In adiituion to the five large national parks are 120 nature reserves, 20 nature parks, and about 470 natural monuments.

Play

Boys wear a variety of different garments for different activities. This has included play. In earlier periods boys had much more limited wardrobes because of income levels. Boys involved on the fine arts might also have special outfits. Modern boys do not dress as formlly as was once common, but they tend to have much more elaborate uniforms than was once the case. A Belgrade reader tells us, "Children's play activities are much the same in Belgrade as in many other parts of the world. On a typical sunny weekend it is common to see chalk markings on the pavement for a game of hob scotch. If its before meal time then children will be outside in the fresh air playing this game. Parents will be out on the street too watching their children play and chatting to each other. Father's often are well into the swing of things and are playing the games along side their children. Father's often enjoy a kick about football with their son and often hisfriends.The balls are the stitched leather type and no one plays footy with a a large sponge ball. These are not popular for playing footy. Boys and girls tend to dress in track suits when they are out playing. The colours are different. Boys tend to wear darker coloured sports wear while girls have much lighter coloured track suits. Roller blading is another passtime children enjoy doing. They wear all the specilised protective gear for this activity. Some roller blading is done in the street nearer home but often children take their roller blades and skate in the many parks that are located throughout Belgrade. Older children enjoy skateboarding. I have not seen many of the older children doing this sort on the street. They tend to go in Saint Sava park where they make an improvised course. Many children go over to the Skateboard Park across the river in New Belgrade. In both places they play for long periods of time perfecting their skateboarding skills. Often children can be seen wearing facsimily football club kits. This often indicate that they are attending an organised sporting activity. There are amateur football and Tennis clubs in which coaching and youth games are organised. Lots of children have bicycles and these are ridden in the parks and at in the street where they live. Young primary school children play lots of chasing games. These involve chasing each other and a tap on the shoulder means the person who has been touched is the next chaser. Some boys have plastic toy guns and enjoy playing army for hours on end. Again this is a chasing and hiding game in which children imitate the actions of soldiers they have seen in army film. There are seasonal games too. At Easter time children decorate eggs and then play a game in which there is an egg battle. The egg which is not broken is the winner. The game is played by holding an egg so that the poles are at the top and bottom. An egg hits the oppositions pole. If the egg breaks that has lost and the unbroken egg goes forward to the next round. In winter time there is often much snow and children can be seen enjoying a snowball fight. Sledging isalso popular in the months when the snow comes. Lots of children start out intending to smash an egg but change their minds after they have spent alot of time decorating the egg. The broken hard boiled eggs are eaten after the game. At any one time children can be seen playing a variety of games in the street. Football is one of those games were the ball accidently lands in a neighbours garden. Play stops while the ball is retreaved. Sometimes this means that a child climbs over the fence to retreave the ball. In this situation both girls and boys have proved equilly agile at climbing to reclaim the ball so that the game can commence. Children seem to have happy childhood experiences in Belgrade."

Religion

The main religion in Serbia and the religion of the vast majority of ethnic Serbs is Christian Orthodox. The Serbian Orthodox Church became autonomous (1219). The Church played a major role in the development of the Serbian national identity. This was especially true after the Ottoman conquest. Serbian nationalism to this day is intertwined with the Orthodox faith. The Church plays an important role in national life. Children dress up for special church occassions. In addition to dressing up to attend church services, boys might also serve as altar boys which required eclesiastical garments. Boys as adults used to dress more formally than is the case today. Some of the minority groups in Serbia are also Orthodox, including the Romanians, Bulgarians and many Romani. Other religions include: Islam, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and others. Religion is often intertwined with ethnicity. Croats are mostly Roman Catholic and Kosovars are mostly Islamic.

School

The earliest schools in Sebia after the fall of the Roman Empire, as in many other European countries are associated with the Christian church in the medieval era (11th-12th centuries). Serbian independence in the mid-19th century made possible the foundation of a national educational system financed by the government. The Great School was the foundation for the University of Belgrade, Serbia's most prestigious education institution (1905). The Communists after World War II placed a great emphasis on mass education. A major effort was made to eliminate illiteracy. Education seems heavily politicized in Serbia. Still intense nationalist sentiment and the influence of the Orthodox Church appears to be factors. A major development in Europe has been the declining nationalist feeling. This has been a notable trend in Westen Europe. The situation is different in the former Coomunist states of Eastern Europe, but as they integrate with Western Europe, the same process will likely occur. Russia under Putin has apparently rejected this process. And Serbia under Mislosovich did the same resulting in the terribly destructive Balkan Wars as Yugoslavia impolded (1990s). Here Serbian education has to share part of the blame. Serbian schools have continued to teach a highly nationalistic history. Serbia today is politcally divided between Serbo-centric politicans desirng to cling to Russia and Euro-centric politicans desiring to integrate with Europe. Serbia like the other Yugoslav republics before the break up of the Yugoslavia had a highly diverse population. I am not sure at this time just how language and cultural problems are addressed in Serbian schools. We see Yugoslav children wearing both regular clothes and uniforms to school. This has of course changed over time, in part becuse of the very substantial political changes that have affected the country and changing school regulations. The regular clothes were of course affected by changing fashion trends. There were also major diffeences between rural an urban ares until after World War II. There were also differences depending on the type of schools. City children commonly wore suits to school in the early 20th century. This was especially the case in secondary schools. We see a lot of younger children wearing sailor suits.

Sports

Sports are very popular with Serbian boys. This of course is especially the case with football. Quite a number oif boys participate in teams and have uniforms. We note street football tournaments. Most children in Serbia come from families with not much money. None-the-less these children seem to have a pleasant childhood. The street football tournament is one example of this. Children came from all over Serbia to take part in it. They had a wonderful day.

Toys


Work

Serbia until after World war II was a largely agricultural country. A large part of the population was the rural peasantry. Peasant boys had little opportunity for education and were heavily involved in agricultural labor. I don't know much about the Serbian peasantry at this time, but it is a subject I want to persue.

Youth Groups

During the Communist years the children had to join the Young Pioneers.






HBC





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Created: 3:34 AM 6/19/2007
Last updated: 6:26 PM 10/20/2011