Winter Zadušnice were marked today at the Pristina City Cemetery with a small number of believers present, and among those who visited the graves were the remaining Serbs in the city and the displaced who now live in nearby areas.
Olivera Ilić from Pristina comes to the grave of her relatives on every Zadušnice to light candles.
“I am regularly here for Zadušnice. Everyone comes according to their conscience, as they are able. They can also come when it is not Zadušnica, on working days, when there is a holiday, at any time. I use Zadušnice almost regularly, and it happens that we come during the year when there are no holidays2,” Ilić said.
Ilija Trajković lived in Pristina until March 18, 2004. As he says, although he left his city, he does not forget and does not miss coming to the grave of his ancestors for Zadušnice.
“There is nothing harder than when a man loses his nest. There is no comment there, everyone acts according to their conscience, if someone does not feel it, he does not come, and whoever feels it finds a way and time to visit. Those are their four days, those Zadušnice, everyone should think about themselves, but that it is good, it is not good,” Trajković said.
The Pristina parish priest, Father Staniša Arsić, appealed to all displaced Serbs who have ancestors buried at the Pristina cemetery to come and light candles.
“A very small number of people come here to visit the graves of their ancestors even on Zadušnica. As for the Pristina cemetery, we can say that compared to previous years, when it was completely neglected, we can now approach certain parts of the cemetery, where we could not get close because of thorns and bushes, apparently someone came to their senses and they started maintaining the Orthodox cemetery in Pristina,” Arsić said.
However, he warned that during the works on the road and railway track, the fence was removed and has still not been restored.
“They opened the cemetery where stray dogs can enter, where anyone can enter however and whenever they want. Not only on the southern side, but the fence on the eastern side has also collapsed. I would ask all those responsible here in the city of Pristina to fulfill the promise they made when they removed the existing fence – they said they would restore it to its previous condition, however it is already the second year that some works are being carried out and the cemetery is open,” Arsić added.
He pointed out that there is a possibility of certain graves collapsing that are located next to the road that is being built.
Arsić sent a message to Serbs who are exhuming their ancestors that they should not move their mortal remains.
“The only message is the one from the Holy Scripture: ‘Everywhere is the Lord’s land.’ Wherever we find ourselves and wherever we happen to be, and death befalls us and we are buried, everywhere is the Lord’s land. There is no need to move, no need to disturb those bones and raise them every perhaps five, six or ten years,” Arsić said.
In previous years during Zadušnice, Serbs would come in an organized manner to visit and light candles at the Pristina city cemetery, and this year only a handful of people came independently.
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Source: Euronews, Foto: Tanjug