The Gorani Folk Calendar in the Mirror of Ethnolinguistics

Abstract

This article is based on the author's fieldwork collected in the Gora region of Albania. The inhabitants of the Gora region are Slavs who practice Islam and speak a Slavic dialect (Goranski, Nashenski). Most are bilingual, fluent in the Albanian literary language. The academic community disagrees on whether the Gorani dialect belongs to any of the South Slavic languages. The Gorani online community proposes codifying Nashenski and elevating it to the status of a separate national Gorani language. The article presents only one fragment of the vocabulary of traditional culture associated with the folk calendar, and analyzes the terminology and semantics of these lexical-semantic groups in the ethnolinguistic aspect. The study found that the Gorani Muslims' calendar holidays are linked to the agricultural year and are intended to ensure health, prosperity, good fortune, and security for the family and community, livestock fertility, and land fertility. The local tradition maintains the old Christian calendar despite the presence of Islam, but the religious meaning of the holidays has been forgotten or erased. The terminology of the folk calendar is essentially Slavic, with the exception of Turkic words for Muslim holidays. No borrowings from Albanian have been recorded. The Gorani folk calendar system is in many ways similar to other Balkan Slavic traditions. Certain terms (Letnik) link the cultural vocabulary of these villages to Macedonian dialects and the dialects of the Golo Bordo region. The distinctive vocabulary of traditional culture is defined by the chrononyms Korezelianici, Duarnici, Stredzima and Stredleto. It can be noted that the folk calendar and its associated terminology have been highly preserved among the Gorani people of Albania, living in a foreign cultural and linguistic environment. The traditional culture remains one of the main pillars and markers of their identity, not subject to foreign language interference.

Received: 9 December 2025.

Approved after reviewing: 16 December 2025

Date of publication: 30 December 2025

How to cite: Uzeneva, E.S., 2025. Narodnyi calendar’ gorantsev v zerkale etnolingvistiki [The Gorani Folk Calendar in the Mirror of Ethnolinguistics]. Slavic World in the Third Millenium, vol. 20, no. 3–4, pp. 305–320. https://doi.org/10.31168/2412-
6446.2025.20.3-4.15