After the public debate “Are You Woman Enough?”, which took place in Jelsa in February, the series of interesting gatherings regarding women′s topics is continuing with the lecture of the ethnologist Nina Vigan: “Virdžine – Women taking the Men′s Role” on Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 19:00 at the Jelsa Library.
The term Virdžine was translated as the “Balkan sworn virgins”. Here is what the very helpful wikipedia says about the Balkan sworn virgins:
“Balkan sworn virgins (Albanian: burrnesha or Albanian: virgjinesha) are women who take a vow of chastity and wear male clothing in order to live as men in the patriarchal northern Albanian society. To a lesser extent, the practice exists, or has existed, in other parts of the western Balkans, including Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro,[1][2] Dalmatian hinterland (Croatia) and Bosnia. National Geographic’s Taboo estimated that there are fewer than 102 sworn virgins in the world.[3]
Other terms for the sworn virgin include vajzë e betuar (most common today, and used in situations in which the parents make the decision when the girl is a baby or child), mashkull (present-day, used around Shkodra), virgjineshë, virgjereshë, verginesa, virgjin, vergjinesha, Albanian virgin, avowed virgin, мушкобања (muškobanja), мушкара (muškara) (Serbian: man-woman or manlike), остајница (ostajnica) (Serbian: she who stays), tombelija, basa, harambasa (Montenegrin), tobelija (Bosnian: bound by a vow), zavjetovana djevojka (Croatian), sadik (Turkish: honest, just).[4] “
More information available at the Sustainable island association FB page, which is together with the Jelsa library in charge of the organisation of the event.
