The Highland Lute
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The Highland Lute is the Albanian national epic poem, completed and published by the Albanian friar and poet Gjergj Fishta in 1937. It consists of 30 songs and over 17,000 verses.
Lahuta e Malcís (1937) book cover
Albanian paganism
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Albanian paganism comprises the pre-Christian customs, beliefs, rituals, myths and legends of the Albanian people. The oldest stratum of Albanian mythology is of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin. Ancient
The Highland Lute
…Albanian oral verse composed by the traditional cycle of epic songs and by the cycles of historical verse of the 18th century. It contains elements of Albanian mythology and south Slavic literary influences: Fishta was influenced by Croatian Franciscan friars as a student in monasteries in Austria-Hungary. In the poem…
Albanian warrior dance in circle around fire (zjarri), drawing from the book Childe Harold's Pilgrimage written by Lord Byron in the early 19th century. Practiced for several hours with very short intervals, the dance gets new vigour from the words of the accompanying song that starts with a battle cry invoking war drums, and which is of a piece with the movement and usually changed only once or twice during the whole performance. The ritual purifying fire is traditionally used by Albanians, in particular singing and dancing around it, to gain
The cult practiced by the Albanians on Mount Tomorr in central Albania is considered as a continuation of the ancient sky-god worship.
Men of Theth (Shala) practicing the gjâmë – the Albanian lamentation of the dead – in the funeral of Ujk Vuksani, 1937.
View of Mount Tomorr from the Tunja village.