Culture – Everlasting Factor of National Identity

When studying a nation we usually research its history, politics and wars. Sometimes we even judge a nation by daily news and events. Often ignored is the cultural heritage -- the only indelible factor that identifies a nation.

The old proverb goes “winners write the history.” The written history can be partially true or completely distorted. (Recall numerous instances when the Serbs rallied, often unsuccessfully, to revert the historical injustice and misinformation.) Especially exposed to wrong and biased interpretation is the recent history because the “time distance” that is necessary to find and verify authentic evidence is missing. Without time distance the historical facts are one man’s word against another.

Cultural heritage on the other hand evolves slowly. It stands against the test of time. Cultural Heritage cannot be falsified or erased. It is hard to tear down all our monasteries and their frescos that testify to centuries of cultural tradition of Serbs. It is impossible to deny existence of Miroslav’s gospel written in the twelfth century. It is impossible to deny St. Sava and his “Life of St. Simeon.” It is impossible to deny Despot Stafan Lazarevic and his “Slovo Ljubve”. It is impossible to erase work of Kir Stefan Srbin, Dositej Obradovic, Vuk Karadzic, Petar Petrovic Njegos , Ivo Andric and others. It is impossible to erase contributions of numerous anonymous Guslars ( players/singers) that have done more for the preservation of our national history and identity than all of the written history.

The Cultural Heritage of Serbs has been internationally recognized for a long time. Our cultural heritage is our most powerful weapon and the most effective way for explaining events in the Balkans to the public. Yet we did not (or could not) significantly call upon these means in the past. In order to admirably explain our culture well to others, we first need to get to know it ourselves. Hopefully, by getting to know our culture better, we will get to know ourselves better as well.

This article cannot and will not solve the dilemmas and uncover the unknowns of the Serbian national corpus development, nor does the author have pretensions of explaining in one breath so many different aspects of Serbian culture. This discourse is an introduction and indication to what will be published on these web pages. Within these pages, the Culture Department of the SNF will strive to bring you the history of our culture and arts as well as up-to-date developments in the area of folklore, music, theater, film, visual arts and other art forms. The visitors will also be informed about activities and initiatives of the Cultural Department. Welcome to the Serb National Federation Culture Department Web page.

Dragan Kovacevic
Executive Director Culture Department
e-mail: culture@serbnatlfed.org