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Macedonia

Culture & Identity

Way of Life

Macedonia is a mountainous country that seems to be a bit of an isolated state in many ways. The culture and way of life is partially based on the mountainous landscape and the rural culture. In the changing world, particularly with growing infrastructure and communication the way of life in Macedonia is changing, but still clings to the historic ties.

The historic way of life is based on village life as family and community were incredibly important and the center of life. In many ways, this life was also heavily reliant on farming and agriculture as many people worked in these areas. However, today the economic state is changing and so is the daily way of life. People are moving to cities in greater numbers and getting jobs in industrial and services sectors, giving them more regular jobs with hours from about 8:00 am to about 8:00 pm, but many times with a long lunch break. However, many more people seeking jobs can't find them as nearly a third of the population seeking work is currently unemployed.

Although people are moving to the cities to get jobs, many fail in this quest and for those who do succeed, many use the money earned to help support their families, often time family members in the rural parts of the country where the individuals are from.

No matter the setting, the people's way of life revolves around their families and ties to local communities never seem to disappear.

Ethnicity

Most people living in Macedonia today are Macedonian, although nearly a quarter of the population is ethnically Albanian and smaller minorities exist as well. Macedonians today (not to be confused with ancient Macedonians, who were more closely related to the ethnic Greeks) are ethnically Southern Slavs, most closely related to the Bulgarians, in fact some would argue are ethnically identical to the Bulgarians (although the Macedonians don't believe this is entirely accurate). The Macedonians also have small traces of Greek and Romanian as well.

Language

Most of the country's ethnic Macedonians speak Macedonian, while most of the ethnic Albanians speak Albanian, both of which are official languages. Macedonian is a language in the southern Slavic family that is almost identical to Bulgarian, although slight differences do exist; Macedonian is written in the Cyrillic script. Albanian is a very unique language with no close linguistic relatives that is written in the Latin alphabet.

English and other popular international languages are uncommonly spoken in Macedonia, although they are being taught in greater numbers. With each year more young people are gaining a basic understanding of English.

Religion

The religious divide in Macedonia is fairly consistent with the ethnic and linguistic divide as most Macedonians are Christian Orthodox, but most Albanians are Muslims.

Orthodoxy is a Christian religion that claims to be the most loyal to the Christian faith and religion as it was described by Jesus and the Gospels in the New Testament. Christianity, including Orthodoxy, was founded after the death of Jesus in about 30-33 AD; various branches of Orthodoxy were officially recognized by governments long before Catholicism was recognized in the Roman Empire.

Orthodoxy and Catholicism have many of the same beliefs; both believe that there is a single God who created everything and a savior, the son of God, Jesus Christ who is the forgiver of sins. However, Orthodoxy is decentralized so each bishop oversees their local country or region, giving each orthodox country a different leader. In this way, no bishop has more power than any other, meaning the tenants and interpretations of the faith remain relatively unchanged. These beliefs are based on the teachings of the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, in particular the life and teachings of Jesus, which is found in the gospels (in the New Testament).

Islam (the name of the religion, whose followers are called Muslims) is a monotheistic religion, whose holy book is called the Qur'an. The Qur'an is believed to be the word of God spoken through the prophet Muhammad from 609-632 CE (Common Era is preferred over AD (Anno Domini or "year of the Lord") since the Islamic world doesn't believe Jesus was the messiah). Islam believes Muhammad was the last prophet sent to earth by God, the last in a long line of prophets, which includes Moses, Abraham, and Jesus among others.

Muslims follow five pillars of their faith: testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, and pilgrimage. These pillars, and other tenants of their faith, can give great structure to their lives as some foods, like pork, are forbidden and every Muslim is expected to pray five times a day. However, the level of participation in each of these pillars and to what degree Islam influences an individual's life varies from person to person and community to community.

Dress

The traditional dress in Macedonia is quite varied. This small mountainous country has dozens of traditional outfits, most of which are based on region or city as each part of the country had different traditional dresses. However, there are a number of similarities across all these people in the way they dressed. Women tended to wear full dresses, generally in white, red, and black; they were generally loose-fitting with long sleeves and an apron over the top. For men, the style was similar as red, white, and black vests first caught the eye, but loose-fitting white shirts that fell nearly to the knees like a smock were also commonly worn over white pants.

Today these traditional outfits can only be found on special occasions as nearly no one wears them on a regular basis. More common today is to wear modern western-styled clothing that is similar to clothes found throughout the world. These clothes can range in style and design significantly just as they can elsewhere.

As a visitor to Macedonia you are welcome to wear any western-styled clothing, but do dress for the occasion as churches and more formal settings require long pants, but if wandering around a city as a tourist shorts and a t-shirt was just fine. Also be sure to dress for the weather as the country has significant seasonal variations.

Behavior

The Macedonians are very well aware of the world around them as well as the differences in opinions and behaviors. Because of this they are quite understanding of various cultures and foreigners so odd behaviors are generally accepted (but not encouraged).

Your behavior should begin with modesty as being loud, rude, showing off wealth, or dressing provocatively will get you stares. Likewise, placing yourself above others or boasting is viewed negatively.

As a visitor to Macedonia, just try to follow the lead of the locals by dressing in like manner (see above for details), dining in the local etiquette (see our Macedonia Dining & Food Page), and avoid sensitive conversation topics, such as politics, finances, and business unless initiated by your local counterpart.

Identity

The Macedonians identify as Macedonian, which is essentially a politically-defined term. The Macedonians delicately stand between Bulgaria and Greece, clinging to the name Macedonian with pressures from both sides. The Bulgarians generally scoff at Macedonian identity and proclaim that the term Macedonian cannot be an ethnically-based identity, since Macedonian is not a "distinct ethnicity"; the Bulgarians view themselves and the Macedonians to be the same people ethnically, but care little if the Macedonians call themselves such. Despite arguments from the Bulgarians, the Macedonian ethnicity is a contributing factor in the Macedonian identity, although only on a secondary level. Like the Bulgarians, the Greeks refuse to give the Macedonian identity much recognition, since the ancient Macedonians were most likely closer, ethnically, to the modern day Greeks than the modern day Macedonians. In this way, the Greeks see this name "Macedonia" as belonging to them and their history, not to the people of modern day Macedonia. Despite the arguments and confusion, Macedonians generally still identify as Macedonian and for these people this term is primarily a political identity, but the people's ethnicity, language, and culture and also associated with the term to varying degrees.

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This page was last updated: November, 2013