In 1887, on the occasion of the celebration of Vidovdan (Saint Vitus’ Day) in the Serbian Monastery of Ravanica, Nikanor, the bishop of Pakrac, addressed his flock with these words: “I shall not make a long sermon. It is enough to tell you: Brethren, today is Vidovdan!“
For Serbs, scattered over the central, northern, and western Balkans, living in 2 independent Serbian states born through revolutions and wars during the 19th century, as well as subjected to the Ottoman and Habsburg rule, Vidovdan embodied their “historical memory.” It became synonymous for the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, which took place on that day, and which determined the Serbian people’s collective and individual destiny. Vidovdan was imbedded in the Serbian ethnic and national self-awareness. It became the incentive for survival, the inspiration in the struggle for personal and national liberation. The myth and legend of Kosovo and Vidovdan were transmitted to posterity by the popular epic poetry, by the Serbian Orthodox Church, by intellectuals and historians, as well as by national and political leaders in modern times. Generations of Serbs and historians divided the national past into 2 periods: before and after the Kosovo Battle.
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Among Serbian national holidays, Vidovdan occupied a place of particular importance. It symbolized the death and resurrection, the despair and hope, and the end of an epoch and the beginning of a new era.
