Vidovdan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vidovdan (Видовдан) is a religious holiday, St. Vitus' Day, whose feast is on June 15. Where the Eastern Orthodox Church still uses the Julian Calendar, as in Serbia, that date coincides, in the 20th and 21st centuries, with June 28 in the Gregorian Calendar. In Bulgaria it is called Vidovden (Видовден) or Vidov Den (Видов ден) and is particularly well-known in the western part of the country.
Vidovdan has long been considered a date of special importance in Serbia and the Balkans, the following events each took place on Vidovdan, but are expressed here in the Gregorian Calendar:
- on June 28, 1389 the Ottoman Empire fought against Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo, and Serbian Prince Lazar was slain in battle.
- on June 28, 1914 the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, triggers the First World War.
- on June 28, 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending the First World War.
- on June 28, 1921 the Serbian King Alexander I of Yugoslavia proclaimed the new Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution (Vidovdanski ustav.)
- on June 28, 1948 the Cominform published, on the initiative of its Soviet delegates Zhdanov, Malenkov and Suslov, in a "Resolution on the State of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia" their condemnation of the Yugoslavian communist leaders - this happening is seen as the date that marks the final split between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
- on June 28, 1989 — the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo — Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević delivered the Gazimestan speech at the site of the historic battle.
- on June 28, 1990 draft amendments to the Constitution of Croatia, which deleted references to the Serbs as a constituent nation of Croatia, were revealed by Croatian President Franjo Tuđman.
- on June 28, 2001 former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milošević was deported to The Hague to stand trial. (He died while imprisoned.)
- on June 28, 2006 Montenegro was announced as the 192nd member state of the United Nations.
[edit] References
- Ivanova, Radost. Vidovden among the Bulgarians and Serbs (Bulgarian). Projekat Rastko Bugarska. Retrieved on 2006-06-28.
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