Čučuk Stana (Serbian: Чучук Стана, Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [tʃǔtʃuk stǎːna], English: Little Stana) was a Serbian female hajduk and the second wife of Hajduk Veljko. She is also a character in Serb epic poetry.
She was born in 1795, in the village Sikole near Negotin, Serbia to a family of Herzegovinian migrants. She had two sisters, Stojna and Stamena and later, a little brother Mihailo. She finished school in Bela Crkva. Under the three sister's upbringing, they all wore men's clothes out of the house, because they had yet no brother to protect them. She got her nickname "Čučuk" (Little) from her smallness.
She met Hajduk Veljko in 1812. Veljko died in 1813 and she went to live in Pančevo. She later married captain and hero of Greek War of Independence Giorgakis Olympios (Serbian: Jorgać) with whom she moved to Wallachia and later Bucharest.
They had three children:
When Giorgakis was killed during the battle of Secu monastery in Moldavia 23 September 1821 at the beginning of Greek Revolution and for the sake of their children's security, they moved to Khotyn, Russia, where other people of the Serb revolution took refuge. After liberation of Greece Stana with children moved to Athens. .[1]
She died in 1849-1850.[2]
In 1907 a play was written about her life, the music was composed by Stevan Hristić. A 1972 Yugoslav TV film "Cucuk Stana" was made after the poem, she is played by Svetlana Bojković.[3]
A book about her life "Čučuk Stana, 1795-1849 - žena Hajduk Veljka i grčkog narodnog heroja Georgakisa Olimpiosa" was released in 1981, written by Dušica Popović Stojković.[4]