Eurovision's 'Ottoman' Row: Croatia's LELEK Answers Critics
The group had previously said the song draws on the collective memory of Catholic women who lived under Ottoman rule in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and on the Christian tattoos inked onto their
RastinewsThe group had previously said the song was inspired by the collective memory of Catholic women who lived under Ottoman rule in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and by the Christian-motif tattoos they inked onto their own bodies.
What Is the "Sicanje" Tradition?
Sicanje — meaning "to prick" or "to mark" in local Balkan languages — refers to the traditional tattoos given to girls in Bosnia-Herzegovina's Catholic Croat communities.
• Purpose and symbolism: Under Ottoman rule, crosses (križ) and sun motifs were tattooed onto the hands, wrists and chest to deter the abduction, forced marriage or forced conversion of young girls.
• Mothers or the village's older women made the marks permanent using a mixture of needle, soot, charcoal and milk.
• Historians and researchers note that the tradition's roots lie in the pre-Ottoman pagan culture of the Illyrians and Thracians, but that under Ottoman rule it became a symbol of religious and cultural resistance and a tool for preserving identity.
The practice largely disappeared during the Yugoslav era and survives today only as marks on the hands of elderly Bosnian Croat women. In recent years, young artists have been working to revive it as part of the region's cultural heritage.
Source: Serbestiyet
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