There is no place on Earth from which you can see the whole village… Not even if you’re looking down from the sky. There is always something hidden, unreachable. Just as the spirit of Vevchani, it is carved with water ruts; the sound of the forest springs that one can hear even from Gorna Belica or the wind from Jablanica that blows along Via Egnatia through the Vevchani areas...
Vevchani is the headquarters of the municipality of Vevchani. It is located in south-west Macedonia in the region of Drimkol. It is set on the hills of mount Jablanica at an altitude of 800 meters, north-west from Ohrid Lake. You can get there through Struga and the villages of Vranishta and Veleshta. It is a 14 km long asphalt road and it is well marked. There you will be welcomed by marks to all the places that can be seen. In front of the “St. Nicholas” church there is a map presenting everything there is to see in Vevchani and the surrounding region. There is even a tourist information office.
Vevchani is mentioned in Kaliman’s charter as a highly developed, economically strong rural settlement dating back to late 9th century. According to the legend the first inhabitants were the brothers Kalan and Alula. Vevchani is the only place under Jablanica which managed to resist islamization. Christianity runs deep through people’s lives, customs and beliefs in these places, and it is reflected by the buildings of sanctuaries.
One of the more significant churches in Vevchani is the congregational church “St. Nicholas” (Gorna Cerkof) which is a basilica with an altar, loggia and a balcony. People gather here for the Christmas holidays and the festival of St. John (Vjan) opposed to the custom of gathering at the Lower Church (“Holy Birth-Giver of God”) for the Easter and Lazara holidays. The procession to the spring starts here for the Theophany as well as along the village border for St. George’s holiday.
The church of “The Ascension of Christ” (White plate) is located at the entrance of Vevchani. So you can start sightseeing from here. The monastery of “The Ascension of Christ” is in the mountains west of the village in an old oak forest and it was built in the rocks. It is an hour-long walk away. The church of “St. Barbara” used to be a chapel. The old chapel was demolished in 1996 and at the same place but on a bigger surface the new church was built.
There are many chapels in Vevchani such as: “St. Demetrius”, “Venerable Parasceva”, “St. Kyriaki”, and “St. John”. One of the newest sacred objects in Vevchani is the monastery of “Saints Peter and Paul”.
The Christian symbols that are decorating these sanctuaries can also be found in the homes of the people from Vevchani, household objects, folk embroideries, weaving, carving which created an indestructible connection between the spiritual and the sacred. The most present symbols are: the Cross, the sun from Kutlesh, the flower with six leaves, grapevine, birds and other biblical motives.
A lot of people come to Vevchani to visit its natural monument – The Vevchani Springs, a protected eco zone, a pleasant and breathtaking corner for rest, meditation and enjoyment. They are located at an altitude of 960 meters. At the entrance there is a sign saying: “We belong to the nature, she doesn’t belong to us”. There is a beautiful path along the water leading to the springs and a neat picnic area.
Visiting Gorna Belica is something extraordinary. Because he didn’t want to stay in Pliska after living Moravia, Saint Clement went south, rounded Ohrid and climbed Jablanica into the roman town of Velica. The Via Egnatia road passed near this town which was not far away from the medieval town of Vajtos. Today’s village of Gorna Belica is where the old town of Velica was once located. There is a straight plateau near the village that the locals call citta which is the Latin word for town. The interesting thing is that the part of the Via Egnatia road that passed through this region was called Via Sacra which means “Sacred road” in Latin. According to Jovan Popovski, a journalist and writer born in Vevchani, at the end of the sacred road Clement built a monastery with a church and other objects here. That monastery existed until right before World War II as “St. Clement” monastery. The remains are still there waiting to be explored. There is where he thinks the University of Clement should be looked for, not in Ohrid.
You can have a good feast in Vevchani surrounded by the beautiful nature and clean air in one of the restaurants that prepare Macedonian food. And there are few exquisite ones.
One of the most famous events in Vevchani is the carnival which is more than 1400 years old and is a mix of pagan and contemporary. According to its specific characteristics it differs from the other carnivals in the world because it is archaic, traditional, mysterious and with unique masks and is therefore an event visited and admired by thousands of domestic and foreign tourists each year. It is held every year from 11th - 14th January. For the duration of the carnival, the masked participants have the freedom and “rapture” to “set the world upside down” which can be seen by the creativity of the spirit, the critique and the sense of improvisation and irony.
The French ethnologist and photo reporter Jean-Marie Stenlen visited Vevchani in the early 1980s and in 1984 through “Beaubourg” in Paris and other European cultural centers he offered the cultural public a report from Vevchani in which he perpetuated the carnival events with an artistic sense. Few of his photographs of original masks from Vevchani carnivals have been published in the encyclopedia of European carnivals published in Paris in 1986.
More recently Vevchani has been famous for the 1987 “Vevchani case” when the authorities wanted to captivate the springs under the excuse that it had been supplying the residents of the neighboring village of Oktisi with water. The real intention was for the water to be used for the elite settlement of “Elen Kamen” where the leaders had their villas. The residents opposed to it by setting barricades and not allowing for the piping to be installed. The riots culminated on 7th August 1987 with the intervention of the special police forces which used “electrical truncheons” for the first time in former Yugoslavia.
The liberation from an imposed belief is a very hard process. There is one such belief in Macedonia that has started to dispel but is still present, nonetheless. It is that the people of Vevchani have been “planted the wrong way” a little.
When everybody go left (like a tamely flock of sheep guided by shepherds and shepherd dogs) the people of Vevchani go right – whether it is out of spite; defiance; being too smart; or mockery. When everybody go right – the people of Vevchani go left. When everybody start going up – these guys are coming down and vice-versa.
It is just in their nature: they don’t hide from the rain nor they look for a shade in the heat. They defy everything – time, space, state systems and regimes, “spiritualists” and religious dogmas. Like mischievous brats that pull their heads out of the car window so that the wind blows in their faces, the people of Vevchani stand tall in front of the wind that tries to blow them away. They have no fear and no shame. They have been doing things their way since forever. To them every day is a carnival – each one more pagan than the previous one. A liberation of the spirit, realization of the dream. A liberation of the body, too. More of everything.
They know how to enjoy themselves, at least for a moment. They liberate their bodies. They drink, they eat, young and old, men and women.
It’s not like everything has gone smooth for them like a French limousine driving on a cobblestone street and it’s not like they haven’t been on the receiving end. But you can’t change them, you can’t scare them. They don’t fear a man and they don’t fear God. And it seems they don’t know any differently. Nothing satisfies them. They don’t put up with impositions or limitations. On top of everything – they have money so you can’t frighten them or buy them.
That’s just how it is! There can be no other way! Well, it doesn’t apply to the people of Vevchani. If you tell them something like that it will just make them twice as stronger to prove to you that there can be another way. It is amazing how they never stay still. “Thank you God that I have been born here” – they say.
There are 40 waters in Vevchani. The people are the 41st. No matter how hard you try to clog it, dam it, stop it, the water will keep flowing, underground if necessary. The people are the same. Nothing can stop them and nothing can tame them.
Even their church is different. Not by much, but you enter their church on a flat surface. Not even in front of God do the people of Vevchani climb or lower a step.
After the clashes with the authorities and the police which was the first sign of democratic changes in former Yugoslavia the defiant people of Vevchani declared their own republic and printed their own money and passports which can be bought as souvenirs.
They say that there is no place on Earth from which you can see the whole village of Vevchani… Not even if you’re looking down from the sky. There is always something hidden, unreachable. Just as the spirit of Vevchani, it is carved with water ruts; the sound of the forest springs that one can hear even from Gorna Belica or the wind from Jablanica that blows along Via Egnatia through the Vevchani areas. And when the pipes and drums start roaring you can hear the workers from Plachikrusha’s songs. Along the Vevchani Rimpapica street you can hear the verses by Misho Srbakoski.
-Oh Vevchani, republic made of flint
The nest of a mythical defiance
It is where I want to live
And for the apostles I want to sing.
And then a mild wind starts blowing from the “Ascension of Christ” top towards Vajtos and Kutmichevica. It is said it is the breath of Paul the apostle caressing the remains of the “St. Clement” church rolling along the part of Via Egnatia called The Sacred Road. The University of Clement is awakening. So is a new day of the celebration of Saint Basil the Great. If you ask the people from Vevchani that is the true New Year. And they are still masked. Even on the first summer morning when the springs are dripping healthy water that gives fertility and is sprayed from soaked basil. These people don’t put masks in order to be someone else. They do it in order to be themselves. All the way.
Vevchani has a constant population of 2500 to 3000 over the last 150 years. Despite all the obstacles it has endured and it still is. The building has started again. They will proudly tell you that their school dates back to 1835 while the library dates back to 1927. They will tell you that they had a hydroelectric power plant in 1949 and that the village had streetlights when others around still used torches. And that Viktoria Potochnik, the former mayor of Ljubljana stated in her biography that she took part in “The battle for Vevchani”.
Miraculously, it turns out that the people of Vevchani were right about most of the things. And first at them, too. It’s not like they were “planted the wrong way” a little. It is just that more than anything, they go their way. Sovereign.
That is Vevchani. As they say there, Brand made in Macedonia!
Goce Ristovski
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