Summer day

It is the day on which our ancestors, when

Christianity was born, celebrated together with the
Romans and the ancient Greeks, the gods of
flowers, of the arrows. When winter melts, when
summer approaches smiling, thin and long as in
Boticel painting, the human heart is discharged
from a burden, enjoys a serenity, a sweet
happiness. In this joy, our ancestors felt a duty to
forgive the gods who bring these blessings. And
so left the hiroshi holiday they call Summer Day.
In a few days in Albania, the last faithful of
paganism, the faithful unwillingly and
unknowingly, will surround with summer the
branches of thistles, junipers, laurels, all revered
willows. They will cut down green branches and
put them on top of houses. Let us not let them
miss these old holidays of our race. They do not
harm man. Bring pure joy to the home. A place
where the lives of little ones are so sad, boys and
girls have a rare occasion to have fun. For adults,
Summer Day has a subtle and rare poetic flavor.
"House to house in the summer days, family members
gathered around the fire to tie up witches, lizards,
lizards, rolls and all harmful animals: the snake should
not bite them, the rabbit should not eat their nipples
and beans, the mother should The mother and the
earthworms should not be damned in the fields. These
summer days always fall between the first days of
March. After dinner, all the members of the house
gather around the fire. God, my night and the day of
summer! I'm a little and God's a lot! We are tying the
strings. The celebrations of this day in Debar start two
weeks in advance, where the young boys during the
day go to the mountains and cut the junipers, which
they bring to the village, to form one or more mules.
These juniper mules are placed mainly in the highest
points of the village, so that the fire is as high as
possible making visible competition to other villages
around.
When the sun goes down from the horizon being
replaced by the moon, the young people approach
around the juniper bushes, and wait for the moment to
light the fire. As soon as the fire is lit, the boys shoot
with the bahe (it is a tool inherited from generation to
generation and made in an artisanal way, which throws
from a relatively long distance stones of medium size)
to remove and kill the evil, so that the spring be more
abundant rainfall, to ensure a good harvest with many
"blessings", from which abundant reserves will be
created to pass the long period of winter. Meanwhile,
the girls sing inherited rhapsodies and transmitted from
generation to generation dedicated to "Summer Day".
This ritual continues until "March 14
On "March 14" in the morning there is an unannounced
competition who wakes up earlier in the morning
(according to tradition the one who wakes up later will
go all year round mostly at bedtime), families who
wake up later usually have one symbolic punishment,
you are locked from outside the door of the house.
After waking up, the young people go out to collect
flowers such as cuckoos, florets, willows, etc., which
they place on the front door as well as inside the house.
And the girls boil the eggs, and color them with the
mosaic of colors. The eggs are caught among the
young with profit (which means that the one who has
the strongest egg wins and the father who breaks it
takes it).
These events usually take place in a meadow or in the
center of the village, where in addition to these rites,
there are many other lorries such as: "Kala Dibrane",
wrestling between young boys, etc. During the
morning the mothers prepare a hearty lunch, where a
special place is occupied by flija (traditional cooking
mainly of the Dibra area). After lunch, people go out to
visit relatives. Thus closes the celebration of Summer
Day, as a holiday that brings only joy, harmony and
happiness to our families. In recent years, "Summer
Day" has really become a nationwide holiday, where it
is massively celebrated by all Albanians regardless of
age, religion and regional faith. This shows that
Albanians are united even on holidays, as a single
trunk showing that they are a single nation and have
only one identity, the Albanian, which derives from the
ancient Illyrian civilization, among the oldest not only
in the Balkans but also in Europe. Summer Day proves
this connection, because "Summer Day" itself is very
ancient in terms of celebration time and manner. It is a
pagan holiday that dates back to antiquity and has been
fanatically preserved to this day. Of course, from the
beginning of its celebration until today, times have
changed and consequently the way of celebration, but
its basic form is the same, has been and remains a
pagan holiday, with Albanian origin and tradition and
dedicated to the season of spring, with which
everything is revived after a tired and long winter
[Link] Day is known as the holiday of all
Albanians, but Elbasan and ballokumja is its heart. A
pagan holiday that dates back to the time when people
worshiped the gods. The temple was in the area of
Çermenika, near today's Librazhd. In the old calendar,
mankind oriented to the sun, moon and greenery.
While today is fixed March 14, the day of the ancient
holiday, which otherwise marks the end of the cold
winter and the beginning of the spring of flowering. In
ancient times, our ancestors, the Illyrians, traveled
from all over to pray to the god of renewal and the
universe, Diana Candieviensis. Summer Day is a
holiday for everyone, rich and poor, it is a popular
holiday where everyone enjoys. Neither religion, nor
ideology, and finally politics, could have it. The times
went by and the temple of the feast stood in Elbasan, in
the city of flowers and song, of love and prosperity. It
should be noted once again that dt. March 14 simply
opens the week-long festival of fertility and rebirth of
nature, leading to March 21, which is the solar solar
Summer Day. March 14 is the Summer Day for
Shkumbini and, for many years, Tirana, but the other
Albanian provinces have each of their Summer Days
within this week that is held in the form of a festival in
all lands. Years p. sh. the city of Shkodra celebrated on
dt. March 15. The setting of the date is done quite
practically taking into account the most stable sunny
day within this week for each province. N.q.s. observed
in the provinces of Central Albania, March 14 has
always been a sunny and warm day, while the
following days are often cloudy and even rainy.
Aiming for such a day, each province based on its sub-
climate sets a date with the most consistent sunny day,
within this week. The date may coincide with one or
more other provinces, but it always depends on the
practical side and it is not said that each province
necessarily has its own date. It is the local climate that
has the last word and for this it is necessary to know
the area, as the celebration is organic and not artificial.
For this reason, the way of celebration varies according
to the provinces, which gives the festival its own
beauty at the national level.
Another clarification that is often needed. Why is the
day called Summer, when in fact the festival is spring.
This is because in the Illyrian / Albanian solar calendar
(and of some other peoples), there are only two
seasons, Summer and Winter, and the seasons start
with the equinoxes in March and September and reach
the middle with the solstices in June and December,
then when Mesvera and Mesdimri are celebrated
respectively.

Celebrations
The pagan holiday has its ritual. Rites have been
inherited from generation to generation for perhaps 24
centuries. Once dedicated to the god Diane, today they
are practiced for a better life filled with joy, love and
prosperity. Well-known scholar and musicologist
Thanas Meksi divides the Summer Day Festival into
four phases. The first phase is the preparatory phase
that begins with the collection of zaires that are
necessary for the Summer Day. The second phase is
the Summer night that starts on March 13 with the fire,
the third phase the Summer Day morning that starts on
March 14 and that the end of the Summer Day picnic at
noon on March 14th. On the eve of the night of
Summer Day, every house in this city is filled with a
special joy, it is a feeling that overwhelms people
without realizing it. Probably due to the influence of
the sun, greenery or the explosion of seeds and buds
that are an expression of prosperity and continuity. The
house is full of good things and in abundance. The gate
is decorated with flowers and green shoots, which
symbolize the introduction of kindness and nature.
During this night, relatives, but also friends from other
places, sing old songs accompanied by the famous
cuisine of Elbasan. Some of the dishes, which you can
not find anywhere else, are casserole with pistil, yogurt
casserole, kabunia, çomleku, turkey, etc. During this
night, the next day's share for the closest people begins
to be distributed. Breakfast is cheerful and festive. The
people of Elbasan wake up early on March 14 and with
a special dedication open the door for the good to enter
and the bad to come out.
Pork bread
The eyes are washed with summer flowers, violets and
carnations (a type of flower) and then water is drunk in
the "pig's bread", which is a tuber found underground
in areas with forests and greenery. Water in "pork
bread" symbolizes a healthy and prosperous year. Also,
another custom that is preserved on this day, is to boil
the eggs on the night of the 13th, and to wash the eyes
with the water of the boiled eggs on the morning of the
summer day. In addition, on a summer day, a
"summer" is tied in the hand, which is like a bracelet
formed of a red thread and a white thread. Summer is
removed when you see the first swallow, and thrown
into the thorns that the swallow takes to make a nest.
All these are rites performed to celebrate the arrival of
spring, the opening of flowers, the return of swallows
and the revitalization of life.

The morning of March 14 starts with visits to relatives,

where the youngest son of the family rushes to send his
share. The picnic starts at 10:00. But in recent years the
activities for the holiday start an hour ago. At the
summer day picnic, the people of Elbasan leave the
city and go to the tourist spots in Byshek, Gjinar, Gurra
e Labinotit, Olive te Qefit, Kroit i Kalit, Cezme e
Rabbit, Cold Water in Labinot, spas, etc.
Flower gardeners and songs of tradition
Summer day makes no sense without flowers and
songs. The people of Elbasan have long been known as
famous gardeners and singers of the soul. The most
characteristic flowers in Elbasan are jasmine,
carnation, rose, hyacinth, carnations, etc. Growers take
care of the flowers so that they explode on Summer
Day. In recent years the ensemble of flowers has been
enriched with roses and carnations coming from
several countries of the world, from Egypt to the
Netherlands. During the night and the Summer Day,
the songs of the master of popular folk music Isuf
Myzyri are sung with special passion. Songs such as;
"A garden with roses", "What did you wish to see",
"Better in the forest than in the city", "Like a whistle in
spring", etc., are sung not only by the people of
Elbasan, but throughout the Albanian lands.
Time and rites today, what has changed
From year to year, the holiday is enriched with things
that come from the soul of the people themselves. On
March 14, Elbasan returns to the epicenter of the
pilgrimage. The holiday has a weird effect on
everyone. Not just houses, but the whole city is dressed
in colorful decor, just like spring flowers. On the eve of
the holiday, the decor company decorates the main
streets and squares of the city. While the green
enterprise plants flowers and green areas. Every year
the municipality of Elbasan allocates a special fund for
the holiday. Concerts, folk games, humorous pieces,
etc. are programmed to be organized in tourist spots
and parks.
History
Since ancient times, the temple of March 14, the Day
of Summer, has been in the city of Elbasan. Differently
called the day of the departure of winter, this holiday
has already established its tradition not only among the
inhabitants of the city of Elbasan, but also in other
cities of the country and especially in Tirana. The
origin of "Summer Day" has in the shrine Zana e
Çermenikas, built on the outskirts of the city of
Elbasan, which was the goddess of hunting, forests and
all nature. According to the narrator, this fairy came
out of her shrine on March 14th. Inherited from
generation to generation, this popular holiday is a day,
which today identifies the city of Elbasan, known in
Albania for its special cultural traditions. But, the
summer festival that is celebrated in the city otherwise
known as "the navel city of Albania", is not only for
the people of Elbasan. Many friends come from all
areas of the country to celebrate the arrival of summer,
but also to enjoy the typical cuisine of this area such as
ballokumet and revanina, which on this day, according
to locals, "hit" unlike other times, the rooster of
seaweed, walnuts, or figs, which are traditionally given
to young children, who are the first to make welfare
visits to the homes of relatives and neighbors. The first
ones show that one night before the Summer day,
people used to gather in their homes, to celebrate
together with their relatives, the epilogue of this
holiday. Awakening was at dawn, and the old men
opened the door of the house early in the morning for
generosity, took the strainer to fill it with fresh water,
and brought home a pile of green grass, while the
young ones fertilized oranges and olives.
The lunch of this day was a rite full of humor and taste
for all the people of Elbasan, who usually spent this
lunch in nature, where folk games were organized. In
Elbasan, the summer night is celebrated, the night
before her arrival, with meat, brandy, turkey, balls,
cakes. On this day, the people of Elbasan wish each
other a long and happy life.
Food
Ballokumja is a characteristic dessert only in Elbasan.
It has been and is synonymous with Summer Day.
There is a special cooking formula, known only in this
city. In general, a blockchain is prepared as follows:
In a separate copper bowl, place fresh butter, sugar,
eggs, a pinch of cornflour, and a pinch of fire.
All assortments are selected under natural conditions.
The butter must have been produced in the village and
have a special color. The fresh butter is dissolved and
placed in the bowl of the block. Sprinkle little by little
sugar on the butter and beat both long with a wooden
spoon. Then the eggs are thrown one by one while the
spooning continues. Then it is the turn of tossing the
top of the corn flour. the top of the flour is poured
slowly and mixed constantly with the wooden spoon. A
little fire is thrown into the formed mass. Beating must
be done by hand. The dough formed from this mixture
is taken with a wooden spoon and placed in balls in the
pan and put in the oven with firewood. Bake and serve
in the form of cakes.