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longer played a significant part in the social, political and economic life of the villagers.
Terms such as çeta/varka were seldom used in their day-to-day talk. The numbers and names
of soia/fise that form Muçulkates çeta/varka differ according to the individual asked. Each
one lists different numbers and names of soia/fise. Moreover, the Figure 7. also shows that
besides their own soi/fis the villagers were able to recall the name of soi/fis which constitutes
a part of the çeta/varka name (e.g. Muço – Muçolkates).
1.9.4. Marrying Within the Village
In the past, especially before the period of communism, the marriage in Dhërmi/Drimades
tended to be endogamous, with the incest prohibition extending to the second or third cousin
of bilateral kinship. When asked about the issue of endogamy within the village, people say:
Paputsia apo ton topo sou kai as enai balomenos 50 , “shoes from your own place, even though
they are patched”. The meaning of this saying denotes that it is better to marry a woman who
originates “from the groom’s place” (apo ton topo) even if she is not a virgin. Marrying a
virgin was once a highly preferred choice for each groom’s parents. The locals described that
after the first night that the newlyweds spent together, the groom’s mother would check the
bride’s bed sheets in order to see if there was any blood on them which would prove her
virginity. The young couples often put the blood of a chicken or some other animal in order to
avoid the shame and provide the necessary proof. The saying denotes that it is more important
than virginity that the bride and the groom originate from the village and Himarë/Himara area,
and are both of Christian Orthodox faith.
In communism, when the collectivisation of private property and the foundation of
agricultural cooperatives in 1957 took place, numerous locals did not see any future in staying
in the village and working for the cooperative. A good number of them enrolled in a technical
school in Vlorë and got educated for mechanics, while others went on to study on the
Universities of Tirana or Shkodra, as this was almost the only opportunity for migrating into
urban cities. Because of these movements within the country, the number of intra-village
marriages declined.
50 Also a panhellenic saying (see Herzfeld 2005: 232n)
94