Albanian pederasty

Albanian pederasty was a custom reported by Western travelers in the 19th century."Bethe, "Rheinisches Museum für Philologie," 1907, p. 475] Näcke, "Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen," vol. ix, 1908, p. 327 ] Among these are counted Edvard Westermarck [Robert Deam Tobin, "Warm Brothers: Queer Theory and the Age of Goethe (New Cultural Studies Series)" p.58] John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton, who in his travel journal [The Diary of John Cam Hobhouse (October 20th, 1809) [http://www.hobby-o.com/greece.php] ] reports that pederasty was "openly practiced," and Johann Georg von HahnJ.G. von Hahn, "Albanische Studien," 1854, p.166] , also known as "the father of Albanian studies. [Robert Elsie, "A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture" p.202-3] According to these reports it was common and socially accepted for young men between sixteen and twenty-four to court boys from about twelve to seventeen.

In the literature, the older lover is called "ashik" (after the Arabic "ishq, "passionate love")" and the beloved, or "dyllber" (after the Turkish "dilber, "beautiful") [http://www.eskimo.com/~nickz/orth_gay.txt] ." A Geg married at the age of 24 or 25, and then he usually, but not always, gave up boy-love.

The practice was curtailed by the advent of communism in 1944. [Michael Worton, Nana Wilson-Tagoe "National Healths: Gender, Sexuality and Health in a Cross-Cultural Context" p.48-50]

Aspects of the relationships

While most prevalent among the Muslims, pederastic relationships were reportedly also found among the Christians, and there was even a special ceremony performed by a priest in church to seal them, called "vellameria" (from the Albanian "vella, "brother" and "marr, "to accept")." Jealousy was a frequent phenomenon, and sometimes men would even commit murder on account of a boy. [Havelock Ellis, "Studies in the Psychology of Sex," Sexual Inversion, Ch.I]

According to Naecke, "The Skipetars (North Albanians) entertain for handsome youths a quite enthusiastic love. Their passion and jealousy is so strong that even to-day sometimes a case of suicide on that account will occur. . . . Further, it is quite true that the brotherhood-unions when taking place are blessed by the priests--the two partners sharing the Eucharist immediately after." [Edward Carpenter, "Intermediate Types among the Primitive Folk" p.127]

Travelers to the country, among whom the French historian Frederick François Guillaume (the Baron de Vaudoncourt) and George Gordon (Lord Byron) also mention Ali Pasha's interest in this type of love, describing his seraglio of handsome youths, from which he drew not only his lovers but also his most trusted assistants, such as the Greek Athanasi Vaya, who became his right hand man as well as a capable general in his own right. [Stephen O. Murray and Will Roscoe, "Islamic Homosexualities," p.189-191]

Poetic and literary references

Some observers cast the practice in a negative light. François Pouqueville, Napoleon's consul general in Albania between 1805 and 1815, blames the Albanians for being "no less dissolute in this regard than the other inhabitants of modern Greece, without seeming to have any idea of the enormity of the crime." [Murray, op.cit.]

Others present it as surprisingly positive, especially in light of the cultural values of the educated European audience of the period, for which the publication was intended. The following passage is reported by Hahn as the actual language used to him by a Geg Albanian:

The lover's feeling for the boy is pure as sunshine. It places the beloved on the same pedestal as a saint. It is the highest and most exalted passion of which the human breast is capable. The sight of a beautiful youth awakens astonishment in the lover, and opens the door of his heart to the delight which the contemplation of this loveliness affords. Love takes possession of him so completely that all his thought and feeling goes out in it. If he finds himself in the presence of the beloved, he rests absorbed in gazing on him. Absent, he thinks of nought but him. If the beloved unexpectedly appears, he falls into confusion, changes color, turns alternately pale and red. His heart beats faster and impedes his breathing. He has ears and eyes only for the beloved. He shuns touching him with the hand, kisses him only on the forehead, sings his praise in verse, a woman's never.

Hahn documents a number of Geg pederastic poems, written by one poet, such as the following:

"S'gjen ndonji zok qi kendon,
"Te gjithe jane e po qajne.
"I mjeri ashik sa fort po duron,
"Prej dyllberit po e dajne.

"Dilli, qi len ne mengjes
"Si ti, o djal, kur me zallandise
"Kur me kthen syt' e zes'
"Shpirt ment prej kres' mi gremise.

"You'll find no bird that sings,
"They all just sit and cry.
"The poor lover, how strongly he endures,
" [For] they separate him from his beloved."

"The sun, when it rises in the morning,
"Is like you, boy, when you are near me.
"When your dark eye turns upon me,
"It drives my reason from my head."

:::::— Neçín of Përmet, son of Ali Pasha Frakulli, mid 19th century; translation by Nicholas Zymaris

The intensity of the feelings is reflected in native pederastic poetry such as the following verse.

"Të kálli Hasán káfpeja
"Të mos bánish Bajrám,
"Se kështú qen’ka bes’e feja.

"Núri yt, o Suleimán!
"Bukurínë t’a dha Zot yn,
"Mos ubán makrúr.
"Tyj, o cun, të púthça syt’,
"E t’udjéksha nur.

"Hasan, you slanderous whore
"Who won’t celebrate Bairam,
"For thus they were from honor and faith.

"Your radiance, O Suleiman!
"Your beauty was given you by our Lord,
"Be not so proud.
"O that I may kiss your eyes, boy,
"And burn up in your radiance.
:::::— Neçín of Përmet; tr. Nicholas Zymaris

ee also

*Pederasty
*Pederasty in the Middle East
*Pederasty in Ancient Greece
*Cretan pederasty
*Athenian pederasty
*Spartan pederasty
*Theban pederasty

ources

*Erich Bethe, "Die dorische Knabenliebe: ihre Ethic und ihre Idee" 1907
*Robert Elsie, "A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture"
*J.G. von Hahn, "Albanische Studien," 1854, p.166
*Paul Näcke, "Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen," vol. ix, 1908, p. 327
*Edward Westermarck, "Homosexualität." Translated by L. Katscher

Notes