Čečava

Infobox settlement
official_name = Čečava
settlement_type = village
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Republika Srpska
latd = 44.702826
longd = 17.729187
website = [http://www.cecava.org/ www.cecava.org]

Čečava is a village in the municipality of Teslic, Serb Republic.

Population

Population after the 2006 census:

total: 3,847

3,847 (100%) Serbs

Ethnic composition, 1991 census

total: 2,616
* Serbs - 2,503 (95.68%)
* "Yugoslavs" - 54 (2.06%)
* Croats - 36 (1.37%)
* Muslims by nationality - 1 (0.03%)
* others and unknown - 22 (0.84%)

History

Ceecava makes its first appearance in 1323 in records and documents of a decree by prince Stjepan and his brother Vladislav Kotromanich, in which supervisor Grgur Stipanovic is rewarded for his obedience with the annexation of five villages, in the territory of Usora, to his Kingdom. It’s written:”Firstly Chechava, secondly Hrastusa, thirdly Unenovichi Uskrsh,…"

Because of his loyalty Grgur seems to have been the delegate representative of the Bosnian court, to escort Prince Stjepan’s matchmakings from the Hungarian King. There’s also a myth that may be relative to this historical source. In the settlement of Plane east of the Grualj hill(643m/1,780 feet),a smaller hill lies, which is called “The hill of the Queen” ("Kraljichino Brdo").At its northwestern side the hill is surrounded by woods and so it seems obvious that its top had been cleaned of the woods for some purpose. There also exists a crossroads of old paths leading to all far directions used by caravans; the way to Stupa and Osredak(Stupljanski put),the way trough Miladich Brdo to Chechava, the Pope’s Road(Popovski Put) to Kulashi and the way over the Grualj hill to G.Vijachani and Snjegotina.

According to tradition, villagers and official quests greeted the Queen on that hill many years ago, as she entered the country to marry the Bosnian King.

Nevertheless, the reason why the village was named Chechava in about the 14th century still remains unknown. The historical period between the beginning of the 14th century until the beginning of the 19th century still remains unknown. There are no existing documents concerning the civilization of Chechava during this period. This is due to the great immigration of Serbs because of the violent invasion of the Turks. It is believed that the residents of the village moved norther. Some documents refer that they have been transferred to the area which is now called Slavonija.

The monks of the monasteries in Liplje and Stuplje where also installed in 1691 in the monastery Orahovica which belong to the Slavonska Pozega area. According to the tradition these monks reached Chechava through the mountains of Komusanska Brda where they met other monks from the monastery of Liplje who had crossed up the Snjegotina, and they all continued their way to the North. Their long journey ended to the river Sava by crossing first the river Ukrina where they have met the Chechava’s residents. The residents followed them and where installed to Slavonija. There are still villages in the area called ”Chechavac” and “Chechavski vuchijak “ which confirms this hypothesis of immigration. Bat there was a part of the Chechava’s residents who didn’t cross Sava river. This is confirmed by the fact that in the city of Brod we still find people who their surname is “Chechavac”. It is still in dispute whether some of them returned back during the 18th century or other emigrants were installed in Chechava. But the truth is that there were no reason to return judging by the difficult circumstances.

It is believed that the origin of the word "Chechava" (Cecava) derives from the Illyris-Arbanion word “Chech” - which means a narrow path. A type of word still exists to describe the narrow paths which are plenty in Chechava. Consequently the belief does not lack any basis.

Chechava is situated in the Northeast part of Teslich, located on the summit of the Javorova mountain and spans across the valley of the M. Ukrina river. Mr Milenko Filipovic writes:

"Up there on the mountain sides and valleys and the elbow that materialites by the Ukrina river are located residences of the Chechava village, one of the few Bosnian villages the existence of which was printed on the legal documents of the Middle Ages."

The village spans across 7,807 acres. It is a neighbour to the villages Prnjavor, Gornji Vijachani, Kulashi. North west, the villages of the municipality of Teslich, Rastusha, Ukrinica, Osivica and Rankovich, Pribinich to the south, as well as Snjegotina Gornja to the west. The village begins at the 12 km (7 miles)(Junction of the river Osivica with the river M.Ukrina, then directed Southwest towards the summit of the Nedic Brdo hill up to the Tisovac hill,continning through the Aliji Brezina Kosa mountainside, ending up at the Miljkovac. The village continnes Northwest towards the shall hills of Rovovi, Mala Hrastovaca and thas the borders finish at the Lipova Glava. From there the borders turn North to the hill of Bogdanica and through the most forest area of Krestelovac they emerge at the Sabanova Glavica hill. The borders continue Northwest at the Vuchicke Bare and over the hill of Puskarnica reaches the Grualj hill. From the Grualj the borderline is directed from the Kraljichino Brdo to the Stupa read, and continoue to the vines (Veliki Vinogradi) and Prokop, then from the small hills of Velika and Mala Balabanovica and reaches the trigonometric spot 249. The village continues Southeast reaching up to the M. Ukrina river and through the river borders end up at the point were they started from, meaning the 12th km ("dvanaesti kilometer"). The administrative center of the village lies at the point were M.Ukrina river meets the smaller river Chechavica.

There are several local legends about the "Queen's Hill" ("Kraljicino Brdo") that there was a cottage where she would stay occasionally. The queen that locals are talking about was actually the Austrian queen Maria Teresa (called locally "Marija Terezija").

There are also legends about some marks on the hill tops like "Glavica" that represented something to Austrian Empire at that time. There are several "Glavica" hills there actually. Local say that marks were either the bottle with a letter inside orrock pillars.

Interesting thing is also the "Rastusa Cave" which may hold lots of clues about that region.

There are a few rocky, grave look like pillars with some strange writing that nobody exactly knows what they are and what they say. One is in "Brdjani" and the other is in "Prodanovic" graveyard. One in "Prodanovic" graveyard is the part of circular rocky formation that looks like either building foundation or altar.

References

* "Ethnic composition of Bosnia-Herzegovina population, by municipalities and settlements", 1991. census, "Zavod za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine - Bilten" no.234, Sarajevo 1991.

External links

* Google: [http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Cecava&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&client=firefox-a&om=1&z=11&ll=44.702826,17.729187&spn=0.297706,0.977783&iwloc=addr Cecava Google maps]
* Satellite: [http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Cecava&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&client=firefox-a&om=1&z=11&ll=44.702826,17.729187&spn=0.297706,0.977783&t=h&iwloc=addr Cecava - satellite view]
* Mapquest: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=&city=Cecava&state=Bosnia%20and%20Herzegovina&zipcode=&country=BA&title=%3cb%3e%3cspan%20style%3d%22display%3ainline%3bmargin%2dbottom%3a0px%3b%22%20class%3d%22locality%22%3eCecava%3c%2fspan%3e%2c%20%3cspan%20style%3d%22display%3ainline%3bmargin%2dbottom%3a0px%3b%22%20class%3d%22region%22%3eBosnia%20and%20Herzegovina%3c%2fspan%3e%20%3cspan%20style%3d%22display%3ainline%3bmargin%2dbottom%3a0px%3b%22%20class%3d%22country%2dname%22%3eBA%3c%2fspan%3e%3c%2fb%3e%3c%2fspan%3e&cid=lfmaplink2&name=&dtype=s Cecava on Mapquest]
* [http://www.cecava.org/ Portal www.cecava.org Cecava Portal]
* [http://www.diskoteka-boki.com/ Disco Boki]

Pictures