By Ndue Dedaj
Memorie.al / It are the morning of Sunday, October 18. Together with the Bishop of the Diocese of Rrëshen, Monsignor Gjergj Meta, we are headed towards Lajthiza e Oroshi, the most northeastern village of Mirdita, on the border with Arrn of Kukës and Pregjë-Lura of Dibra. It is a special day there today, as the new altar, or in other words, the cemetery chapel, will be blessed. A return to the temple of faith. The last Mass, recalls the elderly man, Kol Skana, was given 54 years ago, in 1966, by the parish priest of Fani, Dom Nikollë Luli. Then came ’67, with Enver Hoxha’s sensational speech on February 6, and faith was stopped by order of the Party.
After driving for more than an hour in an off-road vehicle through the Oroshi lakes, from the shore of Fani i Vogël to the heights of Mali i Shentje, we arrive in Lajthiza covered in a “mystical” fog. The small courtyard between the graves, in front of the altar, is full of people, men and women, the latter in the traditional clothing of the area, some in “allafranga”, as a reporter from many years ago would say, as well as children, who have come from the outskirts of Tirana and Durrës, Lezha, Laçi, Rrëshen, etc.
This is already unusual for this village, almost all of whom were displaced after the 1990s, among the first. This is what happens today in abandoned villages like Lajthiza, where what was once everyday life is now a day a year… like today, where people gather more for a reflection on their departed, than to build something new there. Out of more than 50 houses, only two houses are now smoking…! Not that everyone is happy with where they have gone. “We have left these mountains and are now drinking water from the swamps, in ‘Kënetë’, Bathore and who knows where, water from the world, ma”! Says one of them.
The school has remained in ruins, as if it were something prehistoric, just like in other villages in Oroshë, Ndershenë, Bulshar, etc. We are together with teacher Frrok, who was the school principal here, who recounts not without pain yesterday. How quickly history is made in these places! There is so much nostalgia in their words and conversations today. Frrok Gjon Margjini, says that now I consider my friends as friends, we rarely see them and miss them. There was a different status for the husband and the friend, according to custom, the husband was the “salt” and the friend was the “honey”, which does not mean that the latter was the “sweeter”, since for salt one needed days. And for an unexpected event, and for a fire pit, you would knock on the neighbor’s door…!
So, after the mass and the inauguration ceremony of the chapel, Frrok Margjini invited all his fellow villagers for lunch, in his generous house. No less than 100 people. What for someone who does not know the harsh reality of hospitality in the mountains, may seem like an “adventure” – to host so many people for lunch in today’s time, as at a wedding, – for this noble family is something ordinary. Not a burden, but a duty. Generosity has no limit, no measure. Hospitality is passed on from father to son. Gjergji, Frroku’s son, has been working as an immigrant in Milan for years and has been helping his hometown. He was also a contributor to the chapel of the church inaugurated today. In his place, we congratulate him with all our hearts for what he does continuously for the people and the honoring of the ancestors.
The school has remained in ruins, as if it were something prehistoric, just like in other villages in Oroshë, Ndershenë, Bulshar, etc. We are with teacher Frrok, who was the school principal here, who recounts not without pain yesterday. How quickly history happens in these places! There is so much nostalgia in their words and conversations today. Frrok Gjon Margjini, says that now I consider my friends as friends, we rarely see them and miss them. There was a different status for husband and friend, according to custom, the husband was the “salt” and the friend was the “honey”, which does not mean that the latter was the “sweeter”, since for salt a person needed days. And for an unexpected event, and for a fire, you would knock on the neighbor’s door…!
So, after the mass and the inauguration ceremony of the chapel, Frrok Margjini invited all his fellow villagers for lunch, in his generous home. No less than 100 people. What for someone who does not know the harsh reality of hospitality in the mountains, may seem like an “adventure” – to host so many people for lunch in this day and age, as if at a wedding – for this noble family is something ordinary. Not a burden at all, but a duty. Generosity has no limit, no measure. Hospitality is passed down from father to son. Gjergji, Frrok’s son, has been working as an immigrant in Milan for years and has never stopped helping his hometown. He was also the contributor for the chapel of the church inaugurated today. There, in his honor, we congratulate him with all our hearts for what he does tirelessly for the people and the honor of his ancestors.
It is a pleasure to be at a “table” with the Lajthizaki, these honest and attentive Orosh residents, to listen to their wise conversations, with humor and pleasant jokes, where the routine politics of the day seem so “distant” and miserable to them. If it had been the right one, they say, people would not have fled, big and small, since the road would have been built to standards and the natural resources of the area would have been exploited, not the forests and rivers plundered to benefit people in power.
Today has encouraged them to gather again for holidays and some, perhaps, and to return through some private activity. “We will gather again on June 24,” says the headman. This date is the day of Saint Llezhdr, the patron saint of Orosh. “Don’t forget to bring your grandchildren with you,” the Bishop tells them, so that they too can get to know the land of their ancestors.”
The lunch is delicious and plentiful, with everything organic, with “korit” and the best tourist resorts in Mirdito, with seven-year-old dry brandy, fresh goat meat raised in the mountains, goat cheese, laknure with pita bread baked in a sack, and everything else. We would not have mentioned the menu of that “princely” family lunch, since it is not in the etiquette of mountaineers to say what you ate and drank where you were, if we did not want to tell others, those involved in mountain tourism, what opportunities not only nature offers, but also the cuisine of these parts, sometimes unjustly prejudiced for a small variety of foods.
This is not the first time we have come to Lajthiza. Thirty-two years ago, we stayed here for a week with a working group of the district Executive Committee, to observe the way of life of these residents. Together with the forestry engineer, Vlash Legisi, we went from house to house, taking note of the various socio-cultural and economic problems of this interesting area. The engineer was like one of the family, since many of the residents at that time worked in the forestry service and he knew them by name. In 1998, we came to Lajthiza to promote the monograph “Monsignor Zef Skana”, son of this place, one of the most prominent priests of Mirdita, in the first half of the 20th century, who served in several parishes, as Fan and Kaçinar.
The historical memory of Lajthiza is truly outstanding. The Lajthiza residents have witnessed the highest act of sacrifice for a friend, unique in the entire Albanian world. Seven men from Lajthiza did not abandon Dede Gjo Luli in 1915, when he was surrounded by the Serbian occupying forces, but were killed with him, writing an unusual chapter of heroism and patriotic and moral resistance. Dede’s body was thrown by the enemies into the Ice Cave, so that it would not be found, but the people of Orosh did not let that cave become the hero’s grave, but took it and buried it with honors in the Orosh Abbey, to be transported a few years later to Shkodra.
Thus ended last Sunday in Orosh. On the way back, we could not help but stop at the Valleys Fields, to take photographs and contemplate the landscape that, so bare and truncated, looks like in unknown legends. Monsignor Meta leads us towards Maja e Shëlbuemit, which is also the “peak” of the temple of the Holy Mountain, while Bardhok Pulaj tells us that beyond those mountains, to the east, is Mulli i Selitës, which can be reached both through old paths and through new paths, marked in recent years, so that tourists can move without losing their way.
Alfredi continues to take photographs, and is especially attracted to the lake in the middle of the Valleys, among the few waters where the cattle that have migrated here quench their thirst. But also the numerous karst holes, the endless plateaus, which give the pasture relief a very special appearance, and which is nevertheless not called; “the mountain with holes”. We say something among ourselves about the name of this strange field, without being sure if it is about the “valleys” of nature, or the wooden valleys that the villagers used to come everywhere to water their cattle.
From the yellow autumn vegetation and not from the snowdrops, these valleys resemble the Yellow Valleys in some way. But now this place has no language, there is no one to tell about what it was like in the past, nor about the fairies and dragons, nor about the Benedictine monastery and the old olive trees…!
We have left behind Lajthiza and, in the mountains opposite, Pregjë-Lura, Armalla, Gur-Reçi and Ndërshene e Reçit, while in Orosh there is a village named Ndërshene. Surely, researchers and scholars of toponymy would find the commonalities and peculiarities of these place names, as long as we still have the elderly alive…! Memorie.al
