Albanian Sworn Virgins - Origins

Origins

A woman is a sack made to endure. —Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit, 15th century AD

The tradition of sworn virgins developed out of the Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit (English: The Code of Lekë Dukagjini, or simply the Kanun), a set of codes and laws developed by Lekë Dukagjini and used mostly in northern Albania and Kosovo from the 15th century until the 20th century. The Kanun is not a religious document – many groups follow it including Roman Catholic, Albanian Orthodox, and Muslims.

The Kanun dictates that families must be patrilineal (meaning wealth is inherited through a family's men) and patrilocal (upon marriage, a woman moves into the household of her husband's family). Women are treated like property of the family. Under the Kanun women are stripped of many human rights. They cannot smoke, wear a watch, or vote in their local elections. They cannot buy land, and there are many jobs they are not permitted to hold. There are even establishments that they cannot enter.

The practice of sworn virginhood was first reported by missionaries, travellers, geographers and anthropologists who visited the mountains of northern Albania in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Read more about this topic:  Albanian Sworn Virgins

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