TOWN WITHOUT MEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 March 1940, Page 7

TOWN WITHOUT MEN

UNUSUAL YUGOSLAV VILLAGE WORLD'S STRANGEST MARRIAGE. A VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS. In the mountains of Yugo-filavia stands a little town which is unique —for it is a town run by women and for women. I was on a tramping trip across southern Yugo-Slavia when I happened to hear of a curious town called Galichnik, which is inhabited entirely by women. The women run their own town council, postal service, police force and fire brigade. Men above the age of fifteen are only permitted to visit the town for two weeks of each year. For the remaining fifty weeks they are away in distant countries, practising their trades of skilled wood, stone and metal-workers, writes J. H. Ingram in “Tit Bits.” , But once a year, in the first fortnight of July, they return home to visit their wives and children. Galichnik’s big day of the year is July 12, when a great mass-marriage takes place, followed by three days and nights of feasting. Then the men all leave, not to return for another year.

It is not easy to reach Galichnik. It lies on top of a mountain near the Albanian border, and tremendous precipices shut it off from the outside world. The only path leading to it is a winding pony-track which two men could easily defend.

It happened that the day I climbed the mountain a party of Galichnik craftsmen were returning home after a year’s absence. Each man had a year’s savings in his pockets and r keen eye for the Albanian bandits who still lurk in these hills. “We are the pechalbari —the toilers of the world,” Dushan Popovich, their leader, told me. “We cannot grow food in our mountain home, so we go out into the world to work and send back money to keep the town going. Workmen from Galichnik helped to build the palaces of Versailles, the Mormon Temple in Utah, the Dnieperstroi Dam in Russia, and Radio City in New York.” Popovich told me how Galichnik became a town of grass widows. Four hundred years before their ancestors had been driven into this inhospitable region by the invading Turks. Because they had been unable to grow food on the mountain top, the custom arose of the men going to distant.lands to work. The sons followed in their fathers’ crafts, and because their artisan guilds had a reputation for craftsmanship, they never had any difficulty in finding employment. “So our women have to run the town by themselves,” Popovich remarked. “But their morals are very strict, so we know they can be trusted. We have a saying, ‘When a man comes home after a long absence he expects to find everything in order.’ ” “And what of the men,” I asked.

“They generally remain faithful to the women they leave behind,” he replied. “Only a few are lured away by the outside world and do not return.’

Galichnik welcomed us with the beating of drums and the wailing of bagpipes. The women and children came up to the cliff-top to meet us. They were dressed up in their, finery: colourful but cumbersome skirts, and short blue or red jackets embroidered with gold. They wore a great amount of jewellery, often in the form of strings of gold or silver coin. Most of them were dark-haired and the younger ones looked very attractive. Ornamented head-dresses indicated whether a woman was married or single. While the men are away the women look after their homes and children and run the town. They herd the sheep and cattle and bring supplies on donkey-back up the tremendous cliffs. They spin thread from homeproduced wool and weave it into colourful fabrics. Another of their traditional duties is to keep themselves attractive-looking well into middle age. That is how they make sure that their men will always come back. This remote town has more modern ideas of sanitation and convenience than many more accessible cities. Galichnik craftsmen who have worked in Canada, the United States, or Germany have brought back modern ideas of plumbing, lighting and sanitation. The town has telephones and electric light, radios, even baths. Since Galichnik is run for women by women, they usually see that women’s interests come first. For instance, I noticed that one house had an electrical ice-cream-making apparatus.

On the day of the mass-marriage I joined the crowd inside the church. The air was filled with the scent of incense. Before the altar stood the priest in his gold-embroidered robes. The place glittered with gilded ornaments, and little red lamps flickered before the holy pictures. Outside the sound of drums and bagpipes came steadily nearer. This was the escort of thq procession of brides and bridegrooms.

Nineteen couples were married on this occasion. They stood in a row in the open space before the altar while the priest read the marriage service. The sonorous Greek phrases seemed to rise and fill the church. When he had finished, the men replied. Then it was the turn of the women. Despite the fact that they are virtual rulers of the town, they promised to obey their husbands, as is the traditional custom of the Greek Catholics. Then an unseen choir burst into song. As the voices died away the priest blessed the kneeling couples. After the ceremony the feasting began. Following the custom of Galichnik, we all began a round of the houses. On the tables were roast meats, cakes, fruits, sweets, and fine Yugo-Slavian wines. Everywhere toasts were drunk to the newly-mar-ried couples. Then we all danced the Kolo, the national dance of Yugoslavia. Everybody forms into a huge circle and moves rhythmically round and round, while gipsy fiddlers scrape out wild tunes on their violins.

This is the beginning of the threedays’ carnival. But like all good things, it must come' to an end. and with it ends also the fortnight during which the men can remain in Galichnik. In threes and fours they start off down the winding track which leads again to the outside world. Soon Galichnik is left to the women once more. So it will remain for another year.