WE and 'the others'

Presentation in Novi Pazar, 2007/10/23

The group from Novi Pazar organised a successful and well visited evening where they showed similarities and differences between the past and present way of life in an interesting and humorous way, pointing to the fact that positive things could result from interest and understanding of others around us. The programme was comprised of three parts: drama performance, exhibition and tasting traditional sweets of the region.

The big lobby of the Novi Pazar High School was crowded by the audience comprised of parents, High School students, activists of several NGOs from Novi Pazar and representatives of the local media. The event was covered by all local TV stations. At the very beginning, the participants expressed their gratitude for assistance and support to: the Historical Archive of Novi Pazar, the history teacher, the owner of the fashion company Stig, and all those who helped during the preparation.

The main theme of the drama performance was COURTSHIP IN PAZAR NOW AND THEN. The scenery was conceived as a kind of a fair where young people gathered. Specific ways of communication were described in a humorous and dynamic manner. Example: in the Christian and patriarchal community, a girl gives a white handkerchief to a boy, thus showing her affection. The Muslim way of showing affection and interest is putting "testije" on the ground. By mixing the modern life with tradition, they wrote telephone numbers on handkerchiefs and "testije", the boys were talking about their cars (as they used to talk about horses), and the girls, dressed in almost traditional costumes, were talking about the delivery of a new Avon mascara.

Everything was funny, lively and cheerful, extremely spontaneous. The interaction between the performers and audience was exceptional, followed by an exceptionally warm atmosphere throughout the evening. As a gift, all the visitors received a white handkerchief with the message «the handkerchief has been given, I will be yours» and a card with traditional local messages of good will. Everyone was happy to have received the gift.

The exhibition had three parts: Novi Pazar now and then (old, black and white photographs correlating with modern colour photographs); an interesting set of photographs where modern youth acted the courtship scenes in traditional ambient. The photographs were accompanied with very humorous comments; photo story about the summer camp and the youth from other towns. Their communities were presented with a lot of style and understanding. A hand-made poster was particularly interesting, showing a smiley face which had two different photographs of folklore groups (traditional Serbian and Schop dances) instead of eyes, and instead of smile a message saying – "notice diversity and respect it".

To our knowledge, this performance will be a part of the event on the occasion of the School Day, on November 20. Around 250 people were present at the event, including representatives of OSCE and Group 484.