Vidovdan (
Serbian
Cyrillic: Видовдан) is a religious holiday,
St. Vitus' Day, whose feast is on
June 15.
Where the Eastern Orthodox Church still uses
the Julian Calendar, as in Serbia
, that date
coincides, in the 20th and 21st centuries, with June 28 in the Gregorian Calendar. In Bulgaria
it is called
Vidovden (Видовден) or Vidov Den (Видов ден) and is particularly
well-known in the western part of the country.
Vidovdan has long been considered a date of special importance to
ethnic
Serbs and
the
Balkans, the following events each took place on Vidovdan, but
are expressed here in the Gregorian Calendar:
- on
June 28, 1389, the Ottoman Empire fought against Serbia
in the
Battle of Kosovo, and Serbian
Prince Lazar was slain in
battle. Ottoman Sultan Murad I was killed by
Serbian knight Miloš
Obilić.
- on
June 28, 1914 the assassination
of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Franz Ferdinand,
triggers the First World
War.
- on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending
World War I.
- on
June 28, 1921, the Serbian King Alexander I proclaimed the new
Constitution of the Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution (Vidovdanski
ustav).
- on
June 28, 1948, the Cominform published, on the initiative of its
Soviet
delegates
Zhdanov, Malenkov and Suslov, in a "Resolution on the State of the
Communist Party of
Yugoslavia" their condemnation of the Yugoslavian communist
leaders - this happening is seen as the date that marks the final
split between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
- on June 28, 1989, on the 600th anniversary
of the battle of Kosovo, Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević delivered
the Gazimestan speech at the site
of the historic battle.
- on
June 28, 2001, Slobodan Milošević was deported
to ICTY
to stand trial.
- on
June 28, 2006, Montenegro
was announced as the 192nd member state of the
United Nations.
- on June 28, 2008 was the inaugural meeting
of the Community Assembly of
Kosovo and Metohija.
References
See also