Everything about Krashovans totally explained
The
Krashovani (
Croatian and
Serbian:
Krašovani (Крашовани),
Karašovani or
Krašovanje,
Karaševci and
Koroševci;
Romanian:
Caraşoveni,
Cârşoveni,
Cotcoreţi or
Cocoşi,
Bulgarian: Крашовени,
Krashoveni; also known in
English as
Krashovans) are a
South Slavic people indigenous to
Caraşova and other nearby locations in
Caraş-Severin County within the
Romanian
Banat.
It is estimated that around 5,000 people compose the Krashovani community in Romania. At the 2002 census, only 207 persons identified as Krashovans at a national level. The vast majority identify today as
Croatian.
Geography
Krashovani form a majority in two
communes of Caraş-Severin County:
Caraşova and
Lupac.
According to the 2002 census in Romania, the population of the Caraşova commune comprised 84.60% Croats, 4.96% others (presumably Krashovan), 4.47%
Roma, 4.41%
Romanians, etc. The population of Lupac commune comprises 93.38% Croats, 5.32% Romanians, etc. The 79.75% of population of Caraşova municipality and 93.45% of population of Lupac municipality declared to speak Croatian as mother tongue in 2002 census.
Origin and history
Original Slavic settlements had existed in these regions before the Krashovan migration. Krashovani themselves are mostly descendants of the
Torlakian inhabitants of what is today eastern
Serbia, namely the region around the
Timok River.
Some of the Krashovani originate from
Turopolje region of present-day
Croatia (they are being referred as
Turopoljci). Because of the long-time influence of other Krashovani, who speak the
Torlakian dialect, the original (
Kajkavian) dialect of this group also became Torlakian. Other groups are supposedly Croats from the
Franciscan province of
Bosna Srebrena.
The Krashovani are also considered
Bulgarians by some (mainly Bulgarian) scientists from the first half of the 20th century (such as G. Cibrus, M. Mladenov, K. Telbizov, and T. Balkanski). These claims are partially based on the fact that these and some other scientists consider the entire Torlakian-speaking Slavic population ethnically Bulgarian, just as others consider it ethnically Serbian. The question of whether the Torlakian dialect belongs to the eastern or western branches of
South Slavic languages is also disputed, and it's often classified as a transitional dialect between the two.
Krashovani migration to Banat can be traced to the 1370s, when fleeing the
Ottoman onslaught, they moved there from Timok region (at that time ruled by
Bulgaria). The Catholic supremacy inside the
Kingdom of Hungary (to which the Banat region belonged at the time) may account for their distinctiveness from the rest of the Torlakian-speaking population in present-day eastern Serbia.
According to the
Austrian population census there were over 10,000 Krashovans in the Romanian Banat. In the 1847 census over 10,000 people declared as Carasovans. In 1896 the
Austro-Hungarian census around 7,500 Krashovans were listed. The same was stated by the authorities of the
Kingdom of Romania in 1940. Their number dropped to 2,775 in 1992.
Ever since the
Romanian Revolution, the government of Romania has awarded special minority status and privileges to its ethnic
Serb citizens. The
Democratic Union of Serbs and Krashovani of Romania (
Uniunea Democratică a Sârbilor si Caraşovenilor din România) was founded in 1989.
Language and religion
The dialect of the Krashovani is based on the
Torlakian as traditionally spoken in the area of eastern and southern Serbia and in the
Republic of Macedonia and
Bulgaria, the
Torlakian dialect of the Timok valley around
Zaječar. Torlakian as a linguistic entity forms a part of the
Balkan Linguistic Union; the Krashovani are the only speakers of a language - belonging to this union for having developed many shared features with the adjacent languages - which is detached from the main section. The population however, declare their language as
Croatian, probably along the ethnic lines.
However, their religion has more recently set them apart from
Eastern Orthodox Serbs in the Banat, despite the common language and a long history of solidarity (partly continued to this day through joint Serb-Krashovan organizations).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Krashovans'.
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