https://doi.org/10.7592/Sator.2017.18.02 11 Ethnographic Studies on the Montenegrin Festive Costume as a National Symbol Sofiya Zahova Balkan Ethnology Department, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
[email protected] The Montenegrin official national costume (known also asNjegoševa nošnja or the Costume of Njegos), and the Montenegrin hat as an integral part of it, are considered to be an important ethno-cultural marker for Montenegrins. They are the subject of special attention from the very first ethnographic records on Montenegro, and later in Yugoslav ethnology. Nowadays, the interpretation of national symbols of ethnic belonging related to the Montenegrin costume presents the two major scientific concepts of the genesis and identity of Montenegrins: one a pro-Serbian and the other a Montenegrin. This paper provides both an overview and an analysis of the ethno- graphic and historic scientific works on the Montenegrin costume, which view the costume as a marker of ethnic identity and national belongingness and from which two clear opposing positions can be identified. The dominating position (and chronologically the earliest) claims that the Montenegrin people are part of the Serbian national corpus, while the other states that the Montenegrins have had an autonomous and distinct historical and ethno-cultural development since medieval times. Since national costumes are usually seen as means to affirm national identity and are in the “register” of na- tional symbols, the article examines the scientific publications on the symbolic meanings of the Montenegrin costume in light of the wider context of interpretation of Montenegrin history and culture and their elements as ethno-cultural markers for Serbian or Mon- tenegrin identity amongst the Montenegrin people.