Why a Booktrail?
Albania is a land of haunted history.
Albanian Folktales and Legends
Why a Booktrail?
Albania is a land of haunted history.
What you need to know before your trail
Folktales are living and breathing historical ribbons which are tied, broken and woven through decades, and centuries of a country’s soul. Whose imagination could not be captured by the cunning of the Scurfhead, by the demands of the Earthly Beauty, by the heroic feats of Muja and Halil or by the appearance of a fiery Kulshedra in the forest? Included in this collection are not only folktales but prose versions of some of the best-known Albanian legends (based on historical or mythological events and figures).
Travel Guide
Albania
The adventures of Muja and Halil and their band of mountain warriors are still told and indeed sung in epic verse in the northern Albanian mountains, and the exploits of the great Scanderbeg,
the Albanian national hero who freed large parts of the country from Turkish rule in the fifteenth century, are recounted everywhere Albanians gather, as if events five centuries old had taken place yesterday.
The fundamental theme of Albanian folktales, as no doubt folktales everywhere, is the struggle between good and evil, a reflection of social values as we perceive them.
Albanian folktales reveal not only a number of oriental features from the centuries when Albania formed an integral part of the Ottoman Empire.
In the first half of the 20th century, about 70% of the Albanian population was Muslim, 20% Orthodox and 10% Catholic
The Folk Institute of Folk Culture in Tirana and the Albanoligical Institute in Prishtina are the places to visit although much still has not been translated into English or other languages.
Some of those in this book are:
The Boy and the Earthly Beauty
Gijizar the Nightingale
The Bear and the Dervish
Muja and the Zanas
Scanderberg and Ballaban
Rozafat Castle
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Albanian Folktales and Legends
Destination : Albania Author/Guide: Robert Elsie
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