Jahorina hosted the cultural and sports event Meetings of Serbian Countries, bringing together 220 participants from the Republic of Srpska, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Croatia, with the aim of affirming Serbian culture and tradition.

The event continued with a skiing competition on Jahorina and an academy held at the Istočno Sarajevo Cultural Center at 17:00 on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the death of the Serbian poet Dobrica Erić, with participation of Srpski pravoslavni pojci from Belgrade, the singing group Prosvjeta from Vukovar, Srpski vez from Kumanovo, and declaring of the winner of the literary competition on the topic All my ancestors.

The official opening of the Meetings of Serbian Countries took place on Saturday, 30 March, at 14:00 in the House of Culture in Pale, and presented the skills of two national ensembles Venac and Kolo, together with ensembles from Pale, Banja Luka, Croatia and North Macedonia.

The President of the Dobrica Erić Association for the Defense of Cyrillic from Belgrade, Ljubinko Stojanović, said that the slogan of this year’s event was ‘30 years we exist in the sobornost of Serbia and Srpska’.

Stojanović pointed out that the event had originated from the idea of gathering and uniting Serbs, and that Jahorina had been chosen as a place where sobornost and unity could be demonstrated.

‘The first year we were in Jahorina, we started our event with the St Sava hymn. Saintsavaism is something that brings us all together,’ said Stojanović and added that the consecrated icons of St Sava would be awarded to deserving individuals who had been helping the organizers all these years.

He added that the event had brought together cultural and artistic societies and all that is of significant value in the field of culture.

Helena Inić from Gračanica says that it is her first time in Jahorina, that she is glad to take part in an event that nurtures Serbian culture and tradition, and she demonstrated her skill at the ceremonial academy.

The Meetings of Serbian Countries are organized by the Belgrade Association for the Defense of Cyrillic Dobrica Erić, the Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia, supported by long-standing friends of the event, and they lasted until Sunday, 31 March.

Source and photo: Republic of Srpska Representative Office in Serbia