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Of the Strange Lineage of the Cici
Elio Predonzani
Italiano
[Source: © L'Arena di Pola,
6 april 1949, p. 3 - http://arenadipola.com/articoli/3682.]
As here above
Trieste
we observe the border running from northwest to
south-east, which delimited the plateau of the Carso
towards the Adriatic, thus continuing in Istria
along this border - which became ever higher - it
delimits in the areas of
Buzet and of Rozzo in Carso
Tavoliere known [as being of] the Cici.
It is a characteristic
region, even singular in many respects, which
reaches the foot of
Ucka (Monte Maggiore). It is partly
wooded, where the beech dominates and from barren,
lean extensions, real stones, mere exposure of karst
bones. In this brief poor region lives one of the
Istrian populations today classified among the
Slavs, for which the story is however quite complex.
Much has been written
about the origin of the Cici as well as the
derivation of this name that they assumed in
hysteria and there were many hypotheses. Among
scholars, the opinion advanced by T. Peisker seems
to be the most reliable. He associates them with the
Morlach lineage that the Latins called Latini
nigri and that the Slavs called vlasi. Let us
therefore repeat what Peisker told himself:
The Morlachs currently
scattered in various places between
Trieste and the
borders of Albania were originally Turanian nomadic
shepherds who immigrated between the 15th and 16th
centuries to the Balkan Peninsula. During the
following two centuries they managed to be
completely Romanised. But to restart a movement of
transmigration they passed in superior Moesia, in
Dardania, in the two Transdanubian Thraces. As the
centuries passed, they found themselves in ever
different lands: first in Bosnia, then in Macedonia.
From here, in large waves, they moved during the
second half of the XIII century not a not not with
everything from here in large waves they moved
during the second half of the XIII century to the
Adriatic coasts.
We have reliable news of these vlachi or
Vlachs or Romanians since 1530. And in Istria they were coined
and remained in the name of Cici or Cicci. Why were they
called that? Perhaps from ciccia which in Wallachian means
cousin, and is used as an interlayer by them not
interpelling each other, as elsewhere they say compare or
barba (Istria), or brate (brother in Dalmatia). Perhaps
instead from the frequent use of the sound pronounced c in
their speech.Be that as it may, it
is important to know that when the other Morlachs who
immigrated to an Adriatic territory were already Slavicized,
these Cici of ours still kept alive in neo-Latin (Romanian)
language, so much so that only forty years ago, questioning
us boys, some cicio who had come down from his board in our
countries with a load of coal: "What race are you?" We were
told "Ruman". And they added that
they had brought carbuna (coal) for sale. The Cicis,
originally shepherds, have in fact become manufacturers of
charcoal in all the wooded areas of the
Ciceria.
They went down to sell their product both in
Istria and in
Trieste, with large carts pulled by horses and
were dressed in their traditional and unmistakable rough
costume.Today there are few Romanians in Istria
who speak their language anymore. And even a few survivors must be
sought out of
Ciceria in seven villages of the Municipality of
Valdarsa where they rapidly lose ground and will soon be absorbed
like the others by the neighboring nationality. During the last two
centuries, the population of the tableland has assimilated the
language of the Croatian race mixed with the Serbian
(Serbo-Croatian) common to the Slavs who live between the Dragonja
and the Mirna, to the Liburnians who live beyond the Vena to the
Slavs of the Albonese and Valdarsa to those of the islands of
Carnaro. But the type of the population of
Ciceria despite the
language still resembles the Roman type. They are people of fiery
temperament, quick and quick wit, animated attitudes. Above all the
facial features and the person's bearing help to distinguish them
from the Slavs.
It was the Morlachs who brought their own
resources to isolate picturesque municipalities decorated
with the gentle embroidery of lively well-harmonized colors
since ancient times. But the Cici have reduced their
costume to something simpler and less showy. What remains is
a brown hairy wool capitone without a collar, in the lapels,
or sleeves, except sometimes only the left sleeve. Their
breeches are close fitting to the legs and enter the lower
end into the stockings. The headdress consists of a low
cylindrical cap without a peak or visor, usually made of
cloth. Under the big jacket they have shirts or wool
sweaters. Even the trousers are of wool, white and hairy,
and all the clothing is of home-made workmanship. The shoes
are a beautiful opank: a sole that adapts to the sole of the
foot and ends at the toe on the front, from whose raised
edge everything starts with a linear design of red Indian
strips that cover the back of the foot and intertwine on the
ankles. To protect themselves from the more intense cold,
they provide themselves with a woolen blanket that has
frayed edges. The female also has a coat, similar to the
male's decreen, but down to the calf. She covers her head
with a colored fringed handkerchief. Under her coat he wears
a belted robe and ties a cord around his hips.
The Slavs of Serbian lineage that the
Istrians called Morlachs are the inhabitants of inland areas
between the Quieto and the Arsa. Their costume does not
differ much from that of the Cici but is worn with less
grace. These Serbs who were in a more backward cultural
state than other Istrian Slavs were transported from
Herzegovina and Dalmatia in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Istria is varied in quantity of lineages and
such as to perhaps surpass in this regard any other land of
such a small space. The linguistic stocks that it hosts are
reduced to two main ones, Italian is formed of a single
compact lineage, original, at least as old as the imperial
Roman world, Slavic is divided and subdivided into several
lineages that are dissimilar in origin, by language, by
traditions and customs, and even (like the Orthodox
Montenegrin group of
Peroj near
Vodnjan) by religion. There
should be a treaty. And we will see the Beschini and the
Savrini challenge each other on the
Rijeka road and in the
lands between the Vena Mountains and the Dragogna; the Tucki
(Slovene-Croatian bloodlines) of Pinguentino, the
Serbo-Croatians and the Serbs we mentioned above.
Today the popular customs have disappeared
and the populations of the villages of the suburbs end up
appearing to us all the same. It must have been beautiful in
the old days to run in the space of a few hours relatively
short streets, passing among people dressed in different
styles, from monotonous to lively, dressy and graceful, from
roses to elegant. A century ago it would have been enough to
have been transported in a mail carriage from
Trieste to
Piran, from
Koper to
Pazin, from
Poreč to
Labin, or from
Pula to
Rovinj. The variety could have satisfied the most
insatiable among fans of ethnography and folklore. |