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Commemorating Defeats · 24 February 2008, 14:50 CET by Charles Vermeulen

Odd as it may seem that the battle of Kosovo of 1389, during which a ‘Serbian’ army was defeated by an army led by Ottoman Sultan Murad on the Kosovo Polje, plays such prominent a role in the Serbian, ethnic tradition, it is not a unique phenomenon. In his ‘Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity’ Anthony D. Smith (Oxford and New York 2003, page 222) lines up three, similar examples of defeats that are treated as defining moments by the defeated ethnic or religious groups in question instead of being smuggled away as something to be ashamed of:

"Not only heroes, but battles, too, were commemorated and pondered, and, as one might expect, defeats more than victories. We saw this already with the annual commemoration every 2 June of the Armenian defeat at the battle of Avarayr in 451, and the canonization of the Armenian commander, Vardan Mamikonian – a battle that was interpreted as martyrdom for both faith and country. Jews likewise commemorate the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem and, in the tradition, of the First and Second Temples on the Fast of Av, when the Book of Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah is recited. These have their Islamic counterparts in the Shi’ite commemorations of the battle of Karbala in 680, when Husain was slain."

Smith also provides us with an explanation for this phenomenon: ’(...) [D]efeats and, we might add, exile impose obligations more than victories. As important, they provide models for the interpretation of later defeats and persecutions.’

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