Evening journal., 1914-12-18
TRADITIONS Of THE
Balkan REGIONS
Customs Of People Are Set
Out in Geographical
Society Bulletin
WAR TORN
FOR 1900 YEARS

/ W AAAh OANAN
FOR 1900 YEARS
WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. ls.- Some
of ,hc leading characteristics of the
Balkan region, that part OF the Wofld
which a confusion of races, languages,
customs, nations religions ard tradi-
lions has caused to DC the centuries
long theatre of seethne, incossant rclig-
ious and racial struggles, are described
in statement given to the press today
lby the National Geographic Society IL
says:
''Nlany peoples of many minds meet
on the fringe between the East and the
West, the Balkan peninsula and each OF
these peoples clings tcnaciously TO ITS
language, its traditions. it's religion, and
10 the manners and ways of its kind.
Several families of the Slavonic people,
each with its own tongue and patriot .
ism. are there The Turks, the Greeks,
and sprinkling of Germans. together
with many fragmentary types of peo-
pies from West and East, survivals OF
nations and tribes of yesterdays his
tory, add to the Kaleidoscope bcwildcr-
ment The Balkan lands are n Babel
through which no ordinary master OF
tongues may hope TO 80 without the aid
of an occasional interpreter and much
use of sign language.
"In the hearts Of most Of these peo
pies, no matter how small their land or
how little the world may know of them,
there is kept alive a fiery consciousness
of their nationality. The Montcnegrinl
Is as devoted native of his small bowl
of a country among the mountains as isl
the citizen of our own United States,
the difference being. where any, that the
Montenegrin reminds himself much more
often of his nationality and its advan-
tages than does the average American.
With the sharp racial, tribal and lin
gual divisions OF the Balkan peoples, re-
ligious divisions exert a far more pow
erful distinctive influence there than is
the case with us. Greek Orthodox,
Roman Catholic. various Protestant
confessions, and the Mohammedan faith
have served to segregate these people
from one another.
"All the energy, destruction and
clamor which the friction between its
many contrary types Of people and
ideals has occasioned, has retarded
the development Of the Balkan penin-
sula so that IL Is some generations be-
hind the achievements Of the West;
and the traveller in the byways OF this
country has had TO put up with those
same Inconvenience which he would
encounter in undeveloped Asia. The
roads In the Balkans are bad, in most
cases mere cattle and footpaths. The
villages are squalid, ill-kept without
improvements. without comforts
without conveniences. The means OF
transportation are uncertain: the
mules are undependable the railway
trains are capricious, boats move &C.
cordlng to the tempers OF their cap.
tains and the moods OF their en-
gineers, while the treacherous road
make horse and cart risky adven
ture. Furthermore, the law and or
der Of much of the Balkan lands is a
best a matter OF considerable uncer
tainty.
THE Balkan peninsula has beer
war-torn for nineteen hundred year,
or more. War became a continuoui
experience of its people with the com
ing Of the Romans, and. under thu
900 years of the rule Of Byzantium
when this east Roman empire die
- yearly outpost duty for Christendon
~ until its destruction by the Turk, thu
Balkan people definitely took th'
place which they hold today, that o
being a buffer people between al
upper and neither milestone. An out
post of the West IN the East, the.
have been everlastingly employees
with fighting both the East and tn
West or among themselves, which ha
helped 10 make the Balkan peninsula
a the poorest stretch Of land in Bu
rope"
The society gives the following de
scription OF Czestochowa. which ha
figured during the past few days i
the campaign I'm Poland:
"Czestochowa, called by the Ger
mans Czentochau, a city in Russia
Poland, is one of the foremost Mecca
of the pilgrimage going Slavonlani
More than Western Christians {
whatever creed go to Jerusalem
more than Roman Catholics go
Rome or Protestants TO Eisenach an
Geneva. do the Slavonians, in pal
ticular the Russians. take up the pl
grim's staff and wander TO their hol
places. These people of the north al
akin TO the people Of India IN th'
force OF their religion which drive
them from their homes on religion
pilgrimage.
Famed throughout Hussla, foidh
and among the southern Slavonian
is the little city of Czestochow
wherein is the shrine of the wonde
working Black Madonna. Many sc
and daughter Of the dreary, goveri
ment-ridden Steppes and of bond-he
Poland feels that he or she left tol
and harried spirit or some physical Il
trinity before the magic of this pain
ing
n "Czenstochowa is gray in age al
gray in stirring history. Il is a ci
. on the southwestern Polish platea
M some 500 feet above sea level, Of q
900 inhabitants. capital OF a coun
of the same name in the Russian-PG
ish government of Piotrkow, and 1t
situated about II miles from the &c
man frontier at Lower Shes
Czestochowa lies on the left bank
the Warta, northwest of Cracow. al
can is an important station on the wa
.I7c saw-Cracow railway. II is l4S mil
3. 'oc southwest OF Warsaw.
Commercially, the city IS OF no J
3sc portance. It's business is mostly W
s2c the pilgrims, of whom more than 40