I'm sharing this video clip again. In my previous post, it was with Hindi subs instead of English subs - Duh!

Women who acquired men's freedom
They are known as burrnesha, or sworn virgins.

The roots of the burrnesha tradition originate from the Kanun, an ancient constitution used in Kosovo and northern Albania in the 15th century, upon which Albanian society was organised. Under these patriarchal laws, women were considered their husband's property.

"They didn't have the right to decide their own destiny, or to choose their own lives," says Aferdita Onuzi, an ethnographer who has studied the burrneshat.

"If a girl was to be engaged - that was decided without ever asking her; neither the age at which she would be engaged, nor the person to whom she would be engaged."

There are still many misconceptions that swirl around the tradition. Becoming a sworn virgin was not commonly a decision based on sexuality or gender identity, but rather on a special social status it afforded those who took the oath.

"The choice of a girl to become a sworn virgin has nothing to do with sexuality, it is simply a choice to have another role, another position in the family," says Aferdita.

But becoming a burrnesha was also a way to escape an arranged marriage, without dishonouring the groom's family.

"This decision meant they could avoid a blood feud between two families," says Aferdita.

The rules governing blood feuds have long been codified in the Kanun, which helped to bring order to the lives of tribes in northern Albania, particularly during its incorporation in the Ottoman Empire.

Under Kanun law, blood feuds were a social obligation to safeguard honour. They could begin with an action as small as a threat or an insult, but could sometimes escalate into a killing, after which the victim's family would be expected to seek their own justice by killing the murderer, or another male in the guilty party's family.

For many young women of the era, swearing an oath of celibacy exempted them from blood feuds.

"It was a way for them to escape", says Aferdita.

The tradition has evolved over time, moving away from forced decisions to active choices. "The difference between the classic burrneshat, in the ethnographic sense, and today's burrneshat is very important to note… Today it's a completely personal decision," says Aferdita.

Read on: [bbc.co.uk]