Kosovo’s Young Turn to Fortunetellers for Counselling
Pristina | 06 July 2009 | By Shega A'Mula
The Holy book of Islam, the KoranFrom fortunetelling Imams with advice hotlines to mystics who perform prayers to secure good exam results – welcome to the strange world of mysticism which has put Pristina’s young women under a spell.
Caught between tradition and western influences, many are turning to soothsayers for advice and counselling, Balkan Insight can reveal. Shega A’Mula investigated why this section of the population is being pushed towards tarot cards and coffee readings, and discovered how these mystics conjure up a strange mix of folklore and Islam.
“You have been cursed by someone in your family,” the voice on the other end of the phone told me, just minutes into our conversation. “If you would like to get rid of this curse, all we need to do is meet.”
The next day, at the arranged spot near the Mother Teresa statue in Pristina, I spotted a small, mustachioed, middle-aged man in jeans and a polo shirt – it was Hoxha Latifi, a self-proclaimed imam and fortuneteller, whose advice hotline is popular with young Pristina urbanites.
We sat down in a nearby café. He asked me my date of birth and my mother’s name, requested a paper and pen from the waiter, and began scribbling numbers and Arabic script. After a few minutes of calculations, he delivered his diagnosis: I needed to drink blessed water, once a day for five days to rid myself of the curse and to find love. The cost – 35 euro.
Hoxha Latifi is just one of many soothsayers whose services are becoming increasingly popular in Kosovo.
Young, educated women struggling with the everyday travails of growing up, and torn between tradition and western influences, are shunning the psychiatric couch, or the comforting words of a friend, and turning to mysticisms.
At the home of Hajrie, a popular resident of a village near Fushe Kosove, a well-read Koran sits on the coffee table. A gaggle of well-dressed, young women have gathered in her makeshift sitting room, but they are not here to exchange gossip and enjoy a cup of Turkish coffee. They have travelled from across Kosovo to ‘peer into the future’ with the help of the holy book.
For 21-year-old Pristina native Fjolla, a visit to Hajrie, who reads fortunes and summons special prayers using the Koran, means success with her forthcoming exams. For her slightly older sister, Zana, it is a glimpse of her future life with her boyfriend which brings her to this Fushe Kosove suburb.
“She knew everything, and she helped me with all my problems. I’ve even been getting better marks on my exams,” Fjolla told Balkan Insight.
Fjolla and Zana are not the only young Kosovar women seeking the counsel of fortunetellers. A visit to a soothsayer is becoming a regular activity for a growing number of young women, from university students to young high-flying urbanites.
“All of my friends have been to fortunetellers around the country, and they continue to go whenever they have boy trouble or concerns about their family,” a female university student told Balkan Insight.
With a couple of phone calls, Balkan Insight was able to obtain contact details for dozens of fortunetellers from Pristina to Gjakova.
Fortuneteller Lumja in Vranjec, a neighbourhood of Pristina, had a similar throng of young twenty-somethings waiting in her sitting room, sipping Turkish coffee from small cups, which they would later hand over to reveal their supposed destinies in the dark grains.
“I come to see Lumja almost every week. She just knows things, and I like visiting her,” said one young woman waiting in line for a sitting with the fortuneteller.
Tarot reader Turkan, from Vushtrri, has also seen demand for her services grow, and travels to Pristina every Friday to accommodate the needs of the big city dwellers, who cannot make it out to her town on the road to Mitrovica.
“You can call me whenever you like on Fridays. I work from my sister’s hair salon in Pristina because many girls cannot make it to me here,” she said.
Fahredin Shehu, author and a researcher in mysticism and religion, told Balkan Insight that fortunetelling was brought to the Balkans more than 1,000 years ago by Roma travelers. Over the centuries, this ritual fused with Islam, creating what Shehu calls “a mix of mysticism and Islam”.
A void of spiritual influences and a declining interest in Islam may be one of the reasons why young woman are choosing to visit fortunetellers, Shehu believes.
“We have not learned to speak of spirituality within the Albanian language,” he said, adding that “Young woman are looking for help but ending up at the wrong address”.
Kosovo’s emergence from years of communism and repression has opened the door to western ideas and has paved the way for more opportunities for woman than ever before. It has also left some women caught between two worlds without the support network or communal knowledge to know where to turn.
“Young women in Kosovo are now exposed to the way other women are living around the world, and their lives have become more dynamic as well,” said Shehu.
Over 90 percent of Kosovars consider themselves Muslim, whether they practice it or not. However, Imam Driton Morina told Balkan Insight that fortunetelling is firmly forbidden by Islam.
“According to Islam, to be able to tell the future is not a human competency, and is only reserved for God, so it is not allowed,” he said.
Imam Morina added that fortunetellers use aspects of Islam to connect with their clients, who feel comfortable with the religion.
“Using Islam has a psychological affect. There is no way to predict the future with the Koran,” he added.
Leading Sociologist Anton Berishaj tells Balkan Insight that Kosovar society continues to hold negative stereotypes of psychiatry, creating an opportunity for other types of therapy.
“The young, notably young women, according to a backwards tradition, were not viewed positively if they were seen in hospitals or psychiatric wards,” he said, adding that “today, new generations of psychologists do not have enough institutional support to practice their profession”, further contributing to “an institutional vacuum in Kosovar society”.
Berishaj believes that because of fortunetelling’s folkloric background, it is more accepted as an alternative to psychiatric help.
“Young women and men need to renounce the traditions of their great-grandmothers who thought of magic and fortunetelling as the only salvation and cure,” he said.
“A psychologist needs to be seen as a person who helps restore energy, relief, relaxation.”
As one girl visiting Turkan in Vushtrri put it: “It’s not so much believing in what she tells you, but the fact that you can talk freely. It gives you hope.”
While the gift of divination remains questionable to many, Shehu explains that fortunetellers are able to put their clients in a type of trance, in order to better read their emotions and thoughts.
“They hypnotise you and feel your vibrations, that is how they are able to tell you what you are feeling,” he said.
And Hajrie from Fush Kosove appeared able to intercept Balkan Insight’s investigative purposes on a visit to her home.
“Why are you here? You are not here because you believe, but for other reasons,” she said.
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/features/20786
