Etymology

History

Early period

In 1788 the first Austrian population census was conducted – it called Bunjevci ''Illyrians'' and their language the Illyrian language. It listed 17,043 Illyrians in Subotica. In 1850 the Austrian census listed them under ''Dalmatians'' and counted 13,894 Dalmatians in the city. Despite this, they traditionally called themselves ''Bunjevci''. The Austro-Hungarian censuses from 1869 onward to 1910 numbered the Bunjevci distinctly. They were referred to as "bunyevácok" or "dalmátok" (in the 1890 census). In 1880 the Austro-Hungarian authorities listed in Subotica a total of 26,637 Bunjevci and 31,824 in 1892.

In 1910, 35.29% of population of the Subotica city (or 33,390 people) were registered as "others"; these people were mainly Bunjevci. In 1921 Bunjevci were registered by the Royal Yugoslav authorities as speakers of Serbian or Croatian language – Subotica city had 60,699 speakers of Serbian or Croatian or 66.73% of the total city population. Allegedly, 44,999 or 49.47% were Bunjevci. In the 1931 population census of the Royal Yugoslav authorities, 43,832 or 44.29% of the total Subotica population were Bunjevci.

It is estimated that a few tens of thousands of Bunjevci were Magyarized in the 19th and early 20th century. Croat national identity was adopted by some Bunjevci in the late 19th and early 20th century, especially by the majority of the Bunjevac clergy, notable, the bishop of Subotica Ivan Antunović (1815–1888) supported the notion of calling Bunjevci and Šokci with the name Croats.

1880 saw the founding of the ''Bunjevačka stranka'' ("the Bunjevac party"), an indigenous political party. During this time, opinions varied on whether the Bunjevci should try to assert themselves as Croats or as an independent ethnic group.

Yugoslavia

During the late World War II, Partisan General Božidar Maslarić spoke on the national councils in Sombor and Subotica on 6 November 1944 and General Ivan Rukavina on Christmas in Tavankut in the name of the Communist Party about the ''Croatdom of the Bunjevci''. After 1945, in SFR Yugoslavia the census of 1948 did not officially recognize the Bunjevci (nor Šokci), and instead merged their data with the Croats, even if a person would self-declare as a Bunjevac or Šokac. The Yugoslav communist government counted Bunjevci (and Šokci) as part of Croatian national corpus. Proponents of a distinct Bunjevac ethnicity regard this time as another dark period of encroachment on their identity, and feel that this assimilation did not help in the preservation of their language. The censuses of 1953 and 1961 also listed all declared Bunjevci as Croats. The 1971 population census listed the Bunjevci separately under the municipal census in Subotica upon the personal request of the organization of Bunjevci in Subotica. It listed 14,892 Bunjevci or 10.15% of the population of Subotica. Despite this, the Province and Federal authorities listed the Bunjevci as Croats, together with the Šokci and considered them that way officially at all occasions. In 1981 the Bunjevci made a similar request – it showed 8,895 Bunjevci, or 5.7% of the total population of Subotica.

After Yugoslav breakup

The community, however, has been divided around the issue of the name: in the 1991 census, in terms of ethnicity, around 21,434 inhabitants of Vojvodina declared themselves Bunjevci (17,527 in Subotica alone – or 11.7%) whereas some 74,808 declared themselves Croats; in 2002, there were 19,766 Bunjevci (16,254 in Subotica – or 10.95%) and around 56,546 Croats in Vojvodina.

Note that not all of the Croats in Vojvodina have Bunjevac roots; the other big group are Šokci, and also, many Croats are descendants of Croat colonists, settled in 1945–1948 (29,111 post-WWII colonists in Vojvodina, out of 356,000, were ethnic Croats).

In the Subotica region, there were 17,439 Bunjevci and 16,369 Croats in 1991. The historically Bunjevac village of Donji Tavankut had 989 Bunjevci, 877 Croats, and 600 declared as Yugoslavs. A 1996 survey by the local government in Subotica found that in the community, there are many people who declare as Croats and consider themselves Bunjevci, but also some people who declare as Bunjevci but consider themselves part of the wider Croatian nation. The same survey found that the delineation between the pro-Croat and pro-Bunjevac positions correlated with the delineation between the people who were more supportive towards the then ruling regime in Serbia that did not favor special rights for national minorities, and conversely those who were against the then government and more interested in minority rights and connections with what they saw as their second homeland.

Today, both major parts of the community (the pro-independent Bunjevac one and the pro-Croatian one) continue to consider themselves ethnologically as Bunjevci, although each subscribing to its interpretation of the term.

In early 2005, the Bunjevac issue was again popularized when the Vojvodina government decided to allow the official use of "''bunjevački'' language with elements of national culture" in schools in the following school year the štokavian-ikavian dialect. This was protested by the Croatian Bunjevac community as an attempt of the government to widen the rift between the two Bunjevac communities. They favour integration, regardless of whether some people declared themselves distinct, because minority rights (such as the right to use a minority language) are applied based on the number of members of the minority. As opposed to this, supporters of pro-Bunjevci option are accusing Croats for attempts to assimilate Bunjevci. In 2011, Bunjevac politician Blaško Gabrić and Bunjevac National Council asked Serbian authorities to start juristic criminal responsibility procedure against those Croats who denying the existence of Bunjevci ethnicity, which is, according to them, violation of laws and constitution of the Republic of Serbia.

In Hungary, Bunjevci are not officially recognized as a minority, government simply consider them Croats. In April 2006 a Bunjevci group began collecting subscriptions to register Bunjevci as a distinct minority group. In Hungary, 1,000 valid subscriptions are needed to register an ethnic minority with historical presence. By the end of the given 60 days period the initiative gained over 2,000 subscriptions of which cca. 1,700 were declared valid by national vote office and Budapest parliament gained a deadline of January 9, 2007 to solve the situation by approving or refusing the proposal. No other such initiative has reached that level ever since minority bill passed in 1992. On 18 December the National Assembly of Hungary refused to accept the initiative (with 334 No and 18 Yes votes). The decision was based on the study of the Hungarian Academy of Science that denied the existence of an independent Bunjevac minority (they stated that Bunjevci are a Croatian subgroup). The opposition of Croatian minority leaders also played part in the outcome of the vote, and the opinion of Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

The Bunjevac National Council has given mandate to Mirko Bajić, the President of the People's Democratic Party of Vojvodina, to represent the persons declared solely as Bunjevac on the Democratic Party list for the 21st January 2007 parliamentary republican election in Serbia.

Geography

Serbia

All villages are in the Subotica municipality. According to the 2002 census, Bunjevac population in all of these villages was divided about their ethnic identification, since part of the Bunjevac population declared themselves as Bunjevci, another part as Croats and another part as Yugoslavs. However, only in the village of Ljutovo, the number of Bunjevci who declared themselves as such is larger than the number of those who declared themselves as Croats. As opposed to this, number of declared Bunjevci in the city of Subotica is larger than the number of declared Croats.

Bunjevci also live in other settlements in northern and western Bačka, in which they do not form the majority of population. These settlements are mostly concentrated in the municipalities of Subotica and Sombor. The largest concentration of Bunjevci in Serbia (10,870) is in the ethnically mixed city of Subotica, which is their cultural and political centre. Other settlements with large Bunjevac concentration include Sombor (2,222) and Bajmok (1,266).

Hungary

Villages partially populated by Bunjevci in the past (today fewer than 70 people):

Culture

Traditionally, Bunjevci are associated with land and farming. Large, usually isolated farms in Northern Bačka are called ''salaši'', and historically most of Bunjevci people are associated with them. Most of their customs celebrate the land, and their most important feasts (other than Christmas and weddings) are:

''Dužijanca'' celebration of harvest end, and the most famous festival as well as a tourist attraction. It consists of several events held in Bunjevci-populated places (Bajmok, Tavankut), with the central celebration held in Subotica. ''Dužijanca'' includes religious celebrations devoted to harvest, street procession and performing of Bunjevci folklore and music. ''Krsno ime'' a celebration of a patron saint of the family. ''Kraljice'' ceremonial processions held on Pentecost. ''Divan'' a meeting of young boys and girls for singing and dancing in a place afar from their parents. The custom has been forbidden by church authorities already in mid-19th century.

''Bunjevačke novine'' (''Bunjevac newspaper'') are the main newspaper in Bunjevac language/dialect, published in Subotica.

Distinguished Bunjevci

Blaško Rajić was a Bunjevac patriot from the late 19th century and first half of 20th century, who participated in the Paris peace conference after WWI.

Other famous Bunjevci include aviation pioneer and athlete Ivan Sarić, cousin of writer Zvonko Sarić.

Famous scientists

Famous writers

Famous politicians

References

External links

Category:Ethnic groups in Hungary Category:Ethnic groups in Serbia Category:Ethnic groups in Vojvodina Category:Slavic ethnic groups Category:Croatian diaspora Category:Croats of Vojvodina Category:Croats of Hungary Category:Bačka Category:South Slavs

This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.

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