The Mijaks have traditionally occupied the Mala Reka region along with the Torbeš, Macedonian-speaking Muslims. The area including the Bistra mountain and Radika region has been termed Mijačija (Мијачија). To the east is the ethnographic region of the Brsjaks.
The Mijaks traditionally inhabited the villages of Galičnik, Lazaropole, Tresonče, Selce, Rosoki, Sušica, Gari and Osoj. However, the majority of Mijak villages are uninhabited as most of the inhabitants left during the 20th century. The villages Oreše, Papradište, Gorno Vranovci and Melnica in the Veles region were populated by Mijaci during Ottoman rule in Macedonia.[1] The village of Smilevo, in the Bitola region, is also considered to be a Mijak village, in regards to its architecture and history.[2] The north-western quarter of Kruševo was populated by Mijaks.[3]
History
Historical flag of the Mijaks
Middle Ages–18th century
Their ethnonym is unclear.[4][full citation needed] There is a theory that the Mijaks were the first to permanently settle this area; they found mostly Vlachs, who seem to have not been permanently settled; the Mijaks pushed the Vlachs out of the pasture lands, some of whom they assimilated.[5] According to another theory the Mijaks are the remains of an old Slavic tribe that inhabited the area of the Salonica field and was engaged mostly in the cattle breeding.[6] This theory is also confirmed by the legends for the founding of the one of the most significant Mijak settlements as Galičnik.[7]
The Brsjaks and Mijaks did not live geographically scattered prior to the Ottoman conquest.[8]
A proportion of Mijaks converted to Islam during the 16th and 17th centuries, and they are known by the name Torbeši.[9]
In the 18th century, the Mijaks had an armed conflict with the Islamized population regarding pasture lands.[10]
Georgi Pulevski was born in 1817. He published a three-language dictionary promoting the Macedonian language and nation as a separate and different from the neighbors.
In 1822, an unpublished lexicographical work by Panajot Ginovski, "Mijački rečnik po našem govoru", was written, containing 20,000 words.[11]
In the summer of 1875, referendum was held on the church affiliation of the Christians in Debar county (kaza). The majority supported the accession to the Bulgarian Exarchate. Only 2 villages and 20 houses in Debar supported the Patriarchate of Constantinople, perceived by local Bulgarians as Greek church.[12]
This was made after the Principality of Bulgaria received most of the Macedonia region by the Ottoman Empire, and the earlier establishment and expansion of the Bulgarian Exarchate (February 28, 1870; in 1874, Skopje and Ohrid voted in favour of the Exarchate).
20th century
During the Ilinden uprising in Kruševo (August 2–3, 1903), a known Mijak involved was Veljo Pecan.[13][full citation needed] During the guerilla period, the Mijaks were divided into those that identified with Serbia and those that did with Bulgaria; one Serbian vojvoda was Doksim Mihailović from Galičnik, while the Bulgarian vojvods were under Maksim N. Bogoja. Tale Krastev, Ivan Pendarovski, Rade Yankulovski, Kiro Simonovski, Yanaki Tomov,[14] Apostol Frachkovski etc. One of the leaders and founders of IMARO, Damyan Gruev is also a Mijak (from Smilevo).
The Mijaks are well known for the extent to which old customs are preserved in their everyday life. The pečalba (seasonal work) was a deeply entrenched tradition of the Mijaks; males in their 20s would often leave the village for months, or even years, at a time, in order to work in more prosperous regions and create wealth for the family — this has contributed to the dispersion of Mijak families, with villages now deserted or sparsely populated.
Mijaks had mastered the craft of woodcarving, and for many years a wood carving school operated in the Mala Reka region. They were responsible for the intricate wood carving which is found inside the Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery, which is considered to be the best in North Macedonia.
The Galičnik Wedding Festival (Галичка свадба) is the name of a traditional wedding and its characteristic ceremony, which is annually held on Petrovden (St. Peter feast day, 12 July), in which a couple is chosen to receive the wedding and be shown on national television. The Teškotooro (lit. "the hard one"), a shepherd folk dance of the Mijaks, is one of the national dances of North Macedonia.
Some Mijaks believe that Skanderbeg, the Albanian military commander and national hero, hailed from Mijačija.[15][page needed]
Architecture
Mijak architecture has become a defining factor in the culture of the Mijaks. The Mijaks were among the most skilled masons[16] and they helped wealthy Aromanians develop Kruševo into a large, prosperous and beautiful city in the 18th century. Apart from some masons from the Kriva Palanka region, they were the most proficient in all Macedonia and the Balkans. The Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery is built in the Mijak style.
The Mijaks traditionally speak the Galičnik dialect and Reka dialect. Typical characteristics of the "Mijački govor" (Macedonian: Мијачки говор), Mijak speech, include:
Their speech include peculiarities (in relation to standard Macedonian), such as ovde, onde, kode, koga, zašto, dojdi, etc.[17]
Ethnography
Mijaks have been subject to ethnographic studies by Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbian scholars. According to the 2002 census, in the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostuša there were 4,349 Macedonians (50.46%), 2,680 Turks (31,10%), 1,483 Albanians (17.21%), and smaller numbers of Bosniaks (0.36%), Roma (0.12%), Serbs (0.07%) and others (0.68%); In the Municipality of Debar there were a total of 19,542 inhabitants, of which 11,348 Albanians, 3,911 Macedonians, 2,684 Turks, 1,080 Roma, 22 Serbs, 3 Bosniaks, 2 Vlachs and 492 others.[18]
In their works from the beginning of the 20th century, Bulgarian ethnographers Vasil Kanchov and Dimitar Michev describe the local Mijak population as Bulgarian.[19][20] The researcher Georgi Traychev from Prilep also describes the Mijaks as part of the Bulgarian people, different from the other, neighboring ethnographic Bulgarian groups as the Brsjaks.[21]
Genetic Studies
Zupan et al. (2020) examined samples from 44 Mijak males from Galičnik. In terms of Y-dna, Mijaks are located under haplogroups R1a-M458 (56.8%) and R1b-U106 (25%). Other haplogroups include G2a-P15 (11.4%) and E-M215 (4.5%). The high percentage of R1a-M458 among Mijaks associates them more closely with west Slavic groups who have a high frequency of R1a-M458, in particular Poles.[22]
^Трайчев, Георги. Книга за мияците (Историко-географски очерк), София, 1941, с. 10. (Traychev, Georgi. Book for the Miyaks (Historical and Geographical Sketch), Sofia, 1941, p. 10.) И така, мияците са малоброен остатък от старо-славяно-българско колено, което населявало Солунско с пастирски поминък, който поминък ги заставил да търсят удобни прибежища и пасбища за многобройните си стада от овце и коне...
^Тодоровски, Глигор. Малореканскиот предел. Општествено-економски и просветни прилики во 80-те години на XIX век до крајот на Првата светска војна, Скопје 1970, с. 14. (Todorovski, Gligor. The area of Mala Reka. Socio-economic and educational opportunities from the 1880s to the end of the First World War, Skopje, 1970, p. 14.)
^Simpozijum seoski dani Sretena Vukosavljevića. Opštinska zajednica obrazovanja. 1974. p. 35. Сретен Вукосав- л>евић је посветио извесну пажњу старим познатим Брсјацима и Мијацима. Говорећи о њима, он истиче: Брсјаци и Мијаци нису били разбијени пре турског освајања.
^Маркова, Зина. Българската екзархия 1870-1879, София, 1989, стр. 97. (Markova, Zina. The Bulgarian Exarchate 1870-1879, Sofia, Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1989, p. 97.) На 9 май 1875 г. екзарх Антим препраща на братя Робеви в Битоля правителствената заповед до вилаетското началство за провеждане на истилями в деборска епархия. Те се провеждат през летните месеци. Според информацията за техния ход в Дебърската каза само две села и 20 къщи в града са се изказали за гръцката църква. Въз основа на резултатите Дебърската община моли за отстраняването на гръцкия митрополит и за назначаването на екзархийски наместник.
^Keith Brown, "The past in question: modern Macedonia and the uncertainties of nation" (2003), p. 82
^Николов, Борис Й. Вътрешна македоно-одринска революционна организация . Войводи и ръководители (1893 – 1934). Биографично-библиографски справочник. София, 2001, стр. 86, 126, 168, 151, 196. (Nikolov, Boris Y. Internal Macedonian-Odrin Revolutionary Organization. Vojvods and leaders (1893 - 1934). Biographical-Bibliographic Reference Book. Sofia, 2001, p. 86, 126, 151, 168, 196.)
^Kanchov, Vasil (1900), Македония. Етнография и статистика [Macedonia. Ethnography and statistics] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Българско книжовно дружествово, p. 32
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