Koći

Geography

Koći lies east of the capital Podgorica, north of Ubli. Koći is a village in the southeastern part of Kuči, called Kučka Krajina ("Kuči frontier") in eastern Montenegro, bordering Albania (see this geo-morphological map, legend B30). Kučka Krajina also compose Orahovo, Zatrijebač and Fundina. Kuči is one of the seven highlander tribes that constituted Brda ("the Hills") in the Principality of Montenegro.

Along with Albanian-inhabited Hoti and Gruda, Koći is, from Albanian point of view, part of the wider Malësia-region (Malesija).

Early history

In the mid-15th century Kuči is mentioned as a Serbian Orthodox tribe. When the Ottoman Empire occupied the Kuči area, the 1484 Ottoman defter (tax registry) registered 208 households in 11 villages. In the next one, 1497, it had had 338 households in 9 katuni (Pavlovići, Petrovići, Lješovići, Bitidosi, Lopari, Bankeći, Banjovići, Lazorce and Koći) and 2 villages.

17th to 19th century

The Koći area had only Serbian hamlets prior to the Albanian immigration in the 17th century. The families that are known to have inhabited Koći prior to the Albanian immigration were: Bakečević and Loparci (Banjović, now in Lopare), along with other families whose surnames are not known. The Albanians (Mari and Gorvoki), originally from Vukelji in Klimenti, had moved from Podgrad in Orahovo to Koći where they found Serbs who they expelled by force, except the Bakečević whom they subsequently entered kinship with and Albanianized. The plot of Jabuka was first settled in the first half of the 18th century, when the Kuči moved families there from the village of Kućište at the sources of the Ribnica river, due to Kućište being an obstacle in the warfare against the Ottomans. Those families, Ivačević and Purušić, then moved to Koći after quarreling with the lord of Jabuka, and entered kinship with the Mari, and subsequently Albanianized. In the mid-18th century, the Stjelović fled Rovca and settled Jabuka. The Albanian Nuculović originally from Kastrati, had settled in Jabuka after the Stjelović, whom they befriended. At the end of the 18th century there was fighting between the Albanian Koći and Kuči Serbs, after which the Nuculović together with the Stjelović moved from Jabuka to Koći, where the Stjelović subsequently Albanianized. By the early 19th century, the families of Serb origin in Koći were fully Albanianized. The Albanian immigrants in Koći were divided from the Kuči at the beginning, while the Albanians and Albanized Serbs in Zatrijebač, divided somewhat geographically from Kuči, acted more as their own tribe. The Albanians settled down when Kuči had some kind of tribal organization together with the Malissori, from which the only remnant of Malissori tribes are the small Zatrijebač and Koći, who are today part of the united tribe of Kuči.

At the beginning of the Montenegrin–Ottoman War, the Kuči rose up against the Ottomans, who started dispatching soldiers at the frontier, including at Koći. The Piperi and Kuči together attacked Koći, of whom they killed a small part, and defeated, while they found Turks in tower houses whom they wanted to destroy with wooden cannons. A Kuči epic poem regarding the war tells how Abdi Pasha the Cherkessian with 20,000 soldiers from the sanjak of Scutari and the sultan went to attack the Kuči and Piperi. The poem tells how part of the army went towards Koći (which the poem calls "damned, having no faith or law"), and then having clashed in Zatrijebač and Fundina.

According to Spiridon Gopčević, the area of Koći included 10 km² and 550 inhabitants, out of which 480 were Catholics, 40 Orthodox, and 25 Muslims (1877).

20th century

In 1904, the small landscape of Koći was known as the village of Koće, which had 49 inhabitants. Traveler Arso Milatović (who wrote a travel book on his experiences 1935–45) stayed at Koći and described it as "a village neighbouring Malesija, misplaced and rugged, which a horse can't reach, thus donkeys and mules walk the rocks as squirrels on branches". The inhabitants were Catholics, and the village had a church and priest, fra Marko. A church was built by the ethnic Albanian migrant workers who left the village for Europe in the period of 1964–74. The village population has since massively decreased.

Families

J. Erdeljanović (1874–1944), who had stayed in Kuči in September and August 1904, wrote a large work about the geography and anthropology of the Kuči. The Koći area had only Serbian hamlets prior to the Albanian immigration in the 17th century. This is supported by topographic studies. He collected the following information about Koći:

Koći, an Albanian brastvo (brotherhood), which is today understood by this name, is constituted by four elements, which differ from each other by origin and age. The first, the Serb starosedeoci (natives) Bakečević; the second, Albanian immigrants called Koći (Mari and Gorvoki families); the third, the Serb Purušić and Ivačević, which had primarily inhabited the place of Jabuka, north of the village; the fourth, the Serb Stjelović which is united with the Albanian Nuculović, who came after them to Jabuka.

Families that emigrated include the Laličić of the Koći, who settled in Gusinje and are now 30 houses, Muslim.

Culture

The Koći have the tradition of cross procession on several occasions, the main being on Trinity Sunday. Some Albanian Catholics have the custom of family and tribe celebration of saints (called festa in Peć), as is found in the Serbian Orthodox tradition of krsna slava. The Kuči Albanians celebrate similarly to the Serbs, although now according to the Catholic calendar (after pressure from Italian and Austrian priests), having earlier celebrated in the same way and same days as the Serbs. The Albanians of Koći have St. Stephen as their main feast day. St. Stephen is a feast day celebrated by the whole Kuči tribe, as the poslužbica, summer feast day.

Notable people