Back in time

 I have always wondered how people lived years ago..

Recently I went to the Ethnographic Museum of Prishtina and I found it a fascinating experience where I got to see and learn so many new things.

Being in front of a museum is a feeling like you are about to enter a new world with different eras inside. While entering that dark environment I felt chills down my spine, having all those exhibits filled with antique ornaments, clothes, weapons, musical instruments etc.. waiting for me to explore.

Walking down the corridor, ahead of me was this beautifully carved relief belonging to the Dardanian Antiquity. What made it more interesting was the linking between this relief and the nowadays rite of organized mourning, because a ritual like this is still practiced in the mountainous region of Gjakova which can be treated as the spiritual heritage still existing nowadays.

Entering the part of the museum where the UCK costumes and munitions were used in the last war in Kosovo was a captivating scene to look at. Seeing the pictures of the martyrs, their belongings made my heart ache with pain knowing everything they went through for our homeland to be free.

Seeing and combining them in my head with the stories my parents told me, felt so realistic like I was going through everything they did. 

One thing that caught my eye was this traditional clothing called “Xhubleta”. I found it really beautiful and rare because it contains elements that come all the way from the Bronze Age and it has a bell and frozen shape and it is wavy at the back.

It is a joyous and proud feeling knowing that it survived thousands of years and is still being used to this day.

And then I entered a room that was dedicated only to musical instruments.

Seeing instruments such as ‘Okarina’, ‘Bagpipe (Gajde)’, different kinds of ‘Flutes’, ‘Lute (Lahute)’ and some old musical sheets, made my heart flutter as a music lover. Walking towards different exhibits, exploring each of these instruments, gave me such a vibe that in my mind I was imagining some beautiful images of people dancing and singing around in a village having fun to the sounds of these instruments.

Standing there I was filled with warmth and positive feelings and once more I was being proven that music is a big part in people’s lives and it can bring us all together.

One thing that made me melancholic is knowing that the instrument called ‘Okarina’ was nearly forgotten and nowadays only a few people know how to play it which is sad because the sounds of it are so mesmerizing and soothing and it makes your soul and mind feel at peace.

To sum it up this was an unforgettable experience and I would encourage everyone to go and visit the Ethnographic Museum of Prishtina and feel everything I felt and more while witnessing it all starting from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Dardanian Antiquity, Ottoman Era, the section of UCK and the latest war in Kosovo.

Going back to the corridors I walked earlier in this 19^th century building, made all the emotions, feelings, thoughts to bump into each other until I was in front of the exit door, facing now the everyday reality thus leaving behind a whole historic, traditional, musical world full of magic that feeds the soul and mind…

                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                      Donjeta Mulaj