Vidovdan

Vidovdan
File:Vidovdan na Gazimestanu 2009. godine.JPG Vidovdan celebration at Gazimestan monument (2009)
Observed by	Serbian Orthodox Christians Serbian patriotism
Observances	Feast day
Date	June 28 Gregorian Calendar June 15 Julian Calendar)
Frequency	annual
Related to	Slava

Vidovdan (Serbian Cyrillic: Видовдан, "St. Vitus Day") is a Serbian national and religious holiday, a slava (feast day) celebrated on June 28 (Gregorian Calendar), or June 15 according to the Julian calendar, in use by the Serbian Orthodox Church to venerate St. Vitus. The Serbian Church designates it as the memorial day to Saint Prince Lazar and the Serbian holy martyrs who fell during the epic Battle of Kosovo against the Ottoman Empire on June 28, 1389. It is an important part of Serb ethnic and Serbian national identity.

Events

Vidovdan is considered a date of special importance to ethnic Serbs, with the following events taking place on Vidovdan, but are expressed here in the Gregorian calendar:

• on June 28, 1389, the Ottoman Empire defeated the Serbian army in the Battle of Kosovo on the Kosovo field. Both Sultan Murad and Prince Lazar were slain in battle. The Kosovo Myth became important in forming Serbian identity.
• on June 28, 1881, a secret treaty between Austria-Hungary and Serbia is signed with Serbia earning the right to be recognized as a monarchy in exchange of surrendering its independence to the Habsburg Empire.
• on June 28, 1914 the assassination by Gavrilo Princip of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince, Franz Ferdinand, triggers the First World War. It was a coincidence that the archduke visited Sarajevo on that day, but the assassination falling on Vidovdan added nationalist symbolism to the event.
• on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles is signed ending World War I.
• on June 28, 1921, the Serbian King Alexander I proclaims the new Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution (Vidovdanski ustav).
• on June 28, 1948, the Cominform publishes, on the initiative of its Soviet delegates Zhdanov, Malenkov and Suslov, in a "Resolution on the State of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia" their condemnation of the Yugoslavian communist leaders - this event is seen as the turning point that marks the final split between Stalin's Soviet Union and Tito's Yugoslavia.
• on June 28, 1989, on the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo, Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević delivers the Gazimestan speech on the site of the historic battle.
• on June 28, 1990, an amendment is brought to the Constitution of Croatia changing the status of Serbs from constituent people (konstitutivni narod) of the Croatian nation to national minority.
• on June 28, 2001, Slobodan Milošević is deported to the ICTY to stand trial.
• on June 28, 2006, Montenegro is announced as the 192nd member state of the United Nations.
• on June 28, 2008 takes place the inaugural meeting of the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija.

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