Being a human means we like to put things into boxes, we know we’re not supposed to judge books by their covers and lump whole nations into one category. But that’s what we do. It lightens the load on our aching, pulsating brains if we can make snap judgments about things.
Us English think the Scottish are tight, the French are arrogant, the Scandinavians are always in naked spas and the Italians dress like it’s 1982 and shout a lot. On the other side of the presumptive coin other nations have their own pigeon holes for us. The French think we’re arrogant, the Australians think we’re winging sunburned Pommies, the Greeks think we’re beer swilling, tattooed louts and the Americans think we all know the Queen and drink port for breakfast.
So before you nip off to Serbia for the EXIT festival this year, what do we know about the Serbians? If I go to a country I like to have my pigeon holes and assumptions all lined up neatly before I arrive. So I had a bit of a look about to see if I could work out what makes a Serb a Serb from some historical facts.
Most of these came from Reddit which means they’ve got a strong 50/50 chance of being true. I like those odds, so let’s get stuck in.
1) Powerful
FACT: During the 3rd and 4th centuries as many as 18 Roman emperors were born in the area we know toady as Serbia. That’s 20% of the rulers of the Roman empire.
CONCLUSION: So I’m assuming that means that Serbians are good at commanding attention, have booming voices and a penchant for sandals.
2) Language
FACT: ‘Vampire’ is the only Serbian word that’s accepted worldwide and it looks like this in Cyrillic – вампир.
CONCLUSION: The Serbs are not afraid of blood sucking supernatural beasts. Or should the conclusion be that they are prone to flights of fancy? Hmmm… not sure how to take that.
3) Clocks
FACT: The Serbian clock making industry began 300 years before the Swiss. Lazar the Serb or Lazar the Hilandarian is attributed with making the first ever public mechanical clock. The clock was built and situated in Moscow but the brain behind it belonged to a Serbian monk. And what a cool name – Lazar. Nice.
CONCLUSION: They hate it when people arrive late for things? They’re real sticklers for timeliness? Not sure what to make of that one either.
☛ Next Up: Serbia’s EXIT Festival: The Best In The World?
