Miraz

All the material belongings that a bride brings with her into marriage. This tradition has been upheld since ancient times in many parts of the world, including the Balkans. A dowry is the entirety of the bride’s personal belongings from her parents’ house, along with property or land inherited from her ancestors, livestock obtained from her parents, money, jewelry, etc. The general term “dowry” encompasses several different subcategories, which separate property that belongs to the bride herself and can dispose of at her discretion, and property that she brings to her husband. The dowry’s content and value depend on the social status and material capabilities of the bride’s parents (see Klopotan 1999). This custom was traditionally so important that it was crucial for the future of the marriage, and could result in its dissolution if the parents of each party failed to reach an agreement. In such cases, it was not unknown for the bride and groom to run away and marry despite an insufficient dowry. The custom was commonly practiced among many communities in the Balkans, especially in the countryside, until World War II. Today, if practiced at all, it is more for symbolic reasons than obligatory. Some of the most common items in dowries were, from my grandmother’s stories, ducats and kilims (see Klopotan 1999).
The picture shows a kilim (Serbian-Croatian: Ćilim: t͡ɕǐ – lim) that my grandmother’s daughter-in-law, my aunt, brought to my grandmother’s house. They arrived in the Balkans with the Ottoman Empire and have remained there to this day. A kilim is one of the most characteristic symbols of the material culture of many Balkan countries, especially my homeland of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they are deeply embedded in tradition and culture. In rural areas, kilims were handmade until the end of World War II. In some areas, it was mandatory for the bride to bring a kilim that she had made herself as a dowry (Džeko 2019). The kilim in the picture is now in my possession, a gift from my grandmother.