Vidovdan
Vidovdan (Ð'идовдан) is a religious holiday,
St. Vitus' Day, observed on
June 28 in the Serbian and Bulgarian
Orthodox calendar. In Bulgaria it is called Vidovden (Ð'идовден) or Vidov Den (Ð'идов ден) and is particularly well-known in the western part of the country.
Vidovdan is also a date of historical importance:
* on June 28,
1389 the
Ottoman Empire defeated
Serbia in the
Battle of Kosovo.
* on June 28,
1914 the
assassination of the
Austro-Hungarian Archduke triggers the
First World War.
* on June 28,
1919 the
Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending the First World War.
* on June 28,
1921 the Serbian King
Alexander I of Yugoslavia proclaimed 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 published, on the initiative of its
Soviet delegates Shdanov, Malenkov and Suslov, in a "Resolution on the State of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia" their condemnation of the Yugoslavian communist leaders - this happening is seen as the date that marks the final split between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
* on June 28,
1989 — the 600th anniversary of the
battle of Kosovo — Serbian leader
Slobodan Milošević held an oft-cited speech at the site of the historic battle.
* on June 28,
1990 draft amendments to the
Constitution of Croatia, which deleted references to the
Serbs as a constituent nation of
Croatia, were revealed by Croatian President
Franjo Tuđman.
* on June 28,
2001 former Yugoslav leader Milošević was deported to
The Hague to stand trial. (He died while imprisoned.)
