Miravci () is a village in the

Gevgelija Gevgelija (; ) is a town with a population of 15,685 located in the very southeast of North Macedonia along the banks of the Vardar River, situated at the country's main border with Greece (Bogorodica-Evzoni), the point which links the motorway f ...

region of south-eastern part of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, located in the

Kožuf Kožuf Mountain () or Tzena / Zona () is a mountain situated in the southern part of North Macedonia and northern part of Greece. Associated village names are Konopište, North Macedonia, Konopište, Kavadarci and Gevgelija. is a mineral springw ...

foothills west of the

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

River. Miravci lies on the

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

railway and a few kilometers from the once-named Highway of Brotherhood and Unity that ran the whole length of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. It is about 25 kilometers north of the Greek border. Miravci has at various times in recent decades been its own municipality, or folded into the greater Gevgelija municipality. There are six villages in the Miravci district: Miravci, Davidovo, Petrovo, Gabrovo, Miletkovo and Smokvica. Miravci has a kindergarten and grade school (St. Kliment Ohridski, grades 1-8) that serve students from all six villages. The entire municipality has around 2900 residents. Miravci has a warm, Mediterranean climate and is known for its tomatoes, peppers and other early-season vegetables. The hills around the region are covered in

Quercus coccifera ''Quercus coccifera'', the kermes oak or commonly known as Palestine oak, is an oak shrub or tree in section '' Ilex'' of the genus. It has many synonyms, including ''Quercus calliprinos''. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern ...

(Kermes oak -- 'prnar' in Macedonian), as well as wild figs and pomegranates. Some notable people who come from Miravci include Angel Dobardziev, a telecoms analysts and consulting director

History

Miravci is a rather old village, although the area has long been inhabited. One of the most famous landmarks is the "White Bridge" located a few kilometers west on the Old River. It is sometimes called the "Roman bridge" although it was most likely built during the

Ottoman empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

's occupation. Near the bridge an archeological site known as Markovi kuli (Markov's towers) has been excavated. Above the village of Davidovo is a small church known as the monastery St. Ilija (Elijah) -- a prominent local landmark seen from the highway. Petrovo village is considered the oldest settlement in the district. Many of the villagers were said to have fled from the Turkish army several centuries ago to form an old village called Petrovo (now Agios Petros) in modern-day Greece. The scrub-covered hills of the district have long lured both hunters and rebels to their cover. Anti-Ottoman komiti bands and later anti-Fascist partisan bands operated there. The Nazi German army burned the villages of Petrovo and nearby Gabrovo in October 1944.

Etymology

There are several tales regarding the origin of the name "Miravci". According to one, the village used to be located higher up in the hills, and was forced to relocate after a particularly bad infestation of insects ("mravi" means "ants" in Macedonian). The village relocated to a more peaceful ("mirno") place. A second tale relates that five brothers: Miro, David, Peter, Gabriel and Mile moved to the area and founded the five villages: Miravci, Davidovo, Petrovo, Gabrovo and Miletkovo. The Gjura Mara celebration is unique to Miravci. This dance always takes place on the Tuesday after Orthodox Easter. It is a

circle dance Circle dance, or chain dance, is a style of social dance done in a circle, semicircle or a curved line to musical accompaniment, such as rhythm instruments and singing, and is a type of dance where anyone can join in without the need of Partne ...

performed by the older women of the village. Inside the circle a young girl of the village dances with a staff. Around the circle young lads wearing Turkish fez hats try to break into the circle to get to the girl, who chases them off with a stick. The dance originates in a local tale of a girl Mara who was kidnapped by a Turkish pasha for his harem—her brother Gjuro made a daring foray to rescue her. The local dialect is similar to the southeastern

Macedonian language Macedonian ( ; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch. Sp ...

dialects of Gevgelija-

Strumica Strumica (, ) is the largest city2002 census results
in English and Macedonian (PDF) in so ...

in general, with some diversions. These dialects differ from standard Macedonian in their use of penultimate and ultimate word stress (compared to the standard dialect's antepenultimate stress) as well as some vocabulary and grammatical differences (such as the use of -h as the past tense verb marker in the first person singular, as opposed to -v in standard dialect). Word-final vowels are often dropped when the definite-article suffix is added: glava - 'head' --> glav'ca - 'the head'.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census, the former municipality had a population of 2,626 and the village had a total of 1,647 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the village include:Macedonian Census (2002)
''Book 5 - Total population according to the Ethnic Affiliation, Mother Tongue and Religion''
The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2002, p. 277. * Macedonians 1640 *

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

6 *Others 1 As of 2021, the village of Мiravci had 1,392 inhabitants and the ethnic composition was the following: * Macedonians 1.335 *

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

5 *

2 * others 8 * Person without Data 42

References

External links

Official WebsiteMiravci info
{{Gevgelija Municipality Villages in Gevgelija Municipality