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Aktualitet

From the garlic on the roof to the church in Laç, AFP reveals details that did not even cross their minds: Here is how Albanians are being protected from COVID-19

From the garlic on the roof to the church in Laç, AFP reveals details

How Albanians are being protected from Covid 19, AFP article reveals details that may not have occurred to you. From Christianity to Islam with animal sacrifices and pagan rites, Albanians have covered up their spiritual practices when it comes to dealing with a crisis. .

At the church on top of the mountain in Lac, atheists, Muslims and Christians are all flocking to seek relief - perhaps even a miracle - to survive the coronavirus pandemic, but also other diseases.

The Franciscan Church, which overlooks the northwestern city of Lac, has attracted pilgrims for centuries to a place where the boundaries between faiths are porous.

But these days, more people than ever have come to this church. It is a sacred place where God is "the same" for all, according to Aferdita Onuzi, an anthropologist at the University of Tirana.

"They come here to relieve themselves of the fear of the unknown and the feeling of helplessness in the face of a pandemic that seems to spare no one," she said.

"Everyone believes in a miracle that can change their lives."

Many visitors light candles, leave the clothes of a sick child in the hope of a cure, or post pictures of their loved ones to bring them luck in life.

"Everyone wants solutions to their illnesses" and to get rid of their fears in the face of the pandemic, "said Franciscan priest Mirash Ivanaj.

Even those recovered from Covid-19 come "to find spiritual healing and to feel stronger against insecurity," he said.

Many Albanians use all alternatives to relieve stress and allay fears, especially during crises such as the current one, which has pushed the health system to the brink of collapse and caused catastrophic damage to the economy.

Ada Zdrava, a 20-year-old who visits the church in Laç for the first time, said she hoped to "ease her anxieties" and pray for "her and her family's happiness".

Albanians lived for almost half a century under a communist dictatorship that imposed atheism and outlawed religion.

But, three decades after the fall of the dictatorship, Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox communities are back in the spotlight and even uniting in each other’s holy days.

In the village of Valias near Tirana, the Bektashi "tekke" - or place of worship - a mystical branch of Sufism, attracts believers of all faiths.

Many leave clothes overnight in a grave inside, "so that it keeps the disease away and brings prosperity to the wearer," said the 60-year-old caretaker of the tekke, Servete Mullai.

Albana Disha, 50, recently came to sacrifice a rooster to ease her son's boredom, a practice rooted in pagan traditions that consider birds an ideal offering to the gods because of the taste of their meat.

Albanians "believe in the power of the sun, the power of stones, the sea, nature," explains Alfred Halilaj, an anthropologist at the University of Durres.

"Because basically, our culture comes from paganism, which remains the foundation of identity and daily life, despite the overlap of religious conversions," he says.

"The anxiety and fear caused by this pandemic has pushed people to turn to different beliefs or imaginations in an attempt to find a spiritual cure, but without in any way excluding the existence of hospitals and the role of medicine."

If you move in Albania it is common to see teddy bears beaten by the wind and hanging in front of houses in the belief that they will ward off the "evil eye" of jealous neighbors.

Other forms of miracle search are numerous, such as the gift string that 73-year-old Ramzan Sefaj keeps in his car to protect himself from disasters.

"Fear makes us believe more in God, but it also makes us cling to small things against bad luck and the evil eye," explained the pensioner, who lives on the outskirts of Tirana and survives on the income of his seven children. his working in construction abroad.

The demand for alternative therapies has intensified thanks to online misinformation, notes Lutfi Dervishi, a communications expert at the University of Tirana.

People often turn to advice found online and find "little peace of mind in beliefs," he said.