by Professor Gezim Uruçi. Translation Petrit Latifi

Photo: The Cave of Bogë

Summary

The author reflects on the idea that truth and knowledge do not need to be sought far away, as they already exist within the stories and traditions of their own land. By uncovering the legends of different regions, one can discover a rich heritage unknown to the wider world.

Among these legends, the author is particularly moved by a story told by a mountaineer from Bogë, which explains the mythical origins of the Boga tribe and neighboring tribes around the Namuna Mountains. The story, which the author contemplated while traveling through regions such as Boga, Theth, Valbona, Vermosh, and others, remains vivid and unforgettable.

According to the legend, the ancestors of the Boga people descended from the sky long before the world was fully formed. Two divine brothers arrived in a great bronze bird with an eagle’s wings and a fairy’s head. When the bird crashed into the mountains, it formed two valleys. Finding no people, only animals, the brothers separated to search for fertile lands. Before parting, they cursed the barren mountains, naming them “The Lost Mountains.”

One brother founded the village of Bogë, while the other settled in a fertile plain called Fusha e Rudës, near present-day Albania and Montenegro. There, they lived in sacred caves, raised livestock, and domesticated wild sheep, giving rise to the Rudë sheep.

The legend describes the ancestors as tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed, brave, and kind people who later spread across Europe. To recognize their shared bloodline, they marked themselves with tattoos of the Grepç Cross (swastika). Their sacred instruments were the fiddle and the lute, often decorated with a goat’s head, reflecting the animal’s spiritual importance.

The story concludes by stating that the people of Bogë have lived on these lands since ancient times, beginning from the Great Cave of Bogë, which has remained inhabited for centuries and today serves as shelter for livestock.

The Albanian Bogë tribe and the Nemuna Mountains (Accursed Mountains).

“We don’t have to search for the truth all over the world, we have it within this blessed land of ours. It is enough to unravel the tales and stories of every region of the people and we will gather a wealth of knowledge that the world has not even imagined.

In these stories, I was impressed by the story of a mountaineer in Boge, who told about the origin of the Boga tribe and many other tribes around the Namuna Mountains and their history.

Which I contemplated with great pleasure and curiosity from the valleys of Boga, Theth, Peja Pass, Valbona, Nikçi, Vermoshi, etc. Even today, his story seems very interesting and unforgettable to me, like this:

“Our ancestors came to Bogë before Hana was created in the sky. They were two brothers with their families, the sons of God and the Sky and the Grepç Cross, which was their sun.

They descended from the sky with a large bronze bird, with the head of a very beautiful fairy, with wings like an eagle. After they crashed from the sky onto the high mountains, two large valleys were formed from the destruction of the iron bird. In these places they found only a few sheep, goats and other wild animals, which had nothing to eat, but no people either.

Those who descended were two brothers, who agreed with each other, where they split in two directions to find forests and pastures, springs and springs with fresh water and drinking.

Parting with each other, they cursed these dry mountains and all the giant rocks that brought them that misfortune so that they would never return from where they had come. Since then, the two brothers cursed them, calling them; “The Lost Mountains”.

One brother descended and founded the village of Bogë, while the other descended from Sheu i Bardhë to Qafë i Pejës towards a beautiful plain full of centuries-old forests, springs and springs with very cold waters, between high mountains, which he called “Fusha e Rudeve” (Fusha e Rud – Nices), a territory in the Republic of Albania, near the glacial lake of Geshtara above Safkaçi i Vuthajve, in Guci i Plavë (today in the territory of Montenegro).

Here they began to live in the Cave of Kreshniks (some call it the Cave of Gjergj Elez Alisë but also of Vukoça), is located under the Lagojve Peak, above the Lulash Dashi lines, while the summer stables were built above on the Vukoça Mountain and they began to breed livestock, in particular they tamed the wild sheep, and since that time, our sheep was called the Rudë Sheep.

He further emphasizes that our ancestors were people with yellow hair and blue eyes, like us today, gentle and trusting, tall and handsome men, brave and courageous who were not afraid of anyone, who came to them to do any beautiful and good work and since that time they have spread throughout Europe.

This brotherhood to recognize among themselves that they were of the same Rudë blood, both men and women made tattoos on their hands with the Grepç Cross (swastika). Their musical instrument was the fiddle and the lute with the head of a goat of the mountain at the top, which we also have today, since it is a sacred animal that the Ruds tamed.

Since that time, the Bogë people settled in these lands where they still live today, where the first smoke was drawn from the Great Cave of Bogës. This cave has been inhabited for centuries until our days. The cave today is a refuge for herds of cattle.”