Sharenica

Sharenica is a local and traditional festival for the inhabitants of several villages of the Municipality of Rahovec. It is a festival, but it is also a place on the Zatriq Mountain pasture, on the front part of the hill above the village of Drenoc.

Sharenica therefore has a temporal character, because it is a set day on which some special rituals are performed, but it also has a spatial character, because it is a place that part of the local population considers sacred. Sharenica is, in fact, one of the most important rock art sites in Kosovo.

In calendar terms, this festival is held on 9 August, the day when, as the locals say, the grapes begin to take on color, to become “lara” or “shara” (variegated or speckled). Many young people from the surrounding villages go out to the rock of Sharenica, light fires, play and sing, and early in the morning, as soon as the sun rises, they perform the “rite of passage” – an old rite meaning purification by passing through the stones.

Alongside the rites, Sharenica is also made special by the ancient symbols of rock art. The symbols are found on the surface of the rock and were made using the scratching technique. They are of a schematic style, with various motifs, but the plant, animal and astral motifs stand out in particular. The symbols of Sharenica are abstract and geometric, while their message remains mysterious and difficult to decipher.

The sun, the moon, asterisks, arboreal motifs, cupules, the net, the vulva, the hand, the foot, the five-pointed star, tablets, concentric circles, houses, tools, letters, etc., are only some of the motifs that appear on the surface of the rock at Sharenica.