Kosovo Myth

The Kosovo , Cult, Covenant or Testament is a traditional belief of the Serb people asserting that the Battle of Kosovo (1389) symbolizes a martyrdom of the Serbian nation in defense of their honor and Christendom against Turks (non-believers). The essence of the myth is that during the battle, Serbs, headed by Tsar Lazar, lost because they consciously sacrificed the earthy kingdom (Serbian Empire) in order to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.

The legend evolved slowly through chronicles and particularly the oral tradition of Serbs. Since the 19th century period of national revivals in Europe, the Kosovo Myth became an important constitutive element of ethnic identity, as well as cultural and political homogenization of Serbs, and later of members of other South Slavic nations (Yugoslavs). The basic elements of the Kosovo Myth are vengeance, martyrdom, betrayal and glory. This myth dominated political discourse in Serbia until the end of the 20th century. The Kosovo myth is incorporated into the Serb national identity's multifaceted mythomoteur.

Since its establishment at the end of the 14th century, the Kosovo Myth and its poetic, literary, religious, and philosophical exposition was intertwined with political and ideological agendas. The mythologization of the battle occurred shortly after the event. The legend of Kosovo was not created immediately after the battle but evolved from different originators into various versions. The Kosovo Myth existed in the Serbian oral tradition for centuries, until it was recorded by early collectors like Vuk Karadžić and evoked at times of later major historic events such as the Balkan Wars, the First World War and by Slobodan Milošević at the end of the 1980s.

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