A Serbian family and their cow come to town, early 20th century

33 comments
  1. This was one of the unexpected effects of urbanization in Eastern Europe. Peasants who came to the city did not become fully accustomed with their new life. I remember my mom telling me that some people used to farm a small plot in front of their apartment building. During winter, many will slaughter the pig in front of the building. I remember that I saw this once and this was late, in the 2000’s. Now I do not think that is a thing anymore

  2. I like that the picture was taken in front of the photo studio. You know they couldn’t fit the cow inside the studio, so they went “jebiga just go out in front”.

  3. Bear in mind, the cow holds a special place for Serbian farmers even today (and I suspect in many places in Europe, Asia, Africa…). To kill a family’s only cow, for example, was (and still is?) a major crime in Serbia. Both my grandmas that lived in the countryside went through a period of depression in their early 80s once they had to sell their respective last cows (cause of old age they couldn’t look after them any more). For them it meant they no longer have a serious household, one that can produce cheese, milk, kajmak and so on. It’s no longer a “domaćinska kuća” once there are no cows. They viewed their cows almost as members of the family.

  4. The main reason why they came to town is to take a photo of themselves with cow(behind there is a sign ,,фотограф”(Photographer))

  5. This is easy my grandad, going to the market to sell the cow and take a family photo for the first time, wear your best kids!

  6. I’m a novice Greek speaker, but the far left translates to “Photograph”. I guess same translation applies for Serbian/Cyrillic?

  7. Cow represented a family stronghold back in the 60,70, in fact from a story of my grandmother, i heard that my gran grand dad had alcohol issue, therefore one time he sold only cow that they had which provided food for them, i can only imagine how that affected them back in time

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