Curkovic.ca

Fit for a Falcon: Croatian Poetry at It’s Best

January 8th, 2010 Posted in Andrija Kačić-Miošić, Books, Livno, Sinj, Songs, Ćurković | No Comments »

I recently found an interesting poem on YouTube. It is of interest to me since it bears my surname. The poem, of course, has been known to me for years and is simply entitled Marko Ćurković. The poem was first published by the legendary Croatian monk, Andrija Kačić-Miošić (1704-1760), in his book of folk poetry, entitled Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga (Pleasant Conversations of the Slavic People). His work was first published in 1754 and soon became a popular classic across Europe, interweaving elements of Croatian folk poetry and history. It also arguably ranks second, next to the Bible, as the most widely read Croatian book in history.
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Contact Form Working Again!

December 21st, 2009 Posted in News | 2 Comments »

My Gmail inbox was just filled with emails today. For the last few months up until today, I had been having issues with my contact form page. It seems that my server was blacklisted for some unknown reason. Some of you had wrote asking for help on a number of subjects. I am reading these messages for the first time now. I hope to respond to these emails eventually. I promise you will get a response. Thanks for understanding.

Documentary Film – Život na jezeru (Life on the Lake)

December 2nd, 2009 Posted in Buško Blato, Films, Video Recordings | No Comments »

A 30 minute documentary film about Buško Jezero, entitled Život na jezeru (Life on the Lake), aired this past Saturday on HRT1. The documentary talked about the history of the area and what life used to be like before the hydroelectric dam was built in the 1970s. The film talked about the lack of economic development in the area which led to a mass exodus of families during the 1960s and 1970s. Although life in the area today is much quieter than in the past, the film also examines some of the more recent positive developments in the area as well as other potentially good ideas, such as tourism, that will hopefully allow the area to flourish again.
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Prezime Ćurković – Vlado Pavičić

November 9th, 2009 Posted in Articles, Family History, Ćurković | 4 Comments »

I. UVOD

U životu svakoga čovjeka postoje tri pitanja kojima ne može nikako izbjeći, ma koliko bi to inače htio. Jedino što je možda različito od jednog do drugog jest jačina prisutnosti, odnosno potisnutosti potrebe suočavanja s njima, te pokušaja davanja zadovoljavajućeg odgovora na ista. O spremnosti na to suočavanje i uspješnosti odgovaranja životnim stavom na njih, ovisi stupanj ljudskoga zadovoljstva ili tjeskobe, radosti ili mračnog raspoloženja, ukratko – onoga što se naziva sretnim ili nesretnim čovjekom. Ta tri osnovna nazivnika-pitanja: tko sam, od kuda i kamo idem – sadrže mnoštvo manjih pitanja i podpitanja, cijeli jedan koloplet.

Zadovoljajući odgovor na ova pitanja (ili podpitanja sadržana u ovim općenitostima), bio bi jalovi trud ukoliko bi se on tražio isključivo unutar jedne od ovih triju skupina. Ustvari, tim postupkom, cjelovit odgovor bi bio i nemoguć, jer brojnost, međusobna povezanost i isprepletenost kako pitanja, tako i odgovora, jednostavno nalaže rješavanje pitanje po pitanje, kao kad se raspliću zapretene niti kakvog golemog užeta ili konopa. Ovdje ne vrijedi “aleksandrovski pristup” razrješavanja pitanja konopa i njegovih čvorova.

Dakle, valja tome pristupati lagano i sustavno, brižljivo i pozorno. I nadasve strpljivo. Kao kad se sastavlja kakav mozaik: svaki kamenčić dobro promotriti i ugraditi ga baš ondje gdje mu je mjesto, a ne negdje drugdje, e da bi bio sklad. Da bi rasvjetlio ono sadržano u pitanju: odakle idem, pa da bi mogao lakše sagledati sebe u sadašnjosti, nazrijeti cilj i odabrati puteve i staze što vode do njega; te sigurno k istome, kroz bogaze i klance, kročiti, valja ti vidjeti kakvi su ti korijeni, u kakvo su tlo urasli i jesu li živodajni ili sahnu. Da bi u tome uspio ne trebaš se svesti ni na gusjenicu, ni stonogu, niti ikakva drugoga gmaza, nego kroz život i životnu svakodnevicu vedra i uspravna čela kročiti, u Bogu oslonac tražiti, njegovu se blagoslovu utjecati i kroz odnošaj s drugim ljudima njemu hoditi. I onda – biti svoj, svoje ne zaboravljati, nego, kao što rekoše naši stari, svojim se dičiti, a tuđe poštovati.
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Online Cemetaries in Croatia

November 8th, 2009 Posted in Cemeteries, Research Tips, Websites, Zagreb | No Comments »

I am posting a few links for people interested in searching through a couple of cemeteries in Croatia.

Zagreb – Gradska groblja

The first one is in Croatia’s capital city of Zagreb and it allows you to search through all or one of the 20 different cemeteries in the area:

I posted a direct link to the search engine for those English users who might not be able to find it. Although the website claims to offer service in Croatian or English, the English version of the site has been under construction for a very long time. The above search engine runs in beta mode but does a good job in helping you find deceased family members in the Zagreb area.

Users should also note that this particular search engine is case sensitive. This means that someone who searches for “curkovic” will find zero results but the user who searches for “ćurković” will find 45 results, as of the writing of this post. Alternative search methods include using a wildcard character (%) in place of the Croatian letters (%urkovi%). Be warned however, this method will show you all possible forms of the name i.e. Burković, Ćurković, Jurković, etc.

Split – Lovrinac

The other website is newer and features an online search engine for the Lovrinac cemetary in the Dalmatian coastal city of Split.

This search engine works well and allows users to search for family members alphabetically (po abecedi), by date of death (po datum smrti) and by cemetary (po groblju) in ascending (uzlazno) or descending (silazno) order.

Zagreb and Split are the two largest cities in Croatia and the above-mentioned links should help a number of people locate deceased family members. If there are a few more online cemetary links out there, please let me know. Tracing your genealogy outside of a Croatia is a difficult task but it becomes easier when we all help one another out. I hope you found this post useful.

Small But Significant Places in Family History

October 15th, 2009 Posted in Bjelovar, Catholic Church, Family History, Feast Days, Memories, Weddings | 5 Comments »

Today marks the feast of St. Teresa of Avila. About a hour’s drive from the Hungarian border in the north-central Croatian town of Bjelovar, lies a church named in her honour (Sv. Terezija Avilska). Built between 1756 and 1771 in the old baroque style, the church finally opened its doors to the public in 1772.

Over two centuries later, this same church and former military fort town played a small but prominent role in my family’s history. Far away from their birthplaces near Buško Jezero in Bosnia-Hercegovina, it’s not a place where you would expect my parents to have met and got married. But this is exactly what happened when the above named church was the site of my parents’ wedding in late 1973.

My parents’ story sounds unique but in reality, it wasn’t. Bjelovar was the town of choice for many other Buško Jezero families who left their centuries old homes in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Many moved to Bjelovar to start a new and better life. Many young couples also got married at the same church. The only difference was that my parents didn’t stay or live in Bjelovar for long.

The town of Bjelovar may have only been a small footnote in the history of my family but it’s importance will never be forgotten.

School Days in Golinjevo

September 9th, 2009 Posted in Cikojević/Cikoja, Golinjevo, Livno, Memories, Photos | 3 Comments »

Labour Day in Canada usually symbolizes the end of summer vacation for most kids in Canada. With back to school fresh on everyone’s mind, I decided to post this little blast from the past.

The following is a picture of my mom’s Grade 3 class photo dated June 20, 1962, back in her village of Golinjevo near Livno, Bosnia-Hercegovina. This photo is the oldest picture I have of my mother and it almost came close to being lost forever (that itself is another story).

Far Back (left to right): Perica Galešić (by the tree), Nikola Milardović (by the wall) and Kaja Puđa (head seen by the window)

Third Row (left to right): Šefik Velagić, Zora Puđa, Slavko Klišanin, ? Bajraktarović, Đžemal Bajraktarović, Bože Klišanin, Ante Klišanin, Dika Rašković

Second Row (left to right): Ljubica Ojvan, Zora Klišanin, Ljuba Kuliš, Ljuba Čelar, Janja Milardović, Janja Klišanin, Kaja Mihaljević, Anđa Mihaljević, Branka Čelar, Gojka Čelar, Mara Čelar, Agata Berić

First Row (left to right): Iva Cikojević (my mom), Milka Kuliš, Mara Galešić, Stipe Mihaljević, Fikra? Velagić, Stipe Milardović, Bože Ojvan (teacher), Šefik Bajraktarović, Fata Bajraktarović, Kaja Milardović, Šefik Bajraktarović, Mara Cikojević

My mom has always had a great memory and I am amazed that she still remembers most of her classmates. I have listed the names as told to me by her. Most of the students in this photo were born in 1952. Do you recognize anyone?

Velika Gospa – The Croatian Version of St. Patrick’s Day

August 15th, 2009 Posted in Events, Feast Days, Krušvar, Legends, Sinj, Traditions, Vinica, Ćurković | No Comments »

The date of August 15th holds a special place in the hearts of most Croats. Much like the Irish who pay homage to St. Patrick (March 17th) or the Italians who mark Columbus Day (October 12), the Croats celebrate the Feast of the Assumption every August 15th. This day is remembered in honour of the Velika Gospa (Great Lady) – the Virgin Mary – who, according to Catholic teaching, is said to have ascended into heaven on this day.
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Town of Klis – Old Ćurković Nesting Grounds?

August 11th, 2009 Posted in Bitelić, Candian War, Klis, Migrations, Sinj, Split, Suhač, Uskoks, Viennese War, Ćurković | No Comments »

Many historians generally believe that the many Ćurković families in the outlying areas of Sinj today as the descendants of those families that arrived from the southwestern regions of Bosnia-Hercegovina during the Viennese War of 1683-99.

I agreed with this statement for the longest of time, however, I always found it peculiar that the originating place or homestead of the Ćurković family was never listed among the old church registers in Sinj (1699-1727). In these same books, which are written in both Latin and Bosančica (Croatian Cyrillic) scripts, Bosnian place names are often listed next to the names of those Catholic families that once lived in Bosnia and Hercegovina. For members of Ćurković family, who are first mentioned in the year 17008, there are no traces of evidence to suggest that they may have come from this region during the Viennese War.

A recent personal discovery, however, reveals that Ćurković name in today’s present-day Dalmatian hinterland region actually predates the above mention by at least one war and roughly fifty years.
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Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day

August 4th, 2009 Posted in Events, Ćurković | No Comments »

Americans celebrate every July 4th. Croats on August 5th. For a brief summary, see Wikipedia to learn more.

Thanks to my friend Brent for providing me the above picture.