Duvno (Županjac) – Narodni život i običaji

The article was originally published in Zbornik za narodni život i običaje [4] (1899), 254-301. You can find the entire publication in it’s entirety at: http://hazu.arhivpro.hr/index.php

Maradona´s great-grandfather comes from Praputnjak, Croatia

Argentinean football team coach Diego Armando Maradona’s predecessors come from the western Croatian village of Praputnjak, according to historians quoted in the weekly Vrime.

“Maradona’s grand-grandfather Matej Kariolic, the father of the footballer’s grandmother Salvadora, comes from the tiny village of Praputnjak. Our local priest has researched it and found it all in church books”, pensioner Stanko Kariolic has told to the weekly Vrime.

Stanko Kariolic has also said Maradona a few years ago has visited the nearby place of Novi Vinodolski and when asked about his grand-grandfather “he has made a joke asking whether there was some land left to sell”.

The new theory denies the version that Maradona’s great-grandfather emigrated to Argentina from the southern Croatian island of Korcula.

“I’ve researched the church books and found no Kariolic surname in Korcula since the 14th century”, local priest Bozo Banicevic told the paper.

The months of waiting and preparation (if that’s possible) finally came to a joyful end recently with the arrival of my son (seen below). He marks the third Ćurković generation of my family in Canada.

What does this mean for my blog? Well, I’m not sure. I will continue to maintain a web presence but my posts will likely be more sporadic and shorter in nature. I enjoy researching my family’s history but for now, I am committed to being the best dad I can be. And who knows, with a little seasoning, there might be another contributor to this website within a few years. Let’s hope so. Tata needs all the help he can get!

When watching the video, one thing remains clear – height has and probably always will be a defining trait among the wider members of the Dinaric Ćurković family.

If you are ever in the Santiago, Chile area and in need of a good Croatian meal, you can find Restaurant Dinara at the following location.

Thanks to Marko in Sesvete, Croatia for sending me a link to the episode.

My ancestors once lived in Vinica before moving up towards Buško Blato so I have a sentimental attachment to the place. For this reason, I am helping to spread the word about this great project. I have translated the message that I have found on the Zavičajno društvo Zavelim website.

HELP NEEDED FOR THE CREATION OF A MONOGRAPH ABOUT VINICA PARISH

The fulfillment of this plan will vary in terms of work: writing and collecting files, support and aid, broadcasting messages about this work to anyone interested, to the furthest reaches of the world wherever Croats from Vinica live. Let all criticism be supportive and creative so that this work becomes the foundation for a new Vinica and Croatian family, which originated and has spread across parts of Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Europe and the world, including for those who have remained here to maintain their shrine together with all of us, regardless of where we are.

If you wish to help out with this worthwhile project by submitting material, contact me and I will tell you how you can get involved.

Not bad in terms of visualization either. Check out the map for Ćurković:

The associated text about the family name seems to be taken from the Encyclopedia of Croatian Surnames (Enciklopedija hrvatskih prezimena) published by the National Genealogy Centre (Nacionalni rodoslovni centar).

In addition to the cool maps and interesting statistics, the website also features famous Croatians based on the surname you searched for.

The website is in Croatian only but easy enough to navigate and figure out. Try typing something in the search engine and see for yourself!

The following link takes you to the page about the Ćurković surname: http://imehrvatsko.com/apex/f?p=108:PREZIMENA:2568422124341260::NO:RP:P3_PREZIME:%C4%86urkovi%C4%87

I remembered that the 1948 census of Croatia listed one Ćurković family in the town of Nova Gradiška. I was curious so I decided to see if the Ćurković families here were relative newcomers to the area or among an older group of established families.

Although I did not find anything in the Nova Gradiška church records, I did stumble upon some Ćurković members located, north of the town, in the nearby parish of Cernik. There are two records. The first record dates back to May 25, 1772 when Stipan Ćurković (Stephanus Csurkovich), son of Ivan and Iva, was baptized. The second record is found a few short years later, on August 25, 1778, when Augustin (Augustus), son of Franjo Ćurković (Franciscus Csurkovich) and Marija nee Borovac (Maria Borovacz) are listed in the same group of records.

Where did this group of Ćurković families come from? Could they be the same group of Ćurkovići mentioned across the border in Ivanjska (north of Banja Luka) during the 1768 census of Catholics in Bosnia-Hercegovina? These families mysteriously disappeared from the area shortly after this census.

Much like the families in Ivanjska, the Ćurković families in Cernik also seem to disappear from the associated parish records after the year 1778. What became of them? Did they move? Change their name?

On the contrary, the Ćurković surname is still found in Cernik today. Perhaps the real answer is found by looking at alternative forms of the name? Variations of the Ćurković name are found scattered throughout the same parish records. Surnames like Ćurčić (Csurcsich, Csurczich), Ćurić (Csurich) or Ćurčija (Csurcsia) are listed numerous times. Perhaps one of these surnames was really in reference to the Ćurković family?

The answer to the these questions will be difficult to answer but for those interested in the area surrounding Nova Gradiška, the UC Croatia Project website provides the following church records in a basic format known as .UNI:

The dates for the above records are rough estimates. These associated files can be viewed in Microsoft Excel but you will have to create some formulas to extract the data you need to easily read and understand the data. I hope those with roots in the above mentioned areas find the links useful.

However, what would you say if I told you of a way where you could save on cost, time and effort? Almost too good to be true you say? I kid you not. I will share with you now one of my favourite tools for research.

Thankfully, there is one useful and inexpensive tool we can use from the comfort of our own homes. I’m talking about Google Books. Believe it or not, Google Books serves as an online library of sorts and features numerous Croatian book titles within its catalog that can be found and, sometimes, even browsed for free. Much like any search engine you can enter key phrases or search terms, such as a last name i.e. “curkovic”, which will then retrieve all those titles containing the reference to the particular search term you are looking for. It’s like having someone else look in books for you! Depending on the copyright, you may then view the book in small snippets or in its entirety. Due to its powerful features, Google Books has proved to be a very valuable resource that has pointed me to numerous references related to my family name.

Finding most of these books at your local library is virtually next to impossible but if you live near and have access to a good university library featuring an excellent collection of Croatian books, like the University of Toronto, you can usually find and photocopy those relevant pages for yourself.

Gaining access to some of these university libraries is another matter though. These libraries have valuable collections and often don’t allow people off the street to just come in and browse their shelves. While you might not gain access to certain floors or areas, there is thankfully a procedure in place which allows researchers to make requests for material. These books are, after a few hours, then brought down to the front desk where the material can then be perused at leisure.

While this above option is better than nothing, let’s just hope that the good people at Google continue to work with the many libraries, publishers and authors across the world to make books and information accessible to more people and researchers like you and me. It will hopefully save us all a lot more time, money and effort (not to mention sanity) in the future.

Historically, we have no evidence that this particular Marko Ćurković ever existed. However, the setting of this poem takes place during the period between 1714-1718 in the Cetina River Valley near Sinj, an area where the Ćurković family was known to have lived near during this time. This time period can be confirmed since Kačić describes the war in this poem as the Small War (rata Malenoga). This war is also known as the Sinj War (Sinjski rat) and the Venetian-Turkish War.

Regardless of the name, this war was one of the more well known and defining moments in Croatian history. The Ottomans were repelled and the town of Sinj was never again attacked.

This main character and hero in this song is a shepherd named Marko Ćurković. He is described in simple terms as a shepherd (čoban) and the son of a Cetina Vlach (Cetinka Vlahinja). Much like the falcon, he is also described as a member of a heroic family (na sokola roda junačkoga), a common Slavic reference when describing people of heroic character.

This poem is a unique piece of work. Kačić dedicates his full attention to one hero as opposed to many heroes he regularly mentions in other poems throughout his book.

This particular poem also includes two antagonists: Aso Dizdarević and Ibro Agićević, two members of the Ottoman army stationed in Livno (in Bosnia-Hercegovina). They plan to lead a small band of troops over the Dinaric Alps (specifically a mountain called Prolog located on the Bosnian side of the border) and into the Cetina River Valley.

During their trip, they encounter Marko Ćurković, a shepherd tending his white sheep. It appears that Ibro recognized Marko from a previous battle and wanted to settle a score with him. Ibro takes his gun and shoots at Marko. The shot misses its target and Marko warns them to choose “going with God instead of losing their heads” (pođi s Bogom, a ne gubi glave). Ibro ignores Marko’s warnings and aims to kill Marko again. However, Marko makes good on his threat, aiming at Ibro with his gun at killing him with one shot.

When Ibro’s compatriot, Aso, saw this, he too attempts to kill Marko. But Marko quickly fires off a shot at Aso before he even has a chance. The bullet hits Aso in the shoulder, knocking him swiftly to the ground.

Unfortunately for the hero of our story, his failure to kill the Turk is his great misfortune (Evo pobre, velike nevolje). Poor Marko is quickly encircled by the remaining Ottoman troops who easily put an end to his life, highlighted by the hero’s head being chopped off (Ćurkoviću glavu odsikoše), as was the custom in those days.

Here is the video (I use this term loosely) of the poem narrated in Croatian. I have placed the verses below. If you can read Croatian, feel free to follow along.

Feel free to view to view Kačić-Miošić’s entire book, Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga, at:

http://www.sss-makarska.hr/spisi/velikani/kacic/razgovor.htm.