Brrut

Brrut is a village in the south of Kosovo, in the municipality of Dragash, located the Opolje region of the Šar Mountains.

Culture


Brrut has two mosques which were built early and renovated in recent years. Brrut has several archaeological sites of importance for cultural heritage, including the ruins of an Albanian Orthodox castle and church, old cemeteries, burial grounds, etc. Brrut has traditional music, dance, horse racing and some pagan festivals like Summer on March 14, where a fire is lit for this holiday and traditional Flija food, the feast of harvest and St. George, Jeremiah St. Collie, Shiribudi etc. In addition to this Brruti also has some traditional accessories (Loom, crochet, boshti, furka), for making traditional clothes even though this is no longer practiced, there are still people who know how to do it. Also a resident possesses seeds of a characteristic plant which is used to work different clothes and oil paintings for painting. Another important point is the fact that the peasants of Brrut, as well as the surrounding villages, attach great importance to marriage, betrothal and circumcision fest.

Demographics
Brrut is divided into two zones the Great Brrut and the Little Brrut. The following families live in Great Brrut: Guzhdaj, Hoxhaj, Kastrak, Ysyl, Sutej and Hajdet while in little Brrut, formerly called Domne, is home to the brothers Domna and Pilaria.

Brrut is one of the villages of Opojë where most of the population emigrated. According to early notes, it is said that 36 families moved to Turkey (in the periods 1913-1914; 1921-1941 and 1954-1960), three families moved to Bulgaria, four families moved to Greece on the period 1921-1941, as well as eight families moved to western Europe specifically to France and Austria in the period 1954-1970. So a total of 52 families with about 360 members moved.

According to statistical records, there were: In 1865 - 98 houses; around 1879 - 95 houses; in 1913 - 715 inhabitants;  in 1918 - 56 Albanian houses with 261 inhabitants; in 1921 - 70 houses with 450 inhabitants; in 1928 - 59 houses with 424 Albanian inhabitants; in 1948 - 85 houses with 596 inhabitants; in 1953 - 84 houses with 584 inhabitants;  in 1961 - 75 houses with 575 inhabitants (564 Albanians, 11 others); in 1971 - 86 houses with 798 inhabitants (796 Albanians, 2 others); in 1981 - 89 houses with 1095 inhabitants (1094 Albanians, 1 other).

In 1991 there were 135 houses with 1280 inhabitants. Whereas, in 1999 there were 145 families with 1425 Albanian residents. The population was massively expelled from the village to Albania on March 31, 1999. The Serbian police had given an ultimatum to the inhabitants of the village to leave the village within one hour and head towards Albania, and if they do not follow the order they will be burned.