Plisi, a story

Plisi gives shine to the appearance of the Albanian. In peace and in war. In mourning and in celebration.

It is the symbol of personal and national pride. Its bearer always feels the weight of social duties.

Isak Ademi from Carraleva e Shtima was only 12 years old when he placed the pleat for the first time. He never took it off again.

"My father kept it, I... Since I was twelve years old, I have never taken it off. Not in war, not at work, not anywhere at all. You can't stand something if you don't have it at the top, than if you don't have it with you at all", emphasizes Ademi in the center of Shtime.

He is just one of Hyzri Hysiq's friends. The war veteran turned businessman knows the demands all too well.

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"We are satisfied with the quality of the fabric. We are satisfied, it is good, but it can't always come out the same, because it depends on the wool, where you get it and how you get it. If they have good wool, the pleat is worked very well", emphasizes Hysiqi.

The craft of pride across generations

For over 110 years, the Gjurgjealo family from Prizren has been involved in the production and sale of pleats. Naxhiu inherited it from his grandfather Jashari and father Samiu.

"The difficulty of the work ... is a difficulty, because every craft has its own difficulty", emphasizes Naxhi Gjurgjealo, cell worker from Prizren.

"And this craft also has difficulties, but how to work, how to start this work, how to get used to this work, then you can also have pleasure, not only difficulties".

The combined work of hands and machines that he does with his family downstairs, he proudly exhibits upstairs in his workshop at the entrance of the historic city.

It shows some of the types of pleats of different Albanian regions.

"These are from the people of Dibra, from Dibra, that is, the side of Dibra, the district of Dibra has kept them. These belong to the Lumyans, or the Zhurians, because the Zhurians also kept them. Even Dragash's. It means these three parts carried these", he says, holding the cells in his hands.

"These belong to the Hasjani, Has usually kept them, while these belong to the Dukagjin Plain and beyond. So, I don't know exactly either, but roughly like this. These are the dervishes, I told you, it seems, the dervishes," he adds. "And this is our work of the future that young people will carry."

Strangers for the plis

Ethnologist Bashkim Lajçi tells the history of the symbol of Albanians in the facility of the Albanological Institute.

"Plisi, in the framework of our traditional or folk clothing, occupies an important place, both in terms of function, but also in terms of its symbolism. Undoubtedly, the pleat, like many other parts of our Albanian national dress, has a long history", says Lajçi in the scientific conference hall at the Albanian Institute of Pristina.

"Many researchers who have dealt with the problem of traditional clothing say that the pleat has its genesis, or we can find its traces as far back as Illyria, among the Illyrians, among our ancestors. Even this can be proven with many different figures, with different drawings".

He says that non-Albanian researchers have also argued this.

"Still, our clothes, our customs and customs, that is, they have been preserved despite any interference that has been done to them, they have been preserved all the time, and they are still preserved", he says, adding that people today, regardless of certain environments, at certain levels, "boast with pleats, boast with our traditional dress, boast with our culture, that is, the original traditional that we have".

Ergylenagji Gjurgjealo feels more comfortable when he speaks in front of the camera with a pleat on his head.

"I always wear the pleat. I have almost every photo with the pleat. It's my job, I'm proud to do this job, it's the symbol of our nation, so I appear in front of you without a wrinkle, my head is somehow empty", she says.

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"Crinkles" as resistance

However, not too distant history shows that Albanians who wore pleats were even more mistreated by the invaders. Especially during the twentieth century.

In Enver Robelli's book "Arbën Xhaferi narrates: In Tetovo in search of meaning", the deceased politician and publicist from North Macedonia recalled how during the Balkan wars, when Skopje was occupied by the neighboring Bulgarians, the invaders chose the white cell as the object of punishment Albanian.

"They, gendarmes and citizens, wherever they saw Albanians with white cell phones, they beat them, tortured them, and even killed them", writes in Robelli's book.

Historian Skender Latifi has secured the 1917 document of the command of the reserve troops in Nis. It documents the rejection of violently recruited Albanians:

And the Serbian conquerors would not soften their attitude towards the Albanian children who wore the plis even at school.

The pleat was always common to the men and women who fought for freedom.

"Later, especially during the eighties, when the demonstrations took place in our country, but also during the time, the people who carried the plis, somehow from others, apart from those occupiers, or those who intended to occupy us, were seen as undesirable people", emphasizes Lajçi.

Then Prishtina was competing in the elite of Yugoslav football. For the Albanians of the shaken Yugoslavia, the players were heroes on the pitch. In the stands, the fans founded Plisat. The two parties represented all the Albanians of the former Yugoslavia dominated by Serbia.

Plisat continues to support only the Albanian national team even after the admission of independent Kosovo to UEFA and FIFA.

The plea of ​​the first Republic

Plis has also left a mark in history. The signatory of what is known as the Kaçanik Constitution of September 7, 1990 was also the deputy from Cerrevik i Klina, Hysen Bashota.

Only Albania recognized the first Republic of Kosovo.

The independence of the country on February 17, 2008 strengthened the connection of the old and the young with the plis. Pleis days have become a traditional holiday in Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania.

Ergylenagjii is enjoying the fact that the number of girls and boys who ask for pleats for birthdays, weddings, Eid and Christmas is always increasing.

It is the symbol that unites Albanians everywhere.

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"This is the symbol of the Albanian", emphasizes Ademi in Shtime, gently touching the pleat with his right hand. "This, it's not... there is no one who has the heart of an Albanian who does not carry this."