Religion is in the eye of the beholder

One thing I haven’t noticed in Kosovo is an overt feeling of religion. According to one NGO , there are three major religious communities here – Islam, Orthodoxy and Catholicism – with the majority belonging to Islam.

In fact, twice in the first few days of our visit I’ve been awakened at exactly 5:10 a.m. by what sounds like Islamic prayer . Or at least the kind of Islamic prayer that I’ve seen on news reports, documentary and narrative films. I haven’t gone out to investigate because, for one reason this morning, I’d gotten to sleep only an hour prior.

But, for example, hardly any woman wear a hijab, the head scarf that is so common to more strict Islamic societies from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia. In fact, it’s common for young Kosovar women in Pristina to dress in clothes that, while nowhere near as revealing as your average American teenager, still leave little to the imagination.

This morning, as we walked toward the ABA-CEELI office, we passed by the University of Pristina and saw a variety of stiletto-heeled shoes, tight jeans and form-fitting tops on the women students. The men seem to prefer a uniform of shoes of no particular type, dark jeans and T- or polo shirts (often with American logos plastered across the chest).

I saw one young guy today wearing an AC/DC T-shirt. That, along with the ubiquitous American pop playing at every restaurant and hotel lobby, makes me wonder if – excuse my ignorant ethnocentrism – the musical tastes around here are any more sophisticated than the sense of road repair.

This much I can say: The voices that were chanting this morning are not just the only overt sign of religion I’ve yet to see but the best music I’ve yet to hear.